About revision and editing your Art - or your Life?
Verbs that help reprocess and renew
I heard the poet Naomi Shihab Nye say : "I like revising almost more than writing." Then she said that she wants pieces to stay alive and thus often revisits her own previous works so that they look true to the present moment.
For me, revising is the hardest part. But by envisioning the process more as a voyage than a chore, I finally managed to live my process differently.
This is what I share today in this letter with my paid subscribers.
As always, a poetic and practical letter that is aimed to lit and refresh the body, the heart and the mind.
Marion Dorval
Hybrid artist & Bodyvoice flow founder Fondatrice du Bodyvoice flow
Bodyvoice flow self-paced & individual sessions EN/Français / Life.Creative mentoring sessions
Libérer la Voix.e de sa nature profonde - Nurture.Lit the Art.Life
—
Dernier livre : S’autoriser à être. Visages de la honte, voix du plaisir
Dernière Traversée initiatrice en ligne : De la honte au plaisir, s’autoriser à être
My work is all based on breathing, spontaneity, improvisation, presence, nature. This means that I rarely go through editing a poem or a text and rather explore the impermanence.
When my work is good, which in reality means "when I gave my true presence to life and let words and sound be revealed rather than create them," then I have little or nothing to revise.
Everything goes out as almost perfect, in the sense that it is true and still holds the strength and energy that was passing through me at the moment I was channeling it into the matter.
I don't revise for beauty. I keep trying to maintain some frailty and the raw aspect of some phrases or melodies. Sometimes the rhythm is uncertain or unbalanced so I reshape it a bit.
But what frightens me the most in the process of revision is this: the idea that the final form should be the perfect one for eternity. Set in stone. Unable to live again. Expected to be forever like this.
As everything is impermanent, even my so-called finished work remains imperfect and subject to changes. And I love this. And I need this, instead of the idea of revising as if I had missed something.
Reframing, reshaping, reinventing: I need these steps for my work to remain accessible and alive at anytime. That's what music is at its core: a free evolving breath.
Just like when revisiting past events of our life, I believe that in this process of revising we have to remain gentle to ourselves, accept new insights, and train ourselves to let go of how we used to view things.
That's what songs and poems permit. And vocal improvisation more than any other form of art. You can constantly offer a fresh new version of your art. Thus letting go of the arrogance of your finishing ability, and offering the world your presence instead of constantly performing the exact same word and note at the same moment and place.
My body is moving, so is my voice. And so is the art I make with my body and my voice.
Some people like fixed forms and recitations. Me too. Some people like going to the same place over and over again. Me too. Some people hate revising their life for fear of the unknown and hidden insights. (Me too, sometimes)
But sometimes it is more enlivening to revisit the same place another way. And then we might discover the gem we were neglecting in the first place. There's so much to explore even through one line or one shape of melody. Or just one encounter, or one conversation, one decision.
That's where the voyage and the process of revision can interestingly be compared to receiving inspiration—which literally means breathing, hopefully more freely.
Here are some steps we can take in that trip of enriching our Art.Life with a sense of both renewal and solidification (quite counterintuitive, yet perfectly adjusted).
Verbs below are the ones I use for these steps, along with my 25 years of experience with the art of improvisation.
These verbs are connected to many senses (which are more than the usual 8 or 9 often described by the human realm) :