Tuesday, December 7, 2010

reverb 7 - Harmony

Community.
Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010?
What community would you like to join, create
or more deeply connect with in 2011?

I'm singing away as I write this. Little bits of tunes, that might sound a little off out loud because they're missing the harmony that accompanies in my mind. A harmony that comes from 50 or 60 voices, broken into four parts and joined in one song. One voice.

I joined a choir this fall, and this is one of the places I have found community. Unexpectedly. It was meant simply to be a creative outlet for me. A place to soothe my soul with song. But, as the choir leader put it today: "Harmony needs community, and harmony builds community".

So (almost) every Tuesday I show up to share my voice. I am greeted by a large group of familiar faces - warm people who make me feel welcome and offer encouragement. I've even gained a new friend, and she is pushing me outside of myself, further then I've ventured just in the act of showing up. And a fun-loving 68 year old grandmother who reminds me to settle for nothing less than what brings me joy.

Thanks to this prompt I am seeing myself as a part of many communities, and realizing how much harmony I am beginning to have within. I used to keep myself so guarded and locked away, careful and selective of who I would connect with, for fear of losing a piece of me. Instead I have found that when you connect more freely with others, you can connect more easily to yourself. One of the song verses really stood out to me today, because it honours this new awareness.

In darkness we cradled our sorrow,
And stoked all our fires with fear.
Now these bones that lay empty and hollow,
Are ready for gladness to cheer.
(Follow the Heron - Karine Polwart)

What's to come? I made the commitment to join in again with the choir in the new year, because it brings me joy, therefore I will find a way to make it work. And I'm looking forward to seeing some familiar AEDM faces with me on the Creative Every Day challenge of 2011.

Here's one of the songs that dances in my head during the week when I'm not at choir. It's just not the same without the a capella voices and harmonies of my little community choir. Maybe I will try to get a recording next week, at our last gathering before the holidays...

3 comments:

Cinderita said...

I read this last night from the comfort of my princess bed after getting your tweet and loved loved loved it so much that I am not inspired to join yours or some other choir. it's on my list after all.

too bad i can't sing. xo

jeanne hewell-chambers said...

this is lovely. you know (no you don't, how could you?) i have music in my blood thanks to my maternal grandmother. my daughter is a very, very, very talented vocalist also teaches voice lessons, and i've been trying to get her to conduct a group of my friends who don't want to perform in front of an audience (okay, i do, but they don't) - we just want the intrinsic value that comes from harmonious singing together. (i know it kinda' doesn't fit from a grammatical perspective, but i just had to use the word "together".)

i've already made a note of that song and am sending her a link to thise beautiful post that is the perfect way to start my daily blog crawl!

Creatively Sensitive said...

Cinders... I'm glad you were inspired! I will send the info to you. Mine's in the day time, so you will probably have to join one of the other evening ones. Same leader though I believe, and probably a younger crowd :)

wholly jeanne... Thanks for the visit and I'm glad I got your reading off to a good start :) HarmoniousLy singing together? Our little(!) choir doesn't perform which is one of the reasons why I joined. Less pressure and it's more about being in the moment and enjoying creating something together. I will try to get the arrangement for the four part harmony for this song... it's So beautiful.