So, I've been taking singing lessons this semester. It's been a combination of good, bad, and ugly.
The breakdown:
The Good:
-I can sing approximately seven million, one hundred and twenty one times better than when I started two months ago
-I've discovered that my range is actually somewhat decent (one note shy of three octaves, last time I checked)
-it gives me a legit excuse to practice, which is something I didn't have before
-having to occasionally listen to recordings of myself singing has forced me to sort of half get over my hatred of my own voice
The Bad:
-only being allowed to sing classical. Actually, I guess bad is an overstatement, because I've found its emphasis on good technique to transfer quite easily to the other genres I find myself singing in everyday life (rock and pop in the car, worship while I'm at church, and so on)
-having to perform in front of my classmates. partly because of my own self-consciousness about my voice, partly because they're all really amazing singers and I feel slightly inadequate more often than not
-having to practice at home has caused some conflict with the family. lame.
The Ugly:
-I've got a bunch of performances coming up, including one that's pretty much my final exam, and my throat has been killer sore for the past three days.
Yeah. Perfect timing, body. Just go ahead and get sick now. It's not like I need you to be in working order for a few more weeks, or anything like that. No, it would be absolutely unhelpful to me if you could just abstain from rendering me mute until Christmas break. Gosh. >_<
That sucks... I've got a sore throat too. I was trying to sing kind of low at worship practice the other day (because the song was impossible because the writer couldn't just use a normal vocal range like every other song does...). It's kind of a weird experience though -- I've never gotten a sore throat from singing too high, but the one time I try to sing low and it messes up my throat for going on three days now.
ReplyDeleteAnyway. Apparently eating a teaspoonful of honey helps with sore throats. I've never had much luck with it (mostly because I can never finish the whole teaspoonful before it starts to taste gross), but maybe it'll help with yours...
Good to hear you're enjoying singing lessons and that you're improving, though! Once you've really built up your confidence, maybe you could post a clip of yourself singing something? I'd like to hear you sing sometime... :-)