Downs With Ups

“I love you,” Poppet said to me as we walked down some stairs, after a special outing together.

“Thank you,” I replied, surprised at my daughter’s disclosure at that time. “I feel very special when you say that, Poppet.”

“You made me cry,” she said as we took the next step.

I stopped walking and turned to look at my daughter. She did indeed have tears; they were slowly rolling down her cheeks.

“I have white hot tears. They’re stinging my eyes,” she told me solemnly.

“They’re happy tears, right?” I asked her, now starting to get a little worried. She nodded.

We were walking out of the house of my voice coach after one of my singing lessons. Poppet is only one of a few people who knows I’m taking these lessons and she’s been very enthusiastic about it.

“It was beautiful,” she told me. “It gave me goosebumps on my skin.”

I gave her a hug, choking back tears of my own. I wasn’t expecting this reaction from her. I had moved my daughter to tears, quite inadvertently and was touched by her unabashed sentiment.

Poppet had joined me at one of my lessons. Prior to this, she’d asked me many times if she could come along. She longed to be involved, often asking me about my teacher. How old is she? Does she sing? Does she play music? What’s her favourite song? Poppet would also remind me to practice and would join in, sometimes reminding me of the words of the song I was rehearsing. As I prepared our evening meals, Poppet would sit in the kitchen with me or join me in the bathroom as I showered, as I used these few opportunities to practice my vocal exercises.

My lessons are held too late in the evening for Poppet on school nights, but as this lesson was scheduled during her school holidays, I sent a text to my coach asking if Poppet could come with me. Very generously, my coach okay-ed my request and warmly welcomed Poppet when we arrived. My three fellow students were gracious enough to have her sit with us. I reminded Poppet several times that she was to be a silent observer and that we could talk about it after the lesson.

Poppet watched us as we went through our vocal exercises, completely engaged. She listened intensely to my coach as she instructed us, Poppet imitating her as she used hand movements to emphasise important points. Then it came to the time when each student had to sing.

It was the first time Poppet was to hear me sing through a microphone. This is something I’m still getting used to and my teacher pointed out some of the techniques on which I needed to focus. I hoped I wasn’t going to let Poppet down. She’d heard me sing this song many times, in the car, in the kitchen, in the shower and even at the shops. Now she was to hear it amplified.

It seems I didn’t let her down. She hasn’t stopped talking about the experience. The song, ‘Open Arms’ by the band Journey is a love song, so I guess she finds the lyrics appealing, especially coming from me.

“So, now I come to you, with open arms.

Hoping you’ll see what your love means to me,

Open arms…”

As I’ve written about in my post ‘Encore’, Poppet is very musical. Interestingly though, singing in tune is something Poppet has yet to learn. Even though she has a musical ear, ‘pitch’ is not something that comes to her naturally. She is great at remembering lyrics, but she has spent several years trying to ‘find’ the right notes and ‘place’ them with her voice.

She has a long way to go in some respects, especially in the lower octaves. So far, it’s been trial and error. I might ask my teacher if she has any ideas for me to help Poppet. In the meantime, now that Poppet has met my teacher and listened to the advice I’ve received to improve my singing, she is quite content to encourage me to practice and “lift my cheeks”, as I’m often reminded during lessons.