Singing

I've realized lately that I'm really missing singing. Long ago in a far away life I was really into performing.

I was a music major in college, until I realized there were people far more talented and far more dedicated than me. Fortunately, I discovered this on about day two in the program at a university known for its arts programs. I decided I probably wasn't destined to have a career in music.

Of course, a lack of talent has not stood in the way of many of today's stars. Maybe I was a bit hasty when I left the program about halfway through the second semester. (Yeah, I knew early on, but I just didn't want to give up easily. I'm still studying French 20 plus years after I started but je ne parle pas francais.)

I was an OK singer - not great - but OK - sometimes decent, occasionally good.

After I left the music program at my first university and transferred to the University of Kentucky I sang in a band for awhile. There were five of us and two of us were really great. I wasn't one of them. I was OK. One of the other guys was good. The other guy was passable. The other two were really talented. We were holding them back. One went on to have a career in music. The other got married and settled down with his wife raising babies.

I quickly learned that being "with" the band was more fun than being "in" the band. You got the perks of it without the stress of performing. However, you also lost that rush that you get from performing.

Lately I've been thinking about how I'm missing singing. Some years ago I did a version of "Christmas for Cowboys" with Andrea for a radio Christmas program. Again, I was the weak link in that performance, but we sounded good. Really good. There's something magical about harmony and a guitar. I can't provide either of them - like Tim McGraw says about himself, I don't sing harmony - at least not well. But Andrea made it really good, and carried me along.

Maybe life will provide an opportunity for singing again soon. Life seems to work that way. It would be fun to sing again. I'm not giving up the day job to prepare for my music career or anything, but it would be nice to just sing some. It would be best with people - like Andrea - who are very talented and will let me come along for the ride - doing no damage and adding at least a little bit.