More About Learning to Sing

I left my band in San Jose to join one in my own home town of Hollister, exchanging an hour commute for one less than ten minutes.  This new band wants all members to contribute vocally, so I have been studying books and CD's on singing and practicing daily.  I have never sung before, except some minor backing vocals.  I am having fun with it.  My former band was very weak vocally, but the new band is quite strong with beautiful singing voices. My goal is to provide excellent backing vocals for the band, and sing a few songs as lead.

I have been scouring the net for song material:  chords and lyrics, karaoke files with which to practice singing, and trying to get my audio mixer to work with my laptop for better recording.  It looks like I will have to get a Sound Blaster soundcard, to allow simultaneous recording and playback from the soundcard (as opposed to recording from the speakers and picking up background noise, computer hum, etc).

I have been gathering my favorite songs of all time, and have found it to be an emotional experience.  Listening to these old songs brings many memories to life:  lost loves, lost youth, the time I courted my wife and the songs that helped me propose, and of course, a feeling of sorrow for great musical performers who have since died, like Elvis, Kui Lee and Vince Guaraldi.  Singing some cherished ballads is almost a spiritual experience, and puts me in a meditative mood, pondering the questions of life and death.


I've sung myself hoarse from yesterday's practicing, so I will give my vocal chords a day off today.