Darren Abrahams

— S I N G E R S O N T H E F R O N T L I N E S —

Singers on the Front Lines is a series of interviews with singers working to promote wellbeing, social justice, and sharing the gift of song with vulnerable communities. Subscribe (below) to receive notifications of future posts.

Darren Abrahams is a singer, coach, therapist and trainer and works internationally as a facilitator and project leader in the fields of personal, cultural and community development. He is a qualified trauma therapist, a Certified High Performance Coach and has appeared in opera all over the world. Darren is also a Wellbeing Adviser and an international trainer for Musicians Without Borders where he trains musicians to use music for peace building with refugees and in post conflict communities. He is co-founder of The Human Hive which trains volunteer and professional teachers to work in non-formal and emergency situations. He also co-founded The Starr Trust which supports young people to fulfill potential through sports, arts and education. He is on the steering team and head of pastoral care for The Complete Freedom of Truth, an international youth-led project developing global youth citizenship through culture and the arts.

SonicBloom: What does the phrase “singers on the front lines” mean to you?

Darren Abrahams: Well, I come from a formal musical background, opera, which takes place in a special place (an opera house) and is part of the classical music industry. So, for me, the “front lines” is work that happens outside of those spaces — the interconnecting points where artists and the community meet, where the boundary between who is an artist, and who is not, is broken down. Places where people use singing and music as a tool for personal development, social justice, ecological renewal, and facilitating the creativity of others. 

SB: What’s happening on your “front lines” right now, and what role does music play?

DA: My “front lines” currently involve multiple projects. My work with Musicians Without Borders (MWB) revolves around supporting the wellbeing of the team and training musicians to carry out our mission. I’m also building an online project for Refugee Week with Jim Pinchen, the founder of the I Speak Music Community Orchestra, to develop a new piece of music on the theme of “Imagine”. I’m also collaborating with Nadine Benjamin, a UK-based soprano, to co-create an opera based on her life story. She’s had a very interesting life, and the story will look at the effect trauma has on the nervous system, and how music and singing can help to rebuild a fractured life, and thrive. 

I’ve worked for many years with Opera Circus in community development work, using mixed arts to empower young people to take social action around the world. To date we have run projects in Bosnia, Serbia, Italy, Portugal and the UK and we’re currently planning the next phase of our work. We’re taking some time to refine our process which is based on democratic and total inclusion principals.  

SB: I wouldn’t automatically associate opera with the “front lines”, but what do you think opera has to offer?

DA: I will admit I have a love/hate relationship with opera — not the art form itself, but the structures and edifices that have been built around it. It’s an expensive art form because you need an orchestra, singers, and a lot of different forces to pull it together, so naturally you end up performing to people with money. There’s a lot of travel involved, you’re often performing revivals so it can be less creative, and lots of the audience come to boost their status rather than for a love of the art.

But what opera has to offer is that it’s a composite of all the arts, bringing together drama, music dance and design into a highly emotional synthesis. Opera allows us to experience a story differently than watching a play. It takes emotional moments and heightens them, which goes beyond the rational, straight to a visceral experience. It takes an emotional moment and elongates it, allowing you time to really experience the feelings before the story continues.

There’s a lot of interesting innovation going on in opera today, and people are questioning the traditional idea of sopranos in big dresses using a certain kind of vocal production, and asking, can opera incorporate other art forms like rap, graffiti art, even Parcour? Throughout its history opera has been used to make social and political statements — for example Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and several of Verdi’s operas — making strong statements about social change and revolution. In my opinion, there’s actually a lot more innovative work coming out of opera education departments than on the main stage. I’ve worked closely over the last few years with the education department at Glyndebourne Opera on their most recent youth operas, which have addressed current issues such as the refugee crisis, exile and nationalism. 

SB: When I think about opera, as opposed to say, a musical, I think about the tone quality. As a psychotherapist, and someone who has studied opera and the psycho-social effect of singing, can you explain how an operatic tone quality affects the body and mind? What is physically going on?

