A while ago, I rented Ratatouille and watched some videos from the bonus features section. (Here you thought I was going to post about some complicated cooking or decadent dining experience. *smile*) They interviewed the animation director and a chef for the movie.

Guess what both of them talked about?

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Chef Thomas Keller said:

“One of the exciting things about doing something spontaneous is the risk.”

and asks himself

“How can you make each dish feel spontaneous over and over and over again without it becoming somewhat old in your feeling”

and reasons

“[I]t’s about … making sure that each dish that we do is something that is as fresh and as dynamic as it was the first time that we did it.”

(Who knew cooking was so much like spontaneous singing?)

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The director of animation (Brad Bird) said …

“Animation … is not a spontaneous act, but if you do it artfully, you get the feeling of spontaneous thought.”

I relate this to performing and recording improvised music (particularly after being in the studio last week. More on that later.). A tension exists between creating something that’s never before existed and doing so within a set of structures.

In a performance or studio situation, there is less spontaneity. For example, you’ll likely stand facing an audience or a microphone (and if you don’t, adjustments — planned in advance or improvised in the moment — will need to be made). Still when done well, you get keep the “feeling of spontaneous thought.”

…

Bird and Keller had more thoughts on creating, including some good advice:

Bird: “You got to try get people excited about what you’re excited about.”

Keller: “It’s not about perfection, it’s about the quest for perfection.”

Bird: “If you try to over-control the process, you limit the process.”

And to think, all this insight from a movie about a cooking rat a rat who cooks. (Some thought a cooking rat was a little too … er … unappetizing.)

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Remember – Songtaneous is THIS Saturday from 2 to 4pm. Hope to sing with you soon. ~sg

“I’ve had to fall in love with playing music every day.” — Irvin Mayfield

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Spending the last two months temping really made me miss singing. While I enjoyed the new environment, my coworkers (everyone was SO nice!) and the regular paychecks *wink*, I didn’t have much time for “my music.” As you know, I blogged and hosted Songtaneous sessions, but my practice regimen became a little … er … nonexistent sporadic.

So this month, my singing and I are getting reacquainted. For our first date, we reinstated a practice schedule. We were a little awkward with each other at first, but quickly regained our comfort and familiarity with each other. (I really like singing!)

Next, we spent time with mentors Anthony Cox and Janis Weller. We talked next steps, grant proposals, international travel and improv projects. In other words, big, hairy, (and a little scary) goal setting.

Finally, I took my singing out to hear some music — Debbie Duncan at the AQ, Judi Donaghy and The Wolverines Jazz Trio at Hell’s Kitchen and, this weekend, we heard The Girls in concert at Minnehaha UCC. Singers and singing to admire and inspire. (Remember listening is an important part of singing.)

Now, we’re working on some lesson and class ideas and setting up some fall Songtaneous presentations (more to come about these) before heading into the studio this week to record some tunes with Lori Dokken and (then) Judi.

Falling in love again.

I can’t help it.

When I was in third grade, pink was my favorite color, I could climb any tree in our yard and do 113 cartwheels in a row. (I have a certificate to attest to this last fact. *smile*) Oh, and I wanted to be a singer.

Around that time, I remember drawing a picture for some class about what I’d be doing in the year 2000. I drew myself wearing a pink (of course) sequin gown in front of a microphone. (I wish I could find the actual picture, but the mental picture is very clear.)

But somehow, I let myself forget ignore how important singing was to me. I got into junior high and Orchestra seemed like a better more practical choice. I didn’t pursue vocal study until I was in college (the first time). There, I spent four years singing and making music and helped form my first a cappella group.

I loved my musical experience at Cornell. I loved the music house — an entire 3-story house with a piano and music stand in every room. I loved the friends I made in my singing group and the easy, effortless way we came together and collaborated. The excitement, the enthusiasm. Happily, I sang those years away.

Upon graduating, I once again felt compelled to make practical choices. I was new to the Twin Cities and I needed a job. So I took a job that had nothing to do with music or singing (or anything I’d studied in college for that matter *wink*). One job led to the next and, in between, I squeezed in time (never enough) for singing.

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About five years ago, my family went through some STUFF. Those experiences caused me to re-examine my priorities. They made me think about what made me happy and what I wanted to spend my time doing. How I wanted to interact with people and what kind of relationships I wanted to have.

They made me think about increasing the joy in my life.

Then while visiting McNally Smith during an open house, I stood in one of the studio performance rooms and felt something inside me ease and expand.

I’d found my way back to a long forgotten road.

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So here I am, working to be a singer. And it’s hard.

And engaging and challenging and exciting. And joyful.

In other words, well worth the trip.