April usually means that winter is gone and spring has at least started the new growth of life that in expected during this time of year. Not always, but usually this is so. There is a greening and a flowering and a collection of smells that have been absent for many months. There is also a rainy spell that accompanies the new growth and makes it possible. This is the part I most enjoy. Rain in any form: rain on a tin roof, rain on a tent, rain on a car roof, even rain on a raincoat when you are safely inside and dry. All of these are inspiring and invigorating to me.
Conversely, I am disappointed when the rain does not appear. If a drought occurs, it also occurs in me, and I tend to dry out and wither in my psyche unless I find rain or somehow conjure it up. When desperate, I do this with movies containing rain scenes, or books that talk about rain. Or I just imagine situations in which I am soaking wet or at least hearing he sound of rain. Recordings of rain sort of work, but they become predictable, and rain is always unpredictable. The rain in any form, I hope, keeps me sane.
The month of April also, normally, contains Holy Week and Easter. I never thought much about this until I began directing choirs. These holy days are filled with music which reflects the Resurrection, and new life, and hope and love and a lot of other themes throughout the season which ends with Pentecost. This is actually the easy part. The difficult part is all of the preparation and rehearsal of the music to be used. This is also, to me, the exciting part. Not only finding music that is appropriate and works, but also composing and arranging new music when I can’t find anything published that works for us. But, this always becomes the challenge, and, though I tend to grouse a bit, I look forward to it every year.
April also becomes the end of the first quarter of the year, and this, to me, means that I am looking ahead once again to getting through the summer and into the fall, which is my favorite season of all. It helps to have something to always look forward to, and when you are planning ahead, this is always the case. The downside is that the year seems to shrink, and go faster and faster each succeeding year. These cycles are a part of life itself, and must be either enjoyed or ignored. I choose to enjoy them.
And after Easter, when everything slows down a bit and relaxes, I find that I can read more books and think a lot clearer and begin to vegetate and gather more ideas for original music and songs. And sometimes these ideas develop well and give me a feeling of satisfaction, and I am marginally content. And sometimes this leads to happiness. I tend to play the percentages…