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« KUGS: Still Rockin’ Around The Clock | Main | Apple Thinks Vista Is Going To Slip » August 13, 2006Songs To Learn And SingYesterday, I started taking singing lessons. I've wanted to learn how to sing for a long, long time. I love music, but I never took an instrument as a kid (being too busy geeking out on computers to get into band), so my stock response whenever asks me "if I play" is to reply "yeah ... the stereo." I do sing today, of course, but in the same way most people do - in the shower, in the car. I would never, ever sing in public other than warbling "happy birthday" with 10 of my coworkers or "the Star-Spangled Banner" with the rest of Key Arena. I've decided to change that. The desire to sing well, defined as, "The ability to take the stage at karaoke and not embarrass oneself," is something that I haven't been able to shake for more than a decade. It's been one of those personal things that's always lost out to other, more pressing things on my calendar (startups, marathon training, yadda yadda), and yet it never let go of its hold on my imagination. So, after much hemming and hawing (it's a bit scary to put myself out there in that way), I decided to do something about it. Hence: lessons. I found my instructor, Sarah, as a referral from a friend. She's terrific (and, amazingly, her studio is just a mile from my place ... a nice bonus). We spent most of our first session talking about personal goals, the psychological anxieties of singing (apparently, I'm not the only person on the planet with some fear, here), and her methods. We wrapped the hour with some breathing exercises and lung-capacity tests (being a former swimmer = bit of an edge), and closed with some "la-la-LA-la-la" scale work. It's going to take about six months of lessons, plus outside-lesson work, to start seeing results. So I'm excited, nervous, happy. I can't really believe I'm doing this (and I'm about a million miles away from doing it in front of anybody), but I need to know if this is something I'm actually capable of doing. It's been kicking around my psyche for too long, and too strongly, for me to ignore it any more. (And who knows? Maybe one day I'll be belting out "Sit Down" someplace where others can hear it.) Posted by Gavin Shearer at August 13, 2006 9:13 AM. Posted to Misc. CommentsSarah who? Posted by: Richard Barrett Singing is just talking with pizzazz, you know. If only we could be as uninhibited as children with this kind of thing. Gillian sings all the time, everywhere, and it doesn't matter who is listening. She's an inspiration. :) I was the lead in my high school musical, playing Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls. Look up Marlon Brando on iMDB for that one. And I figured that, if Brando can sing, so can I. I mean, really, he was pretty terrible, even with his voice tweaked in the studio and dubbed over the soundtrack. If the stats are right, over 80% of Americans are afraid of speaking in public. Now, if you ask them to sing, my guess is that the number jumps to 99%. The other 1% are on American Idol or named Ashlee Simpson. My big learning from singing in front of a crowd: so many folks are so amazed you have the cojones to even do it, they won't even hear your voice. So, you can even suck. Not that I sucked. I mean, according to my mom, I was better than Brando... Posted by: Jeffrey Smith at August 15, 2006 1:54 PM Post a commentThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out) (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)« KUGS: Still Rockin’ Around The Clock | Main | Apple Thinks Vista Is Going To Slip » |
