Traveling to all these places through song sincerely connected me to people I knew and to people that I didn't know. Songs are the records of time, they are live history, they are bridges, they are comprehensible, they teach us how to understand one another. Music is indeed a language. Granted that we all have different backgrounds that inform how we might understand a song. Listening to a foreign song tells you more than you would ever know than if you never listened at all.
I have gained a deeper tolerance for Songs and Places through the historic artifacts of the folk songs we sang. And they will always be able to orient me in these Places that I previously never knew.
The best thing I take away from this experience is a mindset. Always be open, be strong and be sure of what you are doing as you learn. In my first blog post I mentioned that I hesitated to take this class because of the artistic component. As the class went on I was comforted by the songs we sang, the people I sang with and the guidance I received. By singing the songs of places I was able to go somewhere and dig deeper into something beyond the me and what I thought I was. As I dug deeper to get to these places I showed bits and pieces of what I was learning and the things I learned, I absorbed and took with me to help me work on discovering who I am.
Where I am today |