SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Do not make your recording while driving. Singing is important, but not at the cost of your life!
What is it about real-life situations that make it so easy and fun to find song? There’s a philosophical question for another day. Today, let this be our Prompt: sing something appropriate for driving.
In can be any kind of drive you want. Lazy Sunday drive? Sure. Zipping down the autobahn with no speed limit? As you like. Top down? 4-wheeling in the mud? Luxury automobile? Go wild. Speeding through a neighborhood, flipping off innocent bystanders? Not a lifestyle choice we’d condone, but if that’s your song…
Here is a demo response from Amado, just to break the ice. Plus, y’know, can we invoke Bobby?
Options
It’s good to have options. Here we offer ways that you can meet this prompt right where you are; or, alternatively, ways you can challenge yourself more deeply with it.
Option A: The Sincerest Form – For an easier stretch, listen once through your five favorite driving songs—or, five times through your single favorite driving song (or any similar combination)—shortly before you sit down to improvise. Your improvisation may be a cover, or may simply take inspiration from what you’ve heard. Channel your inspirations, but remember not to judge yourself on how closely you’re able to match them. They are just there to show you the way.
Option B: Not Your Typical Sunday Drive – For a deeper stretch, interpret the word “drive” differently. Perhaps your drive is like what Saint Patrick did with the snakes. Perhaps you are driven in some way, by some purpose. Or, perhaps you’re not driving a car—perhaps you’re in a foreign land, driving a horse-drawn carriage, or a carriage drawn by an animal you’ve never encountered before. Where does your drive take you? Sing us that sound.
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 Driving recording.
- 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, March 30, 2015.
Length: The length of your finished work should be as long as you want, within reasonable limits. Try to go for at least a minute.
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-driving]” in the title of your track. Also include the term “sss-driving” 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 “Prompt 9: Sing something for Driving.” 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!