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Something Different for Corporate Events "We decided that we wanted to do something a little different for the launch road shows for our Cubit software release so we themed them as "Launch Parties" and promoted them with the offer of live music. We held 12 parties all around the country and the response to them was fantastic, both to the software and to the music. Even though Mark and Brenda played for only a short time before and after the demonstrations they helped create a great atmosphere that we felt made our potential customers feel very comfortable. At every venue we had comments about how great the music was." Nick Clements Carter Holt Harvey Celebration Music Imagine this: a beautiful, fine day in early summer. A lovely garden, with a pool, the lawn rimmed by tree ferns and native trees. Family and friends, from babies to great grandmothers are gathered; there’s an air of expectancy, of celebration. In the background, gentle, ambient music is being played on stringed instruments. The parents enter the gathering, carrying their baby girl wearing a garland of flowers on her head. This is a blessing ceremony. After some words of introduction from the celebrant, everyone is invited to offer the baby a blessing, a wish, a prayer, along with a flower, and as they queue to make their offerings, a song specially written for the occasion is sung and played by the musicians. Later, many people say the music has made this day complete for them – that it has articulated for them the emotions that they felt but had no words to express. We believe we’ve been blessed with a sense of occasion, and seem able to adapt to almost any situation, drawing from our wide repertoire just the right music for each event, sometimes even creating unique pieces. We have been asked to sing at many weddings, commitment ceremonies, birthdays, funerals and other rites of passage, as well as occasions such as solstice rituals. We’d like to offer our music to those of you who are making the effort to return ritual and ceremony to an important place in our world; to bring honour, respect and recognition to the special events in people's lives. "Mark and Brenda are artists who come from the heart. Their music speaks a universal language that seems to touch every audience they play to. The atmosphere they create is intimate, warm, playful and rich with meaning and a wise knowing of shared experience that baths their audience with a sense of belonging." Rex McCann Author, Facilitator "Wounding, Wholeness, Integrity and Personal Success" A frank presentation of music, poetry, personal story and challenge, designed for conference seminars. It aims to be engaging, and - if appropriate - interactive. Audiences tend to find themselves getting involved! "If you are in the business of dealing with people, then you want to be comfortable and unafraid with them, not reactive and on tenterhooks all the time, not afraid of what they might think of you. If we carry fear and insecurity into our relationships and activities, that fear and insecurity will cause distance between us and those we're trying to reach. We will always fall short of our potential." "Thanks for an awesomely inspiring address at our recent Adviser Conference. The twenty-year veteran of these events sitting next to me stated you two were the best speakers he had seen. I was impressed how 'inside our heads' you got with a combination of humour, music, poetry and reason. As a fellow musician I admired the way you transformed real feelings into lyrics that everyone understood and identified with. A very enjoyable, interesting and inspiring address." Mike
Handcock "It is a pleasure to commend Mark and Brenda, both as individuals and artists. . .they both possess tremendous gifts of communication." Steve
Tollestrup, "Mark and Brenda have a genuineness, a transparency, and a modesty that comes through their words and music. . .Their honesty and thoughtfulness really communicates well"
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Music, Poetry, Conference
Music has power to affect the way we think and feel. These days we tend to think of music as being purely entertainment, but this has not always been so. Traditionally, most cultures have used music to tell stories, to pass on knowledge, to summon men to war and women to give birth, as a part of the process of healing, and to drive back fear and darkness. Mark and Brenda Laurent have the ability to distil those thoughts and feelings we all share into songs and poetry which can make us laugh, cry, think and feel, and realise that we are not alone. "You might be wondering what a couple of musicians could possibly have to offer the business world. But like many of you, we're self-employed. Like you, we have a product to offer which people aren't necessarily sure that they want or need. Like you, we are the ambassadors for what we have to offer - and people measure that offer by the way they perceive us." Mark has been a professional musician and communicator for over thirty years. He has been a producer/session musician and has worked on television and radio. He is also a writer, having published a collection of poetry, and contributed articles to various local and international magazines. Mark's congenital eye disorder has helped him to develop an empathy with the vulnerability of others. He has some training and experience both as a counsellor and spiritual director. "We all have a weakness - a wounding - it's part of being human, it is the human condition." Brenda has performed for over twenty years in Australia and New Zealand, mainly in duos and bands, and also as a session musician. She has had a long, passionate and activist involvement in the environment and peace movements; social and planetary concerns have focussed and enriched her life and writing. A number of her songs have been included in documentary soundtracks, and in 1988 she won a United Nations environment songwriting contest. She also writes poetry and has contributed articles on ecology and spirituality, politics, and gender issues to several magazines. Together, Mark and Brenda have recorded over a dozen albums and also published a book of poetry. Acoustic music is their specialty and they play guitars, mandolin (and other strange things with strings on), harmonicas, percussion, etc. They are both strong vocalists and songwriters, and their repertoire is an eclectic mix of acoustic rock, blues, country and ballads. They have toured extensively in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, performing at clubs, festivals, house concerts, cafes, schools, churches, seminars and all kinds of special events. |
