Sitting in the auditorium talking to the music director while the high school musical cast took a break from rehearsal, I remarked that I couldn't imagine how anyone had the nerve to perform on that huge stage. I had auditioned for a part in the annual musical the year prior, and I still hadn't gotten over how awful it was to sing, albeit briefly, in front of 90+ people. The director replied with something about other people having the confidence or the drive to perform, but at the time, that concept was utterly foreign to me.
Fast-forward 15 years, and now it's not uncommon to find me standing on a stage in a smokey bar, holding a microphone and waiting for the monitor to cue me with the words to whatever song I chose for that night's bit of karaoke fun. It's still a nerve-wracking experience, but somehow addictive. Maybe it's that drive to perform that Mrs. Hall referred to, or maybe it's something else entirely.
Author Brian Raftery had a similar experience with his introduction to karaoke. Growing up, he loved to sing the songs he learned from the radio, but he wasn't a very good singer, so he limited his venues to the car or other relatively solitary locations. His first experience with karaoke began to change that, and soon he and his friends were regularly visiting karaoke bars. As they grew older, they began to spend less time in karaoke bars and more time raising children or not going to work hungover. For his last hurrah, Raftery has spent a year exploring karaoke bars around the world, interviewing influential members of the karaoke industry, and gathering the material that would eventually become the book Don't Stop Believin' - How Karaoke Conquered the World and Changed My Life.
Article comments
1 - Jennifer @ Quiverfull Family
Wooo Anna! I love Karaoke too, it's been TOO long.
2 - Clarence Yu
I had a similar experience with karaoke (now called "Videoke" in some parts of Asia).
I used to be a shower singer; even when I used to play with my band and we required second vocals, I would be too nervous to sing on stage. This all changed when I started frequenting karaoke bars.
At the start, many songs were either standards or top 40 hits, not the type of music I prefer (rock and roll), but still, there were some gems. Many a night found me singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" or "Love Hurts" by Nazareth, a beer in hand with my work shirt opened up. We all can sit in the bars here in private rooms, so I had a chance to hone my vocal skills without drawing undue attention.
It does work! Now the song choices are much more varied, and includes more of the stuff I'd like to sing. I'm still not a good singer in the classical sense but I'm better in terms of confidence and knowing my limitations.