A lesson from Sweet Adeline

Every word counts. We hear this often, and it's become cliché. In our instant gratification era, we don't have time to finesse every word. We'll pay attention to a few special ones, but for the most part, we move on. For some people this is constructive; they would never finish their essay, let alone 1700 word novel, if they agonized over every word.

But for people like me, dedication to detail is a necessary reminder.

Today I was reminded not just of how important words are, but individual syllables themselves.

I am in two a capella groups. A modern, coed group and a Sweet Adeline quartet. We have our first concert of the year next week, and memorizing 30 minutes of barbershop is challenging. It's challenging because if our syllables aren't right--just one vowel even, the magic of our harmony begins to unravel.

My other group is creating our own arrangement. I sat today at the computer, agonizing over whether our bases should be singing Do or Ah. It's a big difference, and the whole feel of the piece can change with that little vowel.

So now, when I go back to writing my stories, I won't complain about words. It could be worse. I could be dealing with syllables.