Finally a first blog post! Well, sort of…

Well, I’ve had my site up for about almost two years now and I’ve yet to write a first post in this blog section. A few friends have made me aware of this for about the last year. By “made me aware,” I mean they’ve yelled and cursed at me and asked what the point is of having a blog section if you’re not going to blog. Of course, not being the type to yell and scream, I calmly answered with a standard “Because of your Mom” and “Because of your face.” Well, I can tell you my scathing come backs put a stop to their inquiries and by “put a stop to,”  I mean they haven’t shut up, so I’m writing my first blog post.

This being a photography website, I could write about something photography related, but that would make far too much sense. Instead, I’m going to share my first experience ever in a musical performance, which occurred at the Spring recitals at Green Brooms Music Academy back in June.

I’ve been singing since I was very young. So much so my Dad nicknamed me Meister-Singer or simply “Meister” for short. I’d never, however, taken any singing lessons. I did take some guitar lessons in high school and college and have played on and off ever since, but never singing lessons. I grew up listening to Guns N’ Roses and Led Zeppelin and other rock and blues bands, but my parents only listened to classical music, which I also still love. I think I’ve listened to “Appetite for Destruction” every day for the last 25 years and I think everyone who’s ever known me knows my fondness for GNR. I actually can sing just as high as Axl and would simply mimic his style and technique. Well, if you’ve heard Axl lately, you’ll know he doesn’t sound like he used to…and normally that means he ain’t singing so well. I did see what’s left of GNR last December and he actually sounded pretty darn good, but it seems the times he sounds good are few and far between. One of the reasons for that is his technique is really bad and the sound you hear is the sound of his vocal cords shedding.

I’d rather keep my vocal cords intact, so I decided to take voice lessons at Green Brooms Music Academy here in Santa Monica, CA. It’s an amazing school with absolutely amazing people. I cannot recommend it highly enough – it is the place to go for music lessons of any kind.  Here’s their website:

http://www.greenbrooms.com/

My voice teacher, Rebecca, a classically trained and schooled professional, who’s also totally awesome, heard my voice and knew immediately I needed to work on my technique. She prefers her students don’t shred their vocal cords as it’s very messy and the clean-up is unpleasant. So, what I needed to work on is opening up and relaxing which are vital to proper singing. When I sing like Axl, I use my throat and tighten up, which isn’t healthy and could lead to the messiness I described above.

It just so happens opera singers, who are classically trained, sing properly without tension. Many musical theater singers do this as well, but there are many who don’t. The songs, however, lend themselves well to use for training someone to sing properly.

So, for my first musical performance ever, I sang “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” from Les Misérables and “Moving Too Fast” from the 2002 musical “The Last Five Years.”

Being the GNR fan and totally rad rocker dude I am, I will never admit to really enjoying singing these songs and kinda want to sing more of them. That would be silly of me. I’m not admitting this to anyone ever, so don’t even ask. I’m taking that to my grave.  I totally didn’t enjoy it at all and needed tons and tons of prodding. I certainly won’t be working on an Opera piece and learning Italian to sing Puccini’s Nessun Dorma. That would be ridiculous.  It would almost be as ridiculous to admitting singing “Tomorrow” from Annie in the shower. That might actually be kinda creepy. Glad we’ve cleared that up.

What I will admit to is I’ve started taking guitar lessons again and totally love it! My teacher Rob, who’s awesome as well, said I’m his best student ever. Of course that was after I put rattlesnakes in his guitar case and would only remove them if he said that.  But, you know, no one really forced him to say it. I, for one, would love to find rattlesnakes in my guitar case.

Where was I? Oh yes, admitting to being in a recital and not being 9 years old. Okay, well here goes. Check out the YouTube video here:

 

 

I’ll leave you with a piece of wisdom my Dad gave me before he passed away. He would’ve gotten such a big kick out of this and I wish so much he was here to see it.  I know he’ll always be with me in spirit.  He said to always find or make time for your passions. Learn something new everyday. Try to learn things unrelated to your main passion as it helps you see connections with everyone in the world. Be humane – it’s always the best policy. Keep learning through life to the end. Consistency and persistence wins the race.

Well, there it is, my first blog post ever. Maybe next time, I’ll actually write something about photography considering this is a photography website and all. We shall see.

-Jack

 

Speak Your Mind

*