I love singing. I sing in a vocal ensemble, I sing with the radio, I even sing karaoke when brave, among friends, doing a duet with a dear friend or drunk. The problem is, while I can sing with people, I don’t have the confidence or technique to sing on my own for others’ pleasure.
To address those issues, I began singing lessons last November. One hour a week, Wednesday evenings with Kirsteen, a good friend of mine who is very knowledgeable and an excellent teacher. It was a lot of fun and I made some real progress. However, Christmas and generally busy lives got in the way for the next few weeks and the lessons went on hold until tonight.
I learned three important things: one, I get rusty really fast. I haven’t lost my range (high tenor to medium alto) but my sound goes scratchy very quickly. This is simply lack of practice and exercising my voice. Two, I can get back my sound really quickly too. Thanks to Kirsteen’s pinpointing of my errors in technique and her spot-on corrective suggestions I was back in range and tone in short order. And three, I love making the sound I can make now!
On the way home I put Gretchen Wilson’s Redneck Woman (yes, I confess, it’s a country song) on the iPod and belted it out for all I was worth. Sorry, Kirsteen! – but it was fun, as music should be.
In the car with the windows rolled tightly up. I’m not ready to do Redneck Woman at karaoke yet!
So today I’m grateful for the ability to sing, for the pleasure it gives me and for Kirsteen, who’s patiently bringing out the best that I know is in me.
(And yes, dear reader, if you like karaoke and want to go sometime, give me a shout! I promise I won’t do Redneck Woman unless you dare me over a whole lot of beer!)