Reggie Harris | 2024 September

Shifting Towards Joy!

September 3, 2024/0 Comments/in General /by Reggie Harris

Dear Music Family,

This is an exciting time to be alive in a summer of unexpected surprises. The last two months have rocketed by as I traveled the country teaching at Swannanoa Gathering, Summersongs, TradMad, and various gigs including two youth camps in Maine that I’ve been connected to for over 35 years. The April release of my memoir Searching for Solid Ground has also provided a host of events and connections as readers react and recommend the book to their friends and colleagues.

In a year filled with uncertainty, division, and the unknown course of our divided nation, we have suddenly and unexpectedly been presented with an opportunity – the opportunity to embrace a new sense of vision and joy. And as Michelle Obama said a few weeks ago at the Democratic National Convention: “Hope is making a comeback!”

I feel in my heart that this positive shift is no accident, and that like so many other incredible moments of change, this time has been surrounded by and infused with music.

As you all know, my mission in the world is a commitment to using music and the history that surrounds it to create opportunities and conversations for people of all ages to consider how we can truly be our best selves. Watching the Democratic Convention, with its nonstop themes of freedom and justice, I was reminded again that music connects us so powerfully with its life-giving energy, as we celebrate our joy in communities across the nation.

The performances of Stevie Wonder, Pink, Maren Morris and others, the DJ playlist as states announced their votes, and the soundtracks between speakers gave rise to a new vision of hope, connecting past to present. Even the lingering effects of my illness last year have been lifted by this power of song.

Whether we’re talking about the state of our world or the state of our mental and spiritual wellbeing, this is clearly a time of new beginnings, new opportunities to move forward with music as our guide and companion.

Friends, we know we have work to do. We’re creating a new soundtrack. You have a place in the playlist. As Michelle Obama also said: “Do something!” Add a word, sing a line, help with voter registration, donate to a campaign, give a ride when the polls are open, make sure your voice is heard!

Here’s a song to keep us all inspired: https://youtu.be/LAPqB1C7lBg

In song, joy, and action,

Reggie

Interesting Links

The Living Legacy Project works to build a vital and unique bridge from the past, to the present, and into the future by offering pilgrimages and outreach programs to the public and to communities of faith.

The Kennedy Center’s Program in which teachers learn ways to teach in, through, and about the arts, school administrators learn ways to harness the power of the arts for learning and artists learn ways to be more effective in their work with students and teachers.

ARTSEDGE: the Kennedy Center’s new digital resource site and educational media arm makes it so much easier for reaching out to schools, communities, individuals and families. They offer printed materials, classroom support and Internet technologies. Check in here: digitallearning@kennedy-center.org

Folk Alliance International exists to nurture, engage and empower the international folk music community — traditional and contemporary, amateur and professional — through education, advocacy and performance.

Coming to the Table provides leadership, resources and a supportive environment for all who wish to acknowledge and heal wounds from racism that is rooted in the United States’ history of slavery.