Farewell RB and Helaman practice rooms...

This is going to be the first of a few "lasts" posts, since I'm about to say see ya to BYU. With that came my last voice recital this past Friday. I had the pleasure of meeting my voice teacher Tara at the beginning of winter semester during my Sophomore year. I showed up with a sling on my arm, so I'm sure she was thinking "who is this girl!?" but it ended up being such an amazing ride. Voice lessons have been so fun for me, especially with this lovely woman! It's sad that I will never have another lesson with her, but I am just grateful for all that she taught me. I have loved to sing my entire life (ask my mom, I probably came out of the womb singing), but it is one of those things that for the longest time I only did by myself (but in hearing range of my family b/c I couldn't help it). I sang in the shower, during car road trips with that awkward middle school voice (sorry fam), and pretty much wherever else I could get away with it. But I was always terrified to sing in front of people! Heaven forbid I actually share a talent or two with anyone. Well, Tara taught me to let go of that fear and even of the fear of sounding bad. Trust me, I have a number of voice recordings on my ipod with some uuuugly sounds I made while I learned new techniques. That's okay though, because that's how you learn! I didn't know that until I met Tara. I am grateful for what she taught me that my voice was capable of - I will never forget the day I was with her when something clicked and I produced a true belt! (Not to be confused with what you wear when your jeans are too big) That's right, my little, soft voice actually got power! It was a miracle! I love how excited she got for me. She was always supportive, encouraging, and upbeat and made me look forward to each and every lesson. I'm so grateful she wasn't like those piano teachers you get sometimes where you are terrified for your life that if you play a wrong note you will get a beating and have to practice 10 extra hours the next week. I actually performed 20 times better than I ever thought possible in front of her because she gave me that extra boost. The bottom line is she has made the gift of singing become even more real to me and I'm going to miss her. I'm going to miss all the hours I spent in the RB duringlessons and practicing in the helaman halls practice rooms even though I technically wasn't supposed to I'm sure... :D It's been such a journey and I'm sad to see it end, but many good things come to an end, right?

For my last recital, I sang "When Somebody Loved Me" from Toy Story with Summer. It wasn't the most challenging song, but I'm glad I got to sing it with her because we created some beautiful harmonies and it's such a pretty, cute song. We dressed like Jesse (thanks to her mom - she's in high school so has the privilege of getting he

r mom to make her cool costumes still) and it was so fun.

Of course I had to get a picture with Tara too, since I had never gotten one with her from past recitals. You can see her little cute boy Crew in the picture too, staring at me like who is that chick!? Ha

Thanks again Tara for all you've done for me and for being so inspiring. I'll miss you - but I promise to keep jamming on my own. :)