Rod Sigler is a local veteran musician whose talent gained him a
spot in the stage show at the National VA Creative Arts Festival in 2015. Rod
sent us a few words about his trip to North Carolina:
“What a great event! The nation's greatest Veteran talent was calibrated together for one
event that was the Creative Arts Festival. People from all walks of life and
different talents came together to show their gold medal winning art, dance,
drama, and voices.
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| Rod Sigler at the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival in North Carolina |
"I, Rod Sigler, represented Austin, TX and enjoyed the fellowship so
much that it sent me back home on a mission to make an impact in the community
and take some other veterans with me. Most of the songs we sang were classics
by John Denver. Initially I thought that it was not my style of music and would
not be something I would enjoy doing. What I found is that I could step out
of my comfort zone, grow, and demonstrate the flexibility to do more kinds of
music and reach a point where, those of us who won solo parts, we could own it
and add our personality to it. Moving through the week it started to wear on us
but many of us started to consider the words of the songs. We began to ask
questions like, "Who is this person I am singing next to?" Before you
knew it, what we had worked on for hours a day for an entire week had
culminated into a fine event that we nailed. The North Carolina community was
so loving, and you could tell they loved and appreciated veterans. Before you
knew it, the music stopped and there was no more preparation. There was almost
a midst of sadness that swept across the room and on the bus ride home. It was
over. Time to get back to our life.
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| Rod with his gold medal for first place in the Original Vocal category for his song, "We Are Veterans" |
"The key to any experience like this is will it be a moment or a
movement to bring back things learned in order to see what can be done in our
communities. I told the group in a meeting that the only way that we could not
let anything garnered that week to die is to keep breathing life into it by
returning home, seeing who you can build up, inspire, and impact in a manner that
causes others to reach higher, make a difference to the local community of vets
back home and maybe themselves make the trip next year.”
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| Rod practicing for the stage show |
Rod has definitely inspired us here at VSA Texas to work on
expanding our Distinguished Artist Veterans program to include more veteran
musicians and writers. Look out for more details on that program and learn more
about our veteran services at http://www.vsatx.org/veteranServices.html.
If you are a veteran served by the VA, then you too can enter the
National VA Creative Arts Competition. The 2016 event will be held in Jackson,
MS and includes categories in Visual Art, Dance, Drama, Music, and Creative
Writing. To qualify, you must enter through your local VA. If you are in Austin
and receive services at the Austin VA Outpatient Clinic, then entries are due
by March 9th. Make an appointment to record your Music,
Dance, or Drama entry on 9th. Bring your Art or
Writing entries to the Austin VA Outpatient Clinic on March 8th & 9th. Contact Jeffrey Norrod at the VA
at 254-624-2911 for details.
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