I Sigh to Sing! My First Semester of Voice Lessons!
Hello everyone and welcome back once again to my blog. For those of you who are new here, I am a songwriter, YouTuber, and I also enjoy blogging. I blog so that I can share with you all the backstories of my songs, how I ended up putting together my videos, and even my memories as a musician in college.
So far, I have been sharing the backstories of my YouTube videos in the order that I uploaded them. Yesterday's blog was about the video I uploaded in March, which means that the next video to talk about is my April video. But that video just so happens to be my Senior Capstone where I sang over 10 songs and in several different languages. Rather than going through every detail about why I chose to sing each individual song, I'm writing this blog post to share with you the story of how I ended up taking voice lessons in the first place.
When I was trying to get into the music program before my first semester started, my advisor told me that I was required to play an instrument. So I told him that I played Cello, signed up for private Cello lessons, and took Symphony Orchestra. For our first concert, our Symphony would perform an annual concert in the park that was always free to the public. It also would always begin with the Symphony playing and the audience singing the song, The Star Spangled Banner. A few other patriotic songs, such as O Danny Boy and God Bless America, would follow after it. However, instead of the audience singing along, we had a soloist singing these songs.
One day in Symphony practice, the soloist for these songs joined us during the time that we went over them. She was a tall, slender woman with long brown hair. She stood just behind our conductor as she sang, and I'm guessing that by doing so he was able to hear her. I, on the other hand, was the eighth Cello player and could hardly hear her over the trombones right behind me and the other instruments playing the melody of the songs. I had no idea what her voice sounded like until the night of our performance when our school technicians had set up a microphone and speakers for her voice to be heard over our strong Symphony Orchestra.
When we played God Bless America, I had the privilege of listening to her sing while I played along without much distraction since I mainly played whole notes for my Cello part. She had a very pretty voice. Yet as we neared the end of the song, she started getting higher in her vocal range. I was amazed as I heard her sing the last phrase, "My home, sweet home", with so much power at such a high octave. Wow, I thought to myself as we ended. That was amazing! I had rarely ever heard such a powerful voice like that.
Fast forward to later in my first semester, I ran into a Senior near the practice rooms who told me that she had majored in voice. Up until she told me that, it never occurred to me that my voice would count as "an instrument". She told me about the teacher who was in charge of voice lessons and pointed down the hallway away from the practice rooms to where this teacher's office was.
One day, I decided to knock on the door of the office that this Senior had directed me to. When the door had opened, I was surprised to see that the person looking back at me was the strong Soprano singer that sang the solos at the Concert in the Park! I suddenly felt very intimidated. I told her that I was thinking of pursuing voice, but I wasn't completely sure about it. Especially since I knew my voice wasn't nearly as powerful as hers was! So I told her that I would think about it first.
Eventually, by the end of my first semester, I decided that I was going to pursue voice. I realized that I had a much greater desire to sing at a performance than to play my Cello. But before I was officially going to be let into the vocal program, I needed to do an audition. I was so nervous! First, I auditioned in front of the teacher for voice lessons. She seemed satisfied and told me to go to the Concert Hall where the choir conductor was. He was a friendly guy, but I still wasn't sure if I was going to get into the program and still felt nervous.
He asked me to do some vocal warmups while he played the notes on the piano. With one of these warmups, he asked me to sing the words, "I sigh to sing". As I did so, I looked at the back wall of the empty Concert Hall and tried to relax. While the notes I sang got higher, I started visualizing God and Christ in the back of the Hall. Yes, for those of you who are new, I am a Christian. The words, "I sigh to sing", now felt like a plea I was expressing to them. I knew that this was what I wanted to do. I wanted to improve my voice and sing! But since I didn't know if I could be a part of the program yet, I was expressing my heart out to God asking Him to help me every time I sang, "I sigh to sing"!
Suddenly, the choir teacher stopped playing. I don't even know how high I had sung. I was just so focused on the back of the room. He stood up from the piano bench and asked me if I had applied for a music scholarship yet. I said no and he showed me where to go on the school website to apply for one. This was such a great blessing! I was going to be a part of the vocal program AND I was being offered a scholarship! Because of this experience, "I sigh to sing" is my favorite vocal warmup. Every time I sing it, I'm reminded of how great my love and desire to sing is. It definitely helped me press forward with this desire even when COVID hit!
I may have felt nervous when I did these auditions, but after spending so much time with my vocal teacher, this woman who I felt intimidated by became one of my older sister role models. The choir conductor always brightened my day whenever I came to Choir Practice. In fact, all the music teachers and faculty are like a second family to me. That's one of the reasons that the music building feels like home.
I hope you enjoyed reading today's blog! If you've enjoyed this blog, leave a comment down below and please consider donating to my website! Every bit of money is welcome! Feel free to also watch my YouTube videos and buy the sheet music of my original songs. Please remember to also check out the link previously mentioned in this blog. Thanks for reading all the way to the end!
