I had heard this song at least a hundred times, but as I stood in front of the microphone and the beginning notes played, my mind began to race. The lyrics I had rehearsed numerous times drifted in and out of my head as I attempted to collect them before my intro was over. Finally, I heard my cue and I opened my mouth to sing. Out came my voice, familiar and accustomed to the notes, but it was shakier than I hoped. Something about this solo let an angry heard of butterflies loose in my stomach, and let me tell you, they sure were putting up a fight.
I recently moved several hours away from my hometown, and with that meant saying goodbye my high school and enrolling in a new one. This also meant leaving behind my beloved jazz choir and being put in a new singing group. I was particularly nervous about this aspect of moving because choir had become a very special part of my life. I had known many of the choir members for numerous years, and had grown very close to some of them. I knew their voices well, and they knew mine. Solos weren't scary anymore around them; they were fun. No one judged each other when they were familiar with one another's style of singing, but now that I was many miles away and with a new group of people, I would be a brand new voice to listen to, and to judge.
When I first came to the choir class, I was informed that our final exam was singing a solo of our choice in front of the class. Usually, I wouldn't mind this. I enjoyed singing for people and putting on a good show, but that was with my friends and family back home. Here, it would be a whole new experience for a very different group of people.
A few days after finding out about the solo, I began to search for a good song to sing. I had a handful of tunes I was comfortable with singing, but a new problem rose: I needed to find one of these songs without the vocals so I could sing in the original artist's place. I grew frustrated after hours of searching the internet for instrumental versions of these songs, but with the help of a friend, I came across a new approach to my problem. Using a fabulous program that I would highly recommend called Audacity (Source 1), I was able to take the vocals out of a song called "Be Be Your Love" by Rachael Yamagata (Source 2). Though the program didn't smoothly extract the vocals from each song, "Be Be Your Love" didn't sound half-bad when edited. Plus, the vocals were completely gone. From this point on, I began to work my butt off to master this song.
Using my iPod to play the song on a speaker dock, I blasted the edited version of "Be Be Your Love" so I could sing along in my normal singing voice while clearly being able to hear the music. I also used my phone to record myself singing so I could more clearly hear areas in which I needed to improve. Sometimes, when I was singing, I could not hear myself going sharp in some areas, or not quite hitting a note the way I wanted to. When I was able to pinpoint the errors through playing back the recordings, I was able to smooth the edges to my song.
The hardest part for me about learning this song was memorizing the lyrics. The verses to this song felt like mouthfuls of confused words, and it took having to break down the song word-for-word before I was able to fully understand the song. It was easy for me to be tempted to learn the lyrics without understanding the meaning, but after checking out songmeanings.net (source 3), I was able to see how many people interpreted the song. This conjured up emotions in my own mind, and I was able to use these feelings to make my singing more compelling, while also causing the words to flow more naturally in my mind. The lyrics no longer a cluster of assorted words; they were a story.
We drew numbers in class to decide which order we were going to be singing our solos in. I drew a number that performed on the second-to-last-day. Though some people enjoy getting presentations out of the way before watching other people's, I feel quite the opposite. I prefer experiencing other performances before doing my own, because I like to pick up on certain parts of people's presentations in order to enhance my own. After seeing many of my fellow classmate's solos, I felt a bit more prepared for my own.
I practiced every day, making sure I was still familiar with the song, but I continued to finesse the song and make minor changes where I felt fit. I added in short slides during the chorus instead of switching cleanly between notes, and I inserted crescendos and decrescendos to build suspense. I apologize to those of you who suddenly don't understand what I'm talking about and are unfamiliar with what these musical terms mean. If you're interested in learning more about basic music terms, check out source 4. If you don't really care and would rather get on with the article, proceed as normal.
The day for my solo came quicker than I wanted. Before long, I heard my teacher call my own name up to the front of the class like she had for many students before me. I made the walk quickly and nervously, looking out at my peers in short stares. I took a deep breath and waited in front of the microphone as the beginning notes sounded.
By the end of my performance, the butterflies in my stomach were gone, or had experienced a traumatic incident in which their wings had been torn from their bodies, thus causing their flight to be halted and their bodies to flop to the bottom of my stomach to rest peacefully for the remainder of life. The prior is a bit more realistic. I was happy with my performance, though I must admit that I did not hit every single note the way I had hoped. My voice was a bit shaky at the beginning, and my eye contact could have been better.
Even so, I still learned a lot from this performance. The first is that practice really does help. Did I sing my solo the way I had practiced in the comfort of my own room, away from any sort of crowd? No. In the end, did it matter if I rehearsed my song a hundred times or twice? Negative. But could I have done even better with a few extra practices? Absolutely.
Another thing I learned from my solo is that growing as a vocalist enhances who I am as a person. The same can be said for any sort of activity or hobby one might participate in. For example, the playing of instruments, participating in sports, and using art forms to express one's individuality is crucial to the development of a person. If I never would have sang that solo, my life probably wouldn't have been much different than it is now, but I still grew as a person from the experience. Singing for an audience is completely different from, let's say, singing in the shower. Singing a solo in front of real, especially unknown people, can be scary - I can testify to that - but I don't regret my performance at all. It was an opportunity that has improved my singing ability and my presenting skills. And hey - it was pretty fun as I look back!
Author's Note: Sources: http://www.downloadinfo.co/review/audacity/?kw=download+audacity&subid=DIAUUS&cust=download+audacity&type=audacity&gclid=CKPL0Jq3xLcCFRSVMgodqUMAmA&utm_campaign=DIAUUS&fwd=1
http://www.howtogeek.com/56335/how-to-remove-vocals-from-music-tracks-using-audacity/
http://www.songmeanings.net/
http://www.your-personal-singing-guide.com/musical-terms.html