DA: What’s going on is that there’s a full system impact when we engage with music — biological, psychological and social. As music comes in, it hits our auditory nerve, which interacts with the Vagus nerve, one of the 10 cranial nerves. The Vagus nerve serves many important regulatory functions in the body — one pathway controls our primitive, shut-down mechanism (freeze and faint), and another our social engagement and regenerative systems. It interacts with our facial muscles, our vocal muscles, our lungs, our heart, and has an effect on the chemicals that we release into our blood stream. Psychologically music can change our mood and help us access emotions. Socially we come together in shared experiences. The power of the operatic voice is that it uses the whole resonating capability of the body without any mechanical amplification getting in the way. When that pure sounds hits our body it can have a profound effect on every part of our being.

SB: This sounds very powerful for people dealing with trauma, and I think about the refugee crisis that was unfolding even before COVID-19. I know you’ve done a lot of work with refugees. What are you seeing right now in these communities? What are some of the challenges, and are there particular projects you think are doing especially good work?

DA: The situation for people going through the refugee experience right now is really hard. There’s even more isolation because there’s not always access to stable Internet, and support groups are finding it challenging to maintain connection without access to face-to-face interaction. We’re also seeing volunteers who have travelled to work with refugees stuck in various locations because of lock-downs and unable to continue their work. I’ve been most concerned with the wellbeing of these volunteers because there’s not an infrastructure around them to support their own psycho-social needs. I’ve been commissioned to provide psychosocial support sessions and supervision during this period, so in some ways the pause brought on by COVID-19 is allowing some reflection and time to redress the gap. Well cared for volunteers means better cared for refugees. This is why we created The Human Hive, as a way to train, resource and support people doing caring work in different situations.

SB: Sounds like very inspiring work. Is there someone who’s inspiring you right now, who’s singing on the “front lines”? 

DA: I really admire Laura Hassler, and the whole team at Musicians Without Borders. The whole direction the organization is going is very inspiring and adaptive. The past couple of years they’ve worked to create a really flexible training, opening up new projects in different parts of the world and expanding the training team, while still maintaining a caring and personal working style. Laura’s family background in the US Civil Rights Movement* is constantly inspiring and I am proud to be part of work that continues in that lineage. I also admire Tina Ellen Lee, the Artistic Director of Opera Circus who has developed fantastic cultural work with young people by navigating the very challenging political environments around International Aid. Both of these women are singers and though they might not be actually singing now, their personal history with song permeates everything they do. 

SB: Darren, it’s been such an honor to have this conversation with you. Thanks for taking the time. Is there anything else you want to say about the role of music right now, in these times?

DA: The role of music right now is absolutely vital. It’s a hugely important tool that we as a species have created to help us feel good, express ourselves, come together, and explore our humanity. Whether you are experiencing music that has been created by someone else, or creating your own music, it has a very powerful effect and can really help you to navigate this challenging period of time. All cultural activities are important right now — drawing, knitting, cooking — but there’s something different about music, which bypasses the cognitive brain and goes straight into our nervous system. Our voice is our own, unique, individual sound. It’s how we communicate, develop trust, and share with each other. It speaks to our inter-dependence. Through music we can allow others to be who they are, without competition, without fearing anyone who’s different. We survive best through collaboration and cooperation and music gives us the tool to do it well.

*Laura Hassler’s father was Alfred Hassler, an anti-war activist and co-author of the 1957 advocacy comic book, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story.

“The role of music right now is absolutely vital . . . Our voice is our own, unique, individual sound. It’s how we communicate, develop trust, and share with each other. It speaks to our inter-dependence. Through music we can allow others to be who they are, without competition, without fearing anyone who’s different.

To access Human Hive’s online course and their online community, click here.

To access Darren’s Facebook page with videos and interviews, click here.

Rhiannon: Singers on the Front Line

This is the first in a series of interviews with singers working to promote wellbeing, social justice, and sharing the gift of song with vulnerable communities. Subscribe (below) to receive notifications of future posts. 

I first heard the phrase ‘singers on the front lines’ last October, offered up by a woman who’s been singing on the front lines herself for many years, Rhiannon. This was at the third, and final, session of a year-long program called All The Way In – a vocal improvisation course taught by Rhiannon that blends technique, mindfulness, and deep connection to each other as singers, and as conduits for the world around us. I’ve spent the past few months pondering . . . what does it mean to be a singer on the front lines? Who’s out there, singing on the front lines? And is the war metaphor an appropriate one? I called Rhiannon to find out.

