Are you in a creative funk?
With all that is going on in our lives and in the world, singing may feel futile, pointless, and self-indulgent.
When my voice teacher Andrew Byrne visited The Practice Parlour, he encouraged everyone to “keep singing.”
With the exception of the last two traumatic weeks of March, I haven’t stopped singing. My family and neighbors undoubtedly wish I would stop from time to time! Singing has been essential to my coping - a way to maintain a sense of normalcy and purpose.
Newton’s law of motion says that an object in motion stays in motion.
But the opposite is also is true: an object at rest stays at rest.
I know that not everyone has experienced the impulse or desire to sing through these life-altering times. Your soul care may have required rest, and that’s okay.
So what if you stopped singing and are now feeling the weight of inertia on your art?
The great Gospel hymn His Eye Is On the Sparrow says, “I sing because I’m happy. I sing because I’m free.”
But what if the multitude of plagues on our nation and industry leave you feeling neither happy nor free? What do you do then?
The reasons for your vocal pause may be vast and complicated, but the solution is simple.
Start singing.
“I do not sing because I am happy. I am happy because I sing,” said psychologist William James.
So start singing, my friend, and perhaps happiness, freedom and the motivation to create will follow.
This blog post was inspired by my JWS Online family and Jen Waldman’s blog post Simpler Solutions. What are you singing these days? Let me know in the comments below!
