Singing Lessons?

Slice of Life at TwoWritingTeachers.org

OK, 2020 is an anomaly in more ways than one. There have been some silver linings to be sure (cooking, writing and breathing, for three). Tomorrow may be the start of another silver lining for me.

Our church has developed a series of short skill classes for people to learn during this shutdown. The classes are taught by our members, so whatever they are good at and want to share become the topics for the classes–crocheting, quilting, painting, storytelling, guitar lessons, body building and more.

Saturday afternoon an announcement came for a new skill class: “Introduction to Singing”

What? As a parent, teacher, and hopefully future grandparent, I have always regretted not learning to sing. I don’t have many regrets, but this is one. I was in a church choir one time when I was in college. During the second season, when the director asked us to sing by ourselves–privately, with her, so she could help us individually, I quit. I don’t even have the confidence to start singing “Happy Birthday” on the right note. I lip sync worship songs in church when anyone is sitting in the row ahead of me. I think I am a terrible singer.

I must not have thought too hard or long before I clicked to sign up because within an hour a “registration closed” announcement came by on Whatsapp.

Later that evening I received a notice that I was one of the four people who made the cut, and my first private lesson would be this Wednesday.

The first time I tried, I quit before learning to sing. I was in my 20s. The second time I’m giving it a try, I am in my 60s. My guess is that my poor attitude and fear of singing are even greater than my voice and ability to carry a tune are bad. I am woefully uneducated in music and singing, so I look forward to anything she can teach me.

Wednesday! That’s tomorrow. Now I’m nervous. Fortunately, the lessons are with a kind and gracious recent college grad who sings solos in church. She asked us to share which song we wanted to work on in our lessons. “Happy Birthday” was my choice.

I thought I would write about this slice of my life here, so it might give me confidence to really go through with joining the Zoom link tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.

8 thoughts on “Singing Lessons?

  1. Ooooh, I get your apprehension! I was told by my grandmother that maybe I should take voice lessons because she thought my voice was too high. I somehow ended up with lots of musically inclined friends and have been known to lip synch rather than chance my lack of tune. Good for you to take the chance! Rock what you’ve got!

    1. Thank you, Erika! I feel your pain. It’s such a point of vulnerability for a lot of us, isn’t it? Thank you for your good wishes! I’ll have to do a followup post after my few lessons.

  2. Great post! I am a musician with two degrees in music but no confidence to ever sing!! I had to occasionally sing in music school, but I avoided it whenever I could. You should definitely go for this – be brave! You’ll inspire the rest of us.

    1. Wow, Becky. What a surprise! I’m not sure that is encouraging. Maybe I don’t realize just how hard this is going to be. Thank you.

  3. I took voice lessons in college. It’s funny how much learning about the voice helped me to improve my singing. It was well worth the time!

  4. You can do it, Denise! I applaud your courage to learn something new, something that calls to you. I think you will be fantastic!

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