I’m Singing All the Time Now - episode 182
Emily Bruning is singing because she is filled with joy. Happiness is great but joy is better. It’s deeper and it’s lasting. She has made the best out of a pivot and changed course from the inside out. She had a restaurant job she was good at and worked with people she enjoyed BUT there was that returning feeling that something was missing. I miss theater was what she realized. Emily could have settled instead she listened to the nudge and did something about it.
First she started by asking herself some hard questions. Then she wrote about them to get clearer on the answers. Emily took a leap of faith, she didn’t have all the answers, that is where trust comes in. Once again she chose theater because this was the missing piece, where her heart always was. She set that goal and kept after it until she made it happen. All along the way she created routines that helped get her there, one for the morning and one at night. These habits helped build and provide direction for her, they have brought her the joy that results in singing all the time.
Emily has been on the podcast before in Daisies Help Me Breathe episodes 13, and Takeaways and Looks Ahead episode 40.
How can you be 1% better than you were yesterday? Stop looking at the people around you, stop comparing.
— Emily Bruning, advice to her 10-year old self
If it Makes You Happy
Thoughts from I’m Singing All the Time Now
Singing all the time? I think that means she’s content. That is a great place to be. Me, I like to sing. I’ve always been an average singer, and an above average enjoyer of singing. There’s something about expressing yourself through song with someone else’s words that somehow become your own. And quite frankly I’ve reached a point where I don’t care if I sound good. I don’t think God cares so why should I.
I’ve been using that technique a lot lately. When I find myself being critical or superficial I ask myself, Does God care about that? The answer is always no, so I counter with, Then why should I? It’s made a difference and I’m going to keep using it. Feel free to try it out and see if it works for you.
Back to singing. There was a time when I would have thought it embarrassing to sing the wrong lyrics to a song. Back when you had to keep replaying the record by lifting up the needle and approximating where you think it would be to catch the lyric you were trying to get right. I would write it down on paper with a pencil, if you can imagine that old-school way of doing things. Then came cassette tapes and things got a little easier and next CDs, same. The absolute ease of being able to google lyrics and having them at my fingertips is a thing to marvel at. (Yes, Sandy, I know I’m ending a sentence with a preposition. I am SO OVER that rule.)
Getting lyrics wrong. We went with what it sounded like or what made sense. This could be very subjective as you can imagine. A friend was singing You’re So Vain by Carly Simon. She reached this line and sang, They were grounds in my coffee, grounds in my coffee. Of course I laughed and told her it was “clouds” in my coffee. Her version actually made more sense but we didn’t write the lyrics. Carly had her reasons.
This is my favorite time of getting the words wrong. I was singing Venus by Shocking Blue and I sang, I’m your Venus, I’m the fire of George-y sire. Who in the heck was George-y? I didn't know. And why were we singing about his sire? I am giggling right now at how many years I sang that wrong. It may interest you to know I figured it out all on my own. The light bulb that went off was big and bright - you might have seen it. By the way this happened not so long ago.
Lastly when it comes to singing with songs playing via streaming or other, there are times I’m singing right along and I hit a note and I think, Gosh they sound a little off today. A split second later I realize it was me who was flat, sharp, etc. not the well-engineered song, and talented voices I am listening to. (Sandy, there I go again.) Even I am amused by myself on occasion. Isn’t that a good thing?
I derive great joy from song. If you do too forget how you might, or might not, sound. Go for it. No reason to miss out on something that makes you happy.
From the heart, you can sing the words wrong and still be right.
— RCN
