My Band

Ten years ago, my friend Hudy invited me to come to her home on a Saturday night to have an informal “kumzitz” style singing session to lift the spirits of another mutual friend  who was experiencing some health issues.  Considering I love to sing and play piano, and loved the company of these girls, I gladly accepted.  (Also back in those ancient years, child #5 was on the way and all my existing kids were asleep by 7.  Yeah, hard to remember.)

Anyhoo, I went and it was wonderful.  Hudy plays the drums and piano too and is really musical and Becky, our friend who was ill, had a deeply incredible sense of humor and love of life.  Becky passed away a few months ago, actually, at the age of 41, from complications after her decade-long illness, and we will never forget her.

Becky, Hudy, some other friends and I continued to meet a number of times to sing and laugh, and then the ad hoc group kind of disbanded.

Then Hudy met Rachel.

Hudy wanted voice lessons and plays guitar.  Rachel gives voice lessons and wanted to learn guitar.  They decided to meet each week for an hour and swap services.  Eventually each realized the scope of the other’s talents and created a video of song for a non-profit called “Project Hope,” which provides Jewish video entertainment for women who are hospital-or-bed-bound.  Hudy called me to see if I wanted to work on the project over the summer, but at the time I had a summer job at Camp Raninu in the Poconos and could not participate.

Two years later, Hudy called me again.  “Ruchi, we want to form a band, and we want you to be a part of it.  We’ll get together every Wednesday morning and jam.  We don’t know where this will go.  Are you in?”

I was in!

And that’s how In Harmony was born.

In Harmony is a band comprised of Orthodox women from the widest variety of backgrounds.  Each of us sings, some of us play instruments such as piano, drums, guitar, electric guitar, flute, clarinet, and sax.  Among our ranks are a staging expert, a fashion designer, a social media guru, a super-organized CEO type, and a fundraiser.  Together we have put on one major full-length concert for women and girls only (in line with our religious beliefs) for a sold-out crowd of 500, many smaller performances at a variety of venues, and have our next major concert, where we are expecting 800 women and girls, coming up Sunday, May 26th.

In Harmony is one of the most enjoyable outlets of my life.  Although meeting every Wednesday (more, now, pre-concert) can be taxing on my schedule, I adore the women I work with, who have become close friends and my “band sistas.”  I feel alive, knowing I am activating all the parts of my soul that God gave me to uplift and inspire myself and others.  I marvel at the beauty called “music” that God put into the world, and at how we all need each other to created this magnificent product that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Best part is, Hudy, after years of me dropping hints, finally gave me a drum lesson.