Expressive Engagement
Powered by Books.by
Expressive Engagement
Alone and Invisible in the Crowd
by Suzanne M. Stone
Small Invisibilities is a faith-rooted poem about the quiet ache of being unseen in the very places where belonging is supposed to come naturally. Moving through scenes of church pews, church assignments, children excluded from friendship circles, parking-lot grief, and the pain of being measured by usefulness rather than inherent worth, it gathers private sorrows into a shared human experience. At its heart, the poem turns toward the compassionate presence of Christ, who sees fully, does not ask us to become smaller, and reminds us that our worth has no limit.
This poem began after a tender conversation in my home with someone I love, who finally gave words to a grief she had carried quietly for a long time. Her story stayed with me because I recognized parts of that ache in my own life as well. As I wrote, the poem became a weaving together of shared experience—some of it mine, some entrusted to me by others, and some drawn from the lives of people I love. In the end, I realized it was not just one story, but many. And perhaps, in one way or another, all of ours.
Where voice, grief, faith, and hope find words
Suzanne M. Stone is an author, educator, musician, and voice teacher whose work explores the quiet, deeply human places where faith, grief, expression, and belonging meet. Since 1982, she has helped singers and speakers find freedom, courage, and authenticity in their voices through decades of teaching and study in vocal performance, contemporary vocal pedagogy, vocology, and Body Mapping. Her books—including the Expressive Engagement Series, When the Clouds Lift, and Small Invisibilities—give language to experiences that are often carried in silence: performance anxiety, memory loss, invisible sorrow, spiritual longing, and the ache of feeling unseen. Rooted in faith and shaped by a lifetime of walking alongside others in tender moments, her writing offers both honest witness and hope. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her husband Greg.
Speak and Sing so People Want to Listen
You don’t just want to sound “right”—you want to move people. Expressive Engagement is your hands-on action planner for speaking and singing with power, nuance, and heart. You’ll investigate the building blocks of your voice—pitch, intensity, timbre, rate, rhythm, tone, accent, and more—then translate those insights into clear choices that serve your music, your message, and your story. Step by step, you’ll craft programs that land, shape character and emotion with precision, and use body language that matches what listeners hear. With practical checklists, vocabulary tables, rubrics, and the “Performance Playground” for daily reps, you’ll turn careful preparation into genuine connection—on stage, in the studio, at the mic, or in the room. Show up prepared. Leave them changed.
Master Your Talent with SMART Goals and Deliberate Practice
You train like an artist—and now you’ll practice like an athlete. Expressive Practice gives you a clear, step-by-step system to turn scattered effort into steady progress: set SMART goals that actually matter to your repertoire, run focused sessions that target one skill at a time, capture immediate feedback, repeat clean reps, stretch beyond your comfort zone, and protect your voice with rest and recovery. Then you’ll apply it all with whole-body warm-ups, breathing mastery, song-by-song plans, and a built-in Progress Journal so you can see your growth. You leave guesswork behind and build a voice that’s reliable, expressive, and stage-ready.
To Transform Performance Anxiety
You don’t have to “power through” stage fright—you can transform it. Expressive Strategies to Transform Performance Anxiety gives you a practical, science-informed roadmap to convert nerves into usable energy. You’ll learn what’s happening in your body (fight-or-flight, breath, tension), borrow proven tools from sports psychology, build a steady pre-performance routine, and protect your voice with smart recovery, nutrition, and sleep. Then you’ll assemble a personal toolkit: mindset resets, body mapping cues, breathing protocols, visualization, and a performance-day plan—plus reflection worksheets that turn each appearance into data you can act on. You step onstage present, prepared, and steady—so your story, not your stress, takes the spotlight.
A Dialogue of Two Should and Their Savior
What happens when the person you love forgets your name—but you're still standing right there?