QUARANTINE LIFE: ZOOM

Welp. 
I haven’t sung in a while— publicly that is.
I will in a few days, though, virtually, of course.

I’m laughing at myself because it took a minute to get the dust and rust out of my throat. Between my stomach muscles, lungs, vocal chords, and whatever area of my brain controls memorizing lyrics, it was as if they’d all hibernated, and were not in the mood to be abruptly awakened. “You want us to do what?”

I love the two songs I have to sing, but they’re as wordy as all get out, and moments to catch a breath are tricky. 

“You have to be in shape!”, I laughed to myself.

Inactivity is not a singer’s friend. It’s not that I’ve been neglecting my voice, I just that I haven’t had much reason to use it. I haven’t been talking much since March, let alone singing. I see now that I have to set aside time to sing each day, even if it’s to myself and God. 

I’m moving into the 21st century, and preparing to zoom sing for an event. At first I was extremely apprehensive. I began making a mental list of all of the people who could probably do it better. 

I’ve seen some very good presentations, replete with excellent audio and imaging, and some not so good. 

I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pull it off, and was leaning heavily toward declining the invitation. 

My Zoom experience was zero prior to an invitation to my nephew’s Zoom birthday party last month. The event will be Zoom meeting number 5 for me. I feel a little better since participating in rehearsals, but I’m still a little nervous. 

I will be required to dress like a human, and look presentable— something else I haven’t done much since March. One consolation is not having to put on, stand, or walk in high heels.

I shooed away my fears, with the help of the encouraging hostess who reached out to me, and I decided to say yes. How difficult could it be— I mean after I figured out how to unmute myself, and remembered to keep my phone still?

 
I got my old school boom box (with the really good speakers, CD, radio, and tape deck), unboxed my karaoke machine I bought last year at Target (The whole way from the electronics department to the register, I wondered what on Earth possessed me to look in its direction, let alone put it into my cart), my fickle chrome book, my old, faithful Dell laptop (with the CD burner), and my iPhone. 

I set it all up in the room where the wifi router is, then laughed again. I’ve got the 80’s, 90’s, and 2000’s going at the same time.

I think I’m covered for any and all mishaps. Fingers crossed. Fortunately, the host kindly sent an Ipad.

I will emerge from quarantine a celery farmer and an audio engineer. 
I’ve never had any reservations investing in my visual art supplies. Maybe, this new normal is screaming that it’s time for me to invest in some basic audio equipment.

#ithinkican #ithinkIcan #nofear #quarantinelife