Music again

With my piano teacher Rebbecca last night and doing some singing. She was full of praise and I find this hard to take because somewhere inside I still don't believe I can sing. And yet after the lesson I was on my bike doing some of the practice singing that I knew sounded right and then I launched into the Al Bowly song 'Have you ever been lonely?' It felt good to sing I was relaxed and with a passion for the words and I heard myself sing and I was in tune. I could deny the truth of my ears and yes I know we do not hear exactly what we say or sing but it was good. When I sing at work walking up the stairs - it is so natural to me to sing but I always thought I was rubbish at it but now I am not so sure. Sometimes when I am relaxed it sounds good to me.

In my 2+ octaves singing voice I have 2 parts to it, my bass part below middle C is easy to hit and I am comfortable and it is where I used to place myself in Carol Donaldson's Intergenerational Choir. Then there is my 'falsetto' part above middle C which is where I used to mostly sing for pop tunes. This is a bit harder for me but feels good when I get it right. The few notes in between are the hardest as I switch between the two but Rebbecca is helping me work this.

I am stunned by this. I think I am going to have to record my voice just too convince myself further. Rebbecca is no pussy cat but I still can't truly take in all her praise for my signing.

My paternal Grandad Albert sang in a church choir. My maternal great grandfather Thomas was a Welsh Baptist minister so I guess he sang too. Maybe its in my genes. My Quaker Meeting is planning to do 'Joseph' as a Christmas thing so I guess I will join in as part of the chorus and it's time to email Carol again to find out about a choir...

My mum always said to me that if you wanted to do something badly enough you could i.e. go for it. Well a new choir and one of these days Grade One piano will do for me for now. Oh yes and my first live public poetry reading - watch this space.

Best to all,

Bill on bike and loving it