Cause I'm Comin At You Like a DARK HORSE

Alright party people, my Dark Horse music video is UP and LIVE!

http://youtu.be/YSJ8o2qB-OM

Try the link above or try it below:




Here's the description I put in the video:

I'm loooooving Kary Perry's 'Dark Horse' right now.. but I don't have a skill in RAPPING so I thought I'd try it acoustically.

I had some audio troubles but hopefully I have that fixed for my next video.. Sorry about that.

Anyway, I hope you like it!

www.soundcloud.com/missysanchezmusic
www.facebook.com/missysanchezmusic
http://missy-sanchez.blogspot.com/
http://missysanchezmusic.tumblr.com/

Dark Horse Says Nothing At All - 2 Covers in a WEEK!

Hey yall!

Super productive week for me so far.. 

* Sunday night I finished my cover for Katy Perry's Dark Horse

* Tuesday night I finished my cover of Alison Krauss' When You Say Nothing At All

This weekend I'll be recording the music video for DARK HORSE :)

You can listen to them at MISSY SANCHEZ MUSIC : Sound Cloud Page as well as click below:

DARK HORSE:

WHEN YOU SAY NOTHING AT ALL:

What's REALLY great about all of this is community on SonudCloud seems to really be liking my covers! EEEEEEK! :) Anyway, hope you all like it - I'll be posting the Dark Horse video Monday (hopefully!)

Stay tuned!

Missy

I'm Coming At You Like a Dark Horse

Hey all!

It's been a CRAZY busy week and weekend, I've been completely exhausted so I tried sleeping anytime I had a spare moment.  BUUUUUT, I managed to find a slice of time to do a quick acoustic cover of Katy Perry's DARK HORSE. LOOOOVE looove love love love this song, love it in its original form (trap) BUT since I am NOT blessed in the world of rapping, I decided to do this acoustically.

Anyway, video coming soon.. hopefully sometime this week.. ENJOY! :)

If the below widget doesn't work.. click for it HERE. 






Seeeee ya!

Missy

Wrecking Ball is HERE

Hey all! 

This was my first try at recording a cover, editing, recording the music video, editing it, and posting it! I called it my October Project.. and here it is! The hope is to start doing this almost weekly if I can!

Anyway.. I hope you all like it!

http://www.facebook.com/missysanchezmusic
http://missy-sanchez.blogspot.com/
http://www.soundcloud.com/missysanchezmusic

Martuni's Tequila & Wrecking Balls

Sooooooooooooooooo UPDATES!

First off.. MARTUNI's on 10/7:

I wasn't nervous all day.. not until the car ride to Martuni's. I started singing in the car to warm up and immediately having a panic attack. Although this time was different.. this time my muscles in my mouth started by throat stayed open. So I could sing fine - just my face looked like someone had hooked my lips backwards lol. Soo.. progress I guess not I guess I haven't gotten passed this.

At Martuni's I get a Hot Toddy but with tequila.. and boy did that warm up my throat and melt away the nerves.

I went 2nd and felt calm and collected as I walked up to the mic.

After singing the first song, my nerves and started creeping in towards the end of the second song.  However, my throat stayed open.. hands were clamping and clawing and my mouth was trying to freeze and be stuck but I pushed through. I think for the first time I didn't suck! Woohoo!


And now..

I signed up for guitar lessons - I decided it was time to finally have something that holds me accountable to learning and practicing - which is awesome! 2 lessons down now and I'm already learning so much.. my guitar teacher assures me that soon I'll be moving towards actual chords and learning how to sing and play very soon :) I can't wait to master this thing!

So my OCTOBER PROJECT: a Cover of Miley Cyrus' WRECKING BALL + Video

Song recorded and edited! Listen to it here:


If the above link doesn't work, go HERE:
https://soundcloud.com/missysanchezmusic/wrecking-ball-miley-cyrus

Now this weekend I'll be shooting the video while singing along as diva-mode as I can and will learn how to edit the video HOPEFULLY before Thursday, 10/31 EOD :)

Stay tuned!

Sorry it takes me so long to update - I promise it's only because I've been SUCH a busy bee.. practicing singing every day, voice lessons, guitar lessons, daily guitar practice, recording, editing the recording etc etc..

Either way.. other covers I'm thinking about doing:

* Grace Potter - Oh La La (Paris)
* Katy Perry - Dark Horse
* Kelly Clarkson - Mr. Know It All
* Taylor Swift - RED

Thoughts?


Missy

And Tonight We're Back!

Hey all!

I know it's been a while, but don't worry I've been working a ton. Tonight I'm singing at Martuni's again! Holy moly right? It's been 3 months since that awful last time (lobster claws + muscle paralysis = awesome night). Tonight we try this again.

The 4 songs I'm singing are (in order):

* When You Say Nothing At All - Alison Krauss
* Skyscraper - Demi Lovato
* Te Lo Dije (I Told You So) - Carrie Underwood
* Who You Are - Jessie J

Should be a fun 4.. a nice ramp up from a calm, sweet song to a more emotional and dramatic song, to more power ballads. 

The only issue with tonight is that I have an awful throat pain and fever, so I'll be EXTRA raspy tonight - we'll see how this goes. 

Updates and pictures soon! Wish me luck!

Best,

Missy

I Told You So X FACTOR!

Hey yall!

Working away lately.. 

I had a rough lesson with my voice teacher last week.  It seems that learning to sing with my larynx lowered took the last 6 months to figure out and NOW, I'm learning how to do that while also singing with my vocal chords together.  #NOTEASY.  I'm really hard on myself and I got really frustrated when my teacher picked me apart on a fave Kelly song when we tried applying the above technique. I'll obviously not figure this out overnight - but I still get SO discouraged when I'm not getting it. Over the weekend in the car I tried jammin to my Kelly.. and trying to sing allll of those songs that I used to hit so well with my Larynx DOWN is NOT EASY and personally, I think I sound like crap. #lifesucks.  Had another panic attack after that happened - while driving. Awesome.

