The very first thing I would tell my younger self is how much fun it is to sing with other people. It doesn’t matter how much money and success a person has in life; it is never going to be as much fun as singing with other people. Of course, I sing a lot by myself too.
I never sang as a child because I got the message that only some people were good singers and the rest of us were simply no-hopers. There is some weird cultural problem in North America that says if you are not good enough to do something for money, you should be ashamed and never do it at all.
But Druidry is all about enhancing your creativity. Druidry steers people to learn how to be more creative, to work at it and not to expect miracles at once. Druidry has steered me into a whole host of creative pursuits and this has brought a great deal of joy to my life.
Music was a closed book to me because when I went to school, I remember having one music lesson in my entire time at school because the powers that be decided it was not necessary to teach us music. I also thought I did not like music because all I heard on the radio was Acid Rock and Country and Western music.
Fast forward a very long time and I knew for certain that I liked music but I thought studying it was just for a certain group of elevated people from musical families. I cannot remember when or why I decided to try singing but it was a few years ago here on Denman. I sang a bit in a Church choir which was fun but then, I found out about Denman Sings which happens every two years and Dennis Donnely would come up from Victoria and teach a five-day-long course on choral singing. Dennis is a firm believer that singing is as natural to humans as talking. He likens non-singing humans to non-howling wolves.
From then on, I have been a regular with the Denman Community Choir. We are very lucky to be taught now by Bethany Ireland who has deep roots in all aspects of music from teaching to performance. She even composes original works and is, I think, working on a Rock Opera. Kathy Rieder was the Choir Mistress when I started and I really enjoyed Kathy’s ability to just get us all singing. I also sang a bit with Basil’s choir and Basil too is a really gifted and fun singing teacher. In short, it was all a lot of fun.
The Denman Community Choir is starting its next semester on the 6th of February 2025 and if you have never sung, think you can’t sing or some such, I encourage you to join. I will tell you that what gave me the courage to join the choir; I was attending one of their concerts and the whole choir got pulled off key while singing one song and they all sort of fell into a heap of jangled notes. This is because they are just learning too! I would like to see more children and young people join the choir, any choir really, because it is so much fun and it is something you can do from earliest childhood to ancient old age.
Speaking of old age, I started learning the cello at 57 which is beyond ancient for starting to learn a stringed instrument. It has been one of the most satisfying pursuits of my life and I have had many grand adventures: travelling the world, scuba diving around the world, and sail racing.
Will I ever be able to get a job with the Boston Philharmonic as a solo cellist? Not a chance! However, every evening, I get my beautiful girl, really Andrew Fyson’s beautiful cello girl, out of her case and we have a play session together. My cello is very kind and patient considering that she is well above student grade and far too good for my clumsy efforts.
I am blessed with an excellent teacher in Helena Jung in Courtenay. She is a cello soloist, orchestral performer, teacher, wrangles her own philharmonic and teaches the violin. Helena has a Masters in Music from Seoul Korea. To be honest, I was kind of scared of her. She has a lot of power but she really is the kindest of teachers. Since I started studying with her, she has noticed a pronounced improvement in my playing as well as my sight reading.
I would finish up by telling my younger self to always be studying something. Money spent on lessons is never wasted. Learning is fun, joyous and leads to more learning and more fun. That is what I would say.
