Life By Lindsey Rae

In my efforts to allow myself more productive vocal practice sessions, I've decided that I am going to start doing some recording myself at home. I want to be able to listen back to myself and analyze what I am doing more closely. I also think that it will help me to feel more confident going into the studio. Being primarily a live performer, it's somewhat difficult to get used to the studio setting and adjust to the environment. For example: wearing headphones, like you have to do in a studio, changes the pressure on your ears and so you have to learn to hear things differently. I don't think it's the most natural thing for someone who has a lot of voice training.
I got a mixer and have a new microphone coming to me. Now all I have to do is learn how to use the software. I'm going with Cubase. Just the LE version, but a challenge for me when I have no experience with it. I feel like there are a lot of things I am focused on recently and my head is full of a lot of new stuff.

So, I just turned on the TV, was flipping through the guide and found a new show. It's called, Bathroom Divas: So You Want To Be An Opera Star?
It's a show that's a singing competition type thing...like American Idol for opera singers and much more low budget. Not sure about the name of the show...I think they call it "Bathroom Divas" because supposedly the singers are going from singing in the shower to singing opera. (However, I don't think that anyone goes from singing in the shower to suddenly being an opera singer...I have personally know is a lot more in between there.)

I'm just very happy to finally see a singing competition on TV that has singers, being judged by real professional, trained singers, coaches and teachers. And nice to see it's not all about showing how bad some people can look and sound on national TV.
It's on a small network, that we didn't have until we got DirecTV. It would be good to see a show like this coming from a more mainstream source, because it would be nice if more of the general public could truly respect the art more and understand the amount of skill it takes for us to learn to sing opera and classical music. It's pretty much a lifelong process, I think.

And actually, I think this is a Canadian show. So, maybe you've already seen it back home?

I'm realizing that most of the stuff I have been writing about lately has to do with my primary class...I guess that shows where the majority of my social interaction has been coming from.

This week's lesson was on faith. So we talked the scripture in Alma 32 and about faith being like a seed and like a seed if we plant it and nourish it, it will grow. So, I got this wonderful idea to do the thing where the kids get to plant a seed and all that. I remembered that I had these tiny little terracotta pots that I had got somewhere at one time and I could paint those up all nice and then give them seeds to plant in there and they could take it home.
Only problem was the seeds...at least, I thought that was the only problem. I didn't expect there be a big selection of seeds this time of the year, but I thought I might find some left overs of something. I didn't really care what...just wanted to find some seeds. I looked at 3 stores and called around, but had no luck. Even Wal-Mart and Home Depot didn't have any. Finally, I found a few packs of vegetable seeds at a discount store. I ended up getting lettuce seeds because that was all they had that would work.

When I went home, I washed all the pots out and then prepared them by filling in the cracks in the surface, sanding them, and then started to paint. Well, after days of dry, 100+ degree heat, at the moment I started to spray them...and I am not even kidding about this...it started to rain. Not a lot, but enough big drops to mess up that nice wet paint. It was too hot and humid out and I couldn't even get them to dry. So, I had to bring them in and ended up hand painting all them. Everything was working against me. Plus, I have a cold and I felt horrible yesterday, so the last thing I wanted to do was to be running around looking for seeds and trying to fix a messed up paint job.
After those were dry, I painted a quote from a primary song around the rim of the pots: "Faith is like a little seed. If planted, it will grow." Then I used scrapbooking rub-on embellishments to put their names on each one and add little flower decorations on the outside.
This morning I got up and filled them with dirt and boxed them up to take to church.

After we taught them the lesson, Jerrod and I helped everyone plant their seeds in the pots. They all wanted to know what kind of seeds they were. I didn't want to tell them I could only find lettuce seeds, so I kept saying, "Faith seeds." "Yeah, but what kind of seeds are they?" "They're faith seeds!"

One of the girls really liked her little pot a lot and was very excited about the color she got; she was excited to put it in her window. I was happy about that. She is one of the only ones who ever says that she appreciates the stuff I do. I appreciate that. However, I don't know if any of them ever said thank you after all I went through to get those little things done for them! I want them to appreciate it, because I think it's important they should learn to show gratitude. Maybe the next class they are in won't be so fun and then they will start to realize that our class was better than they thought! I try to do fun stuff, because I know that it's hard to sit through church sometimes and I want them to enjoy being there and look forward to being there.

