Leaving on a jet plan and American Pie in particular but others as well..... I can also remember her laughing when her choir director offered to let me sing with them in the Christmas Cantata if I wanted and while I said no thank you, she laughed and said yeah I didn't quite have her tone (or ability to carry a tune). Many years later youth, in the youth group I was leading at the time, would discretely tell me that I didn't have to sing the summer camp songs with them if I didn't want to....
However, music has always been a big part of my life and I believe conveys emotions and experiences in ways that very little else does. It provides a modality for us to share our common human experience and to express ourselves - physically, emotionally, and vocally - in ways that very little else does. It allows us to connect to each other, nature, our anscetors, and our future - provides a common thread if we choose to see and feel it. I had not watched Beloved by Toni Morrison until recently (after reading the book and having a particular scene recommended by a new friend as we were discussing the power of music and nature and history). I come back to this scene over and over again when I want that sense of connection and healing....
Beloved - Baby Suggs in the Woods
My musical taste has always been eclectic - with everything from old country, southern rock, hair bands, blues, jazz, old school rap, folk music, bluegrass, celtic, and various other genres finding their way onto my music streams. I once loaned a roadtrip CD I had made to a friend and they came back with the most confused look on their face.... but enjoyed all of the music. I gravitate to music that speaks to my soul and spirit and different times and experiences call for different music. I often hear people talk about how different each of the various genres of music is, and often how different the dance and flow that comes out of the expression of that music is. However, I wonder how true that is - in college I wrote a paper (I'd love to be able to find it again) about the similarities in the hair band ballads of the 80s and early 90s with the poetry of the balladeers in the 18th century - tales of unrequited love, intensity of emotion, undying love, travel and loss and finding again.... emotions running high on all fronts.... Are we really all that different? :)
I sometimes find myself exploring these concepts again when I think about the music that I turn to for growth, relaxation, connection and healing now.... Are the differences really so much greater than the similarities when we explore Appalachian folk music, various other native music (from any native culture - Native American, Alaskan Natives, Tribal music, Celtic music)? While I am not a true student of music and all the intricacies there in (although I'm enjoying exploring this more and more and learning and absorbing all I can).... what I see and hear in what I have read and continue to seek to learn more about - point to commonalities among these musical forms that arose out of a desire to share experiences, stories, emotions, strength, vulnerability and to provide a communication that can be passed along generation to generation and felt as well as spoken or read and can be kept safe when all else is threatened.
I grew up in rural Appalachia Virginia - where my mom could flat foot with the best of them.... and while I tried I never quite was as good as most of them (including her).... however I still have a hard time sitting still when some good bluegrass comes on.... (see the amazing June and Johnny Cash and also some more recent samples).... The music and the dance both arose out of a need to express themselves, to express the intensity of the emotions and experiences as well as to find moments of escape from the challenges of daily life in the unforgiving mountains.
Recently my heart and spirit has been captivated by Argentine tango.... the culture, the music, and expression, the history - the wholistic experience of it. Digging into the lyrics and listening to the music one can feel the experiences of the immigrants who are finding their way and expression through all of the challenges and struggles of settling in a new place, finding and building a new home, and looking to share expression/feeling and connection. Much like with flat footing and other native dances - I see a mix, a creation of movements to convey and share a feeling and story, movements that are only at their most beautiful and expressive when they are synced with the music and can provide a physical expression of the sounds in the music. With tango there is a human to human connection component that some may say is not as present in flat footing or more individual dance expression - but I as I watch the examples of those dance that speak the most to my soul - there is a connection there too - to the music, to the other dancers, to the musicians themselves.... the whole is greater than the sum of the parts in all of these musical expressions.
I decided not to dig into the technical differences between the musical genres or dance genres here - because I'm still too novice in each of them to do them justice yet - so will save that later for when I've had more time for research and my own growth along my journey.... And today will only think about the feeling, the history, and the expression that I see, hear, and feel.... .and a celebration of these ways of communicating and connecting with each other when we let ourselves be truly present with the music and the movement and each other.
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