January 24th - We had our first music class today . The best thing I liked about the class was that everybody felt pretty comfortable and lots of people are novices like me . The games that we had were real fun too , I liked the name raunchy renee the best .:-)
January 25th - We have to choose a song to sing in the coming class . Noelle said I can sing a song in my language which is a good thing because I have no idea whatsoever about how american songs go . I will have to start searching for songs now .
January 26th - I am trying to ask my friends , my mom to suggest some song which would look good to such a multicultural class. I am also trying to sing a few songs and see which one I like the best .
January 27th - I have started recording songs using a voice recording software . I have done 1 minute clippings of some 5 songs . I plan to do some more tommorow
January 28th - I recorded 5 more songs today based on inputs from my friends and mom . I am still very confused between 3 songs .
January 29th - I send the clippings to a friend of mine and asked her to choose and tell me which song to sing . She suggested I sing raat hamari since I sound most comfortable in that song and also it encompasses a wide range in terms of pitch and tone .
January 30th - I pulled up youtube videos of the song and tried listening to it to do and last minute alterations to the song . I sang it a few times , I think I am pretty much set for tomorrow's class.
January 31th - I am not very nervous before the class today , let see how it goes .
Class over , I thought I did a decent job with my songs. For the first time I actually got to hear how american songs sound . I thought people in the class sing really well . We were asked to pick a song for performance. I wanted to sing a happy song , not a love or a sad song . I chose simple gifts which is a american song . I really liked the song , it has a simple and a catchy tune .
February 1st - Day one of practicing the song . The book hasn't arrived yet so there is nothing I can do today .
February 2nd - Realised the book is not going to be here till 4th and by then it will be really late. Have to figure out another way of learning the song . In the meanwhile I started reading a online tutorial on how to read music . The tutorial is pretty informative and it also has music pieces that I can listen to which helps me understand better how to read music. Although the end of it I am still pretty much doubtful of my ability to read music and understand it . I do not pitches of the notes mentioned and it is so much different from the indian classical music that I knew.
February 3rd - I managed to find the song online . I tried listening to it a few times to get a feel of the song . I still have the feeling about american songs that they are mostly high pitched songs. The kind of singing seems different from the type I am used to . I tried humming along with the song a few times to learn it .
February 4th - I finally got my book today but to my utter dismay the book does not have cds . Wil have to figure out a way to get the song . In the meanwhile I am making a steady improvement on remembering the lyrics . Also the song is finally sinking into me so that I can hear the music in my head .
February 5th - Noelle finally emailed the song to me . I have started singing the song and recording it . Doesn't song too good to me . Seems a lot raw when I listen to it . I listened to another video where they do this opera kind of singing ( i dunno what it is actually called ) ..i am failing to understand how to get such nuances into the song .
February 6th - I am singing the song in a more full throated way now . Sang it my mom via google talk ( technology rules ..) ..she says she likes it better now.
February 7th - Today was the d-day . I went ahead and did my song first . I rushed into the song and more than once ran before the music . Noelle told how to make my higher notes look neater by trying to sing as I if I am coming from the top to bottom . I tried it a few times but then kept slipping into my original style most of the time . A lot of other people who sang were trying to withhold there original voice and Noelle helped them by asking them to reach out to people .
February 8th - I spent the whole day with the feeling of being done with the whole day so did not practice anything .
February 9th - I tried to practice the way Noelle asked me to but I had a tough time remembering how to do it .
February 10th - I just sang the song a few times the way I was trying to originally .
February 11th - I am still fumbling with my practice . I tried listening to the music video again . No help . I am not able to understand the nuances of the music that Noelle wants me to work on
February 12th - I decided to email Noelle and ask her about what she had asked me to work on in the class that day bcoz I am stil having problems deciding how I am going to work on it .
February 13th - I got Noelle's email back. She reminded me what we had worked on but my problem is that I do not understand how what she sang is different from what I did . I tried to do the sirens she asked me to practice on and then I figured out that if I make my hand move the way I want my voice to move , it helps a little .
February 14th - I heard other people sing today . I am so bad at listening . I just don't have patience to sit through the whole time listening to people sing . So I started mumbling a little with the people singing because that helped me maintain my concentration . I loved Joslin and Nadi's voice.
