Our six week Joyful Singing series ended with a fantastic finale! We did our 'Mock Carnegie Hall' concert to an appreciative audience of pianos (afterall class was held in a piano lab!). And since I had urged the students to imagine a full house, it was easy for them to imagine a rousing standing ovation from their imaginary fans!
The great thing about this class, and the incredibly gratifying thing for me, as the teacher, was seeing the growth in confidence that this group experienced! For the first few weeks of class, mine was the only voice I heard as I sang along to encourage them. But after 6 weeks, they were singing with style and verve, and didn't need my help at all! It was neat to see all those animated, smiling faces as I 'directed' our repertoire for our final night. Not only were they smiling because they loved singing, they were smiling because they had overcome their fear and were able to move on with their lives, rich with a new passion that they had just re-discovered.
Most of these folks were 're-entry' singers - adults who had sung when they were young, then either put it away while they lived their lives, or stopped singing because of some public embarrassment they had experienced which caused them to shut down their voice and never sing again. Finding the courage to even come to the first class is a testament to all of them who wanted to rekindle a relationship with singing - something they had loved, but had lost.
If singing is something that you used to do (and we all used to sing just for the fun of it when we didn't care if we were 'good' or 'bad') and would like to do again, then take a group singing class where you can not only learn some basic singing skills, but discover how fun it is to raise your voice with others. There is a healing power in singing that is magnified when there are many voices. It is in our cultural heritage to sing together in joy, in sadness, in celebration of life. To shut this voice down is to cut oneself off from our cultural community, and deny ourselves the true joy of singing.
Don't let fear keep you from joining others in song because you don't feel 'good enough'. The only person who will be judging you is your self, and if you are in a class that can teach you new singing skills, you will improve as well as gain confidence in your singing voice. My philosophy is the 'everyone can sing!'; but you can also learn to sing 'better' which will help you feel more secure when singing in a group, or singing solo. So don't hesitate to get back into singing! It will not only improve your health, it will make you feel proud of yourself for taking a risk, and confident in your ability to sing in any situation.
