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So far she has done 15 of these classes, some broadcast on BBC-TV. Together they form "the most incredible experience of my life," she says, one that frequently moves her to tears—both during the sessions and afterward, when she receives up to 500 e-mails. Music can be frustrating because it's invisible. But as she coaches ordinary people on their singing she can see them connecting with music's power and discovering their own. She's positive they'll take that power home and share it, and sometimes she's privileged to witness someone starting to change his life. In a recent class, a man came onstage and froze. There was no question of singing; he could not even turn to face the audience. Bonney ended up on the floor, hugging the man as he lay there until he summoned the courage to stand.

In Francis Poulenc's "Les Mamelles de Tiresias," in Japan, the role of Terese called for Bonney to run up to conductor Seiji Ozawa, who would pop the helium balloons inside her blouse with a pin on the end of his baton. Bonney says it was "great fun."

Whatever else her future may bring, Bonney is sure these classes will be part of it. As with many great passions, this one started accidentally. Halfway through a recital in Cologne, she lost her voice—bad news in any concert, but disastrous in this one, which was being broadcast live on radio. In the yawning silence, for no reason she can explain, she found herself asking, "Would anyone in the audience like to come up and sing?"

Her accompanist looked at her as if she were insane, and for a moment when no one moved, she thought she might be. Then an elderly woman inched onto the stage and, clutching her handbag, sang Schubert. The crowd went wild. Bonney coached her with a few basic tips. The woman sang again, more confidently, and the crowd went wilder. Suddenly 50 people had their hands in the air, eager to sing next, and Bonney had the beginnings of a new vocation.

Charting your life's course is really quite simple, Barbara Bonney is explaining. Stuff happens. You deal with it. Bring on the next stage. ~

* Editor's note: Name withheld on request.

Jane Harrigan, a professor of journalism at UNH, is a former managing editor of the Concord Monitor.

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