Singing

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I like to plan ahead when it comes to karaoke. And I don't mean just jotting down some ideas of songs that would be good to sing, and taking that list with me. No, I take it a few steps further: first, I find the song online and figure out how close it is to my own range, so I can tell the KJ how high or low to adjust the key. Then I try it out, see how well I know it. If I'm close, I practice it a bit. And if the song is something I'm still a bit unsure of, or is maybe a slower song that won't go over well when it's crowded, I pick that song as my first one. Get it out of the way with while there aren't that many people there.

Anyway, I usually stick to picking songs that I know I can do reasonably well. Either ones I've done before, or ones that I know so well I can make a go of it. The few times I've gone up on stage to do a song I wasn't 100% comfortable with, I dragged someone else with me (usually Tabitha, who's a better singer than I am) for courage and to help mask out the uncertain parts.

Well, during our trip to OTT last week, I discovered something else. It's a no-brainer that I can sing a song well if I'm really familiar with it. But what I didn't realize is that if I'm a bit UNfamiliar with a song, that works to my advantage as well. Because I'm familiar enough with it to get the general gist of the song, but unfamiliar enough that I can actually improvise the parts I don't know. Contrast this to a song that I'm familiar with yet don't know the nuances in pitch well enough to successfully sing on my own. I don't get all the notes correctly, yet the song is "too familiar" for me to improvise. So... in this case, greater ignorance (if you can call it that) is actually a good thing.

One of the karaoke regulars that Tabitha and I used to see at Zodo's was at OTT last week, and he wanted to do "Love Shack" with Caroline and me. Unfortunately, Caroline had to leave before we got to our turn, so it was just me and him. I was a bit apprehensive, because the girl part in "Love Shack" fit well into "familiar yet unfamiliar" territory. But, it was a silly song, and my partner was having all sorts of fun with it, so I figured-- what the heck. And, to my surprise, we actually rocked it! I have no doubt that I sang some parts differently from the original, but it didn't sound too awful, and we had a lot of fun with it. It was also the first time I actually danced a bit while on stage.

I think it's pretty neat that the one song I've enjoyed singing the most out of all my times on stage was the one I was the least prepared for. And really, isn't that the essence of karaoke? Get up there and just have FUN.

So I've decided that for our next trip in December, I'm not going to come armed with my usual long list. I mean, yes, there's a couple of tunes I already have in mind, but this time I think I'll wing it some more and see what comes. See what songs I get suckered into joining in with by my friends :-)