About Patricia Norton (she/her)
|
Why? I love the human voice -- squeaky, fluid, unpredictable, squeezed, rich, hollow, thick, clear, rumbly, reedy, rough -- the ongoing process of learning to love my own voice and what it sings to me brings me healing, wholeness, delight and excitement.... the exhilarating freedom of my own power. It excites me to see you experience that thrill of discovery with exactly your voice right now. Patricia does a great job creating a fun, soulful and uplifting space for people to join in song! I appreciate especially her kindness, authenticity, skill and her really clear delivery of songs. -- Pat Cannon, Maine |
Learning to love my voice has been a central part of my growth and unfolding, and I am delighted to share that pleasure with others. I started a choral singing school in 2012; a community chorus in 2016; a circlesinging vocal improv group in 2017, an every-voice workplace chorus in 2019, an online singing community in April 2020, a podcast in June of 2021, and an presence-practice of song in 2023.
I combine a geek’s love of music theory & vocal technique, a poet’s love of words, and a deep emotional responsiveness to music and people. I use Loopy to live-loop layered songs and rounds or build up improvisational soundscapes, both live and on Zoom.
I combine a geek’s love of music theory & vocal technique, a poet’s love of words, and a deep emotional responsiveness to music and people. I use Loopy to live-loop layered songs and rounds or build up improvisational soundscapes, both live and on Zoom.
I welcome every voice.
I celebrate growth and learning, in myself and my singers.
I invite regular feedback, and aim to facilitate spaces in which everyone can feel belonging...
a goal which I can only achieve with the help of each singer.
I particularly welcome any parts and pieces of who you are that have a history of being excluded.
I envision and work to build community where people with diverse identities of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, faith, nationality, age, and socioeconomic status are included and can find belonging.
I seek to recognize and directly address shaming, harming, and intolerance in myself and my singers,
while expanding our capacity to listen to, understand, and appreciate each other.
I celebrate growth and learning, in myself and my singers.
I invite regular feedback, and aim to facilitate spaces in which everyone can feel belonging...
a goal which I can only achieve with the help of each singer.
I particularly welcome any parts and pieces of who you are that have a history of being excluded.
I envision and work to build community where people with diverse identities of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, faith, nationality, age, and socioeconomic status are included and can find belonging.
I seek to recognize and directly address shaming, harming, and intolerance in myself and my singers,
while expanding our capacity to listen to, understand, and appreciate each other.
Cultural Honoring and Anti-Racism I care deeply about not-harming. It took time for me to realize that as a cis-, white, educated woman who received full college financial aid as an "economic diversity" student, I unknowingly have harmed others in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, sometimes in my choices of music, or through my privilege to not pay attention to painful realities. I seek to listen and learn from musicians of the global majority and voices who have experienced exclusion, as well as tending to both the trauma and treasure in my own European roots. It's all just words until we interact, but for everyone who sings with me, I want you to know this pledge comes from my center. I want the kind of change for inclusion and respect that makes a richer and more resilient world for all of us, and I hold the bravest singing space I can, including mess-ups, stumbling, awkwardness and courageous tenderness for all of us. |
What has influenced me deeply; what am I likely to draw on in our time together? A few of the many books: Darlene Cohen: Turning Suffering Inside Out: A Zen Approach to Living with Physical and Emotional Pain adrienne marie brown: Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds A Book of Luminous Things edited by Czeslaw Milosz Brené Brown: The Gifts of Imperfection Resmaa Menakem: My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies A few, oh so few, of the many musicians: Bobby McFerrin, Joni Mitchell, Eva Cassidy J.S. Bach, Francis Poulenc, Nina Simone, Moira Smiley Imagery work with Dr. Lydia Craigmyle, Ph.D., Founder, Director of Integrative Mind-Body Psychotherapies |
Connection and presence
I live in one of three condo units extended behind a house built in 1936 on a part of the earth long cared for by the Abenaki peoples, colonized without permission or treaty by the British in the late 1700s, on the sandplain above where the Winooski river runs into Lake Champlain, now known as Burlington, Vermont, USA.
I am nourished daily by the ground I walk, the waters I listen to, the air I breathe, the food and beauty that grows here, the flora, fauna, and geology.
I am held in loving relationship with my spouse, family, and friends. And as you are learning, I like to be thorough... if you're still reading this, so do you!
I live in one of three condo units extended behind a house built in 1936 on a part of the earth long cared for by the Abenaki peoples, colonized without permission or treaty by the British in the late 1700s, on the sandplain above where the Winooski river runs into Lake Champlain, now known as Burlington, Vermont, USA.
I am nourished daily by the ground I walk, the waters I listen to, the air I breathe, the food and beauty that grows here, the flora, fauna, and geology.
I am held in loving relationship with my spouse, family, and friends. And as you are learning, I like to be thorough... if you're still reading this, so do you!
Some of the formal stuff:
- Founder of Flow Singing, 2023
- Creator of podcast, A Breath of Song, 2021
- Founder of online singing program, Pocket Songs, April 2020
- Founder and Program Coordinator of Juneberry at Upper Valley Music Center, 2016-2022
- Founder & Director, Juneberry Music Choral Singing School, 2012-2016
- Minister of Music: Choir Director, Organist, Pianist at First Congregational Church of Thetford Hill, VT, 2001-2015
- Piano Studio & Collaborative Piano 1985-present
- Online Choir Inspiration Course, Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium, Royal Academy of Music, Denmark, 2021
- Musico do Circulo 1st module with Zuza Gonçalves and Ronaldo Crispim, 2021
- Small group improvisation study with Rhiannon, 2020-2022
- Private voice study with Judi Vinar, 2015-2020
- Songleader Flight School certification with Lisa G. Littlebird, 2019
- Circlesinging with Bobby McFerrin, Rhiannon, Judi Vinar, Joey Blake, Dave Worm, Christiane Karam, Zuza Gonçalves, 2015-2019
- Power of Awareness mindfulness training with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, certification 2018
- VoiceCare Network with Axel Theimer, Babette Lightner, and Carol Klitzke, certification 2018
- YogaVoice with Mark Moliterno, 2017
- Westminster Choir College Conducting Institute with Bruce Chamberlain, Charles Bruffy, and Sabine Horstmann, 2017
- Conducting study semester at Dartmouth College with Melinda O'Neal, 2001
- Piano Study with Diana Fanning, Middlebury College, 1986-1988