Terrifyingly Fun — Posting my Unaccompanied Vocals from the First Steemit Christmas Singalong
Singing White Christmas together feels like the way the sun glimmers in snow suspended in the branches of the forest near my home. I love this photo.
There was a time (many, MANY years ago) that I occasionally sang live with a not-serious band. I ended up pursuing higher education, competitive sports, and some other artistic hobbies, and gigging basically tailed off to nothing.
Somewhere in that time, The Fear got into me; it's a little bizarre, as not too many things make me nervous these days. I call it The Fear, because that's how I always thought of it while playing ball — you make a mistake, you get hurt, and you stand at a crossroads... either you get up and keep going covered in blood and sweat and tell The Fear to go fuck itself, or you stay down, and it tries to smother you. Now, I've taken line drive shots that have cracked my ribs and my teeth, and I never let The Fear get into the heart of me or stop me from stepping out onto the field. So why on earth was this one of the most terrifying things I've ever done?! Honestly, I don't really know. I've never even had any painful/scary/even hilarious singing experiences to explain it, which feels like a bit of a ripoff, because if I'm going to be petrified, I should at least have a good story to go with it.
So, here's a Merry Christmas, I love the Steemit Community, and "FUCK YOU RIGHT IN THE MAJIGGER, FEAR" post.
Gentle please! I recorded these vocals for @Buckydurddle's great idea to host and mix a Steemit-wide Christmas singalong. The best way to get over being freaked out over something is just nut up and do it, so I started by submitting these vocals to him, listened to them in the finished mix, didn't die, and now am posting them here. Raw and unaccompanied, this is a bit like stepping out into public naked.
There you have it. Not letting The Fear take root over something so silly, and definitely going to keep participating in these awesome collaborative efforts going forward.
One of the most amazing gifts that Steemit has to offer (besides the incredible content, crypto rewards, and new friends) is the ability to spread a world of possibility and inspiration at your feet. If you had said, "you'll be meeting people from all over the world, helping them daily, hosting a radio program, and then finally recording yourself singing acapella for the internet" I would have either laughed or thought about punching you in the nards. (I joke; The Fear is strong.) And if the people I admire and hope to emulate on here didn't push me, I wouldn't do this, or some of the cool shit that I know I will accomplish in the future. So, thanks to all of you, for becoming a part of my journey towards wherever it is I'm going and whoever it is I am becoming. I appreciate you!
I also want to share two links with you, to show you how cool this is and to get you involved, if you want to join in. Click here to listen to the final mix with all the participants in the White Christmas Singalong! It turned out incredibly, thanks to everyone involved, but especially @buckydurddle. The second singalong is in the contribution phase, so click here and get all the information to join in yourself! @Derosnec did such a stunning job tracking the base for this one... I can't wait to see how it comes together. Sing with me?
Be open to the encouragement and gentle prompting of others to grow and learn... and on the flip side, inspire and support those around you to do and be more as they are able. Everyone takes these curves at different speeds, but we all want to see those crowds cheering us as we go by. And tell The Fear it can fuck right off. 🖤
These photos and words are my own work, inspired by travels all over this pretty blue marble of ours. I hope you like them. 🌶️
Hey Crimmi, you ain't bad babe.
No fear eh!
thanks perc... gosh, do you remember that clothing line from the nineties?!
I certainly do babe 😃
DYING
I lived in these ones for most of university~
I didn't know whether to stare at your mouth or the green at the bottom. The first because it was moving and the latter because it was so very green.
Kind of hoped for the camera to tilt up at the end, so I could see your face but that endearing laugh and "Merry Christmas!" will do.
I can't help but feeling that your mix of artistic and writing skills makes for something truly unique. Love how you're being you on here and I totally agree that we should never stop the 'fear' from doing what we want to do. Believe me when I say it stopped me in the past but never more. "Nevermore"
You rock! 💚
what is that green even? How did I do that? Cripes, I professionally edit video for a living. LMAO. I tried not to touch this one because I know I would obsess if I did. And see what happens?!
