Composing Ourselves
What if we could create the self we want to be through song?
On the eve of a heated presidential election, it seems as good a time as any to talk about how we compose ourselves, how we maintain ‘composure,’ that is how we stay calm and in control even under pressure.
Sometimes, of course, we don’t. And the reasons for that are vast and many. A wide array of biochemicals and behaviors, circumstances and situations, and many strange synchronicities come together to make us who we are, make us act how we act. Each and every one of us is a unique and dynamic composition.
To express who we are—that jumbled mess that makes up the whole of us—is often challenging, especially because the world seems to want to put people in easily identifiable boxes that come nowhere near to holding the full complement of notes that compose The Real Us. Oftentimes we are judged on strange tidbits of who we are, pieces of us, parts, and moments that come to define us even while they definitely don’t tell the whole story.
What if we were to pull people out of those boxes? What if we were to give them the time and support they need to delve in deep to determine what they are really made up of, what their life might be composed of if they could totally choose every defining note? What if we gave people a chance to share themselves vulnerably, to collaborate with others as they composed their own self-defining songs, ones that focused on the beautiful loving parts of themselves?
I saw “what if” last week as men inside Sing Sing Correctional Facility rehearsed together songs they’d composed, from the heart, with the great support of Musicambia teachers Elliot Cole, Sarah Goldfeather and Brad Balliett.
They played Wilson’s “El Motivo” (shown above), and (from top left) Joe’s “Price of Freedom and Mr. D’s “Front Seat Love.” Paul discussed a recent composition (one of 80 he’s written!) with Sarah, Elliot led the guys in Indian classical music scales, and Shane sat with Elliot going over the haunting “Distance.”
In The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin says that, “Living in discovery is at all times preferable to living through assumptions.” And maybe no truer words apply to my experience with the composers I met and grew quickly to admire at Sing Sing recently. Their stories are difficult ones, but the songs they create aide greatly in healing, in helping share their pain and shame and heartbreak, in helping others to understand, in finding a calm composure with which to face the harsh realities of their lives.
These photographs are stills pulled from film taken by Dmitri Borysevicz for our documentary project, Harmony Inside & Out. Sound is being recorded by Gabriel Cyr. I am so grateful to the Musicambia team of staff and teachers who’ve arranged to allow us to take this footage, to the men who have shared so generously their lives and stories, and am thrilled to be able to help get into the world these beautiful compositions, lovingly worked on by Musicambia’s teachers such that these musicians might hold their heads up high and proud as they belt out their most vulnerable tales, from the heart. Beautiful.
We will soon be launching an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for the Harmony project and welcome your support, either through financial donations or other types of help. Please reach out if you have interest in getting involved with the project in any way!!
In peace & harmony,
Steph