Singing up a Composition

 The new project mentioned in my last post is progressing very nicely!   One of the new compositions is titled "The Wetlands Rhapsody"  and is a choral piece for multiple voices.  Here's a pic of the 'scratch choir' who listened, learned, and recorded the piece in just one day!

It was quite a challenge.  Nobody had heard the music.  Some had never sung this type of music before.  Most couldn't read music.  But they put their heart and soul into making it happen.  They were awesome!

Soup's up

As I'm head down-tail up getting ready for this year's SOUP! event, I'm reflecting on the fact that this is the tenth year of the annual winter event.
Where the heck did that decade go?!?!?
And I'm thinking of all the people that have participated in SOUP! over the years .... some have gone on to bigger and better, some have plateau'd, and some have faded into obscurity.  Bit like the rest of life really.
And how adventurous we were with SOUP! in some years - especially when we moved from the Teralba hall into the quaint and charming ReX theatre in Bolton Street.  How tiny is that stage?!  Yet we managed to get dance troupe's, circus performers, theatre sets, and full bands accommodated for some zany nights. 
The city logistics have forced a move to The Dungeon this year and who knows what the next 10 years [if there IS another decade of life left in SOUP!] will bring to the event.  But omigosh.... 'the
little event that could' has certainly grown legs!  And it's walking through it's community - as a true community music event should.
VIVA LA SOUP!

{check the SOUP! page on this blog for details}

Why ~ Community?

So often I'm asked by friends with puzzled looks on their face/s ..."WHY do you put all this effort in when you get so little or nothing out of it?"  And it's not easy to articulate an answer when we live in a world where there is an expectation of what's in it for me?
Yup!  I'm back in the middle of a big theatre production where surplus profits are being donated to a local NFP - the Merewether Community Kitchen.   And that means, as writer/director/producer I'm overwhelmed with rehearsals, costumes, props, sets, sound, lights, promotion, - those myriad details that go in to putting on a production.
And I do that willingly because
a)  this is one of my creative 'voices'
b) I get to mentor, challenge, and develop others in their craft (with the satisfaction involved in seeing them achieve)
c) I get to bring laughter and happiness to so many people, participants/audience/recipients
d) I get to make a difference in individuals lives and in my community
e) ...and a dozen other reasons including the sheer joy and fun of seeing it all come together.
....BUT don't give me too many accolades .....
do you have any idea of how MANY members of the community get involved?
Let's hear a big round of applause for;

• the performers who give up their Sunday afternoons for @ 3 months plus an evening through the week to get to rehearsals.....not to mention the hours they put in learning lines, moves, choreography, lyrics ..... for no tangible reward
• the technical crew ...a Set Director who spends hours of time creating and building a set to fit each production ....a Sound Director who comes to every rehearsal to plan his strategy and technical requirements for the show.....a Lighting Director who utilises extensive skills to create the atmosphere to fit the show 
• the musicians who give up their Sunday's too for rehearsals and an occasional mid-week evening as well
• the volunteers ...ladies who manage the door, help distribute promotional material, the helping hands who assist with moving, building, making, the various bits to showcase the production.... and the helpers who lend a hand to set up and pack up the chairs .....these folks don't even get a round of applause to say thanks !

.....all of these people - and me - must be nuts!  But we are part of our community.  And so are YOU

.....So next time you're sitting at home alone with your telly and tech gadgets, wondering if life is going by at a blur....it probably is.   Engage with your community ..... get along to a local performance of something, celebrate the members of your community doing SOMETHING in, and for, your community.  That's the stuff that connects and builds a community  
You never know, you just might enjoy being an active part of that community.

Music in the Community

I had the pleasure this week of addressing a local Rotary Club where I shared  some of my songs, along with some insight into the life of a working musician.

Just as there's a marked difference to working in a major corporation vs working in a small to micro-small business, so it is with Music and the Arts.   Some musicians are in there for fame, fortune, recognition ....and few of those will achieve their big dreams in a world where commercial interests take priority over the artform.  But - and leaving aside the hobbyist players - there is a substantial number of musicians, working at community level, with a whole different set of priorities.

Community musicians have a passion to engage with their community, to make a contribution to the betterment of their community, and to foster a passion for their art within the community.  Some of them do this by actively working with  individuals and groups - teaching, sharing, encouraging others to get involved in music.  {A great example locally is Mark Jackson who instigated the Newcastle Ukestra which now numbers hundreds of individual members.  Many of those had never known the joy of making music.  The movement has community members helping other community members in small groups and encouraging friendship and connection amongst people of all ages}.

Others make a difference in the daily life of individuals by busking - uplifting someone with a smile makes a difference. A thread of music from another human being may just distract and uplift someone carrying a particularly  heavy burden at that moment.  Whilst others take the stories of individuals in the community and write them in songs, creating a melodic record of the day to day life in our community, our society.

It's an important role that these artists fill in the world around us.  Yet they are - for the most part - terribly undervalued,  underrated and unrecognised for the contribution they make.

Mega concerts and huge arts events may be a commercial drawcard which benefits Councils and governments through tourism dollars.  But it is the smaller, intimate, community-focused, Arts & Music-based functions and events which enriches the individuals who live in the community and which builds a community spirit.  And it's community musicians and artists that make those things come alive.

what a year!

Gosh readers,
I can't begin to tell you what an extraordinary year its been musically!

From directing 2 festivals and an annual community concert.....3 tours.....writing/directing/producing my first musical.....organising local music initiatives.....supporting various fundraisers ...writing new songs.....and various commercial gigs locally.....forming a new comedy duo and writing material for it ......no wonder I'm feeling exhausted!

There's been a couple of low points but mostly some great memories made this year. I've just come back from the Folk in Broke Music Festival and am, once again, blown away by the enormous wealth of talent this country has .....largely undiscovered. And its so sad that so many of our creative souls have to go overseas to get the recognition that they so richly deserve.

My last initiative is this coming Saturday night - its Comedy Night at the RX Theatre in Newcastle - and then I'll be ready to kick back and catch up on all the social that I've missed out on this year. [can't fit it all in, can you? or can you??]

I hope you've managed to get out there and support some live music/performance a few times this year - remember that if it's not supported it will not survive...and what sort of a legacy is THAT to leave the next generation?