Bucky has asked for video in the future, so as much as I've kept my face off the chain, it could happen... :|
Thank you very much. I've been lucky that my work seems to resonate with a group of people, but there are many yet more undiscovered! Honestly, the whole life is just a struggle against The Fear. Don't let it in <3
Great job Crim , the only bad bit is the fact that I am nagging you for some vocals and now you lay down this great accapella track. Now the nagging will increase tenfold. The fear is always there ask mister I have thrown up on stage a bunch of times ..... and nothing happened ...yea fuck you fear you asshole hehehe. Great job now lets get this metal track done !!!!
yeah, but see, there's the good story I was talking about! If you're gonna throw up, no place better than on stage :D
nagging intensifies
Our brain is full of little self-sabotage devils, they like comfort zone, they hate responsibilities, they want you to play safe... so yeah screw those little bastards! ... but easier said than done... :)
Keep singing and smiling with that lovely voice :)
thank you so much! working on chasing them out and stomping them publicly~
;D
Damn, you have quite the lovely vibrato there, lady!
You can be my lead singer any time!
Hearing you sing acapella, and knowing where it came from makes it easier to find your voice in the mix. The ending is the special touch for the song, I'm really happy that Bucky left that in there.
It's funny that you talk about fear with putting out your vocal track, I can really relate. I've had a lot of performance anxiety doing this music over the last week or so. I had kind of forgotten how to do it, it's been about 18 years since I stopped doing live performance. Just gotta keep pushing through the fear.
it's funny you say that, I don't usually have much of one! but with Anna's beautiful singing in my ear, I somehow picked it up as I went. I've been so glad to see you recording stuff (seriously the nuggers song, omg), and these tracks are so much fuller with your parts! If anyone's mean to us, we'll just flag 'em ;D
Aaw! Awesome post! I enjoyed hearing you sing so much! That was so cool! And I chuckled at hearing your contagious laughter!
Take care Crimmi!
just wait until we get three carols in, and then you'll be begging me to shut up 😂 <3 Bucky's master mix will be the only thing to save it. Also, there we go- we didn't even need the mushrooms for out of control laughter!
That was wonderful!! and the final mix just plain awesome!!!! Your voice is prominent in the sing along and makes it sooo good! Well done, you never cease to amaze!!!
I so appreciate your support~ I love seeing your positivity around the site!
You have a lovely voice Crimmi crim crim crim... I say you take over the open mic stage and starts participating with us... im serious like a heart attack!
let me work my way up slowwwwly, meninja <3... I'm definitely not in open mic territory by any stretch of the imagination~
Should I put a bit of threshing metal on it?
Superb voice! 📻
remix the snot out of it, if you want! BURY IT IN REVERB, THAT FIXES EVERYTHING :D
Can you DM me a link to the original recording? Youtube is compressed. I'd rather have the orig. :)
Welp, the fear can go fuck itself that was an amazing rendition of the song. The fact that it had no processing makes it even more impressive and inspirational in the context of the fear. I was thinking as you mentioned injury in sports that even though I can happily play guitar in front of people on stage without any issue, the idea of singing provokes a vast amount of anxiety. I have always wondered if it is because it utilizes the voice, and is far more personal/intimate than playing guitar sounds to people (or maybe taking a ball to the teeth ouchhhh). It's sort of like you're exposing yourself and that's often scary. I'm glad that you overcame this fear because you really do have talent and skill! Maybe we can collaborate on something some time. Thanks for your post, and merry Christmas!
A good point! but then again, I've seen many players who are very intimate in the way that they play their instruments. Maybe it's the conscious act of it all? I don't think much about playing instruments or sports, it's almost muscle memory/second nature, but singing I'm very aware of.
Also a good point! I always figured it was because I could kind of hide behind my guitar, and just sort of stare off or whatever and so even while in front of people kind of avoid them. Singing always seemed to me to be a lot like making eye contact. Like, it's a sound my body is making lol. Then Hell, maybe it even touches on the "what if I say something stupid" anxiety, too.