Ephemera

Ephemera (I looked this up) means little bits of paper or other things that are not supposed to last for more than a day. I think this word was first used during WWII to describe secret and fleeting things. The word Ephemera now brings new images to my mind and memory: of beautiful, soulful sound, of laughter and healing and of warmth in my spirit.
My singing group, Ephemera, performed at the Corning Museum of Glass last night. We are eleven women who create music in the moment- vocal improvisations. It is entirely challenging and wonderful for me to sing with these people. We have found a real sisterhood in our circle. Last night's gig was a first foray into singing out in public by ourselves. We sang in the hot glass room, we sang to a glass exhibit, we sang in the main welcome lobby, we sang in a Corning restaurant. It was almost all improv. We have forms that we use to organize and frame our pieces, but what we do is truly ephemeral. Once we create it, develop it and finish it, it's gone forever...unless it's recorded. Bruce, an artist who also happens to be from Trumansburg, created a display of words that describe the quality of glass. When the evening was over, and our friend Rob (who is a director at the museum) was making sure we had a glass of wine, we created a groove and sang Bruce's word wall. He video taped us a lot last night- and here are some moments from our performances. We were to function as the evening's surprise- to pop up and sing in unexpected places, unexpected things. It was a gas.