My Singing Career |
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For one thing, a lot of people said, "I thought I would hear some of your singing on your site." So here you
are - a piece of Herm from 18 to 62.
A few years ago I basically lost the precious instrument that had served me so faithfully for several
decades. My first public performance was at about age three - "Jesus Loves Me" in the Grace Baptist Church at
Ochre River, Manitoba. My last public performance was a solo that I had done so many times, and it was done
at Knox United Church in Winnipeg. Written by André Crouch, the words are
How can I say thanks for all the things you have done for me?
How fitting those words were, as I didn't know that was going to be my last public performance. I haven't sung since then. A
terrible bout with pneumonia gave me chronic bronchitis, and the doctors found out too late that acid reflux
had damaged my vocal cords. On a good day I can still sing for an hour or two, but I never know when the
voice will break or if my high range will be there. It is extremely difficult to do what I used to do as
easily as breathing.
So, some of this is nostalgia, and some of it is regret for not having done more. My voice was a wonderful,
wonderful gift that I did not use enough. Oh, I used it plenty, but there was so much more that I could have
done with it. Don't get me wrong - I'm not unhappy and were I to do it all again I would likely do things the
same way. Only, there are times I would have worked a bit harder and taken more care with that gift. I would
have sought help sooner, and gone to better doctors, and would have been more insistent that they weren't
taking this seriously enough.
My voice got me through university, it got me into one of my most cherished jobs of senior choir director at
First Baptist church in Marshalltown, Iowa. It opened doors for me all of my life. I will everlastingly be
grateful for my father's musical genes and the gift of the voice.
When I was a child, there was a tradition in our house. We lived on the farm, and there were eleven children
(I was number 9). It was common for Dad, after the evening meal, to push back his chair and start to sing.
Usually he would sing what we called a "chorus", or a short song. Sometimes he would start a round where
someone else would pick up his lead and repeat it and then a third and then a fourth. At any rate, the rest
of the family would all chime in.
But, only the sopranos were allowed to sing the melody. The rest of us were expected to harmonize. Pick a
part - be a tenor, a bass or an alto - or sing all three if you wish. Even as a little boy, I was expected to
pick a part other than the melody to sing. I never knew that it was something few could do. We'd switch
parts, sing high, sing low, sing soft, sing loud. No matter, whatever you did was OK. No one was critical and
you learned, and learned, and learned. And you did it for fun. Sometimes we'd sing for an hour, one person
after another leading off on their favorite song.
Nowadays, it is a rarity to even find the family all at the same table, but our singing family is a memory
that I will always cherish. The gift of the voice from Dad and the love and joy of music from Mom and my
brothers and sisters.
It's hard for me to listen to some of the early pieces. Sometimes I cry because it's gone and I miss it. No
sense trying to put on a brave front. This was part of my LIFE, part of my being, part of what made me me. It
was a way of communication that was so comfortable and so familiar, and it's gone. Only the electronic
reproductions remain.
Oh sure, I still sing at the house and it still brings me private joy. I rarely, anymore, fire up the system
when someone is visiting just to entertain for a bit. The voice hurts sometimes, the vibrato is wide and
unstable, and there are errors in pitch and glitches in the voice that I can't control anymore.
Karen is a faithful and non-critical audience, and I love her for her patience in saying, "man, that sounded
good. Can you put that on a tape for me?" Just an hour ago, as I was cleaning up the rip (that's what they
call it when you extract a track from a long-playing record) of "Balm in Gilead". She might have heard that
song once or twice before, but I never play it anymore. Anyway, she heard my 18-year-old voice from upstairs,
sat there quietly and listened, and then came down in tears. The voice and the song had touched her heart,
and she wanted to let me know.
So, here are a few, with explanations of when, where and how they were done. I hope you enjoy them, and
perhaps, maybe one of them will touch your heart. If so, please do me the greatest favor you could do, and
let me know.
I added this page at the end of 2005, for a lot of reasons.
Things so undeserved, yet you give to prove your love for me,
The voices of a million angels cannot express my gratitude,
All that I am, and ever hope to be. I owe it all to Thee.
