Julie Jordan Scott

“Singing is like praying twice”

The “Real” Maria Von Trapp

There is something sacred in experiencing the lush sweetness of a heart-filled voice traveling up and down a string of pearl-like-notes, simultaneously filling the body and being birthed from the body.

When we sing, we take the words and notes of a scribe and fill the words with our soul..

Maria Von Trapp got it right. Singing IS like praying twice.

It is like communion, it is like love-making, it is like a couple, dancing across the stage as they effortlessly connect on a soul level. Singing is like the delicate awakening of chiarascuoro of the heart.

Yes, “Singing is like praying twice.”

When we sing we breathe in, deeply – and when we are conscious singers – our breath is deliberate, treated with utmost care. What happens to your body when you take a deep breath?

It expands – it fills – it signifies plenty.

As the singer, you can do anything you want with your song – you can make it loud and intense or make your song small and equally intense.. You can make it more airy and filled with pockets of breath or you can fill it with your very essence so that its punch is more powerful than steel.

You may choose to sing-pray when you are delighted and you may choose to sing-pray when you are devastated. You may sing-pray as a beginning or invocation and you may sing-pray as a moment of closure or benediction.

I remember reading of famed opera singer Maria Callas who shared that we sing when words alone, without music, can’t communicate meaning adequately. It needs to be amplified – which is what happens when we sing-pray.

Yes, Yes, Yes.

“Singing is like praying twice”

I enjoy singing almost any sort of music - from campy musicals to classical music to the occasional country tune. I have been known to hang out at this eclectic hole-in-the-wall bar called "The Junction" where I sing rock-n-roll, lots of 80's music, sometimes country and once I even sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

I don't like being put into a box in any category - too much like a coffin.