The Reason I Sing

Music is a powerful part of everyone's life.  Or at least it should be.  If we are to be honest with ourselves, music has played a role in all our lives.  Not always in the most obvious of ways, but it has been there nonetheless.  When we watch a movie and feel particularly touched by a scene, oftentimes it has more to do with the music underpinning the dialogue than the words themselves.  This is by no means meant to take anything away from the gifted actors who are capable of making us feel something without background music, but rather a simple fact I have noticed for myself over the years and have even read articles relating much the same thing. People have their favorite songs, couples have "their song," we have music that makes us feel better when we're in a rotten mood as well as music that stirs the primal emotions all of us keep inside.  If we let it, music will touch our very soul.

It is this power to reach into the core of our being that led me to pursue a career in music.  At first, I intended to bring my passion for music to others through education, but I quickly learned that my particular gifts did not lie down that path.  It was as a performer first, and now as an arranger that I feel I was destined to exhibit my love of all things musical.  Through performing in Five By Design I have seen the amazing ability of music to touch the listener in ways for which they may not be totally prepared.  After the shows, when we meet the audience, individuals will come up to us and relate how our show made them "feel young again," or allowed them to feel it was OK to laugh again after losing someone they loved.  Men and women alike with tears in their eyes, some from recalling sad times of the past, but most reliving the joy that our music brought rushing back to their memory, tell us their stories.  It is those moments that keep me going, that reinvigorate me, that give me the necessary lift when the rigors of being on the road wear me down.

This is by no means a glamorous life, as anyone who has ever been on the road can tell you, but it is usually a fulfilling one.  Not enough people are able to do what they love in their lives.  Most of the world seems to be stuck doing what they must to put food on the table and clothes on their back.  I feel blessed that I have been able to pursue my passion for music and my fondest desire is to never lose that passion.  If the day ever comes when singing this music no longer revitalizes me, than that would be a clear sign that it may be time to give it up and stop pretending.  Any audience can tell when the artist is simply going through the motions and in my mind that is a far greater crime than not meeting todays standards of excellence brought about by the recording studio.  If the musician still possesses the power to move the listener, that is the greatest compliment they can receive.  Not that it was a technically flawless, but sterile, performance.

Perhaps that is why I have taken such a shine to arranging.  It offers me the ability to still do something with music, but not be out on the road.  I love the opportunity to say something new with a song that people are already familiar with as well as the challenge of trying to create something totally new.  When I was recently watching TV after one of our shows, I happened to come across Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King."  I will admit freely that I am a huge fan of the movies and saw them in the theater multiple times and own the DVDs and soundtracks.  On this particular evening, I was struck once again by the enormous contribution that Howard Shore's soundtrack brought to the film and I can only hope to have that impact on our listeners.  Creating something new, to tell a story through music, to touch the lives of others in the smallest of ways, to bring joy to an audience; those are my goals, those are the reasons I follow this particular path and I humbly hope to never lose sight of them.

Terrence Niska