An important lesson – Practice!
Yesterday I had the pleasure of singing ‘Birds of Love’ at the wedding of one of my friends. This must be the 6th or 7th time in the last year that I have been asked to sing it. It has been awhile though since the last wedding so I made sure to practice a couple of days in advance. I felt very prepared yesterday as I had run it through my mind several times and sung it in the morning…
As the program started, I began to review the lyrics of the song in my mind and suddenly realized that I had forgotten some of the words of the song! I began to panic as I tried to remember the words and couldn’t. I took some deep breaths, calmed my racing heart (as it was just about my turn to sing) and finally remembered the words just in the nick of time (seriously)! I’m glad to say that the performance went very well and that the lyrics weren’t an issue (I’m never a good judge about performances but my friends informed me later).
One thing I learned from this experience is to practice the song many more times in advance so that it becomes so natural to me that I can sing it without thinking. Sometimes as an artist, I think we try and get by on the minimum because it takes time and lots of hard work to achieve perfection. Definitely an important lesson learned and one I don’t want to repeat again. 😀
3 Comments
Yes, even for the old and familiar one needs practice…But, go easy on yourself. It’s natural that as you add new songs to the repertoire, some of the old favorites (even) begin to fade. When Grant Hinden Miller visited us in Yamaguchi we were eager to share one of his songs that Nozomu had translated into Japanese. We all had a good laugh when Grant confessed that he had completely forgotten the song. He loved being “reintroduced” to it!
my sweet love elly
you are always our shining star no matter whether you sing with the lyrics or just hum as it is the spirit that counts in the end. People always remember the spirit in which it is sung!!
Thanks for sharing that heart-warming story dear Marilyn. I feel a bit more relieved. 🙂
Thanks Jalehjoon! I realize that being nervous also may have contributed to forgetting the lyrics!