From time to time I'm called upon to songlead at our temple. It's been suggested, and not without good reason, that I should take voice lessons, so I arranged for this and had my first lesson yesterday.

The lesson was taught in the Tietjens practice rooms on campus, which are on the tiny side of small. The music department will be moving and expanding into what was ironically our temple's former site near Trinity and Delmar. My instructor is James Harr, and I had no idea what to expect in a voice lesson. The hour went by quickly and James found many areas in which I can improve.

I have always wondered how anybody can really sing. I play some instruments, and that's a fingers/feet kind of thing, and my fingers and feet work most of the time. But voice? It always seemed an unreliable proposition to me to think about singing. So one thing I'm learning are tools and techniques for more reliable singing. It apparantly begins with breathing -- something I've taken for granted, but turns out to be more important than I thought.

I want to remain basically a choir singer and occasional songleader -- I don't want to take on vibrato for example -- but I would like to be able to project more and not be worried so much about what will happen whne I sing.

I'll try to post about this experience as it develops.