I didn't feel four weeks was sufficient for the Singing class. We lost the first week because the instructor forgot to tell us to look for sheet music.
I wasn't really connecting to the song I selected, which was My Funny Valentine, but I didn't have time to look for and memorize a new song.
It was great having a accompanist there to provide support for your singing.
In the last class, the instructor asked everyone to not look at me while I was singing and she gave me permission to move whatever way I wanted. That made all the difference in the world. I still had problems with the high notes, but being able to move allowed me to let go and have fun. Before then, I was just standing there and the pressure of having everyone look at me when I was standing there like a bump on the log made me extra nervous. The key was really moving around.
Overall, I think the value of the class was in hearing my own voice released for people to hear.
Now for the Stand Up Comedy class. The photo above is of one of my jokes. I was actually planning to scrap that joke completely, but after speaking with some of my improv buddies who were also taking the stand up class, they convinced me that there might be more potential. I took their advice and to my surprise, the class seemed to really like it.
Stand up comedy class required a lot of work. It was not something you could do part way if you wanted to get something out of the class.
It required me to do a lot of revisions and rewrites. It was about telling a point of view in a very succinct logical manner. In many ways, it reminded me of work because I work on customer communications at work and that means I must be very clear and complete in what I write. Came in handy for this class.
Taking the class with former clowning and improv buddies was fun. It was like having a built in safety net in class.
The main feedback my instructor gave to me was that I understood the structure of the joke, but I need to incorporate more fun into my act-outs.
From the Stand up comedy class, I learned that I miss the days when I used to write more. It felt good to have four jokes written out by the end of the session.
So what's next?