By Yunqi Li
Music, as an essential part of art, is a regulator of our lives and emotions, a soother of our spirits. Soft music calms and relaxes people, intense music excites and thrills people, and sad music makes people feel the difficulty of life. People create many pieces of music and express the emotions in them through melodies and lyrics. Music allows human beings to feel nature, to feel life, and to feel the world.
Even though I am not a professional musician, I like to dive into the world of music. Listening to music not only fills my free time, but also adds a little sweetness to my busy life. Compared to listening, I have less time to sing. Sometimes I practice along with karaoke when I hear music I like. Therefore, this solo singing journey provided me with more time to understand music and to really appreciate that the meaning of singing is to feel and share emotions.
First of all, trying to teach singing to my classmates and joining the master class during the class activities raised my knowledge of music to a higher level. The group singing in the teaching session tested how well each of us could work with the songs. According to my observation, it is difficult for the audience to receive the emotions expressed in the song in this kind of immediate group singing, but they can feel the emotions of the singer. Everyone was nervous and cautious at the beginning as they were not familiar with the songs, but everyone was willing to sing. In addition to singing, listening carefully is also important in group singing. Everyone was following the leaders and being attentively listening to others, which strive to blend their voice into the groups. In my opinion, the crucial thing about group singing is blending. Although it is made of various voices, each voice works together to create beautiful music. Besides, I found that singing with a group can easily help me reduce my anxiety concomitant with singing in front of the public. I was able to gradually get used to singing in front of an audience and carried that self-confidence over to solo singsing.
The song I sing is Valder Fields form Tamas Wells. This song was written by Wells when he participated in a community health HIV/AIDS education project in Burma. I chose this song for solo singing because it is a song I am familiar with. It doesn’t have very high pitched and I thought it was something I could handle. Valder Fields is a healing music. Whether I’m listening to it or singing it, I feel relaxed and calm, as if I’m lying in the sun on a pile of straw and the hustle and bustle of life is far away from me. The purpose of music is to express and modulate emotion, so I wanted to convey this kind of feeling of peace to others by singing and sharing this song, and hope to heal them through the melody and vocals.
Compared to group singing, solo singing allows me to stay concentrated on what I am singing. When I am singing in a group, I need to consider other people to make sure no one is left aside. While singing alone what I need to do is just be myself. The song I sing is Valder Fields form Tamas Wells. This song was written by Wells when he participated in a community health HIV/AIDS education project in Burma. I chose this song for solo singing because it is a song I am familiar with. Valder Fields is a healing music. Whether I’m listening to it or singing it, I feel relaxed and calm, as if I’m lying in the sun on a pile of straw and the hustle and bustle of life is far away from me. The purpose of music is to express and modulate emotion, so I wanted to convey this kind of feeling of peace to others by singing and sharing this song, and hope to heal them through the melody and vocals. In the practice of the master class, Jasper helped me find my tone, which was very useful in my following singing. During the solo practice,there were fewer distractions around me and that was more peaceful. The influence of the environment helped me to improve my musical skills and get into the emotion of the songs faster. I realized that it is very helpful to learn and adapt different singing styles and ways to suit my voice.
However, there are also many factors that hold me back in practice. I was more in control during the a cappella because I could be more casual even though I might be in the wrong key. When I sang along with the music, I thought the verse of Valder Fields was easier, but there was a big section of music before the chorus, which confused me where I should get in the chorus. So in order to figure out the problem, I memorized the timing of the chorus where I needed to get in. I tried to imitate that languid feeling in Wells’ voice, but it was difficult. I understand the emotion of the song, but it seems hard to get into that emotion. I tried to find that feeling by lying on the bed, and it worked a little. In addition, I added my understanding of the emotions of the songs and tried to share the feeling of relaxation and enjoyment. I wanted my audience to be able to resonate when they heard my singing.
After almost an afternoon of practicing the song over and over again, I just started shooting the video. For the stage setup, I use the curtains from my bedroom as my backdrop and then put the table lamp in front of my face, and I put on makeup and dress up. I recorded the video many times. I was nervous and scared that I would sing the wrong lyrics or not be able to follow the music. I also felt a little panicky because I had to balance my image and lyrics at the same time. Overall, the whole process of my first performance went relatively smoothly, and I’m looking forward to everyone’s comments.
In this solo singing journey, I really learned how important singing is to human beings. When we are singing, our emotions influence our voice. Positive emotions affect the voice positively, and negative emotions affect the voice negatively. Emotions are the soul of singing. When people sing without emotion, they are like a robot reading the lyrics.It doesn’t matter what type of songs you are singing, it’s possible to sing the song with emotion that takes your performance to another level. In the end, singing is not about comparing yourself to others, it is about passion which makes you happy and relaxed. Singing is also a kind of exercise which helps you to regulate the internal organs in your body and the nerves in your brain and release stress. So, just keep singing and enjoy the joy that music brings to us.
