Make believe!

Today I get to make believe I'm a diva!

I'm singing a piece in two concerts - recitals, really - that is far outside the scope of what I've been singing for the last 35 years. I've recently been re-voiced from an alto to a lyric soprano. So I've gone from singing sultry blues and driving folk to Italian arias and art songs - quite a jump, and no one is more surprised than I am!

I started out as a soprano in my teens. I sang through high school and a bit of college and then stopped for a while. When I took it up again, I discovered my lower range and fell in love with blues and contemporary folk. I wrote a lot of my own songs for my lower voice, but still had a higher range as well.

After years as a solo and duo performer, I joined a women's choir in 2009 as an alto; after a couple of years I began to "lose" some of my lower range. Panic set in. My voice has been my lifeline, especially after struggling with mobility issues the last several years. Last year I started voice lessons and after a few months it became obvious that I needed to shift to a higher voice, at least for a while, to get my vocal folds in shape and learn some new singing and breathing techniques. I've been pleasantly surprised to rediscover the nether regions of my voice and to play with new singing genres.

So today I will put on my pretty new dress and make believe I can float onto the stage rather than being helped on; I'll make believe I'm beautiful and graceful and that I'm singing in the Met, that I am a diva.