You're Invited!

What: Winter Voice Recital
When: February 1st
Time: 6:00 PM
Problem: I DON’T HAVE MY SONG MEMORIZED!

It's a choir kid's worst nightmare... (especially when the choir kid in question is a perfectionist with OCPD)

Usually, for me memorizing songs is like breathing— it comes naturally, effortlessly. Apparently those memorization skills don’t translate when it comes to foreign language solos…

Ever since sixth grade I’ve been telling my many voice lesson teachers that I only do solos in English. This stems from a fear of sounding like am silly, little white girl. Which, considering I am a silly, little white girl, is a perfectly valid fear.

I can’t roll my R’s and the most popular language for solos is Italian, so you see my problem.

Anyway, I had managed to avoid foreign languages up until this year…but my private voice instructor desperately wants all of her students to be 1st Sopranos, but I am an Alto, so that doesn’t really work out very well for me.

I mean, sure I can hit a high G, but that doesn’t mean I want to... Especially not in front of an audience when my heart’s beating a thousand times a second.

So my voice teacher really wanted me to sing “The Crucifixion” this year, which was appealing because of its length (only about 60 seconds long), but when I saw three high F’s, I went running for the hills.

When I told her that I thought it was a little high for me and asked if we could possibly try a song with a range more appropriate for an Alto, but she wouldn’t hear any of it… That was, until I suggested we try something foreign.

She was so excited that I was finally going to try something in a different language that she even had the piece I’m doing transposed so that I only had to hit a high E.

So what exactly am I singing? — “Romance” by Claude Debussy. It’s in French. None of the lyrics repeat. UGH.

I actually had a voice lesson yesterday, and was informed that, since my last lesson, I had improved nearly 200% since the last time I had sang the song, which lifted my spirits quite a bit.

Well, wish me luck because I still haven’t managed to sing the song without making a single mistake yet, and I only have four more days before I have to sing it in front of about thirty or so people…

(Oh, and in case you hadn't already figured this out, random Googler, I'm not actually inviting you to my recital because that would just be weird. Hope you're not too disappointed.)