Practice Makes Perfect

Hello everyone! I finally figured out how to a) record, b) edit and c) upload a video! Admittedly, it was a lot harder than I anticipated and the end result is less than perfect, but all of those things like lighting, transitions, video quality etc., will need to be worked out as I make and post more videos.

I had talked briefly in earlier posts about my personal struggles with confidence and uncertainty while performing in front of other people (and in life, generally). I started this blog so that I could document my musical journey, get tips on how to improve from other more seasoned musicians and hold myself accountable to my goal. However, I also wanted to deal with some of those fears head on. Which brings me to the video. 

I'm a little awkward and a little shy and, for that, I'm sorry (mostly to my closest friends who might be cringing in anticipation even now)...please divert your eyes away! I hope to make subsequent videos more Zoolander awkward and less Miley Cyrus awkward (did I just make a relevant pop culture reference?! - score!). There are also parts of the vocal that are a little painful and I would not be offended in the least if you skipped over those parts but for all of you brave souls who are willing to sit through the entire video, constructive feedback would be super appreciated AND there are outtakes at the end which are always my favourite thing about these kinds of videos. Okay, click on me below :)

Snag Lag (my apologies)

As life would have it, I’ve hit a few snags along my journey this month. The first of which was getting terribly sick right before my first vocal class. You know that kind of sickness that kinda just sits like right up there in your nasals for weeks on end but that won’t actually drip or ooze or be blown out no matter how hard you try? Yeah - that kind of sick. It also doesn’t help that I don’t sleep very much, have had a shitty diet lately and work in a hospital. No wonder the nasty little bugger (no pun intended) hung on for dear life for so long. However, I did go to my first vocal class and I actually learned something. Did you know that you sing using your sinuses, not your throat?? I didn’t! Did you also know that if you try to use your sinuses to sing while your sinuses are sick you end up sounding like a duck? I learned two things! Unfortunately, the vocal teacher is a professional singer so he is away a lot and so the last two classes have been cancelled – kind of a bummer...but at least I get to practice sinus singing now that I’m healthy again (it’s going marginally well). Video to drop soon.

Second snag– I went to my first guitar class and promptly...quit. Yeah, I know, right?! But I just couldn’t sit there for 1.5 hours each week learning to tune (6 classes of tuning!) and listening to the teacher repeat himself about four times. When he started assuring us “not to worry” and that “we’d be repeating everything over and over again until everyone got it”, that was the last straw - we were just not a good fit. So, I am currently looking for some private lessons and in the meantime I have decided to self teach/re-teach myself the basics. If anyone has any suggestions for material, I’d love to know!

So now, because I did promise a video I thought I’d include the one below until I can post a musical number. It is from the night I exposed my already weakened immune system to 6 blocks worth of torrential downpour and it tipped the scale into full blow immunological fail. It was a rough week and by that point there was nothing else to do but walk on and laugh. No one better to do that with than a bestie (shout out)! :)