New paintings and regular art updates.
Drs appointment, then lunch with a friend I haven’t seen for months. Then I had a telephone appointment with someone else. Finally I’ve been to the local church to rehearse with a choir for a fundraising event. After weeks of being ill things are catching up with me. I’m trying hard to make my life a bit better. To see what I’m still capable of. I need to change my diet and get some other health problems sorted out.
Oh dear, I’m not on line as much and my stats are going down. I’ve been in choir performances over the last few days and by the time I get home I’m usually exhausted and fall asleep. At the moment I’ve nodded of a few times, I can hardly stay awake.
My neighbours hammering at 7am in the morning which doesn’t help. I think he is knocking the plaster off the walls of his kitchen where it is damp. Anyway I’ll write more later x
I’m shattered. I went to an art group that supports mental health this morning and was given some help with something I’m trying to deal with. Then a friend rang and I tried to give her advice, but I wasn’t up to going and seeing her. Sometimes it’s hard to take on others problems when you have enough of your own. Finally I went to choir practice in the city centre. I got a lift there and back, but got soaked to the skin as I tried to get the few yards between the car door and the front door. I’ve just dried out!
Been to choir twice today
Morning songs, evening tunes
Now I’m tired and so I lay
On the chair, ready to sleep.
Music gave me a good day
Raised my spirits up in joy
Made me feel less dark I’d say
Summer returned
When that music did play…
What would your life be like without music?
I love singing harmonies in choirs.
Stiring sea shanties,
Soaring melodies
Deep, soulful folk songs,
Some pop songs from yesteryear.
Voices mingled
Low and high meld together.
Sopranos and Bass, Alto and Tenor
Winding and twisting around
Yes singing lifts me.
Do you sing for pleasure, to earn money, to learn something new? Or for mental or physical health?
Singing is good for lung health. It can strengthen both your lungs, chest muscles and help improve your voice. It helps with breathing and can help control your worries. I’ve found it helpful with controlling anxiety. It doesn’t cure it, but it calms it. Yes you could get stage fright, but singing with a choir helps because you are singing with others and that supports all the participants. You learn together and grow together. After about 20 years of singing with the group we sound pretty good. New people join and the group changes, but we all enjoy going or we wouldn’t be there
Some songs are earworms, rolling round and round in your head. Others are hard to pick up. We sometimes drop a tone or sing flat. It’s hard as a low singer to hit the high notes. Some songs are really annoying, but others in the group love them. But as we are all different then we all like a variety of music. Participating is good for you. I’d recommend it to anyone.
What are your daily habits?
Habits? What are they?
Life turned upside down when I started caring for my hubby. Everyday was different and it was hard to do things the same each day. Then he died and things got even less organised. Since then I’ve tried to regulate my life. Going to choir has helped. I’ve been in choirs for twenty years and that habit has helped my mental health. If the rest of the week is confused and mixed up I can hold onto the knowledge that I will be going to choir. Other than that I enjoy art and try and hold onto that habit. I would be lost without it.
Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life.
I love singing.
When I’m anxious it helps regulate my breathing. Concentrating on the music makes my heart swell with joy when we get it right. Time seems to flow. Music and song are so simple, so inate to being human. It brings joy to my friends too. We got together to sing for a friend recently. I’ve not included my friends faces because I haven’t asked their permission to use their images.
That’s the thing about anxiety, so many rules to remember and think about. What can I do? What should I do? But singing calms me, pulls my mind up and out of bad feelings. I would recommend it to anyone thinking of coping with anxiety. If you can take the first step and keep singing. X
I went out to Audlem yesterday to sing with our choir. Thankfully I got a lift there and back because I can’t drive that far.
We sang really well at the Music festival and managed to drown out a band that was playing across the road from us!
We had sung inside Audlem Methodist Hall for the first half and then outside in the garden for the second half. That’s where I saw this sculpture of two birds, I think they were doves, carved out of two tree stumps. I really would like to have a sculpture like this done in my own garden where I had to have a tree cut down because it was dying. I think whoever carved this is very clever.
I’ve just spent two days working with BArts and Growthpoint. They were putting on an opera show about Molly Leigh.
There were three scenes today, a church where a vicar was criticising a local woman called Molly Leigh and saying she was a witch, turning milk sour and having a blackbird as a familiar. A pub scene where there were customers and staff gossiping and talking about Molly saying good and bad things, like she borrowed money and didn’t pay it back, but then gave a family with a sick child several pints of milk so the child recovered. Then the final scene where a community choir came together to sing from her perspective bringing out the various aspects of her life. Each choir member was playing part of Molly as a whole.
The photo is of the cottage interior with a few of my bits of painting included. I have to say it was hard work, tiring, very intense and yet life affirming. I did more in two days than I’ve been able to for a few years and now I’m absolutely shattered.
Mallaband-Brown