Who am I? Am I my song?
Yesterday, I listened for the first time to Krista Tippet’s December 8, 2016 conversation with Alice Parker. Today I listened for the second time and then read the transcript. I was attempting to “hear” the remarkable woman who, at 91, is passionately singing, composing, learning and opening to new possibilities. It does not seem as if she has yet reached full bloom. Perhaps none of we humans every do. Not surprisingly I had never connected her name with a piece of music although I am sure I have heard some of it. There are so many gifts which I have yet to discover or claim. It seems that the more I discover the more I realize how little I know. I suppose that is one of the many gifts of aging. If lucky or blessed, one is more comfortable with the negative or blank space – with the reality of all that one thought, we knew we did not know.
At any rate, Ms. Tippet introduced me and many other listeners, I am sure, to yet another treasure – Alice Parker who is “the artistic director of the non-profit Melodious Accord and is the author of Melodious Accord: Good Singing in Church. She collaborated with the Robert Shaw Chorale for 20 years and has composed operas, cantatas, and suites for chamber ensembles as well as hundreds of anthems and songs.” (On Being transcript of this show.) She also is a seeker. She says:”
“This — who am I? So, a lifelong job is to discover who I am, and therefore who you are, and who anybody else is. And the big challenge for us now is to be secure and accepting of who we are so that we can look at someone else and be secure and accepting of them. And it seems as if we go from generation to generation, certainly amassing knowledge of all kinds of things, but we haven’t advanced one iota in understanding each other, ourselves or each other.
And so, this is the huge challenge, and that anything like group singing that can overcome those differences, the ego taking shape over anything else, anything that we can do is going to lead to a better world. And there’s no way — you can’t do it from a big platform. You can’t do it from the TV camera because it has to be face-to-face, and it has to be local.”
Her message is one that we hear over and over again and, yet, one that, as a whole, us humans continue to ignore. We must begin to focus on a common language. Her experience tells us that the most basic language is sound which she hears as song. One might, as I did, quickly question whether she is ignoring the fact that neither speech nor sound is possible for some. Yes, she is quick to point out that all sound is movement/vibrations. This came home to her as the mother of infants. She heard their early voice as the most basic of human communication. Even with those who cannot speak or hear, awareness of the vibrations of sound is possible both as coming from them and as received by them. When a child or an adult is unable to hear in language they can often “hear and communicate” the vibrations which frequently begin with emotions. Their body movement is also a way of communicating with that energy. One can “see” this clearly if one goes to You Tube and looks for video of deaf people singing to and with each other. Even via the relatively benign medium of the internet the emotional sound of their communication is very loud. Mrs. Parker in her conversation with Mrs. Tippett goes on to say:
“. . .light is also vibration. We learn that all of the little molecules and everything in our bodies are in constant motion; they’re all vibrating. So, vibration is almost at the center of life. And we can experience it through all of our different senses. But if we have ears, music is the kind of glorification of the possibility of hearing. That that’s where it all is, and that that’s the gift that is given us. And it partakes of energy exactly the way the physical world does. Every time we start a song, we’re setting something in motion”
The age-old question of what makes us uniquely human is, it seems, our need to question who we are in relation to the universe and in relation to ourselves and each other. The question of who am I becomes one of who am I in relationship? What is our uniquely human purpose? It seems as if this question soon morphs into one of questioning one’s worth. Am I enough? Are you worth more or less than I am? How do we conceptualize how we came into being? Did a supreme being create us? Does this supreme being demand obedience? Obedience? Have we got it, right? Is my concept the absolute right one? Ultimately this fear leads to conflict. We justify our conflict with artificial social constructs of race, sexuality, religion, gender, absolute judgment and other self- justifying stories.
Yet, time and time again, very wise individuals such as Alice Parker suggest that what is uniquely human is not our ability to touch each other with the same vibrations of molecules which touch every other part of creation. We touch each other through vibrations which we then experience through hearing, seeing, and feeling. The last is the most elusive of all to concretize and, one might have theorized even a few years ago that it was this ability to connect on an emotional level which distinguishes us as human. Yet, current research is questioning even that truth. Perhaps, after all, it is only our difficulty in acceptance of the worth and breath of our gifts and abilities which distinguishes us. Perhaps despite the fun we have with various forms of communication tools it is our willingness to be present as Ms. Parker describes her experience with her infant children which allow us to experience the connection we have with all of the universe – to sing our songs and dance our dances. It is that willingness to “go with the flow” of the vibrations of the universe of which we are an essential part –no more and no less than the rest of creation.
