If you are reading this, you are almost certainly ALIVE. Your heart is beating, your lungs are working. This all started before you were born, so it’s natural that you might take it for granted.
But in the scheme of things, being alive is not all that common. In fact, it is rare and precious. Even those of us who are lucky enough to have the gift of life won’t have it forever. So let’s not wait to celebrate this life that moves through us. Let’s do it now.
This week, your prompt is just to stop, pay attention to the feeling of being alive, and sing from there.
Option A: Introspective. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Take another one. Feel your feet on the ground. Feel the sensation of your skin. Listen to your breathing. See if you can hear your heartbeat. Notice any sensations in your body. Now open your mouth. Let some air out. Now let that air turn into a tone. Don’t worry about how it sounds. Just do your best to express the feeling of being alive, in your body, at this particular moment.
Option B: Retrospective. Imagine you have just walked into a room. It is a white room in a hospital. There is a bed, and in the bed lies a very old person. As you look more carefully, you notice this human being resembles a much older version of yourself. You begin to sing a lullaby, hoping to lull the elder into an easy passing. But the patient speaks: “I’m still alive. So are you. That might change any time — for both of us! But while you can, sing me what it feels like to be alive!” So you do.
(And speaking of Alive!, if you are in Calif. or Michigan, don’t miss the reunion of Rhiannon’s women’s jazz quintet of the same name!)
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 yourself alive.
- 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 20, 2015.
Length: The length of your finished work should be about the lifespan of a small insect.
Description: It would be awesome to include a short description of where and when you sang your piece.
Title/Tag: When uploading to SoundCloud, put “[sss-alive]” in the title of your track. Also include the term “sss-alive” 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 25: Alive!” More on the Society for Spontaneous Singing at http://singthis.org .
Thank you, sweet singers!
Yours,
Jascha & Amado