1. I had a hard time choosing a topic for this speech. I have a lot of interests and hobbies -- too many! They include: TV, movies, reading, the internet, traveling, politics, collecting, cooking, animals, music, writing, shopping, cosplay, Christmas, Halloween, and theater as well as the subsets of these topics, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, superheroes, karaoke, my dog, Hawaii and social media. I thought hard about my life and the interests I've had. There are mainly 3 that I've loved my entire life: TV, dressing up in costume, and singing. 2. I chose singing. I've been singing my whole life. 3. My mom was a singer in a band when she was young, during WWII. Everyone in my family loved music, liked to sing and played instruments. We didn't have a lot of records or tapes when I was little, but we had the radio, and a few musicals on record, so that's why I love musicals. I've been singing along with the soundtracks of "West Side Story" and "Sound of Music" since the 1960's. My mom also had music and lyric books that we would sing with. My brothers all loved different sorts of music and had their own records. My philosophy about singing is the same as this Judy Garland song. If you feel like singing, sing.This is from the movie "Summer Stock." There's a reference to "Bing," which is a popular singer from that time, Bing Crosby. PUT ON CLOSED CAPTIONING (play video - just first part) I always encourage everyone to sing, for fun! Take voice lessons, for fun! Go sing at karaoke, for fun! I've gotten many of my friends and family members into karaoke, and whenever we visit them, or they visit us, we always have a big karaoke party. I'll come back to that later... 4. When I was in Elementary school, I was in the school orchestra and chorus. I played flute, but I really didn't play after the 6th grade. I kept singing, though. I was in junior and high school choruses and choirs, and in college, too. Somewhere along the way, because of choir, I learned to read music. Here is one of the choir songs we did. PLAY IL ES BEL ET BON, just first part. Also in high school, one of my older brothers sent me money to pay for voice lessons. I found a woman nearby that used to be a professional singer, and she gave lessons. I wasn't a very good singer, but I still enjoyed it. I loved learning new songs and learning how to sing better. 5. We had a musical in our high school every year. I was in plays and in the musicals, but I never had a big part. I wasn't a very strong singer, nor was I really in tune, because I didn't know how to support the voice with correct breathing. Also, I had stage fright, so it affected my voice. When I tried to sing by myself, my voice would shake and, it wasn't pretty. I was fine in choir, though. At home, I would check out records, tapes, musical scores and plays out of the library, read them, and play them over and over, singing along, and I recorded many of them onto tape as well as songs from the radio. I met my husband when I was in high school (he had already graduated). He loves music, and we used to sing a lot for fun, too. He has a very good voice. 6. In college, at Stony Brook, I was a music major, but it still took me a long time to improve in my singing as well as get over my stage fright. However, I always enjoyed singing, no matter what, whether I was singing in tune or not, or whether I was scared and shaking or not. Here's one of the songs I sang in voice lessons where I wasn't a very good singer. As you listen, you may hear the hoarseness in my voice because of not being able to support the sound. PLAY LE VIOLETTE CLIP. Eventually, when we lived in Illinois, in 1987, I found a singing teacher who really helped me -- after I had graduated from college and was working on a teaching credential. It was like an epiphany when I finally learned how to use my breath to support my singing. It was one of many hurdles I've overcome and many little epiphanies I've had about singing over the years. 7. Growing up in the 60's and 70's, I learned a lot of songs on the radio (as well as the showtunes, and the choir songs). Most of it was pop, rock and R&B. Because of singing for over 50 years, I know hundreds, possibly thousands of songs. That's one benefit of aging. The older you are, the more you know. You just accumulate things, including songs. 8. After I graduated, I kept singing. Karaoke was starting to get popular in the late 1980's, early 1990's, when we were living in Riverside, California, so I got into karaoke. We had a karaoke bar near our apartment, and my sister-in-law gave me her karaoke machine. It was tapes only back then, so I bought some karaoke tapes and started recording myself. 9. For many years, I just sang with karaoke, and recorded myself at home. I have my own karaoke page, and I met other people online that love karaoke. I've met some of these people in real life, when we traveled. We've moved around a lot because of my husband's job, and we've traveled a lot. I've sung public karaoke in 37 states, plus Washington DC, Guam and 5 other countries. (Mexico, Canada, Switzerland, Ireland and England) 10. Recording myself, and listening, helped me improve my singing a whole lot, as well as made me learn more songs, and learn many songs better. Going out to karaoke helped me stop getting so nervous (especially with drinking). My husband doesn't like to sing much in public, but he has done it with me a few times. We used to travel quite a bit, to conferences as well as for fun, and we went to Vegas pretty often. Karaoke is big there. It was there that I started being able to finally sing without drinking. 