Sing as though no-one can hear you….

This is a paperweight that I was given by a friend many years ago and it has sat on my desk since. Growing up with three brothers who were older than me, they always had to share a room, while being the only girl I got a room all to myself! Lucky! Well, I have always loved to sing and many a night when I was younger I would lie in my bed at night singing my little heart out! This was usually accompanied by ‘Shut up!’ from one or all of them or ‘Mum… she’s singing again, can you get her to stop!?’ Such Philistines! They obviously did not appreciate my dulcet tones emanating from next door. I’m sure I was just singing to lull them off to sleep….

When we are younger though, I think perhaps – if you are lucky – you might be able to sing with less concern for others hearing you, but for the pure joy of singing. Now, it may surprise people to know, but when I was younger – very, very, much younger – I had to sing a song in front of my class. I made the huge mistake of telling my parents when I came home. To my horror, Mum and Dad said, ‘What did you sing, we’d love to hear it!’ At that point, my goose was cooked! Try as I might to dodge the opportunity to make me have to perform in front of my parents, they continued to insist. So, there was no way I was going to stand in front of them to sing the song, so we came to a compromise. I said that I would sing the song for them if I could sit under the table and sing, so I didn’t have to look at them. So, that’s what I did! I’m sure Mum and Dad would be having a bit of a chuckle, but I obviously couldn’t see them! So, it was more ‘Sing, as though no-one can see you!’ for me.

As I grew into adulthood, I did join a musical theatre group with my daughter when she was about 12-13. It was a lovely time to spend together with a group of other people who loved to sing. I even ended up dressing up in a uniform and singing ‘Boogey, Woogey, Bugle Boy!’ I wasn’t offered a recording contract, but accompanied by the other ‘Andrews Sisters’ we did an OK job!

Now I am 65 and that old shyness seems to have returned. I would find it hard to sing in front of anyone, or even to know that someone could hear me singing with my door closed on my study. But, music and singing are good for those of us with Parkinson’s it helps with breath control and speech and is recommended. I have started to try to do more singing, hiding in my study and hoping my husband can’t hear me. I don’t know why it bothers me, I just find I feel self-conscious that he may hear me and think I sound terrible!

Tonight I have been making a chilli for dinner. Anything that takes a bit of time to do in the kitchen, you would find me listening to the Carpenters, John Farnham or Tom Jones. I know most of the words to the songs, so I sing along as I cook. My husband stays in the lounge and leaves me to it. I still feel a bit reluctant to let him hear me sing, but perhaps I just need to get over myself and give it my all. Nothing we do in the way of exercise should be done half-heartedly or it is not worth doing at all!

So, I will try my best to sing with all my heart and soul from now on.

One place I do sing my heart out is in my car. I’ll be there, driving along, belting out some tunes with the radio up loud. Trouble is poor old hubby sometimes uses the car if I am not needing it. I usually forget to turn down the volume, so poor thing gets a blast of music, luckily for him, not with my accompaniment.

So, yes ‘Sing as if no-one can hear you!’ for life is too short and sometimes too serious to deny ourselves the joy of singing!