Originally posted for patrons at Patreon on March 22, 2021 at 9:51am

(Hear the finished recording in Listening Room 2)

Somewhere Over The Rainbow/Home – Fly On The Wall Sessions

Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring!

That’s how I feel! LOL.

Welcome to another session.

You will see a LOT of ugly faces, contortions, expletives and several dramatic collapses into the chair. LOL.

This custom recording was no joke a challenge. The obstacle? My ego.

Confession of my insecurities.

Point #1 – High tenors are loved by Broadway and over the years have become more written into the leading men roles.

Point #2 – With years of insecurity around being more of a classic baritone leading man with some tenor range, I used to have the story that I was “less-than” in musical theatre because I was not what the majority of producers were actively using.

Point #3 – Enter Jeremy J. Ever since 2012 when he got the role in Dolly’s movie over me, we are often seen for the same roles…with his tenor range being the thing that pushes it over the top for producers. We’ve even sat at the same table at benefits waiting to perform back to back with each other and it’s always…interesting. LOL

I welcomed the challenge to do this arrangement, but I knew there was no way I could do it in the register he does.

But my ego would only let me drop it a couple of keys…leading to this (nightmare?) session.

This vocal session was eventually scrapped completely and I started the entire recording over from scratch, dropping the song a total of SIX keys.

Don has told me it’s okay for me to share the finished product with all of you, so this month I will make one of our perks a download of not only this song, but all of the song commissions thus far so you can hear what came of these Fly On The Wall Sessions. (Thank you, Don, very kind of you.)

Here’s what I learned.

We all have unique bodily characteristics. I’m a size 11 but Jason is a size 13. I’m 6ft, he’s 6,1. My bone structure is thin, his is not. My skin is fair, his is olive. You get where I’m going? Just because my vocal chords express tone in a lower, thicker frequency doesn’t mean they are any less creative, meaningful, or impactful just because high-tenors command more attention.

My journey of learning to have confidence in my voice the way it is has led me to commit to communication over bravado. Bravado can impress no doubt, but approaching a song from the intent of touching the soul is an impression that does linger a bit longer. (And even if I just tell myself that while I wait for more musicals to create baritone leading men, at least it keeps me leading with my heart and not my ego. LOL. )

So here it is. It may be a messy session, but you’ll definitely get a glimpse into how I work unfiltered.

Love you all! And thank you soooo much Don for putting this in my lap because I am now so in love with this song, and I think I kind of like my own version of it. – which I will do for you sometime in one of the 3 Song Sundays!

Spring!

Levi