X FACTOR started last week, and HECK YES I'm watching that shiz.  I get both inspired and discouraged when watching it. It makes me wonder, is that person actually good or would my voice teacher say it was terrible? I feel like my judgement on others' singing is so all over the place now.  I watch and listen to these contestants who sing pretty decently, but are THEY singing with their vocal chords together and their larynx down? NOOOO.  And they're getting all this drooling praise from the X Factor judges.. wtf, yo?  I dont know.. Could I have gotten praise like that without the crazy money i'm spending on lessons now? Who knows :(

I've been working with my family in Colombia on a Spanish translation of the Randy Travis / Carrie Underwood song "I Told You So". Now Missy-fied into "Te Lo Dije." Looks like we've finally nailed down the lyrics, and now I've FINALLY fit it to the melody.  Next steps are singing it over and over and over and OVER again till it's in my body like muscle memory.  Voice Teacher wants me to learn this, nail it, and then record it and RELEASE IT! - Cray Cray I knowowww.  We'll see if I crash and burn with this or not.  I'm trying and practicing a ton.

Technically next Wednesday,  Sept. 25th is another Group Performance night (eeeeeeeeeek!) and I have NO idea what I'm singing.

Also, Martuni's is supposed to be that following Monday, Sept. 30th OR Monday, Oct. 7th. My voice teacher wants me to perform and I'm horribly terrified. I REALLY don't want what happened in July to happen again. I've been having more and more of those stage fright panic catatonic episodes. They're happening more frequently, which is NOT good.  I really can't seem to get this under control. 

I also have NO idea what on earth I'd sing at Martuni's! I'm all over the place.. maybe.. 

* When You Say Nothing At All (sang it at group but not at Martuni's yet)
* Who You Are (have NEVER performed this one - scary?)
* Te Lo Dije (too soon?)
* Happy? (Leona Lewis - not sure about this one)
* Stay? (Rihanna, meh.. not crazy about it)
* Almost is Never Enough (Ariana Grande - people around me hate it but I really like it.. meh we'll see)

Thoughts anyone?  Please send any thoughts or ideas!

This Saturday, Sept 21st I have an extra long lesson with voice teacher.  He had brought up recording another song this time (yay!!!!).. He originally thought ADDICTED would be a good one.. but after he picked me apart on it in our last lesson, I may not go with that one.  Perhaps IMPOSSIBLE? People seem to really dig that one when I sing it.. or WHO YOU ARE? Obviouslyyyy music videos would need to be shot alongside the new recording that we pick. 

Anyway.. just getting some updates and progress down on this bad bloggy. 

It's way too late, I have an early art meeting.

Gnite yall ;)

Missy

 

When You Say Nothing At All - Live Cover

Hey all!

I finally got the full song uploaded from last week's performance.  As I've mentioned before, every last Wednesday of the month is a Performance Day. This last performance, my voice teacher and I decided to go with something a bit sweeter... It was OKAY. I was a ding dong and did NOT warm up before singing so it's not by best but hey.. it's alright for a tiny performance day. 

Check it out here: http://youtu.be/iiWhVtEUFK0


And here:




I'll upload the sound clip to Sound Cloud if it doesn't sound horrible.. that room has a solid echo..

I'm currently working on a spanish version of Carrie Underwood's "I Told You So".. my voice teacher wants me to perform that at Martuni's in a few weeks and then he wants to record it and release it! EEEEEK! We'll see how I do :)

Let me know what you think!

Missy

Mini Performance Night - When You Say Nothing At All

Heyyyyyyyyyy!

Tonight was the group performance class and my awesome Tio Jorge was able to come! You'll see a full video soon but below is a link to the clip he caught after I FINISHED the song. It's me going over this one lyric that my voice teacher asked that I do with more emotion..

Check it out :)

New Music Goodies!

What upppppp y'all!

Got some new goodies in the mail this week!!  Check it out!: 

A MINI RECORDING STUDIO SET!  Complete with Studio Headphones, Recording Mic, Pop Screen, and Sound Booth :)

Ohhhhhhhhh yeahhhh baybeh bayyyyyybeh!!!!!!!

Now all I need to figure out is how to use editing software. I'm between using Cubase or ProTools.. And I'm also going to do all this on a spankin new Music Only laptop.. Recommendations anybody?? #musicnoob

So excited :) 

So I was SUPPOSED to do another 4 song set at Martuni's on Labor Day but unfortunately I'm flying back in from out of town that day.. So now my voice teacher and I are focusing on 2 things:

1) My voice- now that I've learned how to sing with my larynx down, I now need to try and do that with my vocal chords TOGETHER rather than apart. Umm yeah, NOT EASY. I was kicking myself for not figuring it out on the first go.. This will be a long process..

2) figuring out what my SIX SONG SET will be for the lounge gig in September now! Bahhhhhh! Scary.

Right now we have 2 likely ones to be on it:

* Jessie J - Who You Are

* Alison Krauss - When You Say Nothing At All

That last one: When You Say Nothing At All - this is the one my voice teacher wants me to sing at the monthly Group Performance Class this Wednesday, 8/28.   BAH! I wonder if I'll EVER get over this crazy stage fright.

Anyway,

A few new songs I'm considering to add to my cover list:

* Karmin - Acapella

* Ariana Grande - Almost Is Never Enough

Let me know what you think :)

Later!

