Resurgence of A Capella singing.

image credit

Singing "a capella" (singing without instrumental accompaniment) is actually not a weird or nerdy thing these days. Wow, amazing. Two mainstream movies showcase it (Pitch Perfect 1 & 2), there are popular bands like Pentatonix (or PTX) which have brought the style into the limelight. I've been increasingly impressed by the ability of modern groups to do beat boxing (doing drums and such by mouth gymnastics) and how easy it is to listen to groups doing this. It's really incredible.

I bring this up because there are so many times we feel limited in daily life when we don't have the "proper" tools and equipment. What ever happened to creativity and improvisation? Why do we have to have the perfect stuff before we even attempt anything? There's nothing wrong with preparation (and I, being Batman, heartily approve with getting everything ready), but you can't expect everything. Let yourself go outside of the confines of your little box and try something different! Sure, it may not work, but you might just create a completely new technique. At some point, people didn't know eating oysters was good ... okay, not a wonderful example, but you get the idea.

Bringing back forgotten things is also frequently done. It's funny how old building techniques have found a certain resurgence, as have smaller homes. Old styles of art are seeing a fresh audience. I expect we'll see more areas where this happens, as the wheel of discovery, innovation, usefulness, and fondness is always turning back on itself. Maybe we'll remember that old concepts aren't bad after all, like a capella singing. Ah, I love having my ears tickled by finely tuned human voices and not robotic programs like Auto-Tune.

- M