Spending the night singing

[jbailey]

I assume that I was sung songs when I was little, but I don't really remember them. I do remember my mom singing "You are my sunshine" to me (but only the chorus, as she thought the first verse was too sad. I'm glad that she never heard the remaining creepy stalker verses from the O Brother soundtrack). Angie will sing lullabies that she remembers, but she's the oldest of three kids, whereas I'm the youngest of two by five years.

So all this to explain why at 4am I was singing Leif to sleep with songs from The Dances of Universal Peace. Walking in circles singing them reminded me that I haven't been to the dances in a while. They're on the second Tuesday of the month here in Montréal.

Comments

What about the tone-deaf?

[(Anonymous)]

I can't sing. I really can't. It pains my wife if she ever hears me.
Should I refrain from singing to any putative children we might have,
on the grounds of mental cruelty?

I'm totally willing to read to them.

Re: What about the tone-deaf?

[jbailey.livejournal.com]

I think it mostly depends if singing brings you joy or not.

Being tone-deaf is a state where one can't hear the difference between notes, and has nothing to do with producing them.

I generally suggest:

1) Sing if you enjoy it. If your wife can't cope, I suggest the shower and the car.

2) If you're willing to put in the effort, consider a singing teacher. The vocal cords are just a set of muscles, and on you they probably just need training. If there's a note you can hit consistantly, a competant voice instructor can work from there to go up a note or down a note and train those muscles to do what you'd like.