How can I sing?
Thank you to Lorcan from Plain in the City for reminding me that everyone can and should sing. This is a lesson I need to re-learn every so often because I was so often silenced as a child. At one point, I was even told that God would prefer it if I didn't ruin the harmonies of the choir. Oh. You see, I have a lot of difficulty knowing what key I am in, so while I may enjoy singing, other people often don't enjoy hearing me sing. So I tend to sing when I can't be heard - quietly while other people sing loudly, or in the car, or off in the woods, or just on an empty sidewalk.
This isn't to say I can't do other things - that same choir director did recommend me as a good reader, and I became a lector pretty young. I have done liturgical dance, sign interpretation, and of course readings. This continued for a long time, until I visited a friend's church and began my usual routine of waiting until everyone else was singing loudly to sing quietly. My friend, after services, took me aside and told me that God was missing my voice. My voice? My off-key voice? The one that got me in trouble so often? Oh, yes, that voice. God made that voice, girl, so that it could be heard. When the Spirit moves through you, you're meant to sing out with it, lift a joyful noise unto the Lord, let the heavens ring. Hallelluyah!
And so, the next time, I sang a little louder, and the ceiling didn't fall in, and nobody told me to be quiet, couldn't I hear that I was singing badly? And while I never sang as loudly as some in that congregation, I began to reclaim singing, at least to myself. Sometimes, I need the reminder. Thanks again, Lorcan.
This isn't to say I can't do other things - that same choir director did recommend me as a good reader, and I became a lector pretty young. I have done liturgical dance, sign interpretation, and of course readings. This continued for a long time, until I visited a friend's church and began my usual routine of waiting until everyone else was singing loudly to sing quietly. My friend, after services, took me aside and told me that God was missing my voice. My voice? My off-key voice? The one that got me in trouble so often? Oh, yes, that voice. God made that voice, girl, so that it could be heard. When the Spirit moves through you, you're meant to sing out with it, lift a joyful noise unto the Lord, let the heavens ring. Hallelluyah!
And so, the next time, I sang a little louder, and the ceiling didn't fall in, and nobody told me to be quiet, couldn't I hear that I was singing badly? And while I never sang as loudly as some in that congregation, I began to reclaim singing, at least to myself. Sometimes, I need the reminder. Thanks again, Lorcan.
posted by Plain Foolish | 12:31 PM
2 Comments:
Just do it. Don't worry about it. If you don't worry about it, it will be easier; the nuts-and-bolts stuff will get better with practice and so will the spiritual/psychical stuff.
I'm not ignoring your answer. I'm sitting with it, actually. Singing alone is something I sometimes do. Every now and again (mostly when I'm driving and need to stay awake) I inflict my singing on my husband. But I pick at not feeling like I can sing like a 5-year-old with a scab. I think sometimes what I really need to do is stop saying things like "inflict my singing", but at the same time, the few times I've tried singing, I've seen it bother people with better pitch. Meh.
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