First Official Practice

I had my first practice as an official member of our band in the middle of the day today. How weird was that, not running to Wal-Mart to shop or run an errand for my family, but rather to go to someone's basement for a couple of hours to sing with a band.

The easy thing about being a vocalist is I don't have any extra instruments to carry. But the other guys, they haul all this stuff. I especially feel sorry for D, because he has such a huge drum set. Not that he's miserable.

This is the set-up: There's a microphone in the middle for me. R stands to my right, B behind him, R to my left and D behind him. They have a nice-sounding system. I'm so used to my karaoke microphone that makes my voice sound tinny, theirs makes my voice sound rich. Today I "ate" the mike and that gave me more volume.

They recorded our songs today and gave me a CD from our last jam session. (Wow, did I just write 'jam session'?) I think the song that came off the best was Sunshine of Your Love. These guys can really play, and it's fun to pick them out in the recordings.

Today, I discovered that I prefer the Bob Dylan folk-version of House of the Rising Sun. The band practiced a couple of my favorites, Lean on Me and I love Rock and Roll and I really appreciated that even though the songs are not their usual fare, the band made a special effort to learn them.

Halfway through, I just had to turn around to and tell them how much fun I was having.

They have songs they want to play that I don't think will be a good fit for my voice, and sadly, I don't know if we'll get to any Sheryl Crow soon, but I understand. Like R said, he leans toward more of the rock standards. I agree; I think the more consistent we are on our song picks, the better it would be for the audience's experience. It would not do to have Cream one moment and Debbie Gibson the next. Unless we amp up the Gibson song, throw in a couple of growly "Owws" and add drums or something.

Growling is not for the timid. I have some work to do in this area. Joan Jett is a hard act to follow. I did the bongos for Horse with no Name and by next time I will have learned the keyboard part for Lean on Me. If I don't take away anything else from this, I would be stretching myself musically.

R commented that when he set up the time he didn't even think to check if I could do it during the day. They could because they have the day off. So I explained to a quiet room that I am a stay at home mom with school-age children which I defended by saying I was also a freelance writer, so my time was flexible...and I felt foolish because in essence I am a housewife with a lot of free time to take up hobbies like being the lead singer of a rock band and writing.

Phooey. I'm going to focus on the joy and not overanalyze this amazing experience.