updates

Was messing around the other day and decided to check out my vocal range. Since my teacher has been overseas the past two weeks, I have only had one vocal lesson this month so far. Adding them up, I should have attended seven weekly half-an-hour lessons to date.

Well, a little background -- I speak in a pretty low voice, and before I started lessons, I was convinced I was a bass-baritone. Middle C could have easily killed me two months ago. On top of that, being soft-spoken meant I don't talk a whole lot and I have probably only sung two songs on a karaoke machine in all my life so far.  That level of activity was bound to make my vocal cords super weak, which they were...and still are, I think.

Vocal lessons must have helped with that, because I managed to hit F#5 the other day! And was also able to hit a F1. No, I couldn't hit those notes with a pleasant singing voice -- well, I was straining with the highest note in fact, but I was still really surprised that sounds were able to escape my lips at such extreme pitches. This probably doesn't mean much to a singer or vocal teacher who knows what they're doing, since singing isn't only about range, but more about what you do with it. Nevertheless, that experience was a pleasant surprise.

Oh, I've been practising a simple version of Coldplay's Yellow my teacher recorded for me. He wanted me to transpose it in all 12 keys without actually having gone through with me the notes for each scale. Still, I already knew how to figure that out beforehand. I think his point was to make me figure out the scales by ear, on top of having me not look at my hands while I'm playing. It has been okay so far...not exceptionally hard, though with him playing mostly octaves for chords, my left wrist sorta hurts from playing them now.

It's no wonder though, he hasn't made me do much on my technique so far...ah well...ouch.