I Did A Thing
I.
Did.
A.
Thing.
I was tired of sitting in my house and not reaching out to people... not sharing what I do with people. So, I asked my neighbors via our WhatsApp group if they might be interested in a socially distanced “porch recital”.
They were 100% in.
Allison Wamser and I put together a program of arias, songs, some broadway - about 40 minutes worth of music. My husband James called the town police to be sure we weren’t going to break some ordinance by doing this at 4pm on a Sunday. We were told that as long as we weren’t blocking a road and were following social distancing rules, they were happy to have us do it.
We hauled out my large Panasonic speaker and put it on my porch. The set up was right in front of my front door, and my amazing neighbors all came with their lawn chairs and blankets to set up their socially distant places to listen.
There was zero contact. Even texts and translations were online so that people could follow along using their own phones and thereby avoided touching any hand-outs/programs.
We had about 40-45 people here today. You can see in the pictures where we stood and how far out folks were sitting.
No, it wasn’t perfect. Yes, one of my neighbors asked me to sing the Habanera (ohhhh mezzos, y’all are just rockstars and to all of my French friends - I’m so sorry for butchering all of the things while sightreading this today LOL), but my soul is full. My community gathered together safely. Folks walked over from blocks away.
I’m crying as I’m writing this. Some of the folks in front of us today were crying also.
We can do what we do. It’s going to be very different for a while. That’s ok too.
I have to take one second to encourage anyone on a board to PLEASE take a chance. Don’t take the “safe” way, even if it feels secure... whatever that is. Do something on a small scale. Think outside the box. I can’t begin to tell you how desperate people are for the art that connects us.
We don’t need to stop trying to find a way to make it happen ❤️
Love,
Christine