Our Town/ManhattanSpirit
Workshop Goes Beyond Singing
James McMahon was an amateur singer bursting with potential but afflicted with a musician’s version of writer’s block. Just one of many voices in the Central City Chorus, a Manhattan choir, the 50 year old psychologist yearned to project his voice above the others. Checking his embarrassment at the door, McMahon went back to school. “I had many inhibitions about singing,” said McMahon “You’re naked. There’s no protection.”
Through a two-day seminar entitled “The Natural Singer Workshop” at the New York Open Center in Soho, McMahon accepted his insecurities, and made head-way toward overcoming them. “I came away with permission to sing,” said McMahon, adding that he broke down in tears while performing during the workshop. “I had been inhibited all my life — in other areas of my life too.”
Now McMahon sings unabashedly at the top of his lungs, asks women to dance and negotiates for more money in his work when he feels entitled to it. “this wasn’t designed as a therapy course but I had as powerful emotional experience as with any therapeutic group I’ve ever been in,” said McMahon.
“We learned a lot about music and a lot about ourselves.”