The SingAble Elements Participatory Performance Art Project

 

                          Four of the original members of SingAble-Yours Truly wearing beard

From the beginning, four years ago now, I’ve enjoyed singing in our local SingAble Choir, conducted by Dr. Ardelle Ries, and accompanied by Dr. Roger Admiral on piano (an excellent husband and wife team). We were also accompanied by The SingAble Elements Band. SingAble members passionately celebrate diversity, inclusion and collaborative creativity. We meet every Tuesday evening, at the Faith & Life Chapel, Augustana Campus, and sing for about seven or eight months of the year. 

Our most recent concert called, “The SingAble Elements: Fire, Earth, Water, Air,” was free of charge, although those attending were encouraged to bring a donation for our local food bank. The SingAble Elements included music compositions, songs, poetry, movement, improvisation, photographs (three of mine were included in the project), and oil pastels on canvas. It was a celebration of and appreciation for Earth Month-April. 

The exploration of the four classical elements: Fire, Earth, Water, Air was influenced by one of Canada's esteemed composers R. Murray Schafer (1933-2021). He achieved an international reputation as a composer, an educator, environmentalist, scholar and visual artist. At Simon Fraser University, with grants from UNESCO and the Donner Canadian Foundation, he set up the World Soundscape Project for the study of the relationships between people and their acoustic environment. Readers can visit his Soundscape Composition Portfolio here: and learn more about soundscapes here: and read more about the composer here.

I was quite inspired and amazed at how well our program came together on the night of the Participatory Performance. The program consisted of four soundscape compositions for each of the four elements by local composer, Thomas Merklinger, and twenty songs. The photographs and paintings were also displayed. The audience seemed quite willing to participate in singing the songs along with the SingAble Choir. All-in-all, it made for a wonderful, joy-filled, inspiring evening! We love to sing because we are able!