This Is Me: 1

First hearing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLFEvHWD_NE

Music has held a mystery for me all my life.  Whether I sit alone and listen or I'm in the midst of a crowd and it's washing over all of us, whether I sing it or write it or direct it, it can cast a spell that I cannot deny.

That's why I'm so grateful to follow this song from the first time it was sung to well beyond servicing the movie for which it was written.  The video posted here shows not just the original version but how a singer with a song she understands transforms the people hearing it, singing it, accompanying it.  It's incredible to watch this happen.

In the opening interview, it's established that she didn't want move from behind the music stand to perform the number.  Lord knows this is something I understand.

0:58 She hears the slight intro and does what she's supposed to do...sing the song, despite it being new to all concerned, including her.  She knows she needs to get out from behind the music stand.
1:28 She looks at the singers and that gives her a poke.
1:45 She looks at Hugh Jackman, who has wanted her for the part since they first met.  I wish we could see his face; it clearly inspires her (and really...who can blame her?).
1:52 She realizes that art needs the artist to take a chance.  She steps out from behind the music stand.
1:56 Note the look on the pianist's face.  It registers that she's left her comfort zone, at least to those who've worked with on this song.  I'm embarrassed to say I don't know if he's the composer.
2:06 She and the singer in front of her make eye contact.  The singer knows something's got to happen.
2:14 She now encourages the male singer to give it his all.  He does.
2:18 The magic has begun.  The singer in the light top is now thoroughly involved, the woman beside her is, too, and you can see the pianist's head bobbing from time to time.
2:34 Her spin back to the singers, the flip of her head, the look of the pianist from accompanying to being part of something way special.
2:45 "Glorious" frees everyone from this being a workshop to being a moment to remember.
2:56 The male soloist and Keala look like they're doing a call and response.  He's there.
3:03 The camera pans to Hugh Jackman across to the other side of the room and more singers.
(3:08 I totally understand the woman at the table.  That would probably be me at this point, too.  We all boogy our own way.)
3:15 The other side of the room is alive.  They have come into the magic, too.  There is nowhere else on earth they'd rather be.
3:26 Jackman now feels the music, keeping time with his green apple.
3:31 There is now no one who is not in the moment.
3:35 Keala realizes the she and the song are one.  It's necessary to step out from behind the music stand.
3:43 As Keala and the song consume each other, the pianist clearly is beyond delighted, which makes me think he is one of the composers or perhaps the music director.
3:48 The glasses comes off.  She is now fully exposed.*
3:52 This is the start of what she talked about in the intro.  She sings to Jackman, "When the sharpest words wanna cut me down."  I think this is when the song hits her full force.
4:00 They are both in tears because of that realization.  "This is brave, This is bruised, This is who I'm meant to be.  This is me."
4:07 Jackman involuntarily makes a sound.  It's as if he can't believe what's happening.
4:10 Singer, song, everyone become one."
4:25 Jackman is up and loving it.

I've been involved in enough rehearsals to know that there is frequently that moment the artist understands and feels what it's about.  The know the words, they know the notes, they know what they're supposed to convey.  And then, with luck, it all connects.  It's magic.

It's also a mystery.

I'd like to follow this with the clip from the movie, a performance on The Graham Norton Show, and also a video of how a song can change its meaning slightly, depending on who sings it.

*I took a one-week crash course in choral directing.  The instructor was adamant that no one should ever direct wearing glasses.  It separates your eyes from the chorus or the audience.