Weekly Voice Insights #71- What the Voice Serves When Conditions Aren’t Perfect

When the Instrument Isn’t Ideal—and the Intention Is

Over the past several days, I had the privilege of singing a series of concerts in assisted living and healthcare settings. These performances were offered as a gesture of care—for residents, and for the staff who serve them every day.

One of those concerts required a clear-eyed decision.

The keyboard available to us was not the instrument this music was written for. It had fewer keys, and certain passages required adjustment. Linda took time to understand what was possible on that instrument and then made careful decisions so the music could still be offered fully to the room.

See short video here: https://youtu.be/-7U29_xbXS8

What people responded to was not the instrument itself. They responded to the steadiness of the sound and the intention behind it. One woman, in particular, was deeply affected by what she heard. It wasn’t recognition of the piece or familiarity with the style. It was the vibration of the sound itself—the way it met her physically and emotionally. The experience was strong enough that she struggled to speak afterward.

That response is instructive. It reminds us that sound is not abstract. The vibrations we create with our voice carry weight. They move through bodies, not just ears. How we speak and sing has consequence, whether or not the listener has language for it.

That moment also clarified something about connection that’s easy to overlook. We often talk about connection as emotional or interpersonal, but it is also physical. Being in the room matters. Sound moves air, and that movement is felt in the body, not just perceived by the ear. Recordings of great singers and speakers can move us deeply, but they don’t fully carry that bodily experience of shared vibration. In that space, the connection was not symbolic or imagined. It was something the body registered directly.

The final verse of O Holy Night speaks of love practiced, peace carried, and the recognition of shared humanity. It speaks of dignity restored and burdens loosened. In that room, those ideas were not explained. They were encountered through sound.

This experience brings me back to a line from Epictetus, who begins the Enchiridion with a simple distinction:

“Some things are up to us and some things are not.”

The instrument was not up to us. The space was not up to us. What remained ours was judgment, intention, and response.

That way of seeing things aligns closely with the path I return to again and again in my own work: intention, breath, tone, and connection. Intention leads the choice. Breath supports how that choice is carried. Tone gives the sound its weight and clarity. Connection is what happens when those elements are aligned and received by someone else. None of those are guaranteed by circumstances, but all of them are available through attention.

That distinction applies just as much to our own vocal instrument. We don’t choose the voice we were given, and we don’t fully control how it lands. What is ours is the care with which we use it. Intention, attention, and expressiveness are choices. That’s the work I continue to encourage in myself. In everyday communication—outside of performances—we rarely get clear feedback about the effect our voice has. Moments like this offer a physical reminder that how we use our voice carries impact, even when we don’t immediately see it.

I could not have offered this music without Linda. Her judgment at the keyboard made the performance possible. And I could not have offered it in the way I did without the years of work behind my own voice. I am able to express things now that were not available to me before. The evidence for that was not internal. It was in the room.

As this reflection is published on Christmas Eve, I carry these recent experiences into another shared space and another gathered community. The setting is different, but the work is the same. Voice offered with intention, supported by breath, shaped through tone, and attentive to connection becomes part of how people listen, reflect, and feel accompanied. Especially on a day like this, that kind of care matters.

These concerts were a gift—to residents, to staff, and to those of us offering the music. They reaffirm why I continue this work and why attention to voice, vibration, and intention matters. Sound offered with care reaches people in ways explanation never will.

Related Posts:

Weekly Voice Insights #60 – Breath, Airflow, and Effort: The Physics Beneath the Voice
https://dyavwithelias.blogspot.com/2025/10/weekly-voice-insight-60-breath-airflow.html

Weekly Voice Insights #68 – What We Wear, What We Feel, and How It Shapes Our Voice
https://dyavwithelias.blogspot.com/2025/12/weekly-voice-insights-68-what-we-wear.html

Weekly Voice Insights #70 – The 6–7 Hour: What the Voice Knows in Transition
https://dyavwithelias.blogspot.com/2025/12/weekly-voice-insights-70-67-hour-what.html

Further Resources:

Epictetus on Control and Choice (Via Stoica) 
https://viastoica.com/10-epictetus-quotes-on-control/

Music, Sound, and Emotional Response (JMIR Mental Health) 
https://mental.jmir.org/2025/1/e69120

Elias Mokole | Keynote Speaker, BA & Beyond 2025 Voice, Breath, and Clarity | Developing Your Authentic Voice Newsletter

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