Written December 10, 2016
Yesterday, I listened for the first time to Krista Tippet’s December 8, 2016 conversation with Alice Parker. Today I listened for the second time and then read the transcript. I was attempting to “hear” the remarkable woman who, at 91, is passionately singing, composing, learning and opening to new possibilities. It does not seem as if she has yet reached full bloom. Perhaps none of we humans every do. Not surprisingly I had never connected her name with a piece of music although I am sure I have heard some of it. There are so many gifts which I have yet to discover or claim. It seems that the more I discover the more I realize how little I know. I suppose that is one of the many gifts of aging. If lucky or blessed, one is more comfortable with the negative or blank space – with the reality of all that one thought, we knew we did not know.
At any rate, Ms. Tippet introduced me and many other listeners, I am sure, to yet another treasure – Alice Parker who is “the artistic director of the non-profit Melodious Accord and is the author of Melodious Accord: Good Singing in Church. She collaborated with the Robert Shaw Chorale for 20 years and has composed operas, cantatas, and suites for chamber ensembles as well as hundreds of anthems and songs.” (On Being transcript of this show.) She also is a seeker. She says:”
“This — who am I? So, a lifelong job is to discover who I am, and therefore who you are, and who anybody else is. And the big challenge for us now is to be secure and accepting of who we are so that we can look at someone else and be secure and accepting of them. And it seems as if we go from generation to generation, certainly amassing knowledge of all kinds of things, but we haven’t advanced one iota in understanding each other, ourselves or each other.
And so, this is the huge challenge, and that anything like group singing that can overcome those differences, the ego taking shape over anything else, anything that we can do is going to lead to a better world. And there’s no way — you can’t do it from a big platform. You can’t do it from the TV camera because it has to be face-to-face, and it has to be local.”
Her message is one that we hear over and over again and, yet, one that, as a whole, us humans continue to ignore. We must begin to focus on a common language. Her experience tells us that the most basic language is sound which she hears as song. One might, as I did, quickly question whether she is ignoring the fact that neither speech nor sound is possible for some. Yes, she is quick to point out that all sound is movement/vibrations. This came home to her as the mother of infants. She heard their early voice as the most basic of human communication. Even with those who cannot speak or hear, awareness of the vibrations of sound is possible both as coming from them and as received by them. When a child or an adult is unable to hear in language they can often “hear and communicate” the vibrations which frequently begin with emotions. Their body movement is also a way of communicating with that energy. One can “see” this clearly if one goes to You Tube and looks for video of deaf people singing to and with each other. Even via the relatively benign medium of the internet the emotional sound of their communication is very loud. Mrs. Parker in her conversation with Mrs. Tippett goes on to say:
“. . .light is also vibration. We learn that all of the little molecules and everything in our bodies are in constant motion; they’re all vibrating. So, vibration is almost at the center of life. And we can experience it through all of our different senses. But if we have ears, music is the kind of glorification of the possibility of hearing. That that’s where it all is, and that that’s the gift that is given us. And it partakes of energy exactly the way the physical world does. Every time we start a song, we’re setting something in motion”
The age-old question of what makes us uniquely human is, it seems, our need to question who we are in relation to the universe and in relation to ourselves and each other. The question of who am I becomes one of who am I in relationship? What is our uniquely human purpose? It seems as if this question soon morphs into one of questioning one’s worth. Am I enough? Are you worth more or less than I am? How do we conceptualize how we came into being? Did a supreme being create us? Does this supreme being demand obedience? Obedience? Have we got it, right? Is my concept the absolute right one? Ultimately this fear leads to conflict. We justify our conflict with artificial social constructs of race, sexuality, religion, gender, absolute judgment and other self- justifying stories.
Yet, time and time again, very wise individuals such as Alice Parker suggest that what is uniquely human is not our ability to touch each other with the same vibrations of molecules which touch every other part of creation. We touch each other through vibrations which we then experience through hearing, seeing, and feeling. The last is the most elusive of all to concretize and, one might have theorized even a few years ago that it was this ability to connect on an emotional level which distinguishes us as human. Yet, current research is questioning even that truth. Perhaps, after all, it is only our difficulty in acceptance of the worth and breath of our gifts and abilities which distinguishes us. Perhaps despite the fun we have with various forms of communication tools it is our willingness to be present as Ms. Parker describes her experience with her infant children which allow us to experience the connection we have with all of the universe – to sing our songs and dance our dances. It is that willingness to “go with the flow” of the vibrations of the universe of which we are an essential part –no more and no less than the rest of creation.
Written December 10, 2016
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