“If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced”         Vincent Van Gogh.

I normally write these blogs elsewhere then copy and paste to here, but from now on I will write directly. I will read them through, and check spelling, and such, but that is just about legibility. There will be no planning. For years I have been not writing things because I didn’t have enough of the right information to hand to make the specific point I wanted to make. The thing I am after here is spontaneity and flow.

You know the guy, when you’re all singing, that gets all the notes wrong, but doesn’t care – doesn’t know, actually – and carries happily on having a great time. Yeah, him (usually him not her).Well I’m that guy, and although I thought it was possible I was that guy, I wasn’t certain. Now I know. I was sacked from my choir.

I joined a choir to sing in the Brighton Festival and today I was told it was too complicated for me. I said I never know if I’m getting the notes right or not.

“You’re not,” she said.

Now rewind to the Van Gogh quote above. Apply it to singing.

We live in a world now where everyone is trying very hard to do things right. Whatever it is there is a hierarchy of achievement, and by doing this or that you can achieve high standards, and all you have to do is find what you are good at and do that. I will keep writing here. I don’t know what I am about to say. The world appears from the news to be a disaster. Spies, planet change, over population. War and refugees. Children dying. Starvation. Death and disease from overeating. Death from lack of medicine. Death from medicine. I am not trying to write a coherent argument. The world is full of well argued coherent arguments. I have to do this differently.

I am glad I am sacked as a singer in a the choir. I can finally abandon once and for all getting anything right.