I've always loved music, and it has been a large part of my life since I was a little one. Whether it was lying across the back seat of my dad's car singing along with the radio, or singing as our music teacher Miss Maynard taught us songs in first grade, music has always been close to my heart.
In High School, I made the decision to take chorus as a class. The longtime music teacher had just left, and a new guy, Josef Konkol had just started.
I was a shy kid in High School, so I didn't try out for any solos or any starring roles in the musicals. But, oh, what a GREAT time I had. Between our chorus class, concerts and musicals, I was able to really expand the types of music I was exposed to.
(No offense to dad's Merle Haggard or mom's Roger Whittaker, ha ha)
I was a soprano in those days, and that suited me just fine. I was always harmonizing with songs when I sang along with the radio, and chorally I found that we often had the harmony part. I loved it! "Mr. K" as we quickly dubbed him showed us that music was a vast expanse, and there was much to love about it.
I was a tad "fish out of water" occasionally. The Class of '82 was definitely not short on talent, if I may say. I felt like I was surrounded by superstars, and it was a tad intimidating. But it never stopped me, my uber talented classmates were amazing to watch and I could only be happy for them.
Being in the chorus for the musical all 4 years of High School was wonderful. Hanging around in the auditorium for rehearsals for weeks on end and going to DQ as a cast and crew were heaven to me and seeing all the behind-the-scenes details of how a production was put together was unbelievable.
To this day, I have a love for Broadway music, and so very much more. So many things are a part of my life because of what you taught us. Thanks, Mr. K.
Chorus at school gave me the confidence to sing in the church choir, our director was named Laurie Cetto. (I could be spelling that wrong.) She was amazing, and I loved being in the choir. That was my first experience singing along with guitar. One of the priests at Holy Rosary, Father Denis Cote, also played guitar and sang. Denis was a good soul, and he made a huge difference. May he Rest In Peace.
In between Chorus and Choir, I was listening to Wings Over America by Paul McCartney and Wings. I played that album over and over. I loved the Bee Gees, little brother Andy Gibb and John Denver. John Denver had actual thoughts on how we should be treating our little planet, and he impressed me so much. I was so sad later when we lost him. I also liked Barry Manilow, Styx and REO Speedwagon.
Later, in the "Search" and "TEC" programs in Youth Ministry, I very much enjoyed singing along with my guitar playing friends. It just felt so good.
When my kiddos were little, I raised them with Rock n Roll. We listened to Tom Petty& The Heartbreakers, Beatles, McCartney's Flaming Pie, Zep and a few others. I always sang along in the car and it was just something we did together. We saw some concerts as a family, like Tom Petty, and some others with just my sons and I in various combinations.
Somewhere along the line, things got challenging. Just life, you know? I stopped singing. I didn't belong to any local groups for singing. I stopped listening in the car, didn't even really listen while I worked when "work from home" happened later. Music just wasn't important in my life anymore.
Long story short, which I can blog about another day, I came to understand that I have a deep sensitivity to being exposed to too much mental, visual and auditory stimuli all at once. I get super overwhelmed, and it can shut me down. It causes a great deal of anxiety. I'm getting much better at self-care and I have far better tactics to be able to care for myself in effective ways, so I don't get quite as overwhelmed these days. There could definitely be a missed diagnosis in there somewhere, but like I said, that's a story for another day.
The wonderful part about taking proper care of myself is that music is creeping back into my life. I always play it when I'm on my fitness walks, and sometimes while I work. I'm following new work coming out by bands and artists I like.
And....I'm singing again. It started in the car. Because where else can you belt it out and sound like a dying cow and no one can hear you?! That was as far as it's gotten.
Until today.
I went to services at UUSGU today. I joined this vibrant and wonderful community a few years ago, and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I have to give a shout out to Barry Hall and Bob Nicoll who led our music when I first joined. The music you shared and led us in were a huge part of my feeling comfortable at UUSGU and wanting to keep coming back to try another service so many times. Blessings to you both.
Our current music director, Lisa Utzig is just brilliant. So many times, since she has joined us I have found myself listening to her at the piano and just being taken to another place. It's been a while since that happened, I must admit. Thank you for that, Lisa.
And so, that brings us to today. The songs we had on tap at service this morning were just perfect and brought forward so much of what we were discussing at service. I was really feeling inspired and wanted so much to sing, like I did in the old days. I was nervous, thinking I probably sound horrible.
It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, at least based on the fact that nobody turned around and stared at me! Maybe I sound ok, maybe I don't. Maybe I'm choir material. Perhaps I sound terrible. If I can ever get off this 1:30 to 9:00 (pm) shift maybe I'll call Lisa, join our choir and we will find out.
One thing is certain. I am NOT a soprano anymore! Age will do that to you. So, today I took it down the octave and it was mostly comfortable. No one but me knew I hadn't really been singing for so many years now. Nobody knew I was taking a chance and returning to an old love.
But I knew. And it was nice. Really nice.