Photo: Sabine Moeller
My premiere
My hands fluttered, my knees trembled, I was flat in my stomach. 70 people stared at me, expecting me to sing my song. Would I get a sound out? I, who had never been on stage at the age of 57. Who had flown out of the school choir because of hellish slate tones. Those from charity in the church would rather just silently sing along ...
The thing with the stage solo, I had, however, myself einrockt. "Do you also take hopeless cases?", I had spontaneously asