Re: [Harp-L] Learning to Sing

[Roger A Gonzales <gonz1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bill,
This very thing happened to me while I was an undergrad.  Because I knew going from a 
community college to a state university that as a harmonica player I didn't have a chance to 
be a music major.  So originally I began as a liberal arts major at CSU Fresno because I was 
going to be a classroom teacher who played music for his students...ALOT.  My first 
semester at CSU Fresno I took a music class for non-music majors and the professor noticed 
that everything came pretty easy for me.  This was because of all the theory I took at Comm. 
College.  I told her my predicament and she asked if I played any other instrument and at the 
time I didn't.  I told her I sang in a local band but at the time I wasn't singing that much.  She 
"suggested" that I audition for the Concert Choir.  I did and made it.  It gave me an 
opportunity to be a music major and to teach music instead of being a classroom teacher 
which was my second choice anyway.  I got to study opera man some other classical 
pieces.  It just got better because I was able to study all band instruments including 
percussion.  
You are absolutely right about finding your own voice.  If you are not able to study privately, 
audition for a community choir.  Start singing a lot but take some type of classes.   There are 
music classes at the community college and adult schools that will get you started.  It is so 
much better for a harmonica player to be able to do as much as he can to be "a part of the 
band" when your not playing lead or comping.  Otherwise you just stand there not having the 
right thing to add at the right time.  In my band I play harmonica, lead and back-up vocals, 
and percussion.  Since we already have a conga player in the band, most of my percussion 
work is shakers, tambourine, claves etc.  Everything you add to what you do makes you more 
marketable as a musician.  Just as if you begin to play jazz as well as blues you would be able 
to play different gigs with different musicians and use your skills as a vocalist and 
percussionist elsewhere.  
Singing is one of the most important things ANY musician can learn how to do.  I have many 
friends who even though they are instrumentalists, they ALL sing to a certain degree or 
another.  And they use their voice even if they are not singing in a band.  Learning to sing 
will add to your musicality as an instrumentalists.  You begin to play more like a singer and 
sing more like a player.  That's a good thing.  Cause when you need it, you got it.                   

Roger Gonzales MA/Mus.Ed.
Fresno,CA.