Mahiya Rade, Week 10: Singing
When I was in middle school, I used to play a little creamy-white plastic recorder, as suggested (forced, actually) by my homeschooling curriculum. I spent countless hours annoying my mom with its screeching, huffing and puffing as I squinted at NoobNotes.net, wondering why I couldn’t capture Anastasia's longing in her song “Once Upon a December.”
Humming over the lyrics to the song, I quickly found that my own voice sounded much better than my recorder (sounding better than an amateurish plastic recorder is not, admittedly, a difficult feat). I began to sing more. When Covid struck and I could barely talk to my friends, I was restless, and would stay up late and unhappy into the night. Singing became my distraction then, quietly around a dark closed neighborhood. For me, singing is a thing of concentration—I get absorbed in the inflections of my voice, falling like waves, or birds, or china sometimes. Singing is my meditation—in this isolation, at least, the world and all its troubles fall away, unreal.
But soon, I met my best friend, who also loved to sing. When I stayed over at her house, I was basically in heaven. For once, I didn’t need to be quiet—her bedroom had thick walls, unlike mine, in addition to a bathroom with insane reverberation. We would spend hours just singing our favorite songs together, harmonizing, gasping over our own brilliance. In our excitement, we’d construct glittering fantasies. She would become a rich famous pop singer/doctor with a rich Korean boyfriend, and I would become a folk singer/super cool exploring botanist who’d live off their money.
I swear I’m not straying from the topic of music. Singing together, my best friend and I were in a shining bubble. High off our own vocals, we felt invincible and giddy, and the world could not touch us. And this is all a long way of saying that I will always appreciate the powerful escape singing has shown me—how it comforts the alone, and how it brings people closer together.
Hi, Mahiya! Throughout this blog, the way you’ve presented your journey with singing and music is so beautiful, beginning with your experience with the plastic recorder (I still have mine from elementary school music class!!) to finding solace in your own voice with your friend. In fact, I really relate to this journey of yours. Around the time you began to explore music during Covid, I also began singing and playing the ukulele. Much like you, this was, and continues to be, a form of meditation for me, quieting my mind and helping me feel in control of myself.
ReplyDeleteI especially appreciated your storytelling in this blog. While you sidetracked to include the fantasies that you and your friend had created, this made the blog even more captivating and interesting to read. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about and understanding your love for singing, and I look forward to reading more posts from you in the future!
Hello, Mahiya! Your narrative about how you fell in love with the art of singing was touching. I think many of us can agree that that “creamy-white plastic recorder” was an experience to say the least; I remember having to play “Hot Cross Buns” with my equally screechy peers as I attacked the ears of everyone around me. I am glad, however, that this kiddie instrument allowed you to find your true passion of singing. I am also glad to hear that this hobby took you through the challenging times that were the COVID pandemic, giving you something to look forward to every day even with the humdrum and monotonous life that came with being quarantined. To see that you bonded with the person who came to be your best friend through a shared interest is wonderful. It is always nice to have loved ones who enjoy the activities that you do, and I am happy to read that you found that in someone so close to you; maybe you can even attribute some of that closeness to both your love of music, as harmonizing and performing for each other has a way of bringing people together. I hope one day that your “glittering fantasies” become a reality—or at least come true to a certain extent—and I am excited to read more of what you have to write!
ReplyDeleteHey Mahiya! I don't mean to completely geek out right now, but I LOVE "Once Upon a December" from Anastasia!! I was in a production for the show freshmen year when I got introduced to the song and it holds so many special memories for me, so I felt it when you talked about trying to capture those feelings and put them in a shiny little bottle. Reading on your beginning to singing was so fascinating just because I love singing too, and I found it really interesting that our journeys to finding this art were so different. But, I felt so connected to what you were discussing about all the ebbs and flows of music and where it can take you, as this was one of the reasons I fell in love with it too. My journey with music began when I was quite young, and my sister came home from her music class. Her scarce practices and lots and lots of church music inspired me to imitate the sound all the time. I'm pretty sure there's a video hidden deep within the internet of me belting a church hymn while standing on a table? Anyway, I found you and your best friend's dreams quite delightful as well, and they made me smile (excited to see you both on my computer under the headline of "Ingenious Pop Star and Folk Botanist Break the Internet " soon!). I look forward to read more of your work this semester!
ReplyDeleteHi Mahiya! I really enjoyed reading your post, and liked how you interpret singing as a distraction in which all of the worlds problems would "fall away", even for just a few moments. Even though I'm not a singer, I find this idea relatable in the sense that I find journaling to be my "escape." Writing down my thoughts, both to forget and to remember whatever is on my mind. It's something I also picked up over quarantine, there wasn't much to do at the time so it was one of the few creative outlets I had. I also enjoyed how you described expanding this hobby through sharing your interest with your friend. It makes the relationship between both singing and your friend stronger. I look forward to reading more of your blogs in the future!
ReplyDelete