Recording

Progress: I have actually been practicing music this past week.

I haven't written anything, so I still have to work on that, but I have have sat down at the piano, and I have been vocalizing and recording myself to help my voice improve.  And it has!

It's still horrible, mind you, but it's merely horrible and not OMG I'M BLEEDING FROM MY EARS.



I haven't been playing WoW as much this week in consequence, but I'm okay with that.  I feel a bit like I'm abandoning my guild, but I have no obligation to be playing several hours every day. I still check up on the realm and guild forums pretty religiously - a habit not at all helped by my shiny new iPhone that lets me read them anywhere.  I'm still toying around with tanking, but I just don't think I have the time anymore to experiment with a new class.  I have enough on my hands learning to PvP on Ketlan.

Back to the music- I've been practicing both "Lady by the Lake" and "Light Be With You."  And I've been reading a bit on audio mixing.  I know absolutely nothing about mixing music, and it shows.  I really wish my university had a decent electronic music program, but alas, all I really learned was how to use iMovie and Toast.  So all this talk about "compressors" and "filters" is just beyond my comprehension.

Another bad thing? My copy of Garageband is from 2007.  That's ancient in computer years, and most of the tutorials I find are geared to newer versions.  So I'm being slowed by the learning curve and the need to hunt for equivalent commands.  It's not that different, but it's just one more thing, y'know?

I have also been reminded that I'm an alto.  I'm not used to hearing a low female voice; altos just aren't idolized the same way ladies who can hit super-high notes are.  It's hard to judge my voice when I'm dealing with my own self-biase and a lack of outside standards to compare myself with.

Listening to my recordings, I come to several conclusions:
1) Bah. I need to figure out what an alto voice is good at.
2) I scoop an awful lot.
3) I need to work on my control for longer notes; I lose pitch and consistency of tone.
4) My voice teachers were absolutely right about beginning words before the actual beat.  Silly teachers.

I wish I'd had good audio equipment back in the days I actually took voice lessons.  If listening to myself didn't crush my delicate spirit back then, it would have given me some great feedback and motivation to improve myself back when I had someone to help.  Now I'm on my own.

(Part of me wishes I had continued voice lessons after my sophomore year, but then I remember I had very good reasons to quit.  I was required to take instrumental method courses, but I had missed several due to starting mid-year and then going abroad a semester, so each semester I was taking two instrumental courses in addition to piano lessons. Practicing three instruments at once was enough of a challenge, especially after you throw in more difficult coursework, two performance groups, a part-time job, and a recently acquired fiancé.)

I actually miss college a lot; it really let me focus on music.  I had very structured days, and most importantly, a place I could practice in peace.  Our practice rooms weren't perfectly soundproof, but it was safe to go into one of those rooms and do whatever you wanted without being judged, being watched, or having someone comment on it afterword.  I don't have anywhere to practice anymore where I don't have to put up with some sort of spectator.

I have tried to give myself more structured days, but I'm already ruining that resolution by posting this at 1:30am. Oops.

It's hard to have a set schedule when I have different work shifts to work around.  The flow of the day gets interrupted, and I don't have the same level of concentration before work as I do after work.  Plus, I have to deal with my husband's constantly changing shifts, too, and then, I need to figure out my mother's schedule.   And it always seems that when I finally have some free time, there's some errand that needs to be done, or someone visiting, or that event I needed to attend.   I need set office hours, dangit.