Would You Rather #51: Sing in front of complete Strangers or your closest Friends?

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I love to sing. To myself. Alone. With maybe my dog and cat as my only audience. Or at least singing along with a friend. But singing to people? Not really my comfort zone. I guess it’s because of how I mentally criticize those who sing. If you go off key or overdo the…what is it even called? I can’t believe the word has escaped me right now. When the lead singer of a choir tries to hit notes that are beyond his/her capacity and crashes, it puts me off completely. It’s what I call giving God a ‘burnt offering’.

I believe that everything no matter how simple the task, should be done well. Perfection should be the goal; it might be unattainable but striving towards it means excellence and excellence is laudable. That is why I find singing off key for most parts of a song totally unacceptable. It hurts my ears and I don’t get to appreciate the lyrics.

If I were to be great at singing, I’m sure I wouldn’t mind singing before either strangers or friends. Because I’d know that I’m good at it and I can deliver regardless of who the audience might be. But since it is not my strongest suit, I’d have to consider which audience I’d be more comfortable singing to.

Singing to complete strangers is dicey. In doing so in front of music experts, one can’t just afford to embarrass herself because she doesn’t know them. The look on their faces is enough to demoralize you. But singing in front of people who would care less about quality of vocal notes might be less intimidating. They might even forget that you even sang to them so what’s the big deal?

In front of friends? Hmmm…considering that a good number of them are into music, it would feel like an audition. But no matter how badly I ‘burn’ the song and how much they would tease me about it, I know it would end there. It would always be a funny memory to recall.

But you’d never know how far discussions of your singing would go with strangers. I think I’d stick with friends. Friends forever and always, right? They have got my back; terrible vocals and all.

What about you? Which group of people would you feel more comfortable singing to and why? Kindly share your thoughts. As usual, it’s a pleasure to interact with you.

© Josephine Amoako 2016