Love Song

This is a blog about singing, but not necessarily about singers.

Mahalia Jackson and Mick Jagger surely have little in common, neither in their technique nor in the result. Mastery of the singing voice, more than any other instrument, is in the ear of the listener.

Though probably not the easiest instrument to master, the voice is the easiest of all to use. Non-singers can sing, and everyone sings in tune to something.

Some believe singing is therapeutic in the same way most believe that talking about one’s feelings is therapeutic.

My interest here is mostly in singing as just another form of healthy expression, another way to relieve stress and gain insight, become more self-aware. A natural human ability not necessary for survival, but which exists for some more enigmatic end.

I invite you to celebrate and explore the mystery of singing.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

How It All Began (for Me)

I was a dutiful child. I used to hum along to the vacuum cleaner as I did my chores, singing Silent Night to its susurrus accompaniment. I sang in falsetto, because it was accessible. I didn’t think falsetto was a voice, that I was actually singing. It was just an easy sound to make, so I made it.

My mother stopped me in my tracks—I thought something was wrong. She made me sing, sans vacuum. She asked me where I’d learned to sing like that. I told her nowhere, it was just sounds. She told me it was beautiful, that it was singing, and I should do more of it. So I sang every Christmas carol I knew in this light, unfamiliar voice. It made her very happy.

I will never know if I would have become a singer if it wasn’t that my mother insisted to me that falsetto was beautiful.
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