poetry and song

Last night at practice we had a short discussion about poetry and song...how it is often difficult to understand the lyrics to songs when we hear a choir sing...how reading the lyrics as a poem can help us make sense of the song.

A song is still a song without the words.  It may touch us in a different way.  And poetry is music to me even though it doesn't have a melody in the way a song does.  I tell my elementary school students that we always want to strive to make music, not just noise.  I think this applies to choir practice, performance and life. A line from an Amy Grant song I listened to in high school comes to mind: "It's not a song 'til it touches your heart".  We will keep striving to make our lyrics clear, but most of all we will strive to touch a heart each time we sing.

The Arrow and the Song
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

recording from Brookdale

I recorded our singing at Brookdale Place on Tuesday for Nancy and thought others might like to hear it as well.  Click here to listen.

We will have a regular practice this coming week.  See you then!

Bread and Roses

This is one of the new songs we are working on.  It has a beautiful melody with a very powerful message.
listen

We sang our hearts out at the DNC

Here we are singing to Julie Rose from WFAE, our lone audience member.  It's a shame they couldn't have put the free speech platform somewhere a little more accessible and a little less desolate.
After a few songs we moved to a spot outside the Westin hotel on Stonewall where we had lots of folks to sing to as they passed by.  "This land is your land, this land is my land..."  I think Woody would have been proud.

Singing in the Rain at Matthews Farmers' Market

Here is the crew that made it out despite the thunderstorms on July 12th.  We had fun singing all of the rain songs we could think of and then singing some of our favorites.

And here we are leading a sing along before the Charlotte Folk Society Member Showcase in May at the Great Aunt Stella Center.

Lean on Me

Here is the YouTube link for "Lean on Me" that I promised last night.  Try singing along with your harmony part.

Charlotte Folk Society Pot Luck Dinner

This crowd can sing!