Album (Creative Diary, Entry #2)

I asked, and he obliged.

I’m no lounge singer.

I’ve not been trained in voice.

And I certainly have never been paid for a vocal performance in my life.

Nope, none of that is true about me.

Quite simply, I sing because I love to sing. I can’t help it.

I never learned how to play an instrument other than a couple of years of rudimentary piano when I was very young.¹ Lessons stopped when funds stopped. No, mastery of an instrument was not in the cards for me, I felt. Which was kind of odd for a young person in my school district. I went to schools where almost everyone my age was busy with music lessons (sometimes multiple instruments) on top of language lessons (Chinese school, for example), girl scouts (or the like), cotillion, Young Life, sports, etc.

Other than those 2 years of extremely simple piano and about 3 months of Brownies that one summer, I was not involved in any of those types of activities.

And then, my middle school started offering choir as an art elective. — Boom. Done deal. It was an activity to be done at school during school hours. And there were no additional costs associated with it other than the 30 or 40 dollars spent on performance attire (i.e., 1 dark blue dress).

While I may have slipped into vocal performance out of convenience, I never took it for granted.

Choir became my one thing that I did consistently through middle and then high school.² And by one thing, I do mean the one. Yes, I fulfilled my volunteer hours requirement for high school graduation. Yes, I completed my Catechism classes for my Confirmation. And yes, I was involved in a few clubs at school if only to bolster my college application. Beyond the college admission process, choir was the one thing I couldn’t imagine stopping merely because I had submitted some college apps.

No, I continued with choir simply because I loved it.

A small regret I have is that I did not continue vocal performance of any kind in my college years, or the handful of years after graduation. I’m not sure what was the barrier. Maybe it had to do with increased anxiousness in a large social setting. Or low mood related to being away from home combined with 7 months of winter. Perhaps I felt that nothing would be able to “live up” to the joy I experienced when singing with my choir back home, that strong association I had with choir and my core friend group. And maybe, just maybe, I didn’t want to sing choral music anymore.

With no figures of authority in sight, I needed to work out what I wanted to sing. Not because it was what a choir director wanted. Or because I was going to perform in a church. And not because it was going to please my parents. Moreover, certainly not because I was trying to recreate a very comfortable time in my life. And around 2017, I began to truly believe I was letting go of any preconceptions about what singing “should” look and feel like. I gathered my courage and, with a lot of trial and error, I set forth on reinvigorating my vocal chords on a wide breadth of musical stylings.

From there, I needed to center in on the music I found most fulfilling. The music that lifted my spirits, no matter the weather or time of year. The kind of music that I enjoyed even if I stood alone in my musical taste. Well, it took a few years but I think I have finally achieved just that.

So, what kind of music do I enjoy performing (in the shower, in the car, or in front of a live audience)?³

Briefly, including but not limited to:

• anything folksy, from the 1960’s - I find the harmonies and the elongation of notes to be enchanting.

• anything written at the turn of the 20th century - I have no idea why!

• anything that could be considered a jazz standard - I love to croon. I might not be that interesting of a crooner, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to be.

• anything described as “Big Band” music - there are some wonderful vocalists who are forgotten today but their voices added so much richness to that kind of music.

• anything that could fall under the “easy listening” genre - although really, what does that even mean??

• shall we just call it “musical theatre”? But I enjoy the old stuff, like pre-1970’s kind of stuff. Cabaret (1966), Annie Get Your Gun (1946), On the Town (1944), My Fair Lady (1956), West Side Story (1957), The Sound of Music (1959), Show Boat (1927), to name a few.

• anything once performed and/or recorded by Judy Garland - one does need a hint of camp.

I am well aware that as a millennial (read: elder millennial), these musical preferences make me seem a bit strange. But at this point, in my mid-30’s, I’ve embraced it. Every part of it.

Now, I love sharing this side of myself to others.

We’re making an album.

The idea

You can blame The Boy for the commencement of the album, he’s the one who inspired the idea in the first place.

