I've been thinking about things we hear or see or people we meet that introduce us to possiblities we didn't know existed. This plants a seed, an idea, an inspiration that blossoms, and before we know it our life is transformed.
Who or what has done this in your life?
My voice journey began with a newspaper promotional of Charlotte Church's live-in-concert television special, "Enchantment". The photograph caught my attention. The article intrigued me. I asked a friend to record the program. As the title promised, I was enchanted. I found out who she was and located her first CD "Voice of an Angel" at The Warehouse.
Growing up, I listened to a high proportion of instrumental classical music. I didn't know voices like Charlotte's existed. That tv special opened a new world of musical enjoyment for me.
Charlotte got me listening to female soloists, but it was the principle singer in Riverdance that started me on the road to doing it. My sister bought the video and I watched it often, skipping the instrumental and Spanish dance parts so I could get to the vocal ensemble faster. Katie McMahon's voice was like nothing I'd heard or knew existed. I was enthralled by her clarity and sweetness. It didn't occur to me that I could ever sing that way, but it changed the way I tried to sing.
A few years on in my musical journey, somewhere between singing "Irish Lullaby" at local retirement homes and recording "Looking at the Father" with Jules Riding in Auckland, I discovered I could sing like that.
What have you achieved that started from a small seed planted by a stranger or friend?