11. I have my songs on my own site as well as on others. There are quite a few karaoke sites where you can post your recordings and other people listen and make comments. There are a few that have karaoke videos as well. I had a few really good karaoke machines that put the lyrics on the screen. Eventually, though, I found out that recording directly into a computer is much better. You can record your voice separately from the karaoke track and mix it together for a more professional sound. I also write bi-monthly articles for Karaoke Scene Magazine (CLICK ON LINK) When we lived in Alabama, in 2000 or so, I started taking voice lessons again because I felt I needed more help. I even considered taking classes, but I quit. I've taken lessons off and on, here and there. I wanted to sing in an oldies rock band, but it was tough finding people who were good, and reliable, and not already in a band. I did sing briefly in some live band karaoke in Vegas and San Diego. I even sang with one at the House of Blues in Vegas. It's much more exciting to sing with a live band than with karaoke. 12. We moved to Honolulu, Hawaii in 2013. I was in an oldies band there, for close to a year, until it broke up. It was very exciting and fun. It was a good starter band. I wasn't able to find another band, though. Before I play these clips, I want to prepare you because they're not great quality. In the first one, the girl didn't know what she was doing. In the second two, they're from a cheap phone. CLICK ON LINKS Blue Bayou (beginning and skip ahead to 2:35 to end) Crazy (just beginning) Barbara Ann (all) 13. I decided that if I learned to play the guitar, then I could sing by myself, at the very least, and it might help get me into a band. I took lessons the last few years we were there. I wasn't very good, but it was fun. I could play and sing at the same time. I really enjoyed practicing and playing guitar. I will probably play some more, one day. The teacher was very good. I'm not a good guitar player, but I enjoyed it. Every semester, he had his students play at the Hard Rock on Waikiki, which was so much fun, but I was very nervous, so my fingers are shaking, so the sound is not great. Oh, and someone had moved their camera, so you can't see half the stage, including my teacher, who's playing lead guitar and singing harmony. PLAY ANTICIPATION I also made some videos at home of my playing and singing. Here's a part of Blue Bayou again. (PLAY BEGINNING TO 1:30) 14. When we moved here, I still played and sang. However, SAU has no guitar teacher. When I decided to take classes here in 2017, I started taking voice lessons for fun. I've had 3 different teachers here. The one I had last year, Jaimee, was fantastic, and she really helped me a lot. Unfortunately, she lived in Little Rock, and the commute was too much for her. Now I have professor Ekstrum, who's also pretty good. He's helping me, too. I can sing rock and pop songs really well, but I take voice lessons so that I can learn to sing higher songs better, especially showtunes. They are a lot tougher, even though I'm a soprano. I can't hit the very high notes like I used to, whether it's from aging or from just not doing it any more. When I was in college the first time around, I sang very high all the time, in choirs, and in voice lessons, and in recitals. But now I'm out of the habit, so I'm trying to do it again and get help. I'm a much better singer now, but my voice is different. I haven't tried to start a band here because the town is too small and there's not really a music scene. When we move next time, hopefully it will be to a bigger city, again, so I can play in a band. Here's one of my voice lessons songs PLAY I COULD HAVE DANCED ALL NIGHT CLIP In the meantime, I'm enjoying my voice lessons, and still recording at home, now on my laptop. Here's one of the videos on SingSnap PLAY HEARTBREAKER BEGINNING Here's live karaoke at Damgoode Pizza in Little Rock. It was a bit loud and crowded, which you will hear: PLAY MAMMA MIA to 1:10 I told you that I get together with friends when I visit. Last summer, my friends and I rented karaoke rooms at this one place in San Diego. We did a Facebook Live video of some of it. This is very informal, just friends hanging out. Here's one part. PLAY ENDLESS LOVE 1:06 to 2:05 There's a singing app you can use on your phone or tablet called SING! by a company called Smule. Here's a song I did at Christmas. It came out very dark for some reason, but the sound is good. PLAY MERRY CHRISTMAS DARLING, to :50 I love doing duets. Here's a more modern song for you (no video here) PLAY MONSTER 2:09 until he sings Here's a song I recorded last week and posted on Singer's Showcase (part of KaraokeScene). PLAY TRACKS OF MY TEARS beginning to :58 Here's a song on the site Clyp.it PLAY THE LETTER beginning to :30 I love Duets. Here's a clip of a duet I did a few years ago. This is on my site. PLAY AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH to :58 15. THE END