My strategy at the age of nine was to throw myself into anything and everything that involved singing. I had no real passion for the idea of singing in a choir - but it was singing. It wasn't sports...
I already had been obsessed with singing in years prior - religiously turning on American Idol, taking notes on the singing and characteristics of each contestant, hosting talent shows at my after-school care, and keeping journals filled with original songs that somehow lived in my head without a recording, just to name a few ways in which singing made it into my life.
My introduction to the world of "academic singing" was not exactly smooth or welcoming. After my first audition ever, one of the judges told my mother that she thought I must have vocal nodules. It became a whole thing very quickly. I went to an ear nose and throat doctor, got a camera stuck up my nose, pretty much the whole shebang.
I was given 2 choices - continue being a kid and singing as I please - or, work with a vocal specialist and heal the nodules on my own. That meant no yelling, no talking below a certain pitch, basically no singing, and 20 minutes of vocal exercises every day. So many lip trills. The whole point was to teach me how to re-learn not only how to sing, but to speak. I made a recording of exercises on an actual tape (2006, lol) that my voice teacher had played. I remember taking that tape player to Blue Lake summer camp and singing my little exercises every morning and evening in the bathrooms.
The decision I had to make at that age was intense. The specialists basically said that if I don't address this now, the problem just gets deeper. But man, what a way to darken a thing that I had so much love and excitement for in my life, and make it serious real quick.
As a kid, it's kind of magical, because the space between you and your desires hasn't had a chance to get too big yet. I knew I loved singing, I didn't overthink how important it was to me, or how it would fit in my life. I just knew I loved it so much and I wanted to preserve my voice for my whole life.
And then enter - formal voice lessons. The world of classical singing. More on that later...
Hope you're enjoying these ramblings and little pieces of my story.
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