I’ve been singing my whole life. I went to school when music programs in elementary schools still existed. My grandma taught me to play the piano. I would sing along as I practiced. I sang in the 6th grade chorus and sang in an octette at the Iowa State Fair. It never occurred to me that some people couldn’t sing on pitch. I didn’t know anyone like that.
Then in college, I was at a sorority rush party where every rushee was paired up with a sister from the Delta Delta Delta house. As we stood there, someone led us all in song, and the Delta sister I was paired with sang the whole thing in monotone. She was tone deaf.
Wow, and she still made the cut? How hard could it be to become a Tri Delt? I didn’t get asked back, didn’t measure up. Singing in tune didn’t count? Or maybe she was a legacy, and her older sister could sing?
When I was dating my future husband, I sang along to the radio, and he started laughing, Was my singing that bad? I found out later that he, too, is tone deaf. His mother confirmed it when she said her son couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. I heard her sing once. She couldn’t, either. Thus, the laughter as self-defense: I’ll belittle you before you can belittle me kind of thing.
How sad it must be to sing along to your favorite song, knowing that you don’t sound anything like the song being played. Or maybe you don’t know? That might be better.
I’m not the best singer in the room, and sometimes I squeak when the note is too high or growl when the note is too low, often in the same song, especially if it’s a Freddie Mercury song. He could cover four octaves. Mariah Carey can too. As a low alto, I usually avoid singing along with her and Celine Dion, any soprano, actually. Give me Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Tracy Chapman., or Paul Mc Cartney.
But I digress.
My three offspring grew up with music in the car, in the house, all around them. Two of them sing. One does not. Maybe the bucket for tune carrying skipped them somehow. It’s sad, really, because singing is a stress release. They can play guitar and the piano, though, also ways to release stress.
On my eight-day trip, of which I have just returned, I wasn’t able to sing much or play my YouTube playlists during the day or evening. I missed my music. Chorus is tonight, so I’ll get in two hours of singing. I also need to clean up this house to 70s music, of course.
Those who can sing should sing. Those who cannot sing also should sing, just maybe not in a chorus.
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 