So apparently I have more of a voice than I thought...

I had a BLAST at armoring night on Tuesday.  One of those "SCAdians are the Best People" experiences.

First, Jac took my empty plate away and put a sword in my hand.  Then when I declared that arm numb, she moved it to the other hand.  I like whacking a pell.

Then I went inside and danced with baby Brooke (8 mos.) to the salsa music for a while - Brooke likes to dance in front of the mirror.  The cook noticed that "hey, you've got rhythm"...and then I had salsa dancing lessons in the kitchen.

Finally Bastion got out his guitar, and I was warbling descants to Brooke in the background.  "Hey, you've got a nice voice, sing something."  "Uh..."  I have always been an instrumentalist (piano for a limited time, then a lot of flute) so thinking of songs, and then doing more than carrying a tune in a bucket are new skills for me.  I couldn't even come up with any "girly" songs.

They all ganged up on me; I got breathing lessons, lessons about "push through"; even Gunnar pegged a song from King Arthur for me, and he's right on pitch - great choice.   I wish it was more than a fragment in the movie, but perhaps we can flesh it out.

 It goes:

Land of bear and land of eagle
Land that gave us birth and blessing
Land that called us ever homewards
We will go home across the mountains
We will go home
We will go home
We will go home across the mountains
We will go home, singing our song
We will go home...
Hear our singing
Hear our longing
We will go home across the mountain
We will go home
We will go home...

I have Homework to find "more songs that I like to sing"...which is a Project, because I haven't listened to nearly enough.  I'm interested in both historical and modern songs, and my voice seems to be a mezzo, though part of my homework is to concentrate on the lower end of the range.  This is to avoid one of my 'cheats' - to bounce up into falsetto.

I know I want "La Llorona" (Lila Downs is good), Helen Reddy and Carole King are good places to look, though when I actually go through the lists, they're not quite what I hope.  "Candle On The Water" is my fav Reddy right now.  That "Always A Hero Comes Home" harp song in the CGI Beowulf is poignant, too.  I know most of "Mary Hamilton", though that might need a lower key to get me into lower range.  They wanted "Greensleeves", so I'll have to learn the words to that.

I'm really pleased about this...it's been a secret wish of mine to sing better, and I've also wanted to understand more about how to speak more loudly without exhausting my voicebox.

Comments

[Ann]

Next time you're in town, I can give you a disc of Arthurian songs written by SCAdian Jed O'Connor (aka "Silverstar"). Jed departed this world a few years ago, and it would be lovely to think of his music being sung. Some of your older SCAdians there might remember him.

He also wrote a poignant love song about two werewolves, which is not recorded but I remember it.

[Ann]

Google is amazing. "Rhiannon" is one of the songs on the disc--it will give you an idea of the genre.
http://www.pbm.com/pipermail/minstrel/1995/006244.html

[Gwen]

I have a bunch of stuff I can teach you - I'm a mezzo, but really a coloratura who isn't always as confident in the best parts of her range as she should be.
I need someone besides Ianka to sing the girly songs with...

Steeleye Span, just drop down from Maddie Pryor's range a little bit.