To help me recover from my classical voice training by experimenting with new sounds and styles,
To help me recover from my vocal damage I sustained during a particularly rough patch of my life, and
To help me get over the hump of both of these things by putting myself out there in an anonymous way so that I can eventually move forward with my singing irl.
That said, I do hope you enjoy. I welcome your considerate feedback!
To be fair, my life has not been great, health-wise. Currently awaiting some imaging and appointments for rather inconvenient abdominal issues. So that's distressing.
But I still sang!
Much rambling about my voice under the cut 😅 (Warning for intense voice nerdiness)
I was pretty shocked when I got the urge to go record, so I jumped on it even though maybe I should have slept or something instead. But I managed almost an entire HOUR of singing (!!!).
Upon listening to it, it was quite clear I have lost a lot of the flexibility and stamina I used to have. I used to sing for 5-6 hours straight on Sundays for my church gig, in addition to being in community theatre rehearsals several nights a week and teaching music full time. And now my longest stint is 2-3 hours a few times a month at the preschool. To compare the quality required for singing at the church gig and musical theatre (think Mozart and Bach and Sondheim) to the preschool (think Raffi)...it's laughable. No wonder I struggle now!
I did a really mindful warm-up before this recording sesh, too, but it took me 20-30 minutes of singing at full voice to be truly performance-ready. I think part of that was due to being bedridden for a week from this flare up, and in general my body is very slow from all the health stuff, but I know it's a clear sign of lack of use. My issues with shortness of breath are also apparent in some of the recordings, but dammit if I didn't keep singing anyway.
In the end I am not fully satisfied with anything (will I ever be?), but there are quite a few moments that stand out to me as clear improvement, even from just my last posted recording from several months ago. You won't be surprised to hear that Sara Bareilles strikes again with melodies that suit my voice perfectly, so those are the songs that I am most happy with.
If I get around to it, I may splice together some of my favorite bits and pieces from this sesh and post them as a compilation. To my actual surprise, it's my high belt that I'm most pleased with. Some new technique has me SHOOK - singing Celine Dion and Mariah Carey like I kind of know what I'm doing. And on the other end of the spectrum, access to my low range is getting easier and easier, and I'm happy with the tone. I guess it's the middle that needs attention. And to be honest, I think I just need to pick a style and stick with it instead of waffling around in every song.
One really fun thing that happened was when I went to record Olivia Rodrigo's super-hit "Vampire," I channeled the situationship from my early 20s and imagined singing to the asshole who strung me along for years, and it was SO FUN. My voice took on an authentic speech-like quality that felt easy and free. I have a lot of moments that I love from my voice in that, however I was so into it that I lost track of the karaoke backing and so it sounds a bit silly with the timing, so that one may not make it to the compilation lol
Anyway, this got long, but it felt healing to write it all out, so you can have it, too.
It's lovely to get my voice back in action after several months of health issues. There's something tragic about having such an unreliable instrument, but it makes the good times that much better.
I did actually record some Mariah Carey this morning and was pleasantly surprised by most of it, but it still needs some work, so no new video as of yet.
Who knows when the planets will align again and I'll get another chance to record.
There's something special about Sara Bareillas's songs. Something about the range or melody lines or something, I don't really know, that just sits very happily in my voice. And bless her heart, she writes piano accompaniments that I can actually play.
I did wimp out on the rest of the song, though, because I decided to record even though I wasn't vocally up to the task. I thought the first minute or so sounded decent so I figured I'd share that much. Hopefully I can get a better grip on some of the more challenging parts that come later in the song.
The first version I heard of this song was the Wailin' Jennys cover, which has the most stunning three-part harmonies. Obviously I can't sing in harmony with myself, so I decided to use a bit of the original Dolly Parton version as inspiration.
I'm not super pleased with my voice in every second of this song, and I messed up some of the chords, but this is part of my reason in posting: accepting where I'm at right now. Progress over perfection.
I can't call myself a ukulele player and not play this song, I mean come on.
This oldie but goodie has always felt nice on my voice. The higher notes are where my voice is happiest, so I've spent a good deal of time figuring out how to bring more energy to the lower notes (though they're not low - just not where I'm used to singing).
Fun fact about this recording: I had the onset of a cold when I made it. I have small children and I also work with small children so I've come to terms with the fact that I'm just usually going to have some virus or other. This one was mild enough that I could still sing reasonably well, but I can hear the beginnings of that hoarseness that comes with a sore throat. I decided to sing anyway. In fact I think every single recording I've made in the past few months has been done while I'm technically "sick." That's just how life goes. This is my voice now.
Anyway, cheers to you if you listened! I'd love to hear your honest and compassionate feedback.
