A WELL PLANNED & APPROPRIATELY EXECUTED MID-LIFE CRISIS

Now, a naysayer might say, “Hey. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but you’re not that great of a singer.” To which I say, “Yep, that’s about right.” Oh, sure, I’ve garnered some accolades in the occasional church performance, and I would even say I earned them. But I’m no professional. I’m certainly aware of where I come up short of that honor, but I choose to believe that I have real potential, and that I have it within me to reach that potential.
​Shortcomings then, as follows: 1. the voice – muted, breathy, occasionally pitchy, and without question, upper-range-challenged. Solution: practice makes perfect, and I know some of what I should be doing better. To some extent, I can self-train. 2. vocal percussion – very nearly a necessity, but I know about nothing about it, and I know no one who does. Solution: Mouthdrumming, volumes one and two, by Wes Carroll ($20 each, I think). 3. songwriting/arranging skills – simply not present. Solution: learn guitar and piano, gather information from CASA.org, library books written as songwriting courses, and listen to way more music, especially a cappella music
To some extent, this should all be taken care of before I start recruiting. I can’t recruit until I have a vision and I can’t have a clear and compelling vision until I’m a legitimate musician. Right now, though, in the interest of beginning with the end in mind, I will measure the success of this enterprise by the “legitimacy” of the album produced at the end. It all comes down, for me, to making a killer CD. Or two. Live performance, Contemporary A Cappella League membership, competitions would all be neat to aspire to as well, but for some reason, they don’t drive me like producing quality recorded music.
And as I wrote all this down, I also wrote down that I wanted to learn to cook. Completely unrelated, I know. But I want to, so now that’s part of it. And once I wrote that down, I decided I might as well write down my other two aspirations, writing and movie making. So I did. And you know what else? I want to get back in touch with ALL of my old friends (which I’ve done before) and STAY in touch (which I haven’t).
And that’s it. The whole goal/dream I’m calling my mid-life crisis. All on a budget of … well, just very little. And with the following major caveat: big rocks first.
If you’re into the 7 Habits, you know exactly what I mean. For everyone else, I simply mean that unlike the typical mid-life crisis, this cannot be allowed to eclipse the things that are truly important in my life. My role as husband and father comes before this, my job comes before this, my church callings come before this, finances, care of the home, my health all come before this.
So the major doubt, even after all the other obstacles, is simply this: with all these big rocks, when is this going to happen?