Sing Your Heart Out

By Lloyd Holdeman

(portions of this article have appeared in a prior FFOTM Newsletter. It is now being reissued for Young Jammers, old Jammers, and everyone else whose voice we want to hear)

Can you picture this scene? Jim is doing some yard work – running his electric weed eater. He picks up a melody from the radio in the garage and sings it absentmindedly as he relaxes into his task. His neighbor notices him, sticks his face over the fence, and with a smirk, as if he invented the line, says “Jim – don’t quit your day job…” They share a laugh and go about their business, but Jim makes a mental note that he should confine his singing to the shower.

Millard Jones, a mean old Flagstaff carpenter who can scorch your ears over a misplaced tool, sees it differently. One day in a new-construction house, thinking I was alone, I was getting with a tune when I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I stopped singing but soon heard Millard call “Let it out there baby… sing your heart out.”

Millard knows what a lot of people know. It’s good to have some melody in your life, and it’s good to put your voice to it. And it’s good to get it out there because it let’s folks know that someone, at that time, is feeling alright.

If we compare ourselves to professional singers, we’ll always come out on the short end. They are the best of the best. Just because we can’t swim as fast as an Olympic medallist doesn’t mean we shouldn’t go in the water. I can’t recall ever hearing from anyone who could sing that I couldn’t or shouldn’t sing. They know that singing begets singing and that the more people sing, the better that singing will be.

Two reasons people hesitate to sing are that they are self conscious about how their voice sounds, and they are not sure about the words to the song. As with everything from swimming to cooking eggs, a few fundamentals along with some practice greatly improves a person’s singing voice. You learn to breath deeply and sing from your chest. When you sing along with other people, (or CD’s) the group melody helps your ears make adjustments to your voice. Pretty soon you surprise yourself – you’re singing along and having fun.

The songs we sing in the Young Jammers Program will almost always have a verse and a chorus. The words of the verses change as they tell the story of the song. But the words of the “chorus” usually stay the same – “chorus” means “everybody sings”

Will the circle be unbroken, by and by Lord by and by

There’s a better home awaiting, in the sky Lord in the sky

Instrumentalists usually aren’t playing during the chorus, but you don’t want to just stand there, so you take a deep breath and sing along. If you don’t get the words right, listen hard and try again. The chorus usually comes around two or three times in a song, and the person singing the verses really appreciates it when folks pitch in on the chorus.

So when you are with the Young Jammers, or at a FFOTM activity, or at church or school or any other place where music is being sung, loosen up and heed the words of Millard Jones – “let it out there baby… sing your heart out.” The more you sing, the more you will find that Millard is a real person. Jim’s neighbor exists only in our heads.