How my bad singing affected my outlook on music

Essay by vq2009College, UndergraduateA+, March 2006

download word file, 2 pages 5.0

Downloaded 15 times

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will always haunt me. When I was in elementary school I became involved in Girl Scouts. The organization is about helping others in the community and becoming one with nature. However, in elementary school Girls Scouts is just for gossiping girls to pick on each other. Ever since I was ridiculed for my lack of singing ability by my scout mates, I have not sung out loud in public and found other outlets for my music abilities.

When my Girl Scout troop went on camping trips all of us would pile into a van with our troop counselors. We spent most of the hour or so drive singing along to Disney movie soundtracks. With five other girls singing along to the tapes, my voice was not heard. When a troop leader went to switch the cassette a song came on the radio that only I knew.

I belted out the lyrics with all my force and ability to hit those notes. Unfortunately, I had not realized at that age I was tone deaf. I kept singing along to the song until the very end. When the song ended I became aware of everyone laughing at me. The most popular girl mocked my singing by doing an impersonation. Soon a couple of the others joined in. My face turned to tomato red. I was completely mortified.

I made a point not to sing to any of the other songs on the ride and for the rest of the trip for that matter. That day marked the turning point from which I made sure nobody could hear my singing. My voice was always low enough in order for no one to hear it over the music or someone else's singing. When a song...