Quick! Observe your feelings and thoughts!
What was your first reaction to the phrase “the forest”? Enchantment? Danger? Dirt? Adventure? Familiar, or foreign? Welcome, or unwanted? This week we want to tap in to your personal experience of a forest (or forests in general) and hear what it sounds like. So take a moment now to notice your reaction, before reading on.
It doesn’t have to be a literal forest. Maybe your forest is the so-called Urban Jungle. Or maybe you hike and climb mountains, so the idea of a forest is intertwined with cliffs and mountains for you. Or an undersea forest for the scuba divers out there. Whether it’s a specific tree that means something to you or the non-specific idea of wilderness…
Your Prompt: sing something that reflects your immediate reaction to the idea of The Forest. Eager or scared, intimate or remote, concrete or abstract, sing how you react to The Forest.
For an example, Amado (yours truly) is at it again. Check out this song for a meditation on a metaphorical forest that represents, in his mind at the moment, the musical material that he navigates through as he weaves a melodic line. He’s a guide, running with you on safe(-ish) paths through the terrain. See, we told you it doesn’t have to be literal.
Options
It’s good to have options. Here are ways to perhaps make the prompt a bit easier, or ways to go a bit further with it.
Option A: Looking Grimm – for an easier stretch, check out this list of fairy tales or think of one that you’re personally familiar with. So many of Grimm’s fairy tales are set in a forest; pick one and sing a soundtrack to it, or just sing a song about it.
Option B: The Forest Sings You – For a deeper stretch, let’s get waaay out of our own skin. What does the forest think of you? If a crowd of trees could sing like a human, what song would it sing at the thought of you, personally, coming for a visit? Sing that song.
To Contribute
The steps are as follows:
- Step 0: Sign up for a free SoundCloud account here. Join the SSS group.
- Step 1: Record yourself singing your forest-inspired song.
- Step 2: Upload to SoundCloud and post the track to the SSS group.
- Step 3: Listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow singers. (Play nice!)
Deadline: Your tracks should be uploaded by midnight wherever you are on Monday, July 6, 2015.
Length: The length of your finished work should be about 2 to 5 minutes, or however long you need to sing your forest song.
Description: It would be awesome to include a short description of where and when you sang your piece—and how it felt.
Title/Tag: When uploading to SoundCloud, put “[sss-forest]” in the title of your track. Also include the term “sss-forest” as a tag. This will help us find it.
Group: Once the track is uploaded, click on the “Add to group” button below the waveform and make sure to select the Society for Spontaneous Singing group. (This option will only appear if you have already joined the group! So do that now.)
Linking: You are welcome to include this info in your description:
This track is a reply to “SSS Prompt 23: The Forest” More on the Society for Spontaneous Singing at http://singthis.org. You can join the SSS at https://soundcloud.com/groups/society-for-spontaneous-singing
Thank you, sweet singers!