She can do this because shortly after we moved here (uhhhhh.... we moved to a town about 20-30 miles north of where we had been living) I found her a voice coach. I like this "coach" because her approach is purely practical. First she finds out what the student is interested in learning or wants help with, and then she jumps right in and coaches from that angle.
Yes, she assigns vocal conditioning a scales and the like... but the serious focus is the style and songs that the student is interested in developing. In late summer we attended a recital of her students and while at least half of her kids tend toward the Taylor Swift, Katy Perry or Sara Bariellas thing ... a goodly chunk of the rest had a range from spiritual to Broadway musical.
Along with preparing her students to perform, she has a little recording booth/closet in her studio, and this lady wields Garageband like a boss.
So... she has sent me three of the four songs Birdie has cut so far... and when I listen to the tracks when no one else can see me, I weep.
It is so beautiful.
It amazes me.
I am stunned.
Not by her voice exactly. Her voice is amazing, and she has really worked hard to get the skills and abilities she has developed...but her voice is also simple at it's very heart. Her voice is very similar to mine.
Confession: I have always admired the amazing singers... the Aretha's, the Alicia Keys' and the women with powerful and stunning voices that make the walls shake and blow my mind. I have grieved the fact that I do not have such a voice and no matter how much effort or training, could never have such a voice. Seriously. Grieved.
I weep when I hear my daughter's voice because I now understand so much better, the love that our Father has for us. There is nothing small or deficient about her voice, which sounds, in it's simplified version, so much like my own. The sound that comes out of her mouth is glorious and captivating and touching.
I have misunderstood. I have always been enough.
We are enough.
If I am cool, I will post the Christmas songs after she is all done.... but here is this one.
