by Sandy Siegel Miller
I don’t know about you, but I love surprises – good surprises. In these days of COVID-19, I feel like most of the surprises lately have been bad. And then here came all of you, and the dream that Jon and I had of a virtual choir, of not allowing the pandemic to stop us from singing. Jon and I are optimists by nature, and we tend to balance each other, so that on the infrequent occasions that one of us is less-than-enthusiastic, the other is almost always gung-ho! And more typically, we’re both excited and can-do (to a fault sometimes – just ask the Sounds Good staff!).
But I must admit, both of us had some serious doubts about the likelihood that our Sounds Good and Good Memories singers could conquer the technological challenges involved in the making of a virtual choir – two devices, earbud in one ear and listening to yourself sing with the other, recording yourself singing to a “click track” (who had ever heard of a click track before two days ago?), and uploading to an app for a website that is also totally new to our world. Yikes!
Our first surprise was your response to the survey that we created to check out our assumption that maybe this would all be a little too much for our beloved singers. We asked about current levels of tech saavy as well as willingness to give it a try if provided with enough tech support from our staff. And guess what you said? BRING IT ON!!
Our next surprise has been the enthusiasm and courage with which you’ve taken on this project. Today was the first (of 10) days to submit your uploads and when Kelsey got to work this morning there were already 11 files waiting for her! And the questions and comments at this week’s online rehearsals have suggested that many of you are working on your recordings and many more are gearing up to do so.
You amaze me….in the best, good-surprise way!
And I hope that all of you will join me in celebrating the spirit with which you do this, your willingness to take on a task that requires a bunch of brand new learning and that likely challenges your assumptions of what you thought you could do.
These are difficult times. We’re all stuck in our homes, many of us alone, and all of us with times when we feel uncertain, anxious, and overwhelmed. It’s a time when the natural inclination could be to hunker down and avoid anything new and yet here you are, reading a 20-page instructional document, stacking up boxes on which you can balance your cellphone or laptop, and singing your heart out….oh, and don’t forget to smile because after all, The Storm is Passing Over!
And you know what? It is. It will. And we will still be singing….and gathering together…and making new friends….long after COVID is a distant memory. But meanwhile, please give yourself a pat on the back (and a hug from me and Jon) –
I hope you’re proud of your spunkiness, your spirit of adventure, your willingness to help and encourage each other, and, whether or not you ended up sending us a video, your contribution to helping Jon and me find our way through these challenges and keep all of us singing.
Thank you for being my best surprise.
Thank you for being the source of one of my greatest joys.
With love,
Sandy
The Rev. Dr. Sandy Siegel Miller is co-founder of Sounds Good Choir, NFP and Program Director of the Good Memories Choir.
The lyrics of The Storm is Passing Over and to have courage my friend comes into my consciousness almost every day and inspires me onward.
Thanks for the superb variety and poetic musical numbers.
Dearest Sandy,
Talk about spunk…you are spunk, energy and love all wrapped up in one beautiful package!!! Thank you for all your help and encouragement!!!! I thank Jonathan, too, you both take us to high, fun, challenging places.
I can’t wait to see and hear the virtual choir video!
With much love and gratitude,,
Susie
The 20 page tutorial was a piece of work!!!!
Great blog. Thanks for your upbeat attitude. I do have a music question-did I hear st one of the rehearsals that there would be a summer choir thingy?since many trip plans have ir will be canceled it’s possible that a lot of folks will be around. Just asking.
Take care, stay safe, and this weekend I’ll tackle the music booklet.
Sandy. Thank you for your encouraging words and upbeat attitude. We are all lucky and blessed to have you and Jonathan cheering us on at this stressful time of our lives. I also am lucky to have in house tech support from my grandsons,,, giving us bonding time that is joyful 😄 🎶. Thank you ! Many virtual hugs to you and Jon . Pat 💕
Thank you, Sandy, for your uplifting letter and to you and Jon for the great, as well as somewhat challenging idea, to create an online choir. It’s been wonderful to keep singing during this time of uncertainty and to feel the presence of our other choir members while doing it. It’s also been reassuring to have a date(s) every week with Jon and Linda to sing.
Looking forward to seeing everyone is person at some point, but until then we can enjoy our group on Youtube! Thank you all again for your dedication to song and us.
Thanks, Sandy, for a hopeful and happy reminder of what our choirs mean to all of us–whether meeting in person or virtually, Sounds Good and Good Memories bring us together and boost our spirits.
We usually feel wired and alive being with, close to, sharing, hearing, listening to, … now we miss that. We don’t have the control to modulate the optimal closeness. It’s a downer, bummer to miss our human needs. It’s difficult feeling helpless. I start the day with meditation to stop my brain from jumping from one thing to the next in rapid speed, looking for something to attend to. Each of us needs to find ways to slow down to regulate ourselves.