Capstone #1

This post keeps getting deleted and restarted. I have written articles in the

years previous which detail grief, social dilemmas, and personal accounts. Nearly always the goal is to bring each of these topics back to the Gospel. Today I am embarking on an entirely different wing and writing the first of eight mandatory blog posts over the course of the coming pedagogical year. These posts are to fulfill the requirement for my “Capstone Project” completion of my bachelors degree in music.

The four ideas which were swirling in my head as I ran into this semester have been narrowed down into only two. I will elaborate on my favorite idea, and if it fails miserably, I guess the next blog post will be about my backup plan. Frankly, the former would be the only, but this global pandemic issue has really put a wrench in my desired plan. Ironically, it was the people I met, and the longing I experienced as a result of COVID-19, which inspired the final project I wish to create.

So what is my idea and how did it come about? I could write pages on this, because it has been so influenced by the people and experiences of my life, but I will try and consolidate for those who bother to read this far…which in reality is probably only my prof.

In attempted brief form: The pandemic has caused me to miss singing with others and blending voices in person more than I ever thought I could imagine. The reality of what is missing has brought up a plethora of childhood memories:
Of “after-sings” at Church gatherings, when my extended family would stand in a tight-knit circle for what would sometimes become five or six hours straight of singing harmonies in multiple languages into the night.
Family Reunions when we would all bust into spontaneous harmonies.
The family dinner table when we would burst into song so often that it eventually became a family rule: “no singing at the table.”
It also made me aware of how loud and showy modern church worship has become, with the subs turned up so loud, no one can even hear themselves… much less learn how to blend any sort of harmony with the person next to them. I am missing the days of singing in the Saint Laurent Choir, where we could blend our voices without fear of passing along the dreaded Corona virus and huffing and puffing into a mask.

And pretty much this entire realization came from one evening driving with someone I barely knew, where we both belted out a favorite worship song at the top of our lungs with the windows down. In that moment something in my heart cracked open, as I realized how badly I needed this interaction with human beings. The sharing of song…of breath….of pneuma (as it is sometimes referred to in the New Testament.)

So here became the idea which stems from:

• My own sense of loss driving an understanding of how humans need community. And what better way than singing together???
• Some guy in Toronto who started CHOIR!CHOIR!CHOIR!: a news-worthy mass-choir of random individuals.
• A lack of ability for people to be vulnerable in their self-expression, and a driving knowledge that art can free them to be known.
• That one time two random people were so busy belting out song lyrics that they missed their turn and nearly got lost.

Clearly the problem in all of this is that with the global pandemic we aren’t allowed to gather in groups right now. In fact as I write this, Montreal is once again shutting down into the code red zone. I am sure a lot of people in Montreal are beginning to feel the ache of loneliness with the mere expectation of the coming 28 days.

I figure the compilation of materials, conducting preparation, and organization of all this can become my project. In the meantime we will pray and cross our fingers that the first performance/ practice can GO DOWN before the end of Winter semester.

So here goes the breakdown:

1. Creating arrangements! Obviously this has to be:

Songs people can learn quickly
Basic melodies
1–2 simple harmonies for the musically inept
Possibly body percussion
Occasional soloists

Ideally the goal is to find enough songs for about an hour of music. So between 6–12 songs. Which I guess amounts to arranging (or tweaking) 1–2 songs each month for the duration of the year.

Question to self: is my goal audience intended to be ANYONE, or is it geared towards bringing stiff church people out of their Hillsong & Bethel shaped molds?

2. Practicing my leading and conducting

Elizabeth Green conducting book exercises:

This was previously suggested to me from another course that got dropped at the beginning of the Pandemic pandemonium. It always irked me that I never completed it. Nothing like rounding off the pandemic by using it to enable my thesis project!!!

Practice guitar/ piano/ individual parts:

Obviously the leading others part is difficult to practice without actual time to stand in front of people. Dang pandemic. But hey…you can only do what you can do.

3. Prepare warmups which encourage those who believe themselves to be musically-challenged to feel and become acquainted with their vocal chords and diaphragm.

4. Try and snag an interview with the CHOIR!CHOIR!CHOIR dudes…for ideas and inspiration.

There are a great deal more things I could say, but I am pretty convinced that is enough for now. Will it be emotionally difficult to prepare community music in a time where human interaction is so painfully lacking?

100%

But see, the GOAL of this project is:

• To form community
• Oxytocin!!!= bonding & trust with strangers-who-are-potential-friends
• Musical confidence which leads to Self-confidence!!!

And really, if we can have a first get-together after a global pandemic which achieves all that…who could possibly protest?

I truly believe that “Anyone-can-pella!” if they want to :)

So there it is. A Capstone Project developed from the desperation for community during a global pandemic. Now to see if the possibility will ever play out….