Winnipeg and Jon Washburn and the Vancouver Chamber Choir were really something.
More on that in a sec though, after a quick digression. I got to watch a bit of hotel-room TV, and there's something that's been bugging me since Thursday. This is a message for BECKY who was on Dr. Phil on Thursday March 3, 2011. Becky, I'm glad you got all that support from Dr. Phil, because you deserve good support. But there's one thing he didn't say, so I'm gonna say it:
BECKY - JUST SING, OKAY? DO IT NOW. THERE IS NEVER A GOOD REASON TO DEFER SINGING. PLEASE DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU HAVE ACHIEVED YOUR GOAL WEIGHT BEFORE YOU GO OUT AND SING. LIFE IS TOO SHORT. YOU DESERVE TO SING, THE WORLD CAN USE ONE MORE SINGER, AND YOU ARE ALREADY BEAUTIFUL. GET OUT THERE AND SING NOW. DON'T WAIT ONE MORE SINGLE DAY. DO IT TODAY.
Okay, back to the Interplay Composers' sessions.
A real nice bunch of folks, Jon Washburn and the Vancouver Chamber Choir. It's always a treat to have the opportunity to watch a master at work, and every single one of Jon Washburn's singers had their head fully focused on the music. Accomplished, talented, smart, and all the rest. If you spilled a jar of poppy seeds onto a paper towel, these people could sight-sing it. I went in mentally prepared for the artistic scalpel, because at this stage of the game nobody's got time for warm fuzzies. And I got a lot of really excellent and valuable feedback, but rather than being the musical excision kind of feedback that I had anticipated, it was more grooming and polishing things as they already were. A pleasant surprise, to say the least. It's always a special type of moment the first sing through a new score, when you find out if what you put onto the paper ends up being what comes off of it - or not. There was this really cool moment early in the session when I realized that things had clicked with Jon Washburn and my piece, and it was so instructional to watch how he brought the choir to that same place. I came out with so many ideas, and I'm still riding a crest of renewed creative energy that is infusing my writing since my return from Winnipeg.
Thank-you so much, Jon Washburn and VCC!
