On the Stage

That's why my little "mood dude" on the right is musical! I sang Sunday night with my sister for a church community Christmas concert sort of thing. We sang "The Prayer" as sung by either Celine Dion & Andrea Bocelli or Josh Groban & Charlotte Church, whichever you're familiar with. It's a very beautiful song, I love it a lot.

I love singing a lot, I mean, more than I can probably begin to describe. There is all kinds of singing too, that's what's so damn great! Singing is almost like sex for me, it leaves me that satisfied (well, you know, not physically or anything, but you get the phrasology.)

Solos -- are fantastic how can you not feel good about yourself after you finish and damn good solo? I love listening to soloist too, but I do have a confession to make, I like listening to a male soloist leaps and bounds more than I do a female soloist. I just like male voices better, the timbre, the clarity, the range, it's pleasing to the ear. Not that I have a problem with female soloist, I just prefer the male voice. It's all around too, it's not just for solos. I prefer a chorus of men, men's acapella, but let's not digress into other kinds of singing just yet, I'm breaking them up into categories folks!

Acapella -- can I tell you my love and fascination with acapella music? I love it very much! Someday I tell you, someday, I will be in an acapella group. I have my best friend, Chris, and then another good friend, also Chris, that we are all very much musically inclined, that's what Chris and Chris majored in at college, and I would have had things gone differently, and so then we have us three and then we need one more to make a nice acapella group with tight, tight, 4-part harmony. I would helm the 1st tenor position, Chris Y. would be 2nd tenor and Chris V. would be baritone, so we need a nice strong deep bass and we've got it ready to go! We've talked about it before, many times, we just need to actually do it. Acapella is beautiful, and you know why it's beautiful? 1.) It has NO accompaniment, it's amazing with no piano or instruments of any kind, just the voices, 2.) It has tight, tight, spot on harmonies. MAN, you just can't beat a nice tight harmony of notes in chords no normal person would dream of. It's hard to explain, but it's the best sound in the world.

Choir -- oh boy do I miss choir. Once again, it's the tight harmony and blend of voices and chords and notes that if sung right just makes you want to cry! It gives you goosebumps and makes the hair stand on end. I felt that way at Waldorf in our college choir and in "Christopher" our smaller elite choir. It just produces some of the most beautiful sounds in the world. So much on a different scale from acapella and solos. The blending and togetherness of mass amounts of people. That unity of voices, the big booming power of choirs is AMAZING, and then the next minute they're all so quiet and beautiful...simply rewarding to listen to.

Duets -- just the feeling of blending your voice with one others. I've felt it many times, with another man and with another woman, I've done both. Traditionally with another woman and you can sing some of the most beautiful songs in the world. Love songs, how can you beat that? Those composers just know what they're writing and it's great. I have sung a duet with my friend Nathaniel before and it was some amazing, powerful music. We sang "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" and let me tell you, oh, it was fun!

Small groups -- different from acapella because you have instrumental behind you. It's such a great feeling too! Like I mentioned above we had "Christopher" at college. It was, give or take, 2-3 people per part and we sang all kinds of music. It's such a different take on choir, but it's just choir on a smaller scale. But you really feel you're part of something with so few voices combining to make that sound. You really get to connect with the others and make beautiful music for everyone.

You know, we sing because we love to do it and it feels good, but really, at least for me, we're giving the music to everyone. Don't you feel good when you're listening to beautiful music? DOn't you forget about others things? As much as I do it for myself, which I do because it's so beautiful and feels so good, I do it for that reason too, because it makes people feel good and it's a beautiful thing to share.

I auditioned for the Soldiers Chorus right out of college, I didn't get the job, but that would have been a dream come true. No, I wouldn't have been fighting the bad guys, but I would have been in the service and I would have been a professional musician/singer. The fact that someone was willing to pay me to sing, it just made me giddy. However, everyone in that chorus was in their late 20's to late 40's and 98% had music degrees, so I was aware I didn't stand much of a chance! Maybe someday though...

So, that was just a small taste of why I love singing so much. As I said before, it's impossible to put into words why I love it or all the positive experience I have had in singing and people that sing, etc. etc. just impossible to try and explain. I"m sure you all have that feeling for whatever you have that makes you feel the same way and you may know what it feels like then. I just hit the top of the iceberg on explaining things as well, too many things to go into, I dind't even touch on musical theatre I just realized! Another day, my friend, another day. Ask me someday how I got to be a 1st tenor, it's a pretty interesting story, and one that those that are musically inclined find hard to believe.