The Joy of Singing and Freedom
Last night I was reading an article about people who can't sing (me!) and if they can work on learning how to sing. I lost the link to the website, but it featured a full length article about how singing is more about letting yourself go a little. It doesn't mean that you start singing out loud enough to make the neighborhood dogs start howling, but at least to accept your voice and its features.
The article dealt with my long life frustration of not being able to sing as I used to when I was a child. I had a pretty voice, but when I grew up and puberty changes happened, my voice turned into something unmanageable, because I couldn't control (vibratos were gone, high pitch tones too) the way it sounded. So I decided to stop singing and that was the end of it. I tried in the school choir until there was one, because I sounded really good when singing with others (mine is more like a support voice than a leading one). As time passed I started singing again but only with a close friend who is a great singer, just for fun when we're together we sang a couple of tunes.
Eventually, when I started working in a Catholic school, I joined the choir to perform during mass, people seemed to be okay with my voice over a microphone and even I sang in a school event, but I never asked anyone how it sounded because I was terrified of the negative I heard many times after my voice changed.
Of course, I sing in the shower, when I'm by myself, I even have tried to record my own voice and sometimes is good, sometimes it sucks (and big time), but it depends mostly on the tune I'm singing (singing off key is not my problem!) because some are not adjusted to my voice and they sound really bad.
The article said that you should feel that your voice comes naturally, and that's when mine sucks! I have to use my throat in a different way to make the right sounds, but having a bad sinus case doesn't help too much, it comes out nasal. But, after all the embarrassment of singing on my own and getting caught every now and then, I realized that what the article said was true, singing is freedom, it helps you release the stress of the routine, it's like screaming!
I'll go back to my singing in secret when few people are listening, but I'll keep practicing until I'm good at it!
The article dealt with my long life frustration of not being able to sing as I used to when I was a child. I had a pretty voice, but when I grew up and puberty changes happened, my voice turned into something unmanageable, because I couldn't control (vibratos were gone, high pitch tones too) the way it sounded. So I decided to stop singing and that was the end of it. I tried in the school choir until there was one, because I sounded really good when singing with others (mine is more like a support voice than a leading one). As time passed I started singing again but only with a close friend who is a great singer, just for fun when we're together we sang a couple of tunes.
Eventually, when I started working in a Catholic school, I joined the choir to perform during mass, people seemed to be okay with my voice over a microphone and even I sang in a school event, but I never asked anyone how it sounded because I was terrified of the negative I heard many times after my voice changed.
Of course, I sing in the shower, when I'm by myself, I even have tried to record my own voice and sometimes is good, sometimes it sucks (and big time), but it depends mostly on the tune I'm singing (singing off key is not my problem!) because some are not adjusted to my voice and they sound really bad.
The article said that you should feel that your voice comes naturally, and that's when mine sucks! I have to use my throat in a different way to make the right sounds, but having a bad sinus case doesn't help too much, it comes out nasal. But, after all the embarrassment of singing on my own and getting caught every now and then, I realized that what the article said was true, singing is freedom, it helps you release the stress of the routine, it's like screaming!
I'll go back to my singing in secret when few people are listening, but I'll keep practicing until I'm good at it!
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