The primary presentation is coming up. They are having quite a few kids do little solos on the songs, which I thought was different. I offered to give a free voice lesson to any kid who is going to do some singing in the presentation. Not that I will be able to do much with a 4 or 6-year-old in one lesson or even two, but I figure it's good for them to get practice and build up their confidence. And, it's something I can help out with that I don't mind doing.

This past Saturday night we were able to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Concert in Nashville. Jerrod and I went and took Jerrod's friend from work and two other people we know who are voice instructors who Jerrod does computer work for. We had dinner first and then walked downtown to the Gaylord Entertainment Center, where they had the concert. This was the first time the Choir has been to Nashville in over 30 years, so at church, they were really encouraging everyone to go and to tell our friends from outside of church about it too and bring them. I was initially disappointed when I heard that they would do the performance here. There are so many great places in Nashville that would house this type of performance so much better...places that are truly designed for the arts, but the Gaylord is the Nashville Predetors home and other sports and then used for concerts for the big, loud, pop/country type artists. So, I wished that they were going to be somewhere fit for classical type music. I guess maybe either the other places were booked too far in advance or maybe they just wanted to get the biggest place possible so that there would be enough room for as many as could make it.

Anyway, back to the choir. It was really, really good. The only time I could remember hearing them in person, at least in recent years, was about 6 years ago when I went to General Conference with some of my high school friends in Salt Lake. I remember I was blown away by how truly good it was to hear them live. This time was no exception (other than the fact that the sound could have been fuller in a different venue...but enough of that). They started off with the National Anthem. (No not mine...but thoese Americans) and really, it moved me and brought tears to my eyes to be able to hear that sung so well, so close to independence day and feel the spirit tell me that we trully are blessed to be living where we are right now.

They did some really cool pieces; folk songs from other lands that were just so right on. Everyone loved it. I loved the classical peices they did: works by Mozart, Verdi, Rochmoniof. And of course loved it when they sang a couple of arrangememts I had sung before in my own choir, so I knew all the parts; that was fun.
It made me want to just get up and sing...want to be a part of a good group again. Not that I have ever been in a group that good, but I have had some good choir friends and it's just a good feeling to make good music. I miss that and would like to get involved again, but it's difficult to do that when you are not in school.

Anyway, to end, it was a great concert. I think there was a sense of peace and warmness among everyone who attended. I think that the spirit was strong. Witnessing that all this beautiful music, even if it wasn't religous music, it was good and righteous and it testified of the Lord.

When I got married, instead of dropping my maiden name, I moved it in place of my middle name. My middle name used to be Rae but when I moved Osmond up to the middle name place, I moved Rae up with my first name, so now my legal first name is Lindsey Rae. That's where the whole "Lindsey Rae" thing at the top of this page comes from. And also that's what I'm using as a stage name for music stuff rather than my now very long name.

AND SPEAKING OF MUSIC:
A lot of people ask me about it: What I am doing and when my CD will be finished. The basic story is that I am working on it. I have a way to go still...it is a long process, because the whole recording process is done in steps where we write the songs/arrangements, then get musicians in to do basic tracks, then do scratch vocals, then keeper vocals and then go back in and add more musicians and then editing and mastering the tracks and basically getting the finished product from all that. I'm doing my best to get there. Also, for myself, because I am doing some songs in Japanese for this project, I wanted to rehearse them enough to feel comfortable that everything would sound as close to a native speaker as possible and go over them with my translator and that sort of thing. Besides that, because I work with other people doing all this, I have to work around other people and that is difficult sometimes...ok, it's difficult a lot of times and so it is frusturating for me because other people have held things up a lot. So, yes, it is slow, but it is what it is and when it is done, I expect to have a good recording and hopefully I will be happy with this CD!

