Back in the day, I used to sing. I was involved in choir ever since elementary school, and it was a passion of mine. But I always got incredibly nervous singing alone in front of people, which negatively affected my voice. So I never liked doing solos or auditioning, but with the encouragement of my teachers, I always forced myself to try even though I knew I would get uncontrollably nervous. Somehow I managed to always make the cut at auditions, and I made it to All-state choir all three years I tried out in high school. I think it was because I could make up for my crappy, nervous-sounding voice with my above-average ability to sight sing and match pitch. When I got to BYU, I decided to try out for one of the choirs. This time, I didn’t make it. I was devastated and  took it as a confirmation of what I had feared all these years: I really didn’t have a good voice and there was nothing remotely special about my singing. So I gave up and lost interest. My good friend, Steve, helped me dig up the talent I buried long ago. After a lot of teeth-pulling, he somehow convinced me to sing a duet with him in church, and I’m glad he did. While I recognize that my voice isn’t anywhere near American Idol status (well, maybe the reject auditioners), I realized it doesn’t have to be in order to enjoy singing or impact someone emotionally.
We later recorded the song so I could send it to my mom:
[audio:http://jackiewatanabe.com/audio/AbideWithMetisEventide.mp3]
Here’s another song I recorded a while ago with more friends who encouraged me to not hide my voice:
[audio:http://jackiewatanabe.com/audio/FallingSlowly1.mp3]
1 Comment
…good to hear!