Inspired Journey

So a thing happened and I may or may not have embarrassed myself in front of millions of people. 

See, what had happened was... I was asked to participate in a segment being filmed for an online channel with millions of subscribers, with a vocal coach who has millions of followers.

I am a professional singer. I've coached professionally and produced singers in high profile situations. I am hired to sing. I show up, sometimes last minute, tired or not, and nail it.

For this segment, I showed up. I sang. My voice cracked. It cracked a lot.

We had a lovely on-air chat before I sang one of my original songs from my album released about ten years ago. It was recorded before my son was born, before all the physical therapy, before the surgeries. I had decided the night before that I would sing "Everywhere," mainly because of its relevance to current world happenings.

I didn't preface the whole performance with how tired I was. Singers do that all the time. It sounds like an excuse to me. It doesn't matter how challenged my days are. It doesn't matter how stressed out I might be. It doesn't matter how sore my abs are from pulling off a pushup challenge duet with a body builder who came up on my TikTok feed. As a professional, you're there on time and you just do it. 

In keeping with that spirit and energy now... oh wait! Did I skip the part about the pink boxing gloves? Let me go back to the segment: The next thing I knew, I was wearing pink boxing gloves and going through a sort of vocal exercise boot camp, where I was running and jumping in place while holding my diaphragm and trying to repeat the voice warmup routine.

I sang my song again afterward, without all the cracks. :)

In keeping with the spirit and energy of a "no excuses" mindset, I decided to seriously step up my vocal exercises. It's important to understand that I work out a lot - six days a week usually. My schedule is completely packed as a performer AND full-time mom. I made a commitment to work on vocal exercises WHILE doing my workouts everyday. I began to record my vocal journey.

As I write this on day four, my voice is fatigued. I've decided to be on vocal rest until I see my doctor tomorrow. I will pick up right where I left off when I am cleared to use my voice again. Good health is an absolute must.

I'm planning to record a thirty day vocal journey. It's important to me to persevere and to hold myself accountable. Determination pays off and there is always something to learn and something to improve. These are new times and the world keeps changing. We all have got to grow and evolve. Also, my son watches every move I make. Teaching him by my example is crucial. 

It doesn't matter if I make mistakes. It will not be perfect. What's important here is the effort, the determination, the dedication. I need to make myself proud. 

Tremendous thanks to Cheryl Porter, Talent Recap, and Billy Blanks Jr. for everything, especially for inspiring this journey!

Click here for Talent Recap on YouTube

Click here for Cheryl Porter Vocal Coach on YouTube

Love,

T