Vocal Lessons

1. My STEP project was a creative and artistic endeavor where I was taking vocal lessons. I did virtual lessons once a week and practiced the other days of the week by myself. 

2. Something I wasn’t expecting was how challenging it was to learn how to sing. I had no prior experience, but I thought I would pick up quickly (I was definitely wrong). I was prepared to be able to sing well by the end of this, but that was just not the case. I can sometimes be an impatient person. I like to see results quickly and when things take a while I end up getting frustrated. This experience has forced me to really put in the time and effort in order to learn this new skill.

My singing ability has definitely improved since beginning vocal lessons, but I have a lot to learn in order to be a good singer. I have also learned that my confidence needs to improve in order to really improve my voice. Even though my vocal lessons are over, I am still practicing weekly to maintain my abilities and to hopefully improve. Singing is definitely a skill that takes many hours and days and months to get better. I want to continue working on it to improve and better my technique, voice, and confidence.

3. My relationship with my vocal instructor was extremely important in bettering my confidence. In our first lesson, I was nervous and anxious over my voice and I constantly felt like I was embarrassing myself. Chris was super patient and reassuring that I could do it just with the proper practice and time. I am thankful for her experience in voice. She has been a performer, a music teacher, vocal instructor, member of multiple choirs, and band member. All of this aided me in my confidence that I would be able to improve. 

One event that proved to me just how challenging vocal lessons would be was when I was practicing my scales. I would practice up five notes then down the same five, which I thought was going to be an easy task (it was not). I struggled to stay on pitch, to not slide from note to note, to not be sharp or flat, to not skip notes, and every other mistake you could possibly make. I practiced with Chris and I practiced everyday by myself. I kept doing this until one day I was able to get at one scale on pitch and hitting the correct notes. This lead to me being able to practice scales more or less on pitch when I practiced. Of course, I would slip up here and there but I was able to hit more notes than I previously thought.

This experience helped my confidence in singing immensely. Although the feat I achieved was fairly small, I felt super accomplished when I was able to do something that I struggled on for so long. This confidence carried me into wanting to practice more elements of singing and vocal technique. I have since practiced several songs. Although I do not think I will have the confidence to perform or complete an entire song yet, I know with more practice and effort into this skill I know I can achieve a lot. 

4. This transformation is significant to my life for several reasons. This change is not one I was expecting. The transformation in my confidence levels was not just for singing, I know it has improved my confidence in other areas of my life. This experience showed me that I can have no prior knowledge of something and I can work my way to be able to achieve a goal.

I plan to apply to graduate schools for occupational therapy programs this fall. With applying, I will need the confidence to perform well in interviews. Then when I am in my occupational therapy program, I will need to confidence in order to do well in my classes and to pass my certification exam. Last, in my future career, I need to be confident in my ability to help my patients. I will be helping people get back to their activities of daily living, but I need to be confident that I can aid these people. Thanks to my experience with this project, I can feel more confident in my ability to do something I have never accomplished before.