As I brainstormed a title for my karaoke blog, the word "Journey" came to mind. Merriam-Webster defines Journey as "an act or instance of traveling from one place to another". I started thinking back to all the journey's i've traveled in my life. I journeyed from adolescence to adulthood. I journeyed from middle school to high school. I journeyed from Minnesota to California on a road trip last summer. As I listed my journey's, I realized that these were all in the past. I always thought about where I have been and not where I wanted to go.
Realizing that I wanted to sing was an accomplishment in itself. As I said in the first blog, I always thought I was good at singing, but I needed to try it on for size, and the only way to do this was to get up on stage and become completely vulnerable. As I stepped onstage and grabbed the mic, the onlookers and regulars from the bar were doing what they did best, drinking. I felt a little bit better because no one was really paying attention, everyone else before me had -pardon my language- sucked. I started singing the only song I really knew how to sing by Joss Stone called "Right to Be Wrong". In hindsight, what better first song to sing than one that says, "I might be singing out of key, but it sure feels good to me". Oh Joss Stone, how you get me! No one really knew the song (which made me even more nervous). What if they booed me offstage? I was trembling, my voice cracked, my knuckles were white from grabbing the microphone too tight, but no one could tell. I was a star in my own right that night. I nailed it.
Wait. Anxiety is setting in. Did I nail it because everyone else sucked? Was I the only talented person in this small town? Did they just like it because they were drunk? Until this day I still have those doubts, but it is becoming less frequent because of all the praise and experience I have gotten the more that I perform.
The biggest lesson I learned from getting onstage that night was that I wasn't going to be able to play life safe anymore. If I wanted to continue on my journey and reach my destination I was going to have to express my true self from that moment on. I couldn't worry about what anyone else thought about me, or karaoke, or the song choices I sang. I was doing this solely for me.
Deborah Adele, local author of self development Yamas and Niyamas explains it so well when she says "Living the life that cries to be lived from the depth of our being frees up our energy and vitality...On the other hand, supresseing that life, for whatever reason, takes a lot of our life energy just in the managing of the pretending." Whether it be teaching, piano, painting, or even basket weaving, everyone should have the courage to take the step to find out what their true calling is. Mine is singing. What's yours?
-Maryoke
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Breakaway - My Karaoke Journey
"Karaoke is for people who can't sing!" -Me, circa 2004
This was my opinion of karaoke singers for as long as I can remember. Honestly, I made fun of these people! They were nerds! I never understood why people would get up on a stage and sing some old overplayed song for drunk people's enjoyment. Can't they just listen to the radio? Sure, it was fun, but there was no real talent behind these singers. I found out over the course of the next few years that I had been wrong all along.
Lets start with a little bit of my past. I always knew I could sing and had a great ear for music. The problem was, I was never in choir and never sang in front of people. How was I supposed to know that I was actually good and not tone deaf? Just like many other singers who start out, I didn't know, and that was the problem. The only solution was for me to get up in front of people and belt out a song I thought I was good at. There was no better way to do this than to try, and try I did!
My karaoke journey began with singing at a small town bar in front of a monitor, but ended with me opening for a big act in front of thousands. How did a small town self-proclaimed "karaoke hater" achieve this you ask? What began with a silly karaoke dream had evolved into something bigger.
Throughout this blog, I will share my interesting journey in bits and pieces while still touching base on important questions I have about karaoke. If you are skeptical of how karaoke can make someone a star, so was I, but karaoke gave me skills that have helped me propel along my path to achieve my dream of becoming a real singer. I am not quite there yet though. I still wonder what role karaoke plays in a hopeful singers career. Are there successful singers out there that have started with karaoke? Can karaoke open doors for a singer or hold them back? Can karaoke be taken seriously? Do I have what it takes to go from karoke to record deal? Even if I don't make it, what can I gain from performing karaoke? These are all questions I hope to narrow down and answer throughout the growth of my blog.
For my next blog entry I want to discuss the feeling of stepping on stage for the first time. This will be interesting to re-visit the awkard moment. Wish me luck!
-Maryoke
This was my opinion of karaoke singers for as long as I can remember. Honestly, I made fun of these people! They were nerds! I never understood why people would get up on a stage and sing some old overplayed song for drunk people's enjoyment. Can't they just listen to the radio? Sure, it was fun, but there was no real talent behind these singers. I found out over the course of the next few years that I had been wrong all along.
Lets start with a little bit of my past. I always knew I could sing and had a great ear for music. The problem was, I was never in choir and never sang in front of people. How was I supposed to know that I was actually good and not tone deaf? Just like many other singers who start out, I didn't know, and that was the problem. The only solution was for me to get up in front of people and belt out a song I thought I was good at. There was no better way to do this than to try, and try I did!
My karaoke journey began with singing at a small town bar in front of a monitor, but ended with me opening for a big act in front of thousands. How did a small town self-proclaimed "karaoke hater" achieve this you ask? What began with a silly karaoke dream had evolved into something bigger.
Throughout this blog, I will share my interesting journey in bits and pieces while still touching base on important questions I have about karaoke. If you are skeptical of how karaoke can make someone a star, so was I, but karaoke gave me skills that have helped me propel along my path to achieve my dream of becoming a real singer. I am not quite there yet though. I still wonder what role karaoke plays in a hopeful singers career. Are there successful singers out there that have started with karaoke? Can karaoke open doors for a singer or hold them back? Can karaoke be taken seriously? Do I have what it takes to go from karoke to record deal? Even if I don't make it, what can I gain from performing karaoke? These are all questions I hope to narrow down and answer throughout the growth of my blog.
For my next blog entry I want to discuss the feeling of stepping on stage for the first time. This will be interesting to re-visit the awkard moment. Wish me luck!
-Maryoke
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