Singing

We have been practicing, practicing, practicing.  I know you must be getting tired of me writing that, but you ought to try the practicing part!  Ugh.  We are working on our singing with the help of our voice teacher, Deanna Sarkar.  I found her name through a homeschool co-op that I belong to.  She was advertising for voice lessons and I happened to notice her card on an info table at the co-op.  On her card was listed every genre of music you could imagine...except bluegrass. I called her anyway.  I figured if she could teach singing, why not bluegrass?  I thought that she didn't put bluegrass on her card because she knew that if she did, then she would just be flooded with too many students.

So, I called her and we have been meeting with her for over a month now.  And, wow!  We are just thrilled with the new singing skills she has been teaching us!  She is a very capable and fun teacher.  And we found out that even though she wasn't overly familiar with bluegrass (leaving bluegrass off her card was not a ploy to keep her number of students to a manageable ratio), her expertise in all other music areas was more than adequate for bluegrass.  That probably comes as no surprise to most.  Anyway, we all look forward to having lessons with her not only because she teaches us to sing, but also because she has a great sense of humor!  You kind of need one to work with our crew....

Anyway, we are working hard to get our new singing skills in shape for Folklife.  The harmonies are sooo fun to sing.  It is like having a harmonica in your throat (although, perhaps if you truly swallowed a harmonica and had it stuck in your throat, it might not be so fun)!  I just love it!  Clayton, Kathryn and I have been working on "Angel Band" and "Mama Tried."  Hopefully, we will be able to nail each song well on Friday.  It is hard to sing and play at the same time.  I am finding that challenging...but with some more work, I am sure it will come. 

The hardest thing is getting the time to work on it.  There's a lot of baseball this week, finals for Kathryn and just regular stuff of life with a large family.  But we have practices scheduled almost every night and plan to hit it hard until it is all "easy as pie."  In the meantime, we are loving being able to sing together.  What a wonderful thing it is to be able to sing together.... 

See you at Folklife!

Comments

[Carl Wade]

I was just at Folklife and managed to come in at the end of the fishing song. I sure hope I didn't miss much. You all did such a great job. I couldn't help but think of the Pedersen Family Blue grass singers in Houston, TX. Our son just married into the family last November and the young couple are expecting next November. I want to bring my wife to the next performance.

[Sally Hess]

Carl, it is nice to meet you and thank you so much for your kind comments! We are so glad you enjoyed the show. It was really fun to play at Folklife. We are so glad for the opportunity.

You only missed two songs, "Suburban Breakdown" and "High Cotton." I think we have them posted on YouTube if you want to see them. How fun that your son is getting to enjoy family bluegrass with his new wife! Does he play bluegrass? We look forward to meeting you and your wife in the future--please come up and say hi! Thanks again!

[Janine Campbell]

Hey Sal, Jen told me about your blog so I just found it and have been reading it. I love it! It's so fun to know about the band and what you all are doing. I'm looking forward to you posting a performance with you and Kathryn doing harmony. Do Ben and the boys sing too?

I wish we lived closer so I could follow you all around and be your roadie. I'd make sure no one bumped the camera. You know how protective I am of the fam.

Hopefully we can come see you play next summer. Thanks for doing the blog. It's really fun.