It all started a few years back. (I apologize to those who have heard this story so many times already…) During the height of the COVID19 pandemic, The Boy wanted to test out some audio recording/engineering equipment. For convenience sake, he suggested that he and I record our duet of “The Sound of Silence” that we had learned as a party trick. He promptly transformed our walk-in closet into a recording studio and many, many hours later, he finished mastering our cover of a very difficult duet. (I sang the easy part. The Boy learnt the difficult harmony as well as the guitar part.)

And this was how I got my first real taste of recording music. Music I enjoyed singing. Music that captured my attention.

— I wanted more.

The germination

I have the immense fortune of marrying into a family of artsy musicians. Everyone has received musical training, The Boy has received extensive training to boot. They are lovers of music, several are teachers of music, and they all are inclined to play music.

Which makes me feel like the luckiest daughter-in-law in the world.

Sometime during the past few years, it was revealed to them that I immensely enjoyed singing. There was the small caveat, of course, that the kind of music I enjoyed singing was almost 100 years old at that point. No matter — it didn’t faze them one bit.

Eventually, it was suggested to me and The Boy that we should strongly consider learning and performing songs for special family occasions.⁴ And that’s exactly what we did and continue to do, much to my delight. (I even get to accompany my father-in-law’s guitar playing every now and then - a real treat!)

The project

In 2023, I decided to ask The Boy if he would help me with a project. The goal? To make an album of at least 10 songs but, because I don’t know anything about audio recording or engineering, I prepped 15.

I asked him, and he obliged. Fairly quickly, he offered to learn, record, edit, mix, and master all 15. A dream come true.

I scream and shout like a madwoman every time we learn a new song. It makes me so happy to know we are doing this, together. It’s our project. And he’s doing such an amazing job! It is truly impressive watching him. I’m so lucky.

Here are the 15 songs I prepped with a link to the version I had in mind:

1. “Cabaret” - performed by Liza Minnelli

2. “Stompin' At The Savoy” - performed by Maxine Sullivan

3. “La vie en rose” - performed by Édith Piaf

4. “C'est si bon” - performed by Emilie-Claire Barlow

5. “I'll See You In My Dreams” - performed by Joe Brown

6. “Cien años” - performed by Pedro Infante

7. “Dream A Little Dream” - performed by Doris Day

8. “I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me” - performed by Peggy Mann (this was lost to time, somehow the recording was taken down from YouTube and has not resurfaced since…)

9. “My Blue Heaven” — performed by Leon Redbone

10. “'Till There Was You” - performed by Peggy Lee (but I also wanted some influence from The Beatles thrown in, too!)

11. “A Dream Is A Wish” - performed by Ilene Woods

12. “Alice In Wonderland Theme” - performed by Kathryn Beaumont

13. “Besame mucho” - performed by Andrea Bocelli

14. “Singin' in the Rain” - performed by Cliff Edwards

15. “Shine on Harvest Moon” - performed by Leon Redbone

There have already been some minor adjustments here and there, and there will probably be more with time. We’ve learned a little over half of the songs at this point. We might not even include all of these songs in the finished product depending on how they turn out — so stay tuned for more updates as the year progresses!

You made it to the end, congrats! As a reward, here is our version of “The Sound of Silence” originally sung in 1964 by Simon and Garfunkel. It was recorded back in 2020 so I was still getting my “recording legs”, hope you enjoy it just the same! Again, The Boy did everything. He played the guitar, added other instrumentation, arranged the music, sang the harmony, mixed and mastered it, etc. All beautifully done, in my humble opinion.

I’m honored so many of you listened and enjoyed our demo of “Cien años” from my previous post that I decided to let you in on the details of this big project! And some of your comments and compliments really left me speechless, I’m truly touched.

Thank you, again, for reading and listening.

Stay charming,

1. Compared to my peers, even in elementary school, those lessons felt like toddler stuff.

2. Freshman year of high school we saw some acting classes, which was way out of left field for my family. But that went away after a year because once again, funding was in question.

3. Which is very different from the music I enjoy listening to, just to be clear.

4. Please note: these musical performances were happening already. It is very common in The Boy’s family to have live performances at gatherings. A truly bohemian experience!