I've been up to my eyeballs with mele studies. It's been heaven spending ENTIRE days studying language and music. Heaven. Bliss. What I've always dreamed of doing.
For a year, I've been on a quest trying to figure out "my way" of learning songs and language. It's been tough. Lots of trial & error. In April, a friend of mine, an 'olapa, showed me the way she worked on learning the mele that she uses for hula. It was so simple--like doing a vocabulary list in middle school or high school English classes. My original thought: that's cool, but it's too similar to a method that I HATED when I was in school. There's got to be something better...
But...
On Monday, I found myself struggling with a project that I'm working on. I couldn't seem to get started. I was feeling completely overwhelmed. And then I thought of Anne Lamott's BIRD BY BIRD and how I needed to stop. And breathe. And take one song at a time. One word at a time.
And...
It was amazing! Not only did I learn the lyrics, but the song CAME TO LIFE! It's been so fantastic! And so addicting! I've started learning a lot more songs now that they are truly "singing" for me. Not a great thing for my OCD, but I've been blissed out. What a nice change from feeling overwhelmed and "stuck" for so long.
So that's where I am this Wednesday morning. Still in CRAM mode. But loving it instead of dreading it. And that's pretty great.
Happy Wednesday!
.jpg)
