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-The only thing better than singing is more singing. -Ella Fitzgerald Can you sing? Are you a singer? Here’s a hint: the correct answer is yes. You can sing. We sang when we were infants, vocalizing in the crib, we sang as toddlers with our mothers and TV shows and and car radios, we sang in kindergarten and first grade in groups. Why? Because it was fun! Gave us joy, was good for our brains. We knew, as 5-year-olds, what was up. But something happened after that, didn’t it-somehow many of us “learned’ that we couldn’t sing, weren’t good at it, shouldn’t sing in public. So we stopped. A few years ago we were travelling through Cape Breton Island, off Nova Scotia. Do you know how big Nova Scotia is by the way? Neither did I until I went there-don’t plan on taking a leisurely afternoon drive around the coast if you have a dinner reservation is all I can tell you. Anyway, one of the reasons I wanted to go to Cape Breton Isle was to check out the musical culture, which is rooted in the area’s Scottish/Gaelic traditions. Children there grow up playing fiddles and guitars, dancing, and yes, singing; it is all part of everyday family and community life. One evening we were lucky enough to happen upon an event in an old one-room schoolhouse-a ceilidh (KAY-lee), a recurring community musical gathering. There were about 40 people there, sitting in rows of metal folding chairs, and about half made their way to the stage over the course of the night, playing guitars, fiddles, and singing. Would I say the singers were all “excellent”? No, some were just like you and me, hitting some notes, missing others. But there was no hesitation, no apology, and importantly no judgement. All received warm responses, everyone had a grand time, ate the shared cookies and cakes, talked about farm life and the weather, and went on their way, probably singing their way home. The musical culture in Cape Breton appears to be one of participation: joining in the group as the primary goal without concern for how “good” one is. Unfortunately, the American model seems to focus on the performance: how good are you? Thus after a few joyous years of singing as youngsters, we start to realize some of us are “better” at it than others, and we are guided to quiet down if we aren’t one of those. Here’s the thing-a lot of us look at singing as a “talent”-a gift from the gods or the genetic pools that is predetermined, fixed, out of our control. For a long time I believed this too; in fact I had the evidence right in my own home: I was not a singer, I then married into a family with musical “talent”, and hey-my children were “good” at singing! Script flip time: I eventually became convinced that singing should not be considered a “talent”, but instead, a “skill”. As I watched my daughter Lucy work with her voice, train it, learn ways to use it that she was not capable of before, I realized that while some of us can pick up these skills more easily than others, like any other skill, we can all get better with practice. I started singing again, and took some voice coaching lessons from said daughter (who is a wonderful coach, available and willing to teach any of you all via the magic of Zoom). I have learned about breathing, phrasing, finding the singing muscles; I am hitting notes I did not think I could, and I’ve learned about the creative choices musicians are making when they sing. It is very fun. Am I “good”? I don’t know what that really means, but I will say that I have gotten better, and hope to keep at it and get better still. Best places to sing:
1-car
2-shower
3-everywhere. Start singing again! You can/will get better at singing! It is good for your soul, your mental health, your brain! Go to karaoke, sing at church, go to an open mic. (If you are in the greater Chicago area, come to Open Mic at Grandpa’s Place in Glenview Tuesdays at 7:30-more on that in another essay.) You will be a happier person, and the universe will be a better place!
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