“Can’t you hear when you go off-key?”

I was a part of a fascinating vocal workshop once upon a blue moon where I heard the instructor challenge one of the students.  I can still hear his shrill voice as he asked the question.  I thought, “Um, no.  She can’t.  Give her a break.  Obviously she’s not a singer.  Just tell her she did ‘ok’ and let her get back to her day job.”  Little did I know, he was actually doing her a favor.

            A few minutes later, he was working with her, making her sing slowly, line by line each painstaking note.  Something magical happened when she did this.  She actually sang on key!

            (Since then I have worked with a few young singers and noticed the same thing.  Most people aren’t tone deaf.  They’ve just allowed themselves to get away with singing wrong just because it’s easier.)

            Now, singing the correct pitches or whatever they’re called is not a problem for me.  So why do I bring this adorable story up?  The answer is that while I was reading my last blog, I heard that line in my head.  Of course, it came out of nowhere but it made complete sense to me.

            I’m not a great writer.  What I mean to say is that writing does not come naturally to me.  Thoughts and how to organize them or emotions and how to make them sound colorful are things that I am good at.  I am horrified by how many grammatical mistakes and plain old bad writing I let myself get away with though.  I realize that the way I write is for writers like singing off key is to singers.  Sure, it could happen even to the best of them.  But they practice painstakingly and edit to make sure that it does not.

            All this to say, after reading my last blog I am convicted that I do not love my writing enough to give it all it demands: to proof read more than once, to make it beautiful and not just adequate.  I want to be an artist and an effective communicator.  I want to sing on key.