Finding Your Own Voice

In my time...I've seen...or should I say...heard...many kinds of popular music come and go. When you yourself create music...[more accurately: songs]...how to keep your sanity as you hear such trends come and go?. I...of course...can't speak for how others would approach that. In my own case...one of the first challenges...after learning to play the guitar a bit...was to find..."my own voice". When you first start singing...it's so easy to fall into the trap...of copying the way someone much better known than yourself sings...or become mired in the singing style of the era you're in. My approach to that...over time...was to keep working on finding my natural singing voice ...stripped of any affectations of the day. I remember early on...having to focus on "not crooning"...given that as a child in Guyana...the style of singing that was around ...was strong on crooning. I think I eventually freed myself from that tendency...and would like to think...have been singing in a way natural to me...ever since. In writing songs...I engaged in a parallel process...until i finally..."found
my voice"...in the way I wrote songs. Both of these journeys...took a long time...
before I found...my way of doing things. I am glad that I took the approach I did...
because..."being popular"...may come and go...easily...but being yourself...is for
always.........................Quester.