
In the heart of Ottawa’s Chinatown district a vocal shaman is helping empower and enlighten others through a series of vocal workshops. In our latest promotional video we sat down with the founder to discuss his workshops and why he believes our culture has stopped singing in community.
“Voice Emergent‘s founder, Barclay McMillan, has a passion for sharing his innovative voicework that was fueled by his own personal experience of the healing power of sound.
Barclay has been creating opportunities for people to discover, or recover, their singing voices and explore them in a context of healing and well-being since 1991. He offers a range of courses and informal singing gatherings in Ottawa and has taken his work to other parts of Canada, the US and Europe.
A graduate of Carleton University and the University of Toronto, Barclay completed doctoral studies in practical Divinity (D. Min.) at UCS, Oakland. His dissertation, “Dancing Voice, Moving Spirit”, is a heuristic study of the transformative experience of participants in his LifeSong program.
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He is a former teacher, naval officer and radio broadcaster. He was the host of Mostly Music, the CBC’s classical music flagship. Barclay has contributed many articles to The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada and The Canadian Encyclopedia. An experienced public speaker, he has entertained service clubs, university societies, churches, and medical conventions with his good-humoured, articulate enthusiasm for the human voice and its potential.”
“After doing LifeSong, my singing and ability to express the emotional depths of my songs grew by leaps and bounds. I am head and shoulders above where I’ve ever been before.“ say’s Sue Foley, recording artist and Juno Award winner
For more information on Voice Emergent, the various workshops and how you can get involved go to voiceemergent.com