Monday, May 23, 2011

I feel like singing. Well, sometimes.

    When I was a teenager I sang all the time. When the cute guy in algebra nodded to me I sang for joy as I walked home. When I was miserable (no nod that day) I locked myself in my room and sang my blues out, which was a joy of a kind, too.
    Now I’m a grown-up and I sing every day, whether I like it or not. I don’t always feel like singing, or more often I’m so busy that I don’t even know if I feel like singing. But I’m not one of those singers who was born with a fabulous voice, who chirped something out at age five and was praised to the heavens, who just “had it”. There are those singers out there, I’ve worked with many of them. The halfway decent singing voice I have now came from lots of lessons and hours of practice. If I don’t warm up and practice enough, and regularly, I lose the bit of control and tone I’ve acquired.
    One of my teachers, the late Judy Davis, taught me years a go that the vocal cords are a muscle, and muscles begin to atrophy after 24 hours of non-use. She said that the only time singers shouldn’t warm up is on their birthday or if they have strep throat. I don’t agree with her on that point. I think if your voice is thrashed from bad allergies or a cold or screaming at the Knicks game, and it hurts your throat to sing, you shouldn’t sing. And stop screaming at Knicks games. But if your cords are in decent shape, sing.
    There’s the spirit revival side of it too. Native American teachings say that to stay sound in mind, body and spirit, we should sing and dance for an hour every day. I’m still working on the dancing part. But I try to sing daily, warm ups and songs both. If I’m in a bad mood it cheers me up. If I’m in a good mood it’s a joy. If I’m feeling somewhere in-between, well, at least I’m keeping the old cords in shape for when I feel like singing for real.