C is for Community Choir

If you read my first post in this A-Z Challenge in which I wrote about adventure, you may recall that I alluded to new adventures / challenges for me in the world of music. Well, that’s what this latest post is about.

My interest in music developed while I was in my teens. While most of my peers were busy bopping to the output of Status Quo or the Bay City Rollers, I was happily listening to the great classics and to the big band sounds from the 40s. By the way, this statement is not a judgement on the musical tastes of my fellow teens. On the contrary, it is more a reflection of how conservative I was as I grew up. These days, however, I am more likely to be found listening to U2 or Dire Straits than to Beethoven or Bach. I often wonder what my erstwhile colleagues are listening to at this stage of their lives. But I digress.

My own personal musical journey began mainly as an armchair interest. My first practical steps (aside from a couple of failed attempts to learn piano) were taken at the age of 21 when I was invited to join our parish Folk Group. It was all jeans and Icelandic sweaters and it was great fun! It encouraged me to take up acoustic and bass guitar – the latter quite accidently when the group bassist handed me his instrument one day and said “here, play this – I want to get back to the 6-string”. I just about managed to keep my head above water!

Fast forward to the present day – the Icelandic sweaters a distant memory – and via many other musical experiences that I will write about in a later post, I find myself at the outset of a new musical adventure. Last month I took the first steps to set up a Community Choir in our town. The reasons for doing so are many and varied but consider this – in the UK, singing is the second most popular activity after sport. Yes, thanks in large part to the efforts of programmes like ‘Last Choir Standing’ and the Gareth Malone reality series, choirs have become cool!

Leaving aside the cool factor, singing is an activity that plays not just to the physical but also to the emotional side of us. As such, many people find it a tremendously beneficial holistic experience. But what exactly do we mean by a ‘community’ choir? In short, it is characterised by being open to all and having a sense of community about it. There are no auditions (everyone is able to sing to some degree), it is not affiliated to any particular culture, organisation, church or style of music, no prior musical knowledge is required and people are not excluded on the basis of age, race, gender, disability or sexual orientation.

Of equal importance to the music though, is the sense of community. It will be important that we develop this aspect of our new choir for the benefit of the members. But a community choir can and should also be an important focal point within the wider community. There is the potential to give back a lot to the local area in terms of public performances, fundraising for charity, representing the community locally and nationally in choir festivals, to name just a few of the opportunities.

All of this will take time to build up but as I said in my post yesterday, it is important to ‘be brave and begin’. That’s exactly what we have done – made a start. And what a start! We decided to recruit initially by word of mouth – no poster or media campaigns. In my mind, I would have been delighted with fifty singers showing up on the first night. We had over sixty. By the end of the second rehearsal, we had ninety names on the register. Phenomenal – and we don’t even have a name yet!

So, that’s my latest adventure – a community choir. Now, if you will excuse me, I must rush as I have a rehearsal to prepare!

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* Today's photo is a shot I took, not of a choir director, but a conductor of a junior orchestra that played last year outside our local library. I call it 'Bum Note' as someone seems to have played something to displease her. I hope I look a bit happier than this when I stand in front of my choir!

B is for Be Brave and Begin!

Yesterday’s post was on the theme of Adventure. Until this evening, I had no final decision on what my ‘B’ post would be about. I had thought about ‘Blogging’ or ‘Beginnings’. Earlier, I tweeted to some fellow ‘AtoZ’ers that I had no idea what I would be writing about. An immediate reply from my Twitter friend @cagssoc simply said ‘be brave’. So, with apologies to another friend, @David_Ferrie, who suggested ‘belonging’, my theme today is a mash-up of ‘Beginnings’ and ‘Be Brave’.

The turn of a year marks a new beginning for many – new resolutions, new plans, new dreams. Like many people, I set out some things I wanted to accomplish. You can read about them here. Surprisingly enough, I have made progress on most of them. At least they have all begun.

I could equally tell you many dreams and aspirations I had which never made it out of the starting blocks. I think most people have their own stories along that particular line. But what is it that holds people back from achieving their dreams? Sure, financial wherewithal can often be a big inhibitor. But, at least in my case, there is something even more fundamental than that. If I am completely honest with you and with myself, I will openly admit to enormous self-doubt and lack of confidence. I know I am far from alone in feeling that weight of that burden when it comes to moving forward in life.

Being brave in the face of these doubts is not something that comes naturally or easily to me. I have never possessed any great belief in my own abilities. Yet, in many ways I have achieved so much, particularly in the past ten years. In many cases it has involved stepping way outside my comfort zone to start something new. For example, overcoming my lack of formal musical training to direct choirs; shaking off my professional self-doubt to achieve a management-level career (when many believed I would not); convincing myself that I perhaps do have a creative side in the form of photography.

