A young boy is humiliated: he tried to sing a solo at church and tanked.
I sang O Holy Night last night during our choir's Christmas party, and I didn't do too bad, but I sang too soft and sang in the wrong octave. WHOOPSIE! LOL
Oh, why did I even get up there to sing? I'll be the laughingstock at church!
Yesterday, our church had its annual Christmas Cantata. I had signed up to be a part of it, and I opted to sing "O Holy Night" because someone else couldn't do it. She got sick at the last minute.
Wrong thing to do!!
The Cantata went well enough (no glitches) -- then I came up to the mic and attempted to sing.
Let's just say this: it was not a "holy night". It was more like a "howly night"!
I don't know what it was to cause me to go way off base here: if I used the wrong octave, nerves at the sight of the full sanctuary, my friends in the front row making piggy faces at me, or what.
I screwed up royally.
Luciano Pavarotti or Andrea Bocelli have no worries on me! They don't have to worry about me taking over their job!
It's a wonder I didn't hurt myself when I attempted to sing (with the accent on "attempted"). It's a wonder I still have a voice left this morning (although when I swallow, the pain/scratchiness in my throat reminds me of my vocal disaster in the Cantata)!
I don't recall anyone laughing at me after the Cantata was over, but nobody came up and congratulated me or patted me on the back and said "a job well done!" They just walked away as if I had leprosy or something, and I could see them laughing at me with their eyes, although their faces remained stone-cold serious.
I know my dad was not happy. He lit into me worse than Christmas lights on full power. He said I was a fool for going up there and trying to sing such a difficult song. (My dad is a professional vocal coach, so singing right is a huge deal with him.) He said that was one of the stupidest things I had ever done; Tierrah Grace (this really awesome teen singer at our church) should have been the one to sing "O Holy Night".
Tierrah wasn't there; she was sick with a bad case of swine flu. So I opted to take her place.
BIG mistake.
Dad didn't need to remind me when I tanked yesterday. I did notice one thing, though, after I got done "singing": there was no booming applause or wild cheers. Just quiet, "polite" applause that didn't last even two minutes.
If Simon Cowell or Piers Morgan were in the audience, I would have gotten buzzed (or bashed) big time.
I guess you can say I won't be asked to sing any more soloes. I do much better with a group. I guess my days as a solo artist are overwith. Finito.
I'll never be another Josh Groban. I'm more like Kermit the Frog with laryngitis.
O Holy Night. RIGHT. O Howly Night was more like it! BAH the humbug!! :(
Sounds to me your father, friends and fellow church members need to take a lesson in the true meaning of Christmas and Christianity. To offer your heart in a song in the name of Christmas and especially that song is something that all should have loved this child for not critizized. If this is the example this church and this religion sets then I pity it's congregation
It's not whether we make a fool of ourselves that matters; it's the sincere effort put forth in giving it our best shot. Well written again Karen. Keep up the great work and God bless.
At least he tried and did his best; the father should have been more supportive and very proud of his son. I remember when I was a young girl and sung on the church junior choir. Once each month, we had to sing at the morning service and the evening service; at the morning service there was always around 30 choir members singing. The evening service was a different story, nobody showed up except for me most of the time, I didn't want to let the church members down, so I always showed up. At first it took a lot of courage getting up there, alone, in front of all those people. My mom told me that I sound good (I took her word on this) but, it gave me more confident and put me more at ease.
Karen, in this I do believe you are talking about one Karen Lynn Vidra, or a young boy. I do believe, unless you, or the young boy purposely set out to belittle a lovely and holy song, not one person should think anything other than the courage it took for you, or the young boy to get up before a church full of people and do your, or his best. You, or the young boy do have all my admiration along with applause for the supreme effort.
Your friend from Southern California; Mark
Awwe, no support from his Dad? Getting yelled at for trying to be the hero and save the day, instead of having his friends make piggy faces at him? Sad ... but an excellent write, Karen. At least the kid tried. More than others would have ...
Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, Part II is adult literature featuring adult language and situations that satirizes thirteen famous novellas and short stories. It is Jay Dubya's sixteenth ebook.
