cultivating the gift

Saturday is usually my slow down day. I slow down until 7:30, before jumping up and doing all the housework that has built up during the week. Depending on how thorough I am, that takes me up to lunch time, and then I slow down again before I crown the day by throwing myself into the kitchen and preparing a suitably time consuming weekend dinner. The whole thing flys by far too quickly, and before I know it, Saturday is over and I am thrown into the Sunday busyness of church.

Not today, however. Today was a completely different affair.

At Frank's suggestion, I booked myself into a vocal training session for the morning, so I toddled off at ten to nine for a morning with Erana. That's Erana Clark, the vocal coach of Australian Idol.

It was a fun time. My curiosity was sated by all the insider gossip of last year's idols - and I even learned a thing or two about singing! Like: your voice is a gift. Cultivate it. And warm up, warm up, warm up. And centre yourself at the beginning of each song. And experiment with the shape of your mouth. And know your lyrics. And...

Nothing ground breaking, but there were lots of tips for the taking. Now I just need to make the most of them. (I guess I'll be up at 6am in the morning, so I can fit in a shower and a thirty minute warm up before church!)

I was encouraged by the mock auditions - I think I can safely say that I sing better than most of them! Yay. Still - no idol auditions for me next year, despite their coming to this city for the first time - I'm over the age limit. Maybe I could fudge my age? Oh, that's right... I'm totally content with not being an idol star!

So that was the pleasant aberration from my usual Saturday routine. I've managed to fill the afternoon with minimal housework interspersed with random songs. Just cultivating my gift!