From September 2022 to March 2023, I took voice lessons at Musicologie in Grandview, Columbus, Ohio. I completed 60-minute weekly lessons with my teacher with whom I was matched prior to beginning my project. We worked to improve my singing and confidence while also practicing music theory to improve my songwriting skills.
My project was really important to me because it really boosted my confidence. This added confidence started out with just singing in front of my teacher but eventually branched out to singing in general. I now know that my self-doubt and worries that people said they liked my voice just to make me feel good were ungrounded. This has helped me feel more confident in my abilities, both in and out of singing, and I’m able to be proud of the things that I’m good at. This has already helped me in an internship interview because I knew that I had the skills that employers were looking for and I was able to showcase them. I ended up getting the internship, and I believe that the confidence that I gained from my voice lessons is partially responsible.
I’ve developed a really great relationship with my teacher, Liz, over the course of my STEP project. We talk a lot during each lesson and it’s made me feel a lot more comfortable singing in front of her. She’s also always been really supportive of my singing and helps me perfect every little aspect of a song so I can feel 100% confident in the finished product. Working with her has taught me to laugh about mistakes and then move past them, rather than hanging on every little imperfection. Some of my best lessons were when I kept making the same mistake over and over again until I was finally able to correct it.
Having to sing in front of Liz each week was really nervewracking at first, especially when I didn’t know her very well, but I slowly got used to it and it made singing in front of others feel a lot less scary. I started singing in front of my partner and singing along to songs in the car with others without worrying about what they thought of my voice, which I haven’t been able to do since I was a little kid. I even received occasional compliments that boosted my confidence even more.
I live with my partner and his mom, and sometimes I would complete my voice lesson online in a separate room from everyone else. This room is just off the living room, so they could usually hear parts of my lessons. I definitely felt the added pressure from them being able to hear me, but I tried to focus on the music instead. Then one day, the three of us went out to dinner with my partner’s grandparents and his mom started telling them how amazing my voice was. While it was kind of embarrassing, the fact that she did it unprovoked told me that she really did enjoy my singing and it felt like a turning point for how I felt about myself when I sang in front of others.
My newfound confidence has really started to bleed over into other aspects of my life. I feel more comfortable talking to new people and feel that I have so much to be proud of. Like I said before, feeling confident and proud of myself and my skills has really helped me feel more important and I have been able to see myself as an asset in the workplace as a result. During my recent internship interview, I was really able to focus on the skills I had that made me a good fit for the job and I felt a lot more confident that I would be hired and succeed in the workplace. Now that I have gotten the job, I believe that I will be confident in the work I do while also being able to reach out for help when I need it.