We were recording an LP with my college choir in the First Baptist Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I was
a freshman, 18 years old. |
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It was wintertime, Timber Lake, South Dakota. The wind was howling outside and Carylann, my first wife and I
went to the auditorium at the high school where I taught, late in the evening, to tape a few songs for a demo
someone had asked for. |
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You may have visited the "Music" page on this site, in which case you will know that I put together many different background accompaniments using MIDI. MIDI is "Musical Instrument Digital Interface", and it is basically using a computer to control synthesized sounds from electronic instruments. In the next three pieces, the background is made up of this synthesized sound - not the real instruments. All of the parts for the instruments were written by me and the parts input into my computer one at a time. More detail on this is on the "Music" page, where I posted some of the background music. Here, though, I am actually singing with those backgrounds, in three pieces from a tape that I did for my friends and family. These pieces are ripped from that tape which was made 12 years ago right where I am sitting as I type this. Same desk, different computer, of course. In 1994 I was beginning to have trouble with my voice, and one of my reasons for doing this, besides requests from friends and family, was because I was worried I would lose the voice and not have any recordings. So, the tape, with 19 songs on it, was done hurriedly. This is one of the only recordings I have that shows any of my operatic voice at all. I rarely sang with a microphone, and had the vocal projection to sing to the furthest corner of the largest auditoriums. Turn up the volume at the end of "Have Faith in God" to catch the only recording in existence of my high "B". I once sang those kind of notes with abandon, and they are now a rarity, if I can sing them at all. I also want to tell you about "The Publican". Still in high school, I tried out for a Baptist singing group called God's Volunteers. This group was sponsored by the North American Baptist Conference, and consisted of a six-person team of young people that gave up a year and traveled as a performing group and putting on concerts in Baptist churches all across Canada and the United States. We went from coast to coast from north to south and put 75,000 miles on a car in a period of 7 months. The leader of the group traveled with us. He was Rev. Walter Hoffman ("Pops"), an incredible man with an incredible tenor voice. He had the biggest voice I have ever heard, and when he hit a high "C" the windows trembled. He and I quickly became a duet team, and found we could switch high and low parts back and forth with ease. One evening I would sing the high part and the next evening we'd switch. And, we found we could almost take the roof off a church with the power of our voices. We did a version of "O Sole Mio" that would always bring the house down. "The Publican", though, was his song, and he always sang it. I never had the nerve to sing it until years later because I associated it with him, and I had too much respect for him to think I could ever do it like him. I never could. I saw him a year or so ago. He's now about 90, living in Medicine Hat, Alberta. When I saw him, his voice was still strong, and his sense of humor and wonderful spirit still intact. I finally had the nerve to tell him I had done "his" song, and gave him this tape recording of it. I hope you enjoy these three. Crank up the volume for "The Publican" and "Have Faith in God".
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So, here I am today, 62˝ years old. My singing days are behind me, and it's hard to admit. However, every once in awhile I'm brave enough to pick up a microphone and try a song or two. If the old pipes are working that day and the breathing isn't too bad, I'll turn on the digital recorder and commit it to hard drive. (That tells you how things have changed - no more tape). I have chosen to torture you, if you wish to be tortured, with five of them. Just in case you think all I ever do is religious music, I've thrown in a couple from a CD I just made for some of my family. There are about 18 songs on it, of various flavours, and I think only two are religious songs. The rest are a mish-mash of Johnny Cash, Kenny Rodgers, Elvis, show tunes, Jim Reeves, Marty Robbins and even good 'ol Willy Nelson. These backgrounds, however, are not my own creations. They are karaoke backgrounds. I loaded them onto my computer and sing with them just for the fun of it. I also download some of them from the 'Net. I don't sell the music or my CDs, just give them away to friends and family. I'm still surprised when someone asks me for one. By the Way, if any of you out there in Internet land want one of these things, let me know. I'll be happy to send one and just charge the cost of the CD blank and the postage to send it. Half the time I'll probably even forget that out of sheer delight that someone still wants to listen to me. Email me. At any rate, here are five just completed. By just completed, I mean that "Away in the Manger" was done four days ago, December 23, 2005. Forgive the occasional break in the voice and sometimes the rhythm glitches. These are not polished performances. I never tried to turn them into polished pieces as I did not have the music in front of me. I am a trained singer, which means that I always learned the songs with the music in front of me. These were done only from the Karaoke words, and they are notoriously poorly synchronized. In other words, I'm trying to read that words that are four beats ahead or four beats behind the music. If I had the score it would be a lot easier and a lot better. OK, enough excuses. Here they are
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