Songkeepers

What if I’m not Doukhobor? Or maybe I’m just a small part Doukhobor. Can I still register for that Choir?

First off, any part of your ancestry is a part of your story, and you can be curious about it! And if you don’t have any Doukhobour ancestry and have a curiosity to learn about a culture that plays a part in this place, you are welcome to join us!

Maybe you have Georgian, Ukrainian, Polish, Russian or other Eastern European ancestry. You might be surprised at how similar some of the singing, story and symbolism are.

Our singing and sharing together celebrates a shared sense of humanity and community. You are welcome.

I don’t know my ancestry…

This too is ok. You will be an ancestor someday, and you can tell the story of this place now, along with the things that influence it: nature, culture, food, and music. You are invited to excavate stories of women and nature and determine what themes you would like to explore and what wisdom you would like to share. You can also add your voice to the choir to create something beautiful together, now.

Do I need to speak and understand Russian?

We will be singing some Russian music, but we’ll sing in other languages too. No Russian experience is necessary.

Do we only sing ancestral folk music?

No. Our repertoire is co-created. We also put together playlists and have song sheets of uplifting songs that explore some of the themes we discuss (the last choir LOVED river songs and found folk tales about women and rivers from around the world).

What if I am not a Singer?

You were born with an instrument: a voice. You may be out of practice! If you enjoy listening to music, you can sing. The beautiful thing about a choir is that it is part singing and part listening! We are a group, and the more practiced singers naturally help the section. With time, you’ll discover your unique voice and realize that it is each unique voice layered together that makes a choir special.

I don’t connect to my ancestry: I come from a “boring” culture or one I’m not particularly proud of.

This is also something that comes up in our group. Sharing stories and songs also shares our humanity. We can acknowledge the hard feelings we have about our pasts, and we can also claim the beautiful parts that we often discard when we have challenging feelings about who we are or where we are from.

We might find something we love about our pasts or ourselves, and maybe settle a part of our inner spirit, maybe even imparting JOY!

Are you a therapist? A Music Teacher?

Neither. I was born of Doukhobor Ancestry, and I joke that I came into this world singing four-part harmony. I facilitate a love of music, and while I do share some technical direction, I arrange and record many of our practice tracks by ear. I am a trained facilitator, and have had additional training in trauma-informed facilitation.

In these choir sessions, we do explore themes. Perfectionism was a theme that organically came up in our last choir. Participants do not have to share if they don’t want to. You don’t have to sing any song you don’t like. I facilitate group discourse and song, but i am not “teaching” or “advising”. If you are struggling with feelings that come up, please feel free to talk to me outside of choir, or speak to a therapist.

Singing stimulates our vagus nerve and our “rest and digest” response. Storytelling coregulates our nervous systems. What I experience the most in choir is uplift. While sharing can be vulnerable, it can also be funny, enthusiastic and joyful!