For a singer, singing isn’t a choice. It’s a compulsion. We must sing.
In the shower, in the car, nursery rhymes, the happy birthday song… every chance to sing is a happy moment.
For the choir creature, the highest form of singing is in harmony with others. We join our brothers and sisters around the world in desperate longing to sing with others right now.
As such, it is worth noting the creative, awkward, and at times desperate ways singers are attempting to sing together safely in this time.
Take one of our unofficial* garage singing groups, who met last week to sing in a parking garage in Boulder. The search for a public space with room to spread, favorable airflow and satisfactory acoustics is not easy. During their session last week, they had to compete with a jackhammer job!
(Bravo, crew!)
The choir creature will sing on. On Election Tuesday, another group met to sing in the evening. They put down their phones, abandoned their news feeds, forgot about division in the world. And for 90 blissful minutes they centered themselves on shared vibrations and shared meaning.
Choir singers need each other.
I know all Cantabilites are finding a way to sing right now, whether amongst themselves, with their household members, or alongside a favorite recording.
While we are grateful for any opportunity to sing, whether alone in the shower or together with jackhammer, it is no replacement for Cantabile rehearsals and performances.
The great irony of this season is that choir singers need each other more than ever. We need harmony, we need unity, we need shared experience and we need connection. Yet chorale signing is simply out of reach.
But we will not lose heart. We will persevere and find creative ways to overcome. And cling to those small moments of unison with something or someone.
Above all, we know that this season… this too shall pass.
Until next time…
Earth Song
Frank Ticheli
Sing, be, live, see
This dark stormy hour
The wind, it stirs
The scorched Earth cries out in vain
Oh war and power, you blind and blur
The torn heart cries out in pain
But music and singing have been my refuge
And music and singing shall be my light
A light of song, shining strong
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Through darkness and pain and strife
I’ll sing, I’ll be, live, see
Peace