If you were among those resurrecting Whitney Houston’s greatest hits this month as her powerhouse voice was immortalized on radio, singing has a place in your life.
Just where that place is might surprise you.
New Kelowna resident Michelle Bailly says she’s found singing can be as effective in business as it is in one’s social life and she wants to help Western Canada reclaim it’s voice.
“Part of my passion with singing is building community, bringing people together, and not taking everything so seriously,” said Bailly who runs Sing Because U Can!—Personal and Team Discovery.
Bailly offers a wide variety of workshops and classes centered around the idea that the arts have a place in business and everyday life. Whether hosting a kitchen party-style singalong, or a business workshop aimed at reshaping communication, Bailly says the simple joy of singing can help people open up new possibilities in their lives.
Bailly is the daughter of Calgary jazz musician Frank Bailly and has always incorporated music and performance in her life—though not as a professional musician.
“Most people, when I ask them do you like to sing? They say: ‘Yes, but I can’t.’ And I say: ‘Well, maybe you’re not going to sound like the two per cent of the population who are Celine Dion, but of course you can sing.’
“Then my question is: ‘Well what else is it you’re telling yourself you can’t do? And is that the truth?'”
Bailly is trained in NLP, or neurolinguistic programming, and worked as a trainer helping others develop communication skills while in Ireland, where she lived for 23 years. That background got her involved in an Irish organization called Arts and Business.
“How it was different than the models I’ve seen here, is that business doesn’t just donate to the arts; the two learn from each other.
“So I was mentoring a theatre fellow named Tom Magill and his group, and I became interested in how the group pulled together as a company and put out a product, often with half a budget,” she said.
She partnered with Magill and started developing workshops on ways people can change their reality and reposition themselves within a scene. From there she worked with eastern singing traditions, discovering how music and the voice can be used in a meditative way to heal one’s self or as a means of relaxation.
All of this has come together in a unique business. She can now use her voice and training to help sales teams work together or to simply let people who would like to sing, but don’t want the stress of performing in a choir, get together for an evening of songs.
Bailly spent this week facilitating discussions at the Building Sustainable Communities Conference and hosting her weekly singing workshops.
Discovering one’s voice in this world is actually really simple, she says. It’s all about just getting out there and learning how to hit the high notes in life.
