I totally intended to sit down this week to write a blog about focus & relaxation prior to singing or practice, delivered in the form of Singers Specific Stretches plus post a vid of a solution to my current singing dilemma – finding a portable steamer… yes, the struggle is real.
What transpired instead was I decided on a whim to record a vid of myself singing a Sam Smith song in honour of his presence in NZ. I was also a smidge giddy at the thought of going to his concert that Wednesday night & couldn’t stop singing his songs.
I’d recently set up a singers studio for teaching & practice at home & have plans to video instructionals & songs to post on the Big Notes Get Votes YouTube channel. I had about 30 minutes to churn out a vid so headed into the studio. Everything that could go wrong did! Technology was NOT my friend in that 30 mins. Time was running out fast so I aborted the recording plan as I had to dash into MAINZ (where I teach singing). I was a bit annoyed actually!
It’s roughly a 15 minute drive, all straight with LOADS of traffic & plenty of crawling at a snails pace.
That’s when I thought, hang on, I’ll just video as I drive & get some caraoke happening.
Let’s be honest – we’ve all downloaded a karaoke track or 1000 to sing along to at home (or in my case, at my regular covers gigs!!) or if you are serious – in the car!!! Hence, caraoke is born.
It was a very unglamourous upshot, bad lighting, I forgot the words, made funny faces & random comments mid song, had no make up on & my hair was in a state of VERY undid-ness!
With all this going for me, I did a quick iMovie edit & chucked it up on FB after I posted promise that I would.
I forgot all about it, ran out the door to the concert which was absolutely amazing. The control that gorgeous man has of his technique was delivered live so well I could have been at home listening to the album. Flawless & as always so inspirational.
Only when I got home did I see what an amazing response the video had received. Lovely comments & about 600 views in a couple of hours!!
I was pretty stoked that a ‘brain pop’ solution to my annoying tech struggles in the afternoon had worked out so well.
Waking the next morning to over 1000 views, then it building to more than 2000 in 24 hours at last glance was unbelievable!
Happy to say the least & very motivated to continue with my caraoke & also the original plan of good quality vids in my studio.
I am asking myself why it was so well received? It’s not a new concept or mine for that matter. Was it that we all can relate to that experience? Singing in the car? I hope it really does start a trend & many people post vids of themselves singing with abandon whilst driving (safely!!!!).
So here is a link to the vid on the BNGV YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/TvrKn7DwqLA
Get in there, tell me what you thought in the comment box, request another song for me to do (I have one planned already!) but most importantly, give it a go yourself!! Recording yourself singing & posting it is such a great way to analyse your performance. If you don’t want comments, disable them (YouTube) but do make a plan to record weekly if possible!
Be brave, have fun & get it happening! I’m sure there are thousands of folk out in the world “caraoke-ing” up a storm somewhere. “I know I’m not the only one”………
Happy Caraoke-ing
C xx