Admit it, all of us have flaws – failings – things that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just not good at.\u00c2\u00a0 Most of us try to avoid situations where our failings are evident.\u00c2\u00a0 Why promote the negative, after all?\u00c2\u00a0 Much better to stick to the stuff you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re good at.<\/p>\n
So when I talked to Mieke, my best friend from college, a while back and told her that my new job requires me to regularly sing in public, her response was, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, my God, Abs.\u00c2\u00a0 Are you kidding?\u00c2\u00a0 Those poor people!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Mieke, of course, has a fabulous voice, and sang all the time in college.\u00c2\u00a0 I, of course, have a horrible voice, and sang rarely.<\/p>\n
But now I find myself needing to sing as part of my job.\u00c2\u00a0 In front of people.\u00c2\u00a0 Not just small children, but also their parents, some of whom can carry a tune very well.\u00c2\u00a0 And there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really no way around it.\u00c2\u00a0 Story times for young kids need to have books AND fingerplays AND songs; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the way kids learn the rhythm of the language, which eventually helps them with reading multi-syllabic words.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll break out the boombox and play a song or two from a CD, but there are still times that I have to sing, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty painful.<\/p>\n
I read Stephen Fry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s autobiography last summer, and one of his phrases really resonated with me.\u00c2\u00a0 Fry talks about how he can hear music perfectly in his head, but that he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t reproduce it; he says that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153not tone deaf, but tone dumb.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exactly what I am, since all those intricacies of the music are so clear in my head, and my inability to voice that music is utterly frustrating to me.<\/p>\n
But now that singing is part of my career, what do I do?\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll admit to using the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153my voice sounds rough because my allergies are really bothering me today\u00e2\u20ac\u009d excuse a lot.\u00c2\u00a0 On particularly perky days I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll play the role of cheerleader and say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I want to hear everyone sing this time!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 So far I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t yet admitted to being tone dumb, but that time may come.\u00c2\u00a0 And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been practicing a lot, singing in the shower after my musical husband leaves for work.\u00c2\u00a0 I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Itsy Bitsy Spider\u00e2\u20ac\u009d down, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still flummoxed by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The More We Get Together.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 And \u00e2\u20ac\u009dFive Little Ducks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is way, way tough.<\/p>\n
Wish me luck.\u00c2\u00a0 My singing is definitely a work-in-progress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Admit it, all of us have flaws – failings – things that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just not good at.\u00c2\u00a0 Most of us try to avoid situations where our failings are evident.\u00c2\u00a0 Why promote the negative, after all?\u00c2\u00a0 Much better to stick to the stuff you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re good at. So when I talked to Mieke, my best friend from … Continue reading The hardest thing<\/span>