Singing: Feelings & Habits

At my first singing class in November last year, my teacher told me that singing is a skill based on feelings. He would help me to capture the feelings when they come in the right way. I would try to manage the feelings and make a habit out of them. That habit would then turn into what we call the skill.

It didn't take long to find the problems with my habit. That habit was pretty stubborn if you consider me being a child star singing Beijing opera at age 11. Not there was anything wrong with that habit. It was just a very different singing skill. I am getting a new habit in order to hand a handle on a new skill.

Feelings can guild me there with ups and downs. One day, I thought I got it. In fact, I didn't. Another day, my teacher said I was doing so well. The next class, he said I lost it. Last Saturday, he was very pleased with me singing one song. The second time I sang it, it was a flop - even I knew it.

These are part of a process of catching the feelings and building the habits That's what makes this learning to sing thing such a serious and fun experience.

This fish can sing because the factory built a mechanism in him. He's got a habit! He can be a singer if he's got a bit of feelings.