Bass icks

Bass icks

For no reason except that I want to I have started to take singing lessons.

At the first meeting with my teacher I chased notes up and down the piano keyboard.  My teacher informed me that I am a bass.  I knew I was not a tenor but I had always thought of myself as a baritone.  What did I know?  It was true that I could pursue notes in the lower range better than I could in the upper range. 

I had music in school but the subject was taught by a variety of strange teachers.  They had more musical skills than teaching skills.  I didn’t learn to read music. The experience by and large was unpleasant.  I played percussion in the junior high and high school bands.  I learned something about rhythm but not about tone.

On the advice of my brother-in-law who teaches opera singers, I bought an electronic keyboard and practiced for two or three months before starting music lessons.  I learned to read music at a level equivalent to a child reading English one letter at a time. 

I joined a church choir so I had one lesson, one rehearsal and one performance each week.  Now the choir is about to take the summer off. I may decide to take two lessons a week.

My teacher is about half my age.  Lots of people are these days.  He is positive and encouraging.  He’s pleased when I can surround a note and finally hit it.  It’s sort of like the way artillery used to shoot over and under a target to find the correct range.

I haven’t sung enough to develop any bad habits, which is an advantage.  I can hear when I am off although I may not be certain about how to correct my tone.  I talked to a friend of mine who told me he took lessons but didn’t learn to sing.  He said he could not tell if his singing was off or not.   

All of my siblings sing well. One sister is a tenured faculty member who teachers choral teachers.  My nephews and a brother-in-law (not the one mentioned above) have sung in operas.  If I don’t learn to sing now, when will I?  I’d rather try and succeed or fail than to think if only…