On Singing

Now that Christmas is fast approaching, there will be gathering of sorts and what’s a Filipino party without the videoke machine?  For years, I have been avoiding to hold the mic. I don’t know how long I can keep up with this strategy on mine.

I’ve hear it said often that all Filipinos can sing. I am Filipino therefore I can sing. The sentence is partially true. I do not have the best of vocals but I can deliver a pleasantly sounding rendition on one condition: when I thought no one is listening.  When there is another person listening, an awful “vibratto” takes over, the jitters resonate in my voice, the confidence level drops and it does not feel good.

Maybe I should start practicing songs that I know the lyrics to.

Videoke ruined this part for me. I don’t think I learned new songs because if I wanted to sing, I can always run a search and Google will direct me to a Youtube video with the lyrics.  I have to dig into my playlist and sing 3 songs from the heart. Naks!

I never thought this would be a difficult process. There were songs that I kept playing but I never knew all the lyrics (e.g. Adele’s “Someone like you” and “Rolling in the deep”). Most of the songs I knew all the lyrics to were songs I learned more than ten years ago.  Should I be afraid? Most people with Alzheimer’s  have problems with “recent memory”.

Here are my 3 songs:

“On My Own’ is a song from Les Miserables. The version I like best is the one performed by Lea Salonga. I have been a Lea Salonga fan for as long as I can remember.  I might have sung this song several times that I did not forget the lyrics.

I would blame my high school classmate on this one.  In one class presentation, I belonged to a group who sang this song. After all the rehearsals I did, the song stuck to my memory.

There is an unwritten rule in American Idol: Never sing a song by Whitney Houston if you can’t sing as well as her. I just broke that rule. But then again, I am not auditioning for a singing contest. This might the first pop song I memorized.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/24558760440149808/

I found this cool video and it eased my fear a little bit. Maybe there are no tone deaf people.  Some just take time to wire their brains to the right pitch. With practice, who knows?

I sing like I feel.  ~Ella Fitzgerald