why vignettes?

In high school, I was a sprinter. I played soccer, ran track, and skated on frozen ponds.

And I was pretty fast. In college, I even played club ice hockey for a minute.

I love a short, fast burst of energy…then slowing it down. Recovery is key, as an introvert and night owl who can hyperfocus on a creative project for hours and feel it’s only been half an hour.

That’s why running longer distances isn’t my thing. The steady pacing is tricky. I’d rather get warmed up then go all out, give it everything I’ve got, knowing I’ve saved a little extra for the end. I’m still surprised when my boosters kick in just as I need to jam over the finish line or toward the goal or to tap tap a sneaky interception. … or accomplish a daunting task.

I’ve always moved at my own pace, enjoying a more flexible sense of time than many others. I must move through a world designed by train conductors and watch wearers who prefer a steady tick tock over circadian rhythms and daydreams. I stretch or compress time - or myself - to make things fit. I can do it, and I think it’s a useful skill to practice.

But I am happiest when I’m in a freeform flow state of creating. I feel focused and expansive all at once. I feel unified. I feel boundless. I feel agile and powerful, shifting easily between my strategic planning mind and my infinitely creative mind.

Maybe this is why I love to write songs. They’re short bursts of creative intersections of words and melodies, metaphors and stories…they strike up conversations between rhythm and tone, color and monochrome, sound and silence.

Maybe this is why I love inter-disciplinary intersections.

Maybe this is why it feels right to write…sketch…sing…play…create…Vignettes.

Some Vignettes may be only the written word.
Some may be only a sketch or a painting.
Some may take the form of a fresh song idea or a piano improvisation.
Or one haiku.
I may talk about the Vignette in depth or I may let it be as it is.

I may delve into any number of topics…from music + songwriting to music theory and instrument learning, to visual art (sketching, painting, printmaking), to music and the brain research, to arts in health advocacy, to poetry, to equity, to cultural humility, to mindfulness and meditation, to creative resilience, to rest.

Thank you for following along this far. I welcome your comments and connections. I hope your find a Vignette that inspires or moves you, or maybe even reminds you of some creative part of yourself wanting to be expressed.

If you’d like these Vignettes delivered to your email doorstep, along with music updates about shows and projects, you may “subscribe” by joining my mailing list below.

My gratitude abounds on this snowy January night in Maine, a little after midnight. Time for a snack and a snooze.

Cheers to you,
Sorcha