Inspired to Sing

For the past two days I have been becoming obsessed with Pentatonix. I mean, in a fit of uncontrollable awe over their talent I bought a VIP ticket for their upcoming concert. I don't go to that many concerts, and I certainly don't buy VIP tickets at one in the morning. I guess I'll have to revise my opinion of myself on that front. I do, however, feel that it was a good decision, because Pentatonix is so incredible that any objections due to being a poor University student are invalid.

The group's music and their comradery made me wish that next semester was already here (I had decided to join a choir then, something I haven't done in three years). It also made me really want to jam with someone. Luckily, I have a talented house mate. We ended up jamming for about two hours straight and it was perfect. I felt the part of my soul that only music reaches opening up again.

Living in the city, in a sardine-like town house community, I always feel obtrusive if I sing because the walls are so thin and I can get kind of loud -and it doesn't always sound good. But I guess a part of me had been feeling somewhat held down. I'm so blessed to be able to head home for Christmas and stand out in a field and sing "The Hills Are Alive" as loudly as I want, and without fear that it may sound bad. If it does, only the trees and rocks can complain, and they're usually a good audience. 

When my house mate and I jammed, we set up a line-up that we want to work on. It consists of acoustic versions of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, Gnarls Barkley's Crazy (my favourite), Outkast's Hey Ya (version: Obediah Parker's cover), and The Paper Kites' Bloom. We also played around with an acapella version of Otis Redding's Sitting on the Dock of the Bay. As I've already said, it felt so good.

I don't know if you've ever had a similar experience, where you held down a part of yourself in order to get along in society with more ease. I'm all for rationality and trying to keep a serious outlook on life, but sometimes you really do have to follow you heart.

 You can't detach your 'reasonableness' from your passions (or vice-versa) any more than you can detach your head from your heart and still survive.