Missy

Clarity Upgraded and Reloaded

Alright, finally did it!



Above is the link to my updated video for Clarity.  This time with significantly BETTER audio and an updated video.  Recorded this during my voice lesson with my  voice coach into an actual recording mic.

Now the video isn't 1000% in line with my singing because free video editing software sucks and it was super tricky aligning anything but we did our best! :)


Anyway, hope you like it!

If the above link didn't work, you can also find the video link here: http://youtu.be/PfSUuDfvGQ0

Clarity

Hey all!

It's been a while - sorry about that. Been traveling a little bit and working a ton.  

I HAVE been practicing singing AND guitar so no worries, just haven't actually blogged about it.

I did a take of Clarity again but this time in a more professional audio engineering sense - thank you epic voice coach.

Check it out here:  



If the above link didn't work, try here: http://snd.sc/13Dtsvf

Let me know your thoughts! I'm noticing my coach but a slight reverb in there that I'm hearing occasionally throughout the song.  


Anyyyyway,
In the meantime, I'm working on defining a 6 song set for a restaurant / lounge performance coming up - any thoughts you have based on the songs I've sung, please let me know! 

Also, if you have recommendations of songs I should practice and try and cover - please please comment about them and let me know! 

I'm thinking about trying Taylor Swift's RED. I really like the song and it's really current right now. I'm also toying with the idea of trying Sara Bareilles' song BRAVE. I love the message in that one - even though her songs aren't normally my style.

Anyway, until later! Let me know your thoughts on this clip of Clarity! 
I'll be uploading it to YouTube with a NEWER video - since this is a better representation of my voice than the one that's currently on YouTube - that one is me SUPER nervous and it shows.

I've also FINALLY ordered a nice pretty mic that's attached to a semi professional sound booth - so my covers will sound a million times better the more I use it. It's the Editors Keys sl300 Studio Mic Set.  

Next steps are figuring out what software to learn and use :)


Until later :)

Missy

New Loves and New Experiences

Alright.. first and foremost - I have a new love.  She has a beautiful head, neck, and body.. 

hahaha - and she's my spankin new guitar!!!! LOOOOVE her! I traded in my super nice keyboard for a guitar (for tons of reasons, ask me about it later).

She's so beautiful. I'm starting to do lessons online and practicing everyday on top of my regular voice lesson practice. I'm SOOOO excited to learn! I want to be able to play any song that I want to sing, control the accompaniment myself AND me mobile to bring it around and sing wherever I want... Plus, after all that - I'm hoping i'll be able to write my own music.. we shall see :) In the meantime.. double duty practicing for now.. voice + guitar.

Secondly.. I'll finally talk about what I've been up to in the last week.  So I got a PHONE CALL from AMERICAN IDOL. Asking me to come in and audition under a separate group (I was recommended).. I'd get to skip the line and get priority in the audition process - it was also being held at AT&T Park which is a quick walk from my house.. I guess I have no excuse now right?

I decided fine, I'll go - no expectations.. just with the idea of singing at AT&T park.. I've never really had an interest in auditioning in these shows but hey.. if I'm getting a call, get to skip the line, and it's right next to my apartment? OKAY then. 

Had a great session with my amazing voice coach who prepared me for anything and everything. Said he'd be SHOCKED if I didn't make it through to live shows.. but whatever.. I'm not sure that I even really want to do American Idol, it'd be good audition experience regardless. Got there, my name was under the list for Interscope Records.. (umm.. awesome!).. got to sit in the stadium with Ryan Seacrest a few feet away.. he's all hyping the crowd, encouraging us to chase our dreams and that THIS WAS IT.  My anxiety started happening right around there but I had a few people near me that were pretty outgoing and funny, they distracted me and took my mind off of the pressure.   


They called us 8-10 at a time, brought us in front of the first tent where the executive producers sat and waited.  It wasn't a one by one thing, it was a line up of 10 of us in a row.. each of us singing one after the other while staying in line.. and then producers pointing down the row saying "yes, no, no, no, no, yes, no"... CRAZY.

Anyway..long story short.. I did a decent job.. I'd say I did 85% of what I know I can do.. ran out of breath a couple times but hit the big notes without a problem.. they ended up not letting me past the last round because they want to go into a more country angle. No biggie.. it was an amazing experience.

Now back to practicing for Martuni's in a couple weeks! Coach is letting me repeat any song I wan (which will be ALL) and my sole and only focus is to have FUN with the crowd and perform for the AUDIENCE - to not even WORRY about my voice at all.

We'll see how that goes :) 

In the meantime.. voice + guitar time every night..

For Martuni's I'm thinking of doing:

* Clarity
* Impossible
* The Climb? Distance? (haven't decided which)
* Addicted


Thoughts anybody?

Thanks!

Missy

"Addicted" Live Cover

So.. Another push to post something.. 

Again, excuse the insane amount of nerves I had.. Anxiety and panic hadn't gone away yet.

I stumbled with getting through tears and a closing airway in the beginning of the song.. But I think I found more comfort halfway through..

Click on link below to see performance video..

http://youtu.be/3guOMAgCbFI

It's been a week..

Hey all,

I know it's been a while since I last posted - and you're still in the dark as far as what happened. I'm not over this yet.. but i feel like i can talk about it now..

Here's the breakdown if you're interested:

I prepared like crazy. I practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced. Knew the lyrics in and out. Even had a 1:1 with my voice coach on Sunday, the night before the July 1st performance. We had planned on me going last out of 5 people. I was GOOD to GO. I even left work EARLY on Monday, July 1st to get home, change, prepare and feel good and ready.  When I shut down my computer and pack my backpack, I notice my palms are already sweaty and I'm moving at a fast jittery pace.

Once at home and after rehearsing for an hour, Alex offers me a drink at home to start calming my nerves - I say NO because I don't go till the end of the night and I 1) don't want to be totally drunk and 2) I don't want it to wear off by the time I go on!

I arrive at the bar, and my hands are already tingling and numb.  I ask for a glass of brandy to start calming the nerves. (And yes, of brandy. #gross. My coach recommended it because it's warm and would coat my throat). 

My hands start to tremble, tingle and completely lock up.  My 2 wrists lock forward and my hands / fingers lock into .. I don't know what to call it - Lobster claws? Crab claws? Seems like it'd be funny.. but it's NOT when you have no muscle control and you're about to perform.  I had to use the table and physically push my hands and wrists back to stop it from locking in this Lobster Claw position (both hands by the way).. but it would just snap back.  I couldn't even pick up my glass of brandy to drink it - not even when trying with 2 hands.  Claws don't do such a good job of grabbing things.  The numbness and tingling have now reached up through my elbows. I notice that my mouth and lips start to do the same. I've now lost control of the shape my lips make to say ANY words at all.. much less control the sound coming out of my mouth.  Crap. This is bad.

Then - the icing on the cake.

The people who were set to go 1st and 2nd.. hadn't arrived yet or said they didn't want to go 1st anymore. Because I was the only one sitting there and prepared - my coach asks if I'll step in to go first.  Here's my issue - i'm not a dick.  If the girl who was supposed to go first doesn't wan't to because her man isn't there yet, I'm not gonna be a dick and make her go.  But the price I pay for that is not being mentally prepared to go first and doing it anyway.  But regardless, I was still having physical panic affecting my body BEFORE this even happened. 

My voice coach calls me to start.  And yes, my mouth, throat, lips, wrists, hands, and fingers are all still locked and numb - with no muscle control at this point. I've already started to hold back the tears out of my eyes and I've tried my absolute hardest to cough or choke out any kind of a grunt or sound out of my mouth - barely anything comes out. 

The music starts, and I push through the tears and try to choke out words - my throat is closed, my voice is nowhere to be found, I can't even form my lips into the shape to say the words "I can almost see it.." (The beginning of The Climb, my first song). 
At that point, i'm force choking at words - not even at a speaking level but at a hacking out words just to get sound out - and the words aren't even correct! I had NO CONTROL over what I was doing whatsoever.  My lobster claws couldn't even grab the mic, they just stayed in their claw form through the entire thing. 

After doing this for 4 songs - and holding back swollen tears, choking out sounds that sound like a hacking and dying cat - I quickly walked away to the bathroom and sat on the floor and cried.  Completely humiliated. Ashamed of what I just did. 

How did I prepare and practice THAT much.. and this still happened?

Alex knocked on the door 20 minutes later and walked me to the car (my music binder and purse still sitting inside at the bar tables).  I sat in the car and cried and cried and cried. 

What just happened?

My claw hands didn't even allow me to brush my hair back - because they were STILL stuck 30 minutes AFTER performing.  

I got home and went to sleep crying.  I'm ashamed of myself, no.. more than that.

I'm disgusted with myself.

And now, a week later - I have my 1:1 with my voice coach tonight :-/ Not excited about that. Throughout the 4 songs, he kept leaning over to me and telling me to smile, kept telling me to take a bow.  HA - THAT was NOT gonna HAPPEN!
Eugh... we'll see how tonight goes. I'm expecting he'll want to talk about it and it's going to upset me again.


What does this all boil down to?? 
I have a problem folks. It's called having a full fledged PHYSICAL PANIC ATTACK when performing.


Awesome.


Missy

stained pillow.

panic attack.

tears.

3am.




Taking a break.

Wasn't Half Bad!

Whew! It's done!

Strangely enough.. I wasn't super nervous before going up there!  Although, there were a couple scary moments.

First off, my voice coach tells me (in front of the huge group) that no one should pick me to go after them, as he wants me to go LAST so wrap it up and finish us off with a bang.  And then he motions hitting a ball with a ball bat.. as in.. I want you to knock it out of the park. Ummm.. what?! NO PRESSURE right??? Psh.. wrong. But somehow I was fine with it. I just sat and eagerly listened to each person go up there and just blow it out of the water.  When it was my turn to go up there, I brought him the sheet music and reminded him to play it a half step lower (since that's how the original song is recorded as well as that's how we've been practicing it).  He tells me that he didn't bring his keyboard in so he can't do that. He'll have to play it higher than usual. (He threw his back out and couldn't carry it in, understandable). But CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!

Anyway.. I sang it.. sang my heart out. Did I suck? I dont think so. Did I kick ass? Meh.. I could have done better..

Here's a snapshot:

I watched the video back and yeah.. It wasn't terrible, wasn't the best I could do. Caveat being that my voice teacher did tell the group that he played it higher than it normally is.. but the group didn't seem to notice. They all really liked it! Yay! :)

Anyway, if my coach thinks the video is good enough - i'll post it. Otherwise I'll need to record it again in the studio.

Seeeee ya!

Missy

Singing Tonight.. Singing Something Creepy.

Yooo!!!

Tonight is group performance class - seems like no biggie but the setting in which you sing is pretty intimidating.  The class of about ~20 or o people all sit on the floor in front you where you're standing at the mic stand and just.. singing.. out loud.. to them - as if it's show and tell and they're all kickin it looking up and watching.. like Reading Time in school.  EEEEEEEEEEEK!

I'm singing a song I've loved for what seems like forever.. nearly 10 years.

It's called Addicted, by my one and only - the fabulous Miss Kelly Clarkson.  Hopefully I do her justice.

Am I nervous? Uh, Yeah. 

However, I'm going to do what my voice coach has been telling me : Visualize myself absolutely rocking it in front of the crowd and hitting every note impeccably. We'll see if it works!

I'm hoping it also helps that I'm doing a song that I absolutely LOVE - it's super creepy and awesome. The idea is that I get into character and have a ton of fun with - we'll see if I can pull through.

The hope is NOT to choke! Will record it and review with my coach to see if it's good enough to post.

OH! And by the way - apparently my ghetto-ass approach to recording myself the other day compleeeeeeeeeeetely changed how I really sound (I thought it was must me)! But my voice coach pointed it out that my engineering really skewed my sound, it made me sound REALLY tinny - which many people confuse as NASALLY-  of which I don't normally sound like. 

I asked him if I should take it down and he said no - leave it up.  But MUCH better videos should be posted soon :)

Stand by!

Wish me luck, guys!!!

Missy

Crap - I did it. #PanicSettingIn

Hey all,

Well.. I FINALLY did it.  I was given a deadline that I had to publish something to the web.  I did what I could and made due with my current set-up (which I can't quite figure out because I'm a ding-dong, so for all you audio engineers that wouldn't mind helping - I'm in desperate need!)

And yes, I'm 1 billion% terrified that I've actually put myself out there. But I guess it's something I need to start getting used to. For cereal, yo.

I downloaded the instrumental track to Clarity and tried singing alongside it.  The track isn't 100% correct, it's missing a measure at the end of the 2nd verse - but whatever, I made due and skipped over it.

I tried messing around with Ableton Live Lite and it was a nightmare - can't figure it out. Might be switching to Pro Tools 10.

Anyway, here's my first try and trying to sing alongside the track as practice for this week:

Can see the video here:  http://youtu.be/d26PjppbzIY

Going to try and embed the video here:




I have another session with my voice coach tomorrow to really practice for my performance on Wednesday.  From there, one more lesson on Sunday morning before my 4 song set performance at the bar on Monday, July 1st - EEEEEEEK! #I'mgonnadie.


This time - I'll FOR SURE be taking a drink BEFORE to calm the nerves.  We'll see if I can make my way through them this time.  Here's hoping!

Anyway, I hope you all like the video. Again, it's just practice, I can do a lot better but I figured I was WAY overdue for posting me ACTUALLY singing.


See ya!

Missy

And FINALLY! Final Four are Chosen..

Finalllllllllllllllly!!!!!!!

After a few days of endless hours of practicing a trillion billion songs, I think I figured out the final four for Martuni's in a few weeks (1 of those will be done in group performance a week from yesterday). 

Being that I had to figure out 4 new songs so quickly, I figured that I had to do a few that I REALLLLY know well.

While my coach may not be thrilled:

- The Climb (Miley Cyrus)

- Distance (Christina Perri)

- Addicted (Kelly Clarkson)

- Because of You (Kelly Clarkson)

The Climb : While this one may be corny, I'm relating to it a TON right now given my journey in music. I don't know it SUPER well so I have a lot of work here.

Distance : Yeah.. A lotttt of work for me here. I found this song 2 hours ago and reallllly liked it.

Addicted : One of KC's from her Breakaway Album, one of my faaavorites that was never a single. Figured this could be fun for maybe getting a little acting in :) The bridge in this song is where I'm struggling, I'll need to focus on that. I run out of breath really fast there.

Because of You : Another from KC's Breakaway Album, a great single that I relate to a ton. There's one line that I need to watch out for - it's pretty up there but I think I can do it.

Anyway, still a ton of work ahead of me.  While I may feel prepared by the time of the performance ( I still have a trillion lyrics to learn - crapppp ), I need to feel comfortable with the music accompaniment. That's where I'm worried.. That's where I.. Am hoping it goes well.

Anyway, it's late. And I am le' tired lol.

Gnite,

Missy

Practice Makes Perfect ...?

I skipped group voice class tonight.. But only so I could practice more to see if I could settle on 4 (group performance in a week, eff my life).

Practiced from 7PM - 10:30PM..

Eugh.

I think I have 2 for sures?? Maybe?

Does anyone have any ideas?!?! Not just from this list but from ANYWHERE????

On the up side.. I watched videos of my fave chic Miss Jennel Garcia.. Man that girl is FIERCE!!! I wish I could perform like her.. AMAZING is an understatement. It inspired me a bit :)

Gnite,

Missy

Rough Night - Time to Quit?

Alright.. here we go again.

Had a rough night last night and sat and typed up this post on my phone, hit "publish" and then got an error message which deleted the whole thing.  #annoying.

So.. let's try this one more time.

It's been a rough few days.. to say the least. 

Over the weekend my mom came down to visit - which means my weekend was amazing.  Love having my mom visit, it's like I have a temporary slice of home.  I thought it'd be a good idea to bring her to my 1:1 voice lesson on Saturdays with my voice coach, I thought it'd be fun for her to see all the fun technique training I do and what I am really capable of (since she hadn't been able to see any of my performances). 

Well. I was wrong. 

I'm not sure if I was particularly horrible that Saturday or if my voice coach had an off morning or what - but he really ragged on me for every.. single.. little..thing.  Literally.  Anything and everything I did was wrong and he was disappointed. And he voiced it. He even told me I regressed.. WTF??? Really? In front of my mom? I don't know - maybe I need to grow thicker skin, but as my teacher - making me want to shut down and quit after a lesson isn't ideal for your business or for your student's growth and motivation. He then told me that for my upcoming performance at Martuni's (round 2) I'm not allowed to do any of the songs I did last month - all 4 new ones. CRAP - that's in 2 weeks and i'm so NOT prepared.  

My mom walked out of that class completely dumbfounded and in shock as to how that lesson went.  I walked out of the lesson teary eyed and down.  Did I just pay $120 for that hour to get dumped on? The icing on the cake is that he finished the lesson with talking about how much he hates Kelly Clarkson's music.  #epicfail.  And yes, he does know that she's my hero. 

Fast forward to last night - I wanted to sit and practice doing a ton of songs to see which ones I'd feel comfortable choosing for Martuni's round 2.  I have to pick 4 songs and THEN learn all the lyrics, and oh yeah, sound good doing them so I don't choke again.  On top of that, my voice teacher has a billion students - and normally doesn't know any of the songs I bring to him for our class.  So when I'm up there performing, and my teacher doesn't 100% know the song, makes for an unfortunate performance.  In a backwards way, I feel like i'm set up to fail in these performances - and those are really discouraging.

Anyway, back to last night.  I wanted to practice and find 4 songs I wanted to settle with. I   practiced 10 - 13 songs on my performance mic and recorded it with MovieMaker.  I just sang on top of the song being played on YouTube.  Of course, MovieMaker only recorded my voice going into the mic, none of the actual song being played so it sounded pretty ridiculous a capella.  After trying out each song twice - I played back a few and was just.. HORRIFIED.  What the hell am I doooooooooooooooing?!?!?!?!

It's just ME in the room and I'm mortified listening to the playback - that I even tried.  It sounded so ridiculous, I was disgusted with myself.  I'm paying all this money for lessons and performances where my coach doesn't full know the song that I'm singing along to, failing, over and over again. All signs are pointing to - this is not meant for you.  You get to a point where it's not other people, it's you.  If every playback.. and every recording is this bad - I need to face the reality that you know what? Maybe this isn't meant for me to do.  I was so upset, so defeated.  Still am I guess.  I'm thinking about finishing my voice lesson with my coach through the end of this month (June - since I already paid for it), and then stopping from there.  

Anyway, I was so upset I took it out on some song writing - about how you should never chase your dreams.  The trips and falls of the journey is too painful and not worth it. Stayed up way too late with this disgust and frustration in my chest, I couldn't fall asleep.

Alex told me to sleep on it - he thinks I'm being WAY too hard on myself and need to relax.  I haven't changed my mind but we'll see how the next few days play out.

Missy

Karaoke Anyone?

Hey all,

Needless to say it's been a CRAZY few days.  Last Wednesday (6/5) was weekly singing boot camp. That was PAINFUL - i'm such a weakling. For cereal though.  Tons of planks and leg lifts while singing.  Planks and leglifts on their OWN are pretty brutal for me. I just don't have the core to do it.  Anyway.. got through that + had some singing in class.  Unfortunately the night before (last Tuesday night, 6/4) I'd had a pretty rough night.  I decided I finally wanted to play back all my singing from last Monday night @ Martuni's.  Eugh - not good.

I'll be honest, guys.. It wasn't pretty.  I sat and watched it all - and from there I buckled down in tears. I hunched over started bawling over what I had just watched and heard. I completely regretted inviting friends and felt like I had completely embarrassed myself.  Felt like I'm wasting my money and time entirely and that I've now ruined something that was so important to me. Why the hell did I get up there and do that?! I wanted to delete it all and MORESO - i'm pissed because I wanted to finally get to upload GOOD work onto YouTube.  But no. Can't upload any of that. A few things happened (that I've recapped before).. 1) My nerves got to me, my throat closed up as I teared up when standing in front of the mic and that completely stunted my performance and ability to hit the notes as good as I know I can. 2) I was shaking so much that I didn't sing on the mic, I wasn't close enough and clearly sounded off and far away.  EUGHHHHHH. 

So Mad at Myself. I really wanted to showcase and post videos of my performance but in NO way can I do that.  I need to only EVER publish my best - and that certainly wasn't it. 

Then I watched a playback of my last Wednesday performance, where the wrong song started playing and I messed up the first verse?  While yes, I messed up the first verse - the rest of it sounded awesome! I sounded like MYSELF and the way I KNOW I can hit it.  That gave me a bit more of my confidence back but not much.  

Fast forward to my 1:1 lesson with my epic voice coach this past Saturday, 6/8.  Most of the lesson was a lot more talking through my last Monday performance. Embarrassingly enough, I started crying in front of my teacher.  I told him I felt like I'd been wasting my time and that I sounded awful.  He of course told me I was being way too hard on myself and that I wasn't as bad as I am describing it.  He also told me that the way the nerves took over me was what he had expected. Boo.  Anyway, he told me in general that what people were saying was that if I got my nerves under control, I have a pretty big voice to be unleashed.. We'll see about that. 

Next up was the weekend: my boyfriend Alex, our roommate Hank, and our friend Fred and myself all went to a Karaoke Bar in San Francisco on Saturday night (Silver Clouds Karaoke).  I was really scared but they dragged me out to one at around midnight after having had a few drinks :) Luckily, the entire group there was WASTED. Literally, every person who went up to sing at the mic couldn't even get out a word without drunkenly falling over and cracking up. Hank dragged me to the DJ booth and paid CASH for me to get to get up on stage and practice! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD is all I'm thinking. They call my name and I get up there and sing the HECK out of Kelly Clarkson's "Behind These Hazel Eyes," a favorite of mine.  While I could definitely have done better - having drunk fans ask to get to touch my hand and tell me I was awesome was DEFINITELY a confidence booster.  It made me feel comfortable to practice this again.  Whew :)
See pic below:

I had a ton of fun.. as you can see below:

Next up: Voice Bootcamp tomorrow, and Martuni's Open Mic on Thursday for practice.. cross your fingers for me??


Anyway - sorry for the big post, it'd been a while so I owed you all one.

Wednesday / Thursday post to follow (hopefully).

See yaaaaaaaaaa,

Missy

Not A Happy Camper

Well.. It's been a day since last night's  performance. As this post title clearly says.. I'm not a happy camper. I'm really unhappy with myself and how I performed. 

Was I nervous and anxious? Yes. More so than last Wednesday's performance? No. One could argue less than last Wednesday. However as soon as I walked up to the mic after my name was announced, my nerves got so out of control that they triggered tears (not visible to the audience) and completely choked me up. My nerves totes bitch slapped me in the face. 

I thought starting with Clarity would be smart since it's the song I've rehearsed the most - should be easier for me to open up with that song, right? Negative. FIRST of all : the Rockstar Broadway Musical Princess of the production group ended up going first, right before me. #Awesome. Not. She was absolutely amazing, incredible, takes your breath away, as usual. Which SUCKS for me since I'm following her. She's been taking voice for decades but still - why can't I be that amazing????? :(

Anyway, back to when it was my turn. My voice is so broken and shaky when I talk that I can barely say a solid word without breaking (and that's just during my self intro). So as Clarity starts to be played.. (And yes, the correct version and melody of the song), I open my mouth to start. I'm trembling and cracking so much that I barelyyyyy croak out the first line-completely falling apart the entire first line. Like I said, my nerves totes bitch slapped me.

EUGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! (Picture Tasmanian Devil here).

The next song was I Told You So - which I think I handled slightly better than Clarity since I was a bit more comfortable at this point. I don't think I hit it quite as good as I have before but still better than how I performed Clarity. 

Next was Impossible. Still trembling at this point but the feedback I got was that I hit this one on the head. Another song that I love but was SUPER nervous to sing since since it was one that my coach and I had only minimally rehearsed. This MAY be the only one that gets uploaded to YouTube, however I still need to watch the playback :)

And finally, the last and 4th song was I Knew You Were Trouble. The one my coach and I hadn't rehearsed.. AT ALL.  I felt like I was okay on this one UNTIL i got to the bridge. My coach had added an extra measure of music and left us on 2 different points of the song - #awkward.

So we had to stop and then pick it back up. Hate that.

All in all was it horrid? Probably not. Was it perfect? Did I knock them dead? Unfortunately no. Makes me wonder if I even have what it takes to do this at all. Am I wasting my time and money??

A big thank you to all my friends that came out to support me last night :) I'm sorry for the parts where I sucked :-/.

I promise I CAN do SOOO much better. I think that's my biggest issue, is that i KNOW i can do better. I'm the one getting in my own way and it sucks.

Here's a pic from last night: 

On the bright side, the owner of the bar seemed to take to me and really encouraged me to come back to the bar's standard open mic nights and that I should work with their HOUSE pianist. He even chased me outside as I was getting in the car to introduce me to their pianist for Open Mic Night. I'm thinkin of going weekly so I can get over this annoyingly large ELEPHANT sized stage fright.

Anyway, we'll see what my voice coach says at tomorrow's group class and ad Saturday's 1:1 lesson. Hopefully he'll be gentle.

Gnite all,

Missy

Panic.

Panic has started to creep in.

Breathe.. I've just got to breathe.

Videos and updates after tonight's 4 song performance..

...And then she took a final Leap off the ledge, hoping to FLY

Whew.

It's all done. I'm laying down in bed.. Going over the performance over and over..

I didn't tank I don't think.. But no where as wow-worthy as I would have liked to be. I definitely learned a lot out of this first public performance.. 

Here's the run down:

As the group gets together and starts prepping for the first performance, my palms are already cold and sweaty, my stomach is in knots and my hands start to tingle and lock up. Soon after that my lips start to tingle and lock as well - EUGH, not good for singing in a few minutes!!!! The whole hour goes by and I'm finally called up! Bahhhhhhh!!!

I stand up and do my intro, and let my voice coach know he's good to start (while my body is 1000% trembling).

When my voice teacher starts playing the intro to my song, I didn't recognize it. I'm listening really closely, watching the audience look back at me while I blankly look at my coach confused. What melody is this?! When am I supposed to come in!? I wait for him to realize he's not playing the arrangement and intro that we had worked on together but instead he continues-the audience still staring at me, blinking ad wondering why on earth I haven't started singing. 

I finally just start the song and am obviously all over the place in the first verse because I'm trying to navigate the first verse with the RIGHT melody to an entirely DIFFERENT song that's being played. Once i got to the chorus the teacher found where he was supposed to me and just followed my lead, but by that time I had totally effed up the verse and knew that I could sing that so much better.. What I've learned tonight is that if the pianist is making up the song, still own and sing the verse with conviction instead of singing so tentatively..

I'm disappointed in tonight as a whole and am that much more nervous for the FOUR song set that I'm doing on Monday at a BAR IN SAN FRANCISCO! Eughhhh.. 

Anyway, after all that I still got up there and certainly deserved a glass of champagne to calm my nerves that were spinning out of control..

I'll be practicing like a psycho until Monday.

Gnite loves,

Missy

Shaking in my Boots!

Blah!!!!

I'm so nervous!

In an hour I'll be singing to the production  group for the first time. 

Anddddd, my voice feels slightly off because

I. Am. So. TIRED!!!

I went to bed close to 230AM thanks to this guy:

I swear I have the most accident prone dog on the planet. Running around, Alfie snagged his toenails (which were recently trimmed) and they ripped off, leaving him bleeding a good amount. So we were off to the vet's office at midnight! 

He's drugged and wobbling around today. Watching me fidget like crazy out of anxiety for tonight. Man I hate my stage fright.. But here goes nothing!

Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!

Bahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

- Missy

Memorial Day Shopping..

Hey goofballs!

So I did a little damage yesterday.. 

I walked into Guitar Center and bought.. Everything..I think lol. Hahahahah no just kidding, although it did feel like it when I got to my mountain of goodies at the register.  I got the start of what I needed for practicing music at home. What does that mean, you ask?

- a performance microphone

- microphone cables

- microphone boom stand

- piano / keyboard (score!)

- keyboard stand

- chair for playing keyboard

- audio interface (comes with audio software for editing recorded music)

- keyboard/piano pedal

- keyboard cables

- 2 mega awesome speakers (aka monitors)

- 2 books of fun sheet music 

What's left?

I need : 

- a DESK

- a computer that allows all of the above to be RUN

Whew! 2 major questions:

1) HOW on earth do I put this all together and make it work?

2!) WHERE on earth will this fit in my San Francisco apartment??!

A really good first step but I still have a ways to go.. What I was finding is I would make great progress in my lesson but I'd be a sitting duck once I got home. I'd still practice but just to my lessons recorded and just practice my upcoming performance songs acapella. 

I realized I was handicapped. I can't perform live anywhere without being able to play an instrument (seeing as how I obviously have no band) and if I want to take my music to the next level.. Like write my own music or manipulate and change an existing released song - or perform ANY song live without help.. I need to play an instrument! 

Soooooo with that being said, I played the piano a bajillion years ago and have since stopped (and focused on dance instead).. So my job now is to rack my brain and RE-learn how to play the piano. Something that can ONLY help me..

Keep your fingers crossed for me, hopefully it comes back to me SOMEWHAT easily :)

Skip to TODAYYYY, my boo (Alex) and I met my mom in the oh so lovely Vacaville (~1 hour away from San Francisco) so we could 1) hang out and 2) so she could give me my dog back (my fluffy muffin Alfie!!!)

She watches him whenever Alex and I travel.. Which works cuz she begs for him normally :)

Hanging with my mom is my favorite, a little dose of home every time.. We shopped a bit, helped her pick a dress for an upcoming cousin's wedding and then had a little dinner and drinks (or maybe it was just me who drank.. Oh well :-p)

Pics below!

Now to focus on my performance songs this week (Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!):

- Clarity

- I Knew You Were Trouble

- Impossible

- I Told You So

My cousin Kelley (who's in an amazing band called 'Breaking Midway') called me today to tell me there's a song that could fit me really well, and that she thinks I could really rock.. Jessie J's 'Who You Are'... Do y'all know it?! I looked it up today and it's an AMAAAAAZING song! A big song, but amazing. Will be trying to check that one out as well.

Okay Luvs.. This Wednesday is the group class performance day!!! I'll be singing Clarity. A week from tonight is my debut at Martuni's! 

Holy s**t!!!

For me this week : Practice practice practice!

Until later, gnite! :)

- Missy

Back to Ballet. Effing toes..

Happy Sunday Funday people!

I woke up wanting to satisfy my dance itch on my day off with singing.. So I threw on my tights and leotard, packed my shorts and ballet shoes and flew out the door for the 10am class.. 

Class went great, while I struggled at the barre since it wast first class back in a couple months- I was good to go once we did floor work. The instructor brought me up to the front of the class for a guide for the students who were lost..

Although, true to ballet training.. My toe got a little effed.  :-/ see below

Anyway.. Spent the rest of the day in Golden Gate park relaxing.. I think I'm going to tryyy and make it to Guitar Center today.

Stay tuned :)

Missy

The 4 have been chosen..

Just had my 1:1 with my amaaaaaaaaaaaaazing voice coach, yes, he's that amazing to warrant that many a's.

We've sorted out the cut and arrangement of the song I'm doing on Wednesday 5/29. Oh good god I'm TERRIFIED! But I'm feeling more confident now.  I'll be doing an acoustic version of Zedd's "Clarity" for the production group.  Eeeeek!  And! We've picked the final 4 for the 6/3 performance at Martuni's. The final set list is:

- Zedd - "Clarity" (Acoustic)

- Taylor Swift - "I Knew You Were Trouble"

- Shontelle - "Impossible" (a full step up from original key)

- Carrie Underwood - "I Told You So"

I learned "Clarity" and "I Knew You Were Trouble", this week I'll be learning "Impossible" and "I Told You So".. 

Now if I could only get over my horrid stage fright and my fear of friends, family, and co-workers hearing me - and poking fun or thinking I suck :-/

However! I've noticed my voice ha really started to change, to the point that I don't even recognize myself - it doesn't sound like me.. I asked my coach about this today and it's actually the natural progression of vocal training and study. But! The difference is students who have been studying with them normally have their voice change the way mine did at the 7-8 month point! I'm at month 2! My coach is obviously very happy with seeing how dedicated I am -- and it's obviously paying off :)

After these performances I'll start uploading to YouTube :)

Have a good weekend!

- Missy

Rehearsal break.. For Fast and the Furious

Yup!

Had a 4 day weekend instead of the standard 3 (lucky me) so I spent the day rehearsing and practicing over and over again.  Taking a break for a date night with my love :) yup! First in line for The Fast and the Furious Premiere.. Woohoo!!!

Getting really anxious though... Tomorrow morning is my last rehearsal with my voice coach before my first performance to the group on Wednesday, 5/29..   EEEEEEEEEK!!!!!

I need to feel like he knows the songs through and through and that I know my cue for when to come in. Lately it'd been rocky so in hoping we nail that tomorrow morning as well as confirm my final 4 songs.

But enough of that! It's time for Fast and the  Furious date night ;)