Sing As Tired As You Are: Creative Rest

One afternoon many years ago, Jean Hakes, my voice teacher, took a long look at me. I had just arrived at her place for my weekly lesson, and I was not doing well. Working a demanding job in Manhattan while going full-time to music conservatory at Brooklyn College, on a different subway line from the one that went near my apartment in Park Slope, I was barely holding it together. I spent hours commuting most days. There was a troubled love relationship in the mix, too.

Jean was wise enough to take all that in with a glance. Then she advised me to go home. We could work another time, she said, after I got some rest. I was nonplused. I stammered something about how I was sure I could do this – I would rally – just give me a minute to get myself together – on and on.

She shook her head gently and shared with me some advice she had taken to heart herself: “Sing as tired as you are.”

How tired are you?
Image by Dean Moriarty from Pixabay

Back then, I was an impressionable twenty-something. Many of the things I let myself be impressed with, then, look to me like foolishness, now – or worse. I’m grateful that I was open to hearing Jean’s words that day, and that they have stayed with me.

I went home, as she directed, feeling guilty for squandering her time, and probably also feeling embarrassed that I’d been too transparent: I should have been able to fake it, the way I did at work and at school. Ah, youth.

Over the decades since then, I have come to respect Jean’s words a lot more than I did when I first heard them.

Additional help

I’ve gotten help the past couple of years from Hazel the cat. As I’ve noted before she has impressive get-up-and-go when circumstances demand it. And when she needs rest, she accepts that with grace.

Honor the tiredness
Photo by the author

For example, I’ve never witnessed her talking herself into trying harder to keep going when she’s already worn out. Nor has she ever set an alarm in my presence. Or rationed sleep as though it’s precious and in short supply. On the contrary, you could even say she indulges wantonly in rest and recuperation. As I write this, in fact, she’s snoozing in the sun on a soft blanket.

Do. Rest. Repeat.

My motto for Anne Carley Creative is “Do. Rest. Repeat.” I’m an evangelist for the message. Rest is crucial to the doing, and essential to the repetition.

Let’s keep this one short and sweet, shall we?

Do. Rest. Repeat. Sing as tired as you are.

Luna Project update

View and hear the entire collection of my moon pieces for the Luna Project so far at the Anne Carley Creative website here: https://annecarleycreative.com/portfolio/#recordedmusic

My music and video for Buck Moon went up on 29 July – all about shedding what we don’t need, to make space for new, sturdier developments. Next comes the Moon When All Things Ripen on 28 August.

Thanks for reading