Susan Hale

Song & Silence

Voicing The Soul

254 pages

6 x 8.5 inches

ISBN: 0-9631909-3-5

$14.00

One of the first questions which could be asked before any sort of healing can take place is— When did you stop singing? In this inquiry lies a journey toward a root cause of unhappiness in how we lead our daily lives. Each human being comes into life with the ability to express inner feelings through sound, yet many of us learn to stifle that voice or relegate it to forms of entertainment. Though singing is a natural and uplifting experience, there seems to be something which prevents many of us from enjoying it. Only those with trained voices have been given social permission to sing. Even in churches and public events, embarrassment keeps people from fully singing— this situation is both perplexing and unfortunate. Susan Hale explores the meaning of song in cultures all around the earth, its ancient uses, and how a cultural estrangement from our own voice impacts on a relationship with the natural world and the human worlds around us.

“Singing is the most personalized form of musical expression. It involves the diaphragm, chest, heart, lungs, throat, tongue, face— the exposed frontal part of our bodies where our life breath is stored. When we sing we become a resonator, an instrument, vibrating with the beauty of tone. We feel song vibrate through our entire system, linking body, mind, emotion, soul and spirit. With our life’s breath we are moved to song.”
— from the Preface

Susan Elizabeth Hale is a certified music therapist who, for many years, has been leading popular Joy of Singing workshops around the country. SONG & SILENCE grew out of her experiences working with people who have reconnected with their voices. She has also released two recordings of songs and chants— CIRCLING THE EARTH WITH SONG and, most recently, SACRED GROUND. She lives in Taos, New Mexico.