You may not know this, but I am taking voice
and piano lessons through the conservatory at the University.
and I love it!
At the beginning of the year I sent an email to the conservatory saying I was interested in finding out more information about voice lessons. Within a couple days I had been set up with an instructor and a practise room.
Like I said, it was a spur of the moment thing that I had inquired about lessons and now I was going to them. What had I gotten myself into?
I was so nervous to go to my first lesson but it turned out that my instructor is one of the nicest people I have met! We talked about my interests and reasons for taking lessons. I told her that I didn’t really have any specific reason and we figured out that it was to gain confidence and improve my skills, and to work on piano!
So, I’m in piano and voice lessons. I am singing classical peices and contemporary jazz and rock songs. I’m also learning how to play the piano. My instructor gives me such praise when I sing, which makes me feel uncomfortable, but I’m getting used to the idea that I do have a voice and that I shouldn’t hide it. She wants me to sing in a recital at the end of the year, but I haven’t decided yet.
Well, today I was stood up.
Yep. Left alone and waiting as people watched.
I sat on an old chair in the long, dimly lit, music hallway waiting for her to come. The longer I waited, the more other music students appeared and sat around me. It was their time for lunch and I was sitting in one of their chairs, but I did not move. I waited. I eavesdropped.
I listened to the sounds of people practising piano and voice in the rooms that line the hallway and the laughs of the music majors. Men and women were singing scales and practising for their upcoming recitals. They were talking about choir and audition pieces and I found myself asking “what if”.
What if I don’t stop school now. What if I go into a music program. What if I become a music teacher. What if I join a choir. What if I continue voice lessons. What if I learn guitar, ukelele and the piano…..What if.