Number 24, April 1, 2022

I heard somewhere recently that a blog was defined as an online journal containing various elements, one of which was personal reflection.

So I started thinking about writing this week’s blog for FolkWorks with a more “personal reflection” tone in mind.

At the time in history we find ourselves, we’re just now taking mostly small, and some big, steps towards getting back to our communities after the long pandemic separation and, in some of our lives, some significant isolation.  Since last fall, I’ve been making it out in some small and big steps, and when I have, I always experienced a profound joy in the company of others participating in the same thing, at the same time, in the same room or space.

So much of what we experienced in these last two years has been so odd, frightening and disorienting, and I believe a great deal of our discomfort and sadness has come from a lack of community engagement.  Just to see ourselves in context of the bigger picture of our culture has a healing effect, and we didn’t have this.

We’ve been faced with fear of gathering, and this has colored our thoughts in a deep and almost permanent way.  I know I felt frightened in the early days to be out at a grocery store worried about even looking at other people.  When I met on Zoom with my communities it was at first joyous to see everyone surviving and relievedly greeting, but then the joy faded as we realized that this remote meeting was all we had of each other.  It started to feel like cold comfort when signing off each time with a wave, feeling empty and cheated of someone’s actual presence.  And, insidiously, I began to wonder if this self-sufficiency of pandemic survival was enough, and I would never need to be with people again.

Now:  the transcendent joy of being with a treasured friend or community is available to us again, and it appears in stark relief as it reveals itself to us anew.  I almost feel this beatific aura around me when seeing the full face of someone I love and have truly missed.  This truth revealed itself again to me just in the last few days.  So, going forward, I’m going to be re-committing myself to community and working to prop it up wherever I can.  I urge you to also get out there and be with your community in any way you can.  Yes, we’re still taking rational precautions about Covid, and there is work we still need to do to patch up the fabric that frayed in our absence.  But what I’ve come to understand is the profound message that community is

life-giving.

Our internal strands of personality and identity are woven into the fabric of this wider world, and we owe it to ourselves to pull ourselves out of this lonely space, get up, get out, join in, engage, volunteer, give your time, give your self, your energy, your intelligence and your spirit to the greater good in community.  Feel the joy of compatibility.  Even better, see the world, share your talents, travel, feel the alive-ness of your soul bringing joy to others and to yourself, in ways big and small.

And there are no small acts of this kindness to yourself and to others.  This work defines our place in the world, and we must engage.  There is still so much to discover!   Endeavor to get involved and you’ll receive so much more than you give.

See you next time for all things singing for Folk and Americana styles!

All my love,

Susie

PS:  Get in touch with me at newfolkfusion@gmail.com about taking voice lessons on Zoom!

________________________________________________
Award-winning recording artist, Broadway singer, journalist, educator and critically-acclaimed powerhouse vocalist, Susie Glaze has been called “one of the most beautiful voices in bluegrass and folk music today” by Roz Larman of KPFK’s Folk Scene. LA Weekly voted her ensemble Best New Folk in their Best of LA Weekly for 2019, calling Susie “an incomparable vocalist.” “A flat out superb vocalist… Glaze delivers warm, amber-toned vocals that explore the psychic depth of a lyric with deft acuity and technical perfection.” As an educator, Susie has lectured at USC Thornton School of Music and Cal State Northridge on “Balladry to Bluegrass,” illuminating the historical path of ancient folk forms in the United Kingdom to the United States via immigration into the mountains of Appalachia. Susie has taught workshops since 2018 at California music camps RiverTunes and Vocáli Voice Camp. She is a current specialist in performance and historian on the work of American folk music icon, Jean Ritchie. Susie now offers private voice coaching online via the Zoom platform. Visit Susie’s Website HERE