Healing Group Reflection

While planning for the Swannanoa Gathering- Traditional Song Week at Warren Wilson College; I glossed over the course descriptions, quickly picked classes that I deemed most interesting, then, to my disappointment when I went to register, found each of these classes were completely full. Frustrated with my lack of choices, I ended up picking my courses on a whim, selecting three classes that simply fit my time preferences, assuring myself that they’d turn out fine, then forgot about them all together till months later when my classmates and I arrived on campus and received our schedules. Today, after completing the summer program, I reflect on how remarkably lucky I am to have randomly chosen the classes that I had, for they turned out to be much more than fine; each significantly bettering my skills, and even changing my relationship with music. Of the classes I took, my

Matt always kept a safe environment in each class to promote sharing and more open class discussions, but I took different things away from the courses, and found that the two combined, gave me a balanced approach to musical performance and enjoyment. Community Singing helped me understand how healing group singing can be, and redirected my focus from the mentality that, for music to be good it must be perfect, to a better of understanding of the value that singing for the sake of enjoyment also has merit and creates better bonds in communities. While How to Get the Most Out of What You Sing, improved my skills as a performer, and witnessing all my classmates better themselves in class, emphasized how important it is to stop comparing yourself to others, that we are all on different journeys and it is a waste of time to always want to be the best, just take steps to improve your own abilities and encourage others to do the same, and revel in each other’s