When did I become a mezzo?
Apparently this morning. After discovering my singing voice had come back, I sang in the shower this morning. I can't even remember what I sang, but it went sort of high. I am an alto. I've always been an alto. In fact, when I first joined choir in college, I was more of a *tenor* (I could hit the A in the middle of the bass clef staff, I kid you not). During college my voice slowly rose, but anything above a C in the middle of the treble staff was kind of icky. It's continued to rise, so that I can go up to top-space Eb, but anything higher than that sounds airy and otherwise odd. Today, though, in that first shower song I went up to a G and it sounded fine. Hmm. I sang a Bb scale. Even that was fine. Whoa. Let's try some jumps--out came "Star-Spangled Banner" in its original key (also Bb--I usually take it down to Ab or G). Okay, now I'm freaked out because I'm hitting these notes and they're sounding good. I was in there for a while because I was so incredulous. Toward the end of the shower my throat started to feel kind of raw, so I stopped for a while. Then, a bit later, I tried again...and my voice was more like it had been. Still, it was fun while it lasted. And I'm still slightly sick (I had a coughing fit at work that brought tears to my eyes and made me gasp for air), so that could have something to do with it. Still, I never would have thought I could hit those notes with any sort of decency. Typically, they sound like Mariah Carey/only-dogs-can-hear/just-because-you-can-hit-them-doesn't-mean-other-people-should-hear-them notes. (Are you listening, Mariah?) So, yeah, that was my big excitement today.