July 11, 2010 – noon:  I sing.  Well or not is a matter of opinion.  Fact is that I have been doing it since I can remember.  Growing up with quality programming such as the Lawrence Welk show and Community Auditions I think that I was singing almost since I could speak.  Going to Catholic grammar school the annual fund raiser was a concert involving the entire school, kindergarten through 8th grade.  Every spring without fail parents, who at other times during the year were proud that they were giving their children the tremendous benefit of a private and morally upstanding education, would file into the school gymnasium cursing the three hours they had to sit listening to “It’s a Small World After All” and  Rodgers and Hammerstein medley after Gershwin mix being murdered by children who could barely speak let alone sing and dispassionate adolescents who would rather be anywhere else on a Friday or Saturday night.  This was when I would shine!  Like a precursor to Lea Michele’s Glee character I would proudly stand in the front row and belt out every tune like I was auditioning for A Chorus Line.

I sang throughout high school with the chorus and the drama club.  In college I auditioned for and was accepted to the chorale and chapel choir.  After college I studied for some time at a music school In Cambridge, MA and subsequently took private lessons while living in San Diego.  My specialty as a rare mezzo-soprano?  The sacred choral works of J.S. Bach and Handel and secondary female operatic roles.  My favorite Christmas activity?  Actually singing at a Messiah Sing.  You could say that I know HOW to sing, that is, I understand the mechanics of the voice, even if I don’t SOUND well doing it.  All this by way of introducing the fact that I like to get down on karaoke night to anything from Pat Benatar to George Michael.  I like to put all that hard work and money spent to good use.  And I don’t care how much training you’ve had or what kind of training you’ve had, singing karaoke is damn hard and I’ve known very few classically trained chanteuses who will actually sing karaoke.  It’s too embarrassing!

Given my training I’m very sensitive to the acoustics of any given space.  Hard surface is good for reverberation but you don’t want too much interference.  Soft surface is sure death-it absorbs sound like the lining of a casket!  Thus, singing in the shower, good.  Singing among the clothing sales racks in Macy’s junior department, not so good.  My apartment here in Buenos Aires neighborhood, with its parquet floors and sparse furnishings, has great acoustics!  So, I like to sing here.  I try not to sing too much Mozart-the register is just way too high.  Lady GaGa, on the other hand, has a great mid-range for me.

Sunday, noon time, home takin’ care of business-like cleaning up the mess from my flooded bathroom (see previous post) and I’ve got the iPod goin’, singin’ some old favorites:  U2, “One”; Madonna, “I’ll Remember” and Lady GaGa, “Bad Romance”.  Sometimes I lose sight of the fact that I am in a crowded apartment building and just belt it out like I’m on stage at Carnegie Hall-or just back in the gymnasium at my grammar school.  I was goin’ pretty good this particular Sunday afternoon when I opened the door to take the trash to the garbage chute.  Still singing GaGa, I suddenly came to myself as I glanced up and saw a crowd of about four or five neighbors standing between my door and the elevator.  They apparently had been waiting for the elevator and bore witness to my impromptu concert.  Unlike most trained performers I am very self-conscious of solo performances and generally shy away from them.  I sing for my own enjoyment.  I don’t think my family’s ever even heard me sing as I’ve been trained to; I don’t think they even know I’m trained.  So, I promptly shut my mouth and pulled out the ear buds.  They promptly started clapping.  I bowed awkwardly as I scooted past them, thanking them and telling them that it was nice to meet them.  Well, that’s one way to make yourself known to the neighbors I guess.  Awkward…