Agile Vocalist Epilogue, Season 1: Bathrooms, Cars & the Future

In celebration of Agile Vocalist's 1-year anniversary, this epilogue takes you back through an unexpected trend that emerged with many of my guests about creativity. The theme was this:  people are often most creative and get their sound practice and ideas... in the bathroom, specifically the shower. Cars were also a theme as havens for creating. Who knew?

Talking about bathrooms, showers, cars & visions for the arts (post-pandemic) are my guests from the past year (in order of app(H)earance):

Chloe Medanic-Watt (intro/outro)

Rachel Medanic

Opal Louis Nations

Joshua Silverstein & Joshua at Spoken Funk event

Pamela Rose

Vidya Srinivasan

Mary Ford

Brian Walker

Beauty Awaits, courtesy Harps of Comfort

Justin James & his mix:  Rare vol. 15, DJ Just-IN Radio #12

Podcast theme music:  Looperman

All podcast listeners (and non-listeners looking for a little fun & to learn something) are invited to take the 1-year anniversary quiz! 

A little music knowledge and some observation powers will get you 6+ right answers...which enters you in a drawing to win podcast swag, Girl Scout cookies & other fun things that will show up in your mailbox. Drawing offered only to U.S. & Canada residents. 

More about Agile Vocalist, including artist biographies, liner notes and additional visual material for every episode can be found on the Agile Vocalist web site. 

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Transcript

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00:00 Intro:  Agile Vocalist epilogue, season 1.

Voice:  Humming. Someone turning on a shower.

Rachel Medanic:  Agile Vocalist was at first called Wasting Water. It began during a drought in our bathroom

I knew that my most creative, uninhibited, and vocally expressive places were the shower and the car. But I also suspected I wasn’t the only one who felt freest in those places.

Rachel:  Singing in the shower. [Tell me what song in the comments!]

I set out to shine a light on sound creators and the arts, two passions of mine. As I continued interviewing guests, the theme of bathrooms and cars started to come up in interviews without me asking.

01:05 Opal Nations:  The idea was to bring music into the bathroom. Because it’s the best place to rehearse after all. It’s got the best echo.

01:14 Joshua Silverstein:  I’ve been a professional beatboxer for imma say over twentysomething years. I’ve crossed the threshold from doing it at home in the shower to someone who actually gets paid to do it. And that really is the qualifier for professional. If you get paid to do it then you are a professional.

Performance clip:  Beatboxing performance clip from Spoken Funk.

Joshua (while beatboxing at the same time):  Why aren’t you smiling sir, I don’t understand!?

Rachel:  Singing in the shower. [Tell me what song in the comments!]

02:06 Pamela:  You know obviously acoustically, those tiles help a lot. Umm.

Rachel: [Laughs]. That’s right.

Pamela:  So, we all sound a little better

Rachel:  It’s the echo

Pamela:  Right, you have a little reverb going on.

Pamela:  But I get my greatest ideas in the shower, or driving. You know it’s… and these days it’s on my bike. I actually sing and hum to myself on my bike. I’m on my bike a lot.

Music:  Atlantis

02:50 Vidya Srinivasan:  Whenever we go on car rides. The car starts with a song. Car rides definitely are my favorite, especially when I’m driving to work. That’s when I actually like, get to practice a lot. Practice, experiment, you know. I do a lot of that. A part of me is looking forward to going back to work and those car rides.

Sound: Car starting.

Rachel: singing in the shower. Tell me what song in the comments!

Sound: A car’s emergency brake left on alert.

03:43 Mary Ford:  And then I would go home, and I would sing. I would sing in the car. I drove my family insane because I sang all the time. They couldn’t stop me. We’d go on trips and I’d be singing, singing, singing.

Rachel:  Beyond the shower and the car, I encouraged several of my guests to imagine the future free from the grip of the pandemic. What, in one of the darkest times in history for the performing arts, would they bring forward in time? What undeniable silver linings would stay woven amid the fabric of their art?

Harp music:  Beauty Awaits, courtesy Harps of Comfort.

04:36 Brian Walker:  Well, I think because the technology actually works that it is a definite possibility that people who are living relatively far apart can make music together. And can even be in bands together. And at the very least can rehearse together.

Harp music:  Jennifer Hollis.

Jennifer Hollis:  I love the in-person work. And so personally, I would imagine a combination. But one of the factors of my whole career, because there aren’t that many music-thanatologists, has been people call me and they say, you know:  Can you drive 500 miles away to play? You’re the only one I know who is nearby, can you drive 500 miles away to play for my loved one? And I’ve always had to say “no.” But now I know something new, which is I can play for that person remotely. And it really solves the problem for a very small field that, you know, has wanted to serve more patients but hasn’t always been able to.

Rachel:  In my first year, I also learned to act on my instincts and create a world where we finally recognize artists are still our most forgotten essential workers. The journey from concept to execution is a rough one that requires constant practice!

Music: Rare vol. 15, DJ Just-IN Radio #12 mix by Justin James

Justin:  I always know what I want it to sound like in my head, it’s a matter of if I’m talented enough or skilled enough to make that come out of the speaker.

Rachel:  Thank you to all my guests, my listeners, supporters, and creative contributors. I look forward to continuing to light up your ears and minds so we all recognize the power of sound as essential to our humanity.

Outro music:  Looperman.