Morphing into a Songbird

So I can't sing. I'm terrible at it. I warble like a off key frog. it's embarrassing and my biggest fear in an audition room. The only problem is that sometimes, even though I don't do musical theatre, I am asked to sing.

When I was called in to understudy a really big play that eventually moved to New York, for instance, I was asked to sing. Until I did, I was having a wonderful audition. I loved the piece, I was doing well, and then I opened my mouth to warble. This is not the only time I have come up against this challenge. It's time to fight back.

I don't want to be able to do musicals. You will not see me on line for the open calls for Xanadu the Musical. But I do need to be able to sing, adequately, and have a repertoire that I can rely on in case a similar situation comes up. There are a lot of characters I could play that have a song, or a snippet or can sing. It's a skill like improv or mime that I have to have in my back pocket.

So I have enlisted the services of a friend, a successful and wonderful New York singer to give me vocal training every week. Because shes a friend, we set up a great deal. I go to her place and make dinner, she gives me a voice lesson.

She has put me on a strict regimen of doing scales every day. She talks about training my vocal chords and repairing damage... In a few months, she thinks I'll be able to do what I want to with my voice, safely and well. As resistant as I am to ever singing, I am getting better and stronger, and eventually, it won't be my greatest fear to sing on stage.

--Sharina Martin