Rhiannon got the phrase from Bobby McFerrin, who said it comes from a story in the Old Testament, 2 Chronicles 20:21. The story begins with Jehoshaphat putting singers in front of the army to enchant the enemy. What follows is classic Old Testament - the opposing army went mad hearing the music, and killed each other rather than the advancing army. However, in the spirit of Jewish teaching which encourages exploration and interpretation, I choose to see it as a metaphor, that the forces that oppose our wellbeing and humanity can be extinguished through music.

Rhiannon and I spoke about the metaphor of the "front lines” - being underneath to hold things up, or sometimes at the back pushing things to carry forward, the power of sound waves to travel in all directions. Such is the power of song, or, as William Congreve’s famous quote (17 centuries after the Bible was written) says, “Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast. To soften rocks, or bend the knotted oak.” 

I asked Rhiannon what’s happening on her own “front lines” right now, what role music is playing in her life, sheltering in place on Leo Nani Farms in Hawaii. She’s considering online possibilities to continue her teaching, but taking time to think about it and explore options. She’s inspired by the new Facebook group, “Singing Together across the globe with Acapella”, created by Italian singer Chiara Cortez to promote the use of the Acapella app for singers to collaborate with each other. As of this writing, the group has 546 members and 1,537 likes – likely to grow as singers in isolation look for ways to connect.

As Rhianon walks her dog, Gnocci, in the mornings, she sings to all the life that surrounds her, offering up a Hawaiian chant to the sun, listening to the song of spring and of the coqui frogs (which provided the soundtrack of our Zoom call). These were her parting words to me:

“It’s good for people to sing to themselves – you don’t need to go online and be with other people. Increase the vibration in your body, it’s so healthy and gets everything moving. Sing on your own, whenever you feel safe and comfortable. And whatever comes out is perfect.”

#SingersOnTheFrontLines

The TEDx Experience

It’s a great feeling to pick up your name badge with an iconic logo on it . . . TEDx Yangon 2020, Joanne Lauterjung, Workshop Presenter.

I watched my first TED Talk in 2006, the first year they were posted online and available to anyone, anywhere. I was immediately hooked, The 12-minute format allowed me to quickly digest deep thinking from prominent thought leaders on a wide range of topics from community gardens to global economics. Since moving to Myanmar in 2011, I continually check for talks with Burmese subtitles to use in my trainings. When TEDx Yangon was born in 2016, I was excited for Myanmar to host an event that is intellectually challenging and offers a platform for new ideas (from both within and without the country) to be shared and discussed. I volunteered in 2018, and now in 2020 had the great pleasure of presenting a workshop called The Power of Voice: Vocal Freedom Techniques.

The Power of Voice weaves together components of mindfulness and meditation with music, humming and singing in particular. Research shows that humming stimulates our brain to produce oxytocin, the “feel good” hormone. Anyone who sings in a choir will tell you they leave rehearsals feeling better than when they arrived, and singing in community has the added benefit of social bonding. This workshop gave participants an opportunity to learn internal practices (grounding, breath, mindfulness), as well as skills that singers learn for more mastery of communication (pitch, tempo, dynamics).

The experience was great. The atmosphere at TEDx is supportive, collegial, inquisitive - all the qualities that make their talks so engaging. A small army of volunteers keep everything running, and there’s a first-rate production team to make it all look great and flow smoothly. Assisted by my husband, Matt Kelly, and Htu San, our workshops were attended by nearly 80 people total, and the feedback was affirming: this work is needed and appreciated. Here’s what one participant had to say:

“The workshop was super helpful. I can still feel the moment that we spend together . . . I can't even describe with words. Thank you again.”

This past year was a journey of voice, of finding my own way to vocal freedom and ease, and this workshop was the culmination of exploring vocal improvisation, singing for mindfulness and meditation, and embracing my voice, and musicality, as it is, and as an offering to create a more harmonic, peaceful world.

May you find, and make, your own harmony in this world.