Several weeks ago I accompanied my husband to Walgreens where he got his first Covid vaccine shot. It’s not a location where we normally go, but it wasn’t too far from where we live. He parked the car facing a busy four-lane highway. There the highway runs along the base of a modest sized mountain before it rises and crosses over going south and east.
The other day I pulled out a couple of CDs that I had not listened to in a long time—Lo Gai Saber: Troubadours et Jongleurs 1100-1300 and Forgotten Provence: Music-making in the South of France, 1150-1550. The CDs contain songs...
My memories of Good Friday are of my parents getting up as soon as it was light to plant the garden. It wasn’t just a small garden in the yard. They had purchased acreage around our house where they had a garden plot. Daddy would plow it earlier in the week and have it ready for them to plant on Good Friday. I am not sure where that tradition originated — whether it was from the Farmer’s Almanac or simply Southern Folklore, but my parents religiously planted on Good Friday.
Let me state from the beginning that any list of The Top 20 Greatest Singer-Songwriters is subjective. This is only my opinion, reflects my own musical preferences, and includes those whose music I know and listen to. And, on any given day I might argue that the order and/or content should be changed. This is how it seems to me today at this moment.
Often I get too caught up in work I have to do, work I want to do, and thinking about work I should be doing. Sometimes, to relax and get away from the grind, I simply turn on the TV and enjoy turning off the part of my brain that tells me to work.
Make something that did not exist before you created it. Make some art: compose music, write a poem, draw, or, live as only you can. You are the only one living right now, in this moment, with your experiences, with your dreams, with your abilities, and with your unique perspectives. The world needs your art. You need your art.
After my trip to Nashville, for the Song Camp 201 in May 2007, I began voice lessons with Ron Browning. He is a vocal coach who was, at the time, also a teacher at the Nashville Jazz Workshop. In June, he was going to be on the faculty at the Blue Ridge Song Camp. Although I had only had four lessons with Ron, I already deeply respected his opinions and advice. He urged me to attend.
During October, in the South, the earth begins its yearly process of becoming cold and barren. By December, trees look like bony specters with empty, naked arms reaching out to the sky. Their crunchy, brown leaves lay scattered across the ground. People are bundled in coats, gloves, and hats which inhibit movement. The weight of these heavy fabrics press in on our bodies. We are looking for spring and the freedom of the flowing cotton garments of warmer months
I want to be creative, feel confident in who I am, and have inner calm. I want to accept failures, learn from them, and then move ahead. Finding the path to do this and finding inner peace began, for me, with saying, “I am letting go.”
Every day can be a day of creativity. Many people say they feel more alive and are happier when they are creating. We need to create every day to build our creative muscles. It would be good to just simply dive into some project, but what doubt or fear keeps us from being creative?
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