Singsong

So in talking with one of my friends tonight, I was inspired to look back into my past and think about my singing. It hadn't really occurred to me that I would ever look back and see some kind of singing career. This is not to say that I am ever remotely ABLE to sing, but for a while there (grade 6-8?) I think I had an above average vocal ability.

Suffice it to say, since the surgery and even a little earlier than that, I haven't been the same. It's kind of funny, you hear these famous singers talk about how they started really young and learned from just randomly singing, how to properly sing and develop these wonderful voices. I wasn't like that at all.

I remember the first time I tried to sing it was to old school chinese pop songs, now you might say that I might as well have started by singing Elmo or something similar that required little skill, but this was Jacky Cheung, okay? We're talking the best singer of the "say dai teen wong" (if you don't know what that is, you can disregard this entirely). Through these formative years I developed a little bit of vocal ability (the ability to sing in key) and through leading worship at an almost continual basis for almost 8 years, you'd think that I would have continued to develop. The answer to this is a simple no. I guess that God didn't bless me with a voice like that?

After this saddening realization, I went through a period of vocal loss due to a cyst that had developed on my vocal cords. It was pretty traumatic and required some surgery. After it was removed and started healing I suddenly realized that I was dealing with something vastly different from before. My voice, although it sounds the same while speaking and some singing, was NOT the same. My voice was not my own and God had seen fit to take it from me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining as God supplied me with a new voice. But there are some problems.

My vocal range has shrunk drastically and it limits me from being able to sing to the extent I used to before sounded like air being let out of a balloon far too quickly. My vocal quality has diminished and attributes to the aforementioned balloon effect, the tambre I had is now all but gone. It was hard to take and especially seeing some of my friends and their crazy voices and talents makes me look and mine and long for more.

At the same time God has given me great gifts in other areas, but what guy doesn't want to be the one holding the guitar and singing silky melodies while walking through the streets of Paris?

Maybe I'll try singing again.