The funniest thing happened to me at church last Sunday.
First of all, I was extra tired because even though we go to church at 1:00 pm, that morning I first went up to Gallatin, near where I used to go to school, and sang a solo at a Presbyterian church. (I did Bach's "My Heart Ever Faithful" and also sang as a guest with their choir).
Anyway, we went back to Nashville and went to our church after that and after sacrament meeting I was rushing, as usual, to get stuff together for the class of 8-year-old's we teach. Well, when I was doing that, this little 5-year-old kid, who I had never seen or talked to before, stopped me and said, "I saw you singing up there today," (we had a choir number in sacrament meeting). I was surprised because I had no clue who this kid was and thought it was strange that he picked me out of the entire choir to notice. "Really?" I said. "Yep, and I think you are a good singer," he says. Well, ok, then. So, he starts saying, "are you going to stay here with me?" I said, "No, I have to teach the older kids and you are in junior primary." And for whatever reason, he was disappointed about this.
So, later on, it just happened that we had to join the younger kids for a practice for some songs they are singing for father's day. Well, when that boy saw me he was just so excited, "YOU CAME BACK!" he said! And grabbed my hand and said I HAD to come sit by him. He talked my ear off the whole time we were practicing and then I found out his name was the same as my husband's, which made him run out in the hall because he HAD to meet Jerrod then too! As we are sitting there he says, "I just want to be with you every day!" It was so funny. I said, "why do you like me so much?" He says, "I don't know, I just love you, I just want to see you every day!" I couldn't stop laughing. I can't believe how brave some kids are. I would have never have gone up to some random person at church and done that sort of thing. Anyway, as he's leaving primary later, he says, "bye! See you tomorrow!" Well, tomorrow is Monday, so most likely not, but I didn't say that. Really quite funny and kept me entertained through a lot of church, which was good so at least could stay awake, since I didn't get to sleep in!

So, last week I had a very exciting day. I got to go to the Vanderbilt Voice Center! I have known about the center for a long time because I had read about a lot of untrained country singers who had to go there when they wreaked their voices from singing improperly for too long.

Anyway, I was super excited to go because this clinic is basically one-of-a-kind and one of the best in the country. My ear, nose and throat doctor (ENT) referred me there when I saw him a couple weeks ago for my allergy shot check-up. I told him that I was having tickles in my throat sometimes when I was singing higher notes and wondered if it was from all the junk in the air that I am allergic to. He said that since I am a singer, he wanted to send me to Vanderbilt because the equipment they have there is the best of the best. I usually like to get my ENT to check out my throat whenever I see him, just for my benefit to know everything looks ok, because obviously, it's a little more important to me than the average person and I think about it more. So I was glad that I could have the best equiptment in the best place check me out to let me know if everything was ok with me. If it's your career, it's better to just be safe and to watch for anything that could go wrong.

So, I went and I was there for almost 4 hours! I saw a total of 3 Doctors. They first checked me out and then numbed my nose in preparation for a scope (which isn't fun if you have allergies because you can't tell if your nose is running) and then I saw a speech-language pathologist P.H.D who did the scope down my throat. Not the most pleasant experience, but I have had it down the nose before and it is much worse that way. It pretty much just makes you gag...over and over....
Anyhow, while they have the scope in your throat they also have a microphone on you and a strobe light on your vocal chords so they can watch them vibrate. They do a video of it and you can watch yourself as you say and sing the vowels. Pretty wild! The Doctor told me that my vocal chords looked absolutely beautiful! I was so excited about that! She showed me the color and the shape, texture, etc., they should be and how mine are so perfect looking.
Then after, an Otolaragologist looked at my video and said that my vocal chords are some of the best looking they have seen in a long time. I was absolutely thrilled! Now, I know for the average person, this may not seem exciting, but for me, I am super sensitive to everything that happens in my throat, so having these doctors tell me that I was in excellent condition was SO great! Immediately the thought came to my mind that I was probably being blessed with healthy vocal chords because I was living the Word of Wisdom. Heavenly Father keeps his promises. Because really, with how bad my allergies are, I could be coughing a lot or something and that could be damaging....but I have beautiful vocal chords!

And another interesting thing is that all 3 Doctors I saw touched spots on the outside of my neck that hurt really badly. At first I panicked....thought, "Oh no! There's something wrong with my throat!" But, they all told me that it was just tense muscles. They could tell that I have had problems with high levels of tension and anxiety and that that was affecting the muscles in my neck, shoulders and throat. (I have had that tension since I was at least 10). My voice teacher and I always talk about the fact that my struggle is that I am just working too hard and that wears my body and my voice out faster than it should and to have the doctors confirm what I have always known that, yes, I am just too tense and working too hard, it very good to hear. So, for this, they are sending me to the Vanderbilt wellness center for physical therapy and then I will also go back to work with a speech-language pathologist who specializes in working with singers. So, I am looking forward to it. If they can do something to make me feel a little better with my tension and all that will definitely benefit my voice. Anyway, I was just so happy and impressed with the whole experience because they didn't find anything that looked bad, but they spent so much time with me and were really helpful and understanding. Great experience.

Oh, and they did give me some pictures of my vocal chords, from the video, to take come with me. I would post them...but somehow I don't think most people will appreciate how "beautiful" they apparently are.