February 15th - I am still practicing the same way by using hand gestures .
February 16th - I practiced while looking at the mirror to see if I can find any tension points in my body . It seemed ok though I did not find any major tension points in my body.
February 17th - I tried buzzing through the whole song liked Noelle had taught some people in the class to do . I also tried to sing sirens . I am still using the technique of using hand gestures while singing since that seems to remind me to change the way I sing at particular spots.
February 18th - Too cold a day to practice . Did not practice any thing today .
February 19th - I am trying to sing a few Indian songs today just to get the voice moving . I also did the buzzing through the song .
February 20th - I attended the voice recital today . There were two sopranos who sang . The whole experience of being that at music recital was pretty exciting . They sang a wide variety of songs from sad , to soulful to happy songs . I liked the second soprano better since she seemed to be more settled into her song than the first one . In her case the singing was not preceding the song which I find is always a problem when people are more bothered about showing the nuances of there singing and so they forget to heed what the song is all about .
February 21st - I sang to Noelle after the class today coz I am not sure if I am proceeding in the right way . She said I had improved and it was going in the right direction . Even Lily appreciated the way I have improved on the points that Noelle wanted me to
February 22nd - Appreciation helps , so practiced nicely today
February 23rd - No time for practice today.
February 24th - I feel somewhat uncomfortable in my throat , dunno if it is because of the way I m practicing or smthing less . My throat seems to tense up at higher notes
February 25th - I practiced with the background and my voice seems to lag behind or go forward . Decided I should practice with music , or else it will be a problem later on .
February 26th - I feel that some words do not sound too good , like the second "gift" , the "when " after "delight" . However if I start working on these , I loose focus of the main spots that I have been working on . I decided to not concentrate on them for now and practice later.
February 27th - I went to play squash today . I realised that vigorous exercise opens up my voice a lot .
February 28th - I performed in the class again today . The performance did not go too well , the higher notes were all tense , I did not use my hands so that worsened it too . And everyone said the song appeared sad since my facial expression did not go with the feel of the song.
February 29th - I practiced with hands today , not much improvement though .
March 1st - I feel as if my voice shifts scales between singing , all the notes do not seem to lie in the same range .
March 2nd - My voice just not sound good today . I stuck at the higher notes . My starting pitch does not seem right too .
March 3rd - I am starting to feel a little tense about the performance , the song is not sounding too well .
March 4th - I took a break today , I am too nervous to sing
March 5th - The break seemed to help . I started with a new vigour today . Using my hand a lot more and singing in front of the mirror , my voice seems to be improving .
March 6th - Today was the final day . I practiced a few times in the afternoon . I then went ahead , got dressed nicely . It gives a good feel to see everybody so professionally dressed up for the performance brings a seriousness to the performance . My performance came and went in a jiffy . The start was a little tense but then I used my hands better and the later ones sounded better . Overall I was satisfied with my performance . I also like Lily's , Nadi's and Jessica's performance a lot .
March 7th - March 27st - The only thing that I have done all this while is to listen to the 2 cds and pick a song . I had really like amazing grace and come again sweet love the last time around . I will want to do them . I just heard a song called the water is wide . I checked it out online too . It sound really good and most of all I like the lyrics of this song .
March 28th - I finally chose the song . I am going to do the water is wide . It is a british folk song and sounds pretty different than the last one I did . Today I just heard the background score a few times to get the sound into my head
March 29th - It seems a difficult score . I learnt the last one in day's time but I cannot get hold of this still . I tried singing and humming along a little
March 30th - The notes of the song lie mostly in my comfortable range , so its easier to sing this song than the earlier one . I also heard a few versions online again . I like those compositions better . I am slightly disappointed that the lyrics in the book are not the one's that I heard . The one's that I head were much more beautiful
March 31st - I "aa" through the song . It sound more beautiful that way .
April 1st - No matter how much I practice , I finding it a little difficult to get the song into my head . I dunno why .
April 2nd - I singing with the notes in the book . I am slightly bad at that and so I think I am fumbling at certain places . I will have to get that corrected in the class tommorow.
April 3rd