Vocal and Emotional Synergy

Have you had the experience of meeting someone and of having the feeling that you have known that person before? One of my favorite quirky authors, Kurt Vonnegut, invented a term to describe that kind of felt connection. He said that such people moved through the world in the same “karass”, though they had not yet met. And such people would instinctively recognize each other at once. I first met Annie Gifford at a music party in the mountains many years ago. I distinctly recall the admiration I felt for her singing, and having a positive feeling about who she was. (At that point, I didn’t even know that she is a very gifted Boulder watercolorist. Her paintings are on the covers of my last two CD’s, and I have her artwork on the walls at home.) Our paths crossed again a number of times, and finally, maybe six years ago, I suggested to her that we get together to sing. She was game. We were immediately compatible personally and musically, though we both needed to learn more about how to blend our voices. Although there is very little time for us to get together, we had one of our precious opportunities last night. It occurred to me that it would be fun and enlightening to record ourselves on my Zoom 2 digital recorder to see how we sounded. The first time through Bob Dylan’s “Tomorrow Is a Long Time” was so full of mistakes that we had to stop because we were laughing too hard. Well, by attempt number five or six, we were relatively pleased, despite no microphones, no do-overs in the middle, and no way to monkey with the final result. So I decided to post it on my blog.