Perhaps the best example I can give is the very act I am engaged in right now – blogging! I always enjoyed ‘words’ but usually restricted it to writing parodies and limericks to poke harmless fun at friends or family members at special occasions - a safe audience in many ways. Then along came Twitter and through it I learned about blogging and met many exceptional bloggers. I was inspired by them – to the extent that I decided to be brave, step outside my comfort zone and begin a bit of blogging myself. Overall, while it has been slow progress, I have thoroughly enjoyed it and I feel it is something I was meant to do.

So, is there something you feel inspired to do? Are there dreams and aspirations you want to fulfill? Are you a little nervous (or a lot nervous) about taking that vital first step? Yes – I’m that person too and the best advice I can give you is Be Brave and Begin.

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* The accompanying photo above (which I call 'Bangers and Mash' - taken in Cafe Kylemore on O'Connell Street, Dublin) is a great example of stepping outside my comfort zone. During last year I developed a great love of street photography. I try to remain unobtrusive but occasionally someone cops what you are doing. I believe the lady in this shot suspected something, but the scene was too good not to shoot it. This is definitely not comfort-zone stuff and requires a bit of bravery but it's great fun - and no one has accosted me yet!!

A is for Adventure

So, here I am – at the start of a new challenge. As if I don’t have enough challenges on my hands as it is! However, I prefer to look on this particular challenge more as an ‘adventure', though it feels more like a ‘mystery tour’ as I start out.

You see, I signed up for this ‘A-Z Challenge’ for bloggers pretty much at the 11th hour. As a result I’ve really had no time to consider it in any great detail. Anyway, what is it all about? Well, basically it is a challenge put out to bloggers to make one post each day for the month of April. With Sundays off for good behaviour, that makes 26 posts. To add to the challenge, we are asked to blog thematically from A-Z over the course of the 26 days. So here I am – starting with the letter A – for Adventure!

Those who know me well would most likely not use the word ‘adventurer’ to describe me. In fact, I would probably be considered a ‘risk-averse’ sort of person. That’s not to say I haven’t stuck my neck out at times during my life but I usually do like to know roughly where I’m going. However, apart from having made the momentous decision at the last minute to sign up for this challenge and deciding that A stands for Adventure, I really have no idea where this is going to go.

But, you know, that’s part of the fun. It reminds me of the first real adventure I undertook in life. Back in my college days in the early eighties, I decided to spend my last summer as a student travelling through the USA by bus. I traversed from east to west and back again by an alternate route. During one particular stretch, 4 out of 5 days were spent sleeping on the bus. It seemed a better use of time than stopping to overnight in some hostel or the like. All in all, it was a wonderful 5 weeks. At the end of it I was convinced I was born to live a life of travel and adventure. Instead, I graduated and took all the roads most travelled, including a permanent, pensionable job. To this day I work for the same company. As you can see, Adventure is not my middle name.

As I come closer to the end of that career, however, I see priorities changing. My career has reached its plateau and as I begin to look ahead to the foreseeable future when I will retire (hopefully early), I have already realised that new beginnings are possible and that it is never too late to embark on new adventures. Within the past two years I have discovered a completely new hobby for me – photography. I have also discovered recently that there are new challenges for me in the world of music. These are the new adventures that I hope will sustain me (mentally at least, rather than financially) when I eventually get fed up with the ultimately futile and frustrating corporate world of work.

I still hold a glimmer of hope of living out some travel adventures. Time will tell. You never know what is around the corner - it could be good or it could be bad. One thing is certain, everyone has bad times in one way or another and therefore I increasingly realise the importance of making the most of the good things that happen. So if opportunity comes knocking – seize it. You may never have another opportunity like it again. It’s all part of the great adventure that is life!

And with that, I'm off to think about what B might stand for ......

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* I was looking for one of my photos to accompany this post. I chose the one above, recently taken in Sally Gap in the Wicklow Mountains, as the deserted road leading into the hills portrays a sense of venturing into the unknown.

This post is part of the Blogging from A-Z Challenge. Please click the link to see a list of participating blogs and hopefully take the time visit a few.

My New Challenge

Yesterday, a friend on Twitter posted about this thing called A-Z Challenge for bloggers. I read it with interest. However, before finally heading to sleep last night I decided I wouldn't participate. I have a busy month coming up and I convinced myself I would not be able to find time to compose 26 blog posts during April. This is a reasonable conclusion to reach, considering that I have managed only about half that amount of posts in the past 15 months!

I woke up this morning and the first question that entered my head was had I enrolled for the A-Z Challenge. Now, I reckoned there was something in the fact that this thought was in my head. So I reconsidered and decided to enroll for the challenge. Sure - I may not complete it, but what have I to lose?

My first real post for the challenge will be coming up a little later. Beyond that, I have no idea what I will be blogging about, but I'll make it up as I go. I can't promise anything profound or even interesting but given the time constraints I can probably guarantee plenty of random ramblings - and some random photos too!

I hope you can find time to dip into my posts during April and leave a comment here or there. And don't forget to visit other bloggers taking on the challenge too. Click on the A-Z Challenge logo over on the right to find a list other blogs participating in the challenge.