What does music do for you? To you?
Do you find yourself bouncing in your seat, or feel your feet twitching to get up to dance when you hear some fun, funky jazz?
Are there pieces of music that make your eyes leak? You try to sing along, but tears get in the way?
Are you one of the people that gets excited when you recognize the first few notes and then the words dance across you mind and out through your lips? Or are you one of the people happy to sit quietly and absorb, no matter the beat?
I didn’t realize until recently how lucky I was to grow up around music. It was a constant in our household. There was a piano in the living room, sometimes a banjo would appear in the hands of an uncle, and we sang, sang, sang. It didn’t matter what, we played the music and we sang. The music became part of our bones. Everything from old favourites to rock ‘n’ roll to jazz.
My connection to music came flooding back several Tuesdays ago when I went to listen to jazz at the James Bay United Church in Victoria. We were treated to some swing, some sweet, some bebop. You name it, they played it. Then they taught us the chorus, and we got to sing along. Nothing like belting out some bebop to make your blood happily dance through your veins.
Part of an outreach by the James Bay United Church, it is coordinated by Kelby MacNayr. A way to make a small community part of the larger community. The first six weeks happened in November and December and was so successful that it will be repeated this month and in February. What a great way to jump into 2019. Happy musical New Year!
Another thought for January: if you would like to spend some time in Costa Rica this October, RSVP to visionyyj@visiontravel.ca to attend an information presentation on January 17th. I look forward to seeing you there, and then joining you on this sensational trip. I can’t wait to try the zipline!
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Pat Nichol is a speaker and published author. Connect with her at mpatnichol@gmail.com.