sing in front of an audience

How I did it: I'd sung before in church and in choruses at school and sometimes for my friends, but never actually an all eyes on me, watch me belt, big in your face solo. Which is why when a few months into 3rd quarter my voice teacher suggested a recital, I wavered a little. I'd always wanted to break out of my shell at art school and show people I was serious as a vocalist and it looked like this was my chance. So I asked to sing Bridge Over Troubled Water by Art Garfunkel because it was a song that would show off my favorite part of my vocal range. My hippie rock style. After about two and a half weeks of rehearsal the big night came. All I could do was go over and over and over the lyrics in my head hoping I wouldn't mess up or make a complete ass of myself in front of everyone's parents, relatives, and friends. After all I was the random hippie kid at the end of all the operettas and musical theater songs, swapping the piano for a guitar.  But when my name was called I knew I couldn't worry anymore. I just needed to take a deep breath and trust in myself.
It went flawlessly. :) I did even better than I did in the vocal room. And later my mom told me that people had been coming to my vocal teacher and asking who was singing Simon and Garfunkel in her room. But the nicest thing that was said to me that night was from a fellow vocal student. "It was just your hair, and the dress, and the song, and your voice...you were just the perfect portrait of that era!" If you get the chance to sing in front of an audience do it. It feels so empowering! :D

Lessons & tips:

• Wear something that makes you feel confident. A few days before hand, my cousin had lent me this long, screaming bright, painfully paisley maxidress that to this day is one of the most bohemian pieces of clothing I've ever seen in my life. When I changed into it in the bathroom at school and took out my braids all I could think was "Wow. Good thing I got back from Woodstock in time for this performance." That made me giggle and lessened the tension a little.
  
• Practice whenever you possibly can. My voice teacher was fantastic. Essentially the only thing I had to do was memorize and she did everything else to make me look good. Take that job seriously though. I scheduled extra lessons, ran the song in my head when I was bored, and even played it on the way home from school in the car with my dad. Only thing was I didn't tell him I was singing it for my recital. So it really made me laugh when one of the first things he said to me afterwards was "That sounded even better than it does in the car!" XD

Resources:

• www.guitartabs.com and www.lyricsgiant.com. I don't know if that the exact place my voice teacher got her tabs and my lyrics from, but I know you can get them there.
  
• Lots of practice and self confidence
  
• A well trained musician or incredible sounding boom box for your accompiment.
  
• An audience (that would help)
  
• An incredible, supportive, cute, positive, and all around awesome vocal teacher named Kelly Routt...sorry, not available in stores :)

Jun 09, 08:48PM PDT | 0 comments | 1 cheer