Serendipity – the accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it.
I love the sound of this word ser-en-dip-i-ty. I also like the idea of discovering fortunate unplanned connections. My parents always say you have to make your own luck and the harder you work the luckier you get, but chance must come into it.
My first regular singing lessons were in a group of children at Stagecoach Theatre Arts, my brothers and I joined Stagecoach because my parents were concerned we were sitting watching TV all Saturday morning and made it their new year’s resolution to get my older brother and me in to a healthy activity. After several years the singing coach Jan Bartai suggested I should try to get some one-on-one singing lessons because there is only so far a teacher can take you in a group lesson. Out of the blue a new singing teacher started working at my high school, I put my name down for a 30 minute lesson each week and she introduced me to classical vocal training and classical music for the first time.
Jayne encouraged me to enter music festivals, we didn’t know they existed until then and through them I have met the most wonderful people. The people that volunteer their time to run these festivals are wonderful, generous spirited people who have been very encouraging, several of them have become good friends to me, giving me opportunities to sing with their choirs and perform with them in recitals, often raising much needed funds for local charities.
In a more recent example we were asked to create a reflection journal to record our experiences in the hope that in doing so we would discover something useful. At first I found this a very odd concept as it felt more like a diary rather than a tool for self-development, but by sticking with it I identified small incidental ideas that helped me to work more effectively and to sing better.
This is why I started this blog to continue what I started and explore the world around me for advice, ideas and new friends. Who knows what my next serendipitous moment will be 🙂
I would be really interested to know if you have had such a moment and if so how did it impact on your life ?