It takes me so absurdly long to
write those short episodes of La Vie en Rosé and
to draw some illustrations for it, plus the normal
daily routines, that I've rarely got enough energy left
over for a blog post. Maybe I'm just getting less multi-faceted
than I used to be. Now I desperately long for one-track
mindedness. But which track? Which platform? Which train?
What time does it leave and where is it going?
Next week is my last singing
class of the series - can't believe it's been
ten weeks already. I've learned a bit about breathing
in and out at irregular intervals, such as: out for 4,
in for 4, hold for 8 and so on. The out
breath always comes before the in breath in these exercises
- I don't know why. I've learned that my voice
is a Contralto, sort of. I've learned to look at the
audience while singing and not somewhere above
their heads.
We've only had two solo sessions
and next Friday will be the third. For my first solo
I did Piaf's Je
Ne Regrette Rien . My second was 99
Miles from L.A. (Albert
Hammond's version)
and on Friday I'll do the Bryan
Ferry version of Smoke
Gets in Your Eyes. I know - my choices aren't
hip but I don't care - I love those songs
and they're in a vocal range I can more or less manage.
Everyone brings a CD or iPod to use as a backing
track for their chosen number so it's not as scary
as it would be without accompaniment.
If you spend most of your time
at activities which make use of your eyes and
hands and brain but leave the rest of your faculties
idle, it's very refreshing to go out and open your mouth
and throat and chest and make musical sounds, along with
a group of other people doing the same and, occasionally,
to sing all by yourself in front of them. So I've signed
up for another series starting late next month, a Singing
Improvers class.
UPDATE at 7:30
pm
Due to popular request
(well...one request ) here
is a video rehearsal of
my number for Friday's class. Not my fault if Bryan Ferry
can't get the timing right. Embarassing, isn't it?
