I was working as production manager for Naropa University the year that Meredith taught a class to the MFA theatre students and which she and her performed. How fortunate they must have felt during that week. As production manager I was able to witnesss two rehearsals and two actual performances. During the first rehearsal during a particular piece I found myself weeping from this very deep place. I dismissed it. The second rehearsal brought the same reaction. Now, I'm taking notice. I could not understand where the deep tears I shed were coming from. But when it happened two more times during the performance, I knew she had hit such a primal place in my heart and was so grateful for the power that Meredith's work had on me. What an experience. She is such a wonderful human being and for those of us fortunate enough to be in her presence is truly a gift for those of us who have the opportunity to witness her.

I could relate to much of what Meredith Monk discussed on this program. Participating in the creation or consumption of art requires us to either give of ourselves, or to receive a part of someone else. I believe that Meredith is correct when she expresses that this is best accomplished when the performers and the audience are in the same space at the same time. I am an amateur piano player, and I have found that I can perform best when I try to come to it with an empty mind. This allows me to audiate, or hear in my mind, what I plan to play, a measure or so ahead, just as a sight-reader would read. On a musical level, this helps to focus me on the passage at hand, and prepare for the next hand position, harmony, difficult rhythm, key change, new section in the form, or whatever is coming in the arrangement. On a spiritual level, this allows me to "intend" what will come into reality. However, I was interested to hear that Meredith took this so much further, because her art drops many of the Western conventions that we often try to fit our music into.

I would like to say to Meridith Monk:
As a member of a high school band, singing our parts on the bus to and from performances is just what you describe as a vocal orchestra. Some of my best memories as a skinny, flat chested, smart nerd were part of this experience.

In the rural south we have a tradition called "Sacred Harp", an acapella way to worship that I hope you will investigate. The sacred harp is the human voice.

Lastly Bobby McFerrin's Vocabularies touch me in so many ways as the songs/voices/sounds bring tears and thrill me, especially the last of Wailers.

I am glad that music remains so vibrant after many eons of singing around a fire or lulling a baby to sleep.

Music can be a sense of playfulness and make you feel alive; living in the moment. People listen to music to sooth the soul. It relaxes humans and takes them away from it all. Dance usually goes along with music and that is also a way to get away from it all.

Meredith Monk reaches places in the human experience through music and mediation where words get in the way. Our voice can be like the body. The body helped her find her own vocabulary as a singer; as a child. She found that music has an articulation, fluidity, and flexibility like the spine has.

Finding the musical method called Del Crose eurhythmics to correct early problems with bodily coordination is very interesting.