Some of you may have noticed that I haven\u2019t posted anything on my blog for quite some time. I have written a number of drafts, the topics of which, though interesting up to a point, haven\u2019t really grabbed me. It might be the topics (my blog posts don\u2019t have a particular angle or theme to them) or it might be that writing doesn\u2019t speak to me in quite the same way as it once did.<\/p>\n
What does is music. In fact, that\u2019s how I\u2019m spending most of my free time: in singing and playing. A few years ago, I joined an awesome no-auditions choir. Now, one would think that a choir that doesn\u2019t require auditions wouldn\u2019t be very good. That may be true in some cases, but not in this one. This choir of over 90 voices is awesome, and the music has been a revelation. If you had told me three years ago that I would be singing such complex pieces as Haydn\u2019s Harmoniemesse, Vivaldi\u2019s Gloria, or Rutter\u2019s Requiem (and not only just managing \u2013 truly doing well), I would have waved my hand at you and said, \u201cYeah, right!\u201d <\/p>\n
Funny thing is, when I was a child in elementary school and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would invariably say, \u201cA singer.\u201d I was in my elementary school and junior high school choirs, and sang in musicals in high school (Music Man, Oklahoma!) though never in a lead part. Then, in college, I joined the University of Pennsylvania Balalaika Orchestra, a wonderful ensemble of soprano, alto and bass balalaikas (the bass balalaika: picture a huge triangle with strings), mandolins, and a few guitars. We performed at Penn\u2019s Irvine Auditorium, and one year, sitting alone on stage and dressed like a Russian peasant woman (complete with babushka), I sang a hauntingly beautiful Russian love song while strumming on my soprano balalaika, a la Dr. Zhivago.<\/p>\n
Then I joined Ananda Marga, and my musical endeavors took a back seat to world-saving and teaching meditation. Somehow, I did find time to teach myself how to play the guitar and write a bunch of devotional songs. A few years before I left the group, I managed to get five or six musically inclined didis and dadas (monks and nuns) to do a tape with me. I decided to call it \u201cCountless Shores,\u201d and I had a cover designed, but that was as far as it went. (I still have the master tape, done on a souped-up CD player, stashed away somewhere.)<\/p>\n
Getting back to the present, there\u2019s another musical group I\u2019ve joined, a bunch of musicians who get together every month in what they call an \u201cOpen Circle\u201d to sing and play guitars and other instruments. The way it works is everyone sits in a circle and takes turns singing and playing, or just singing, or just playing, or just requesting a song. Having this monthly commitment gets me to practice guitar regularly and learn a new song or two well enough that I sound halfway decent by the time the next Open Circle comes around.<\/p>\n
Practicing for both choir and open circle takes a lot of time. The choir especially requires a significant time commitment. You can\u2019t just show up to rehearsal every week and expect to learn the music in time for the performance. You have to practice at home – from study CDs, online study tracks, or on your own piano – and if you\u2019re not ready to put in that kind of time, then a choir of this quality is not for you. <\/p>\n
Putting in the time. Just like writing. The difference for me between the two, though, is that I never dread sitting down (or standing up) to sing. And while I have experienced my share of writer\u2019s block, I\u2019ve never heard of or experienced anything called \u201csinger\u2019s block.\u201d Those of you who know how long it took me to write my memoir, The Orange Robe, and why, know that I am perhaps too much of a perfectionist. I wrote draft after draft after draft, almost driving myself crazy with even the tiniest of editing details, and when you do that for a 350-page book, that indeed adds up to a lot of revising and editing! For someone who edits the hell out of everything she writes, it\u2019s wonderfully refreshing to just pick up my music and sing. And another thing: writing can be such a lonely process. Singing in a choir or group is the opposite of lonely, and it\u2019s uplifting and inspiring to add one\u2019s voice to others and create something beautiful.<\/p>\n
\u201cSwan song\u201d in my dictionary is defined as \u201cthe last act, final creative work, etc. of a person, as before retirement or death.\u201d Well, I\u2019m not soon to retire or die, as far as I know. And I haven\u2019t entirely given up writing. I write all the time in my head; it\u2019s just getting to the paper (well to the computer screen) that sometimes takes me more time now than it used to. Not only that, the main character of a novel I\u2019m writing has been clamoring for attention, and I won\u2019t be able to put him off for too much longer. So I know I haven\u2019t given up writing for good. How could I? I\u2019ve written this, haven\u2019t I?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some of you may have noticed that I haven\u2019t posted anything on my blog for quite some time. I have written a number of drafts, the topics of which, though interesting up to a point, haven\u2019t really grabbed me. It … Continue reading