Music and Control

Music has been a part of my life forever. My grandpa was in a barbershop quartet in North Carolina, and he taught my dad how to sing as soon as he could speak. My dad did the same thing with me when I was born, showing me how to harmonize and control my voice. When I was five, I started learning to play instruments that I could sing with. I began with piano, learning basic music theory and gaining perfect pitch, before I moved on to guitar and ukulele. I completely understand Ursa’s feelings about singing and performing, because that’s how it was for me. Singing in itself is a kind of liberating experience. Performing only enhances that liberation. When you stand on stage, and the spotlight is shining on you, you can’t see anything. You can’t hear anything but your own music. You are completely invisible and in your own world. The people looking at you don’t see the personal problems that you have outside of the venue. Their ears aren’t being filled with the gossip of the town. All they see, all they hear, and all that they feel is the emotion that you convey through your music. I think that this is what draws Ursa to singing and performing. She is able to have control in a time where she has lost control of something so important.