Singing

There’s something to be said about singing. About songs and music. There’s something to be said about communities formed around singing. About special bonds and newfound trust. There’s actually quite a lot to be said. I didn’t sing during first semester. Having just escaped high school I thought I was in the mood for something new. Not “join a sports team” new but not sing, what I had done practically my whole time there.

Last semester there were days I found I was bottled up. Feeling maybe every emotion under the sun with no way to articulate what was going on or even extrapolate one emotion from the last. I was a lava lamp where the oil and water had somehow defied all the laws of physics and mixed with no way of being separated again. On those days I found I gravitated towards practice rooms.

After class on my way back to my dorm, I took a detour. I went all the way to the fourth floor of an old castle like building, found a “soundproof” room hidden in a corner and stayed in there for hours. I started off singing songs from shows. Solo’s, duets, full cast numbers- you name it I sang it. Then I’d move on to old hits, Rihanna, Mary J Blige, Destiny’s Child, Adele, Jordin Sparks- the classics. I’d sing until I finished my entire water bottle then I would pack up and leave feeling a lot lighter than I had when I entered. It felt as if every knot and tangle that was stuck in my body had become undone and slipped through the space between my toes.

Going into second semester I made sure to sing whenever I could- walking to class, alone in my room, not alone in my room, doing the dishes, in the shower - why stop? One weekend I was invited to audition for one of the a cappella groups on campus by a girl in my hall who I had joined the group at the start of the year. After a lot of convincing I decided to go for it.

Almost three months later I can say it has been one of the best decisions I’ve made since I got here. I have met so many wonderful people that I wouldn’t have known. People with the biggest hearts and most caring smiles you might ever meet. And we get to sing together. When you’re singing with people who love to sing and you love to sing and the song sounds like milk and honey it’s one of the best feelings in the world. When you’re just singing and singing and all of a sudden the air sounds like flowers and tastes like music. Feels like music. Music that you can can touch and melodies you can hold. Joining B.E.A.T.S has felt like music I can hold and I don’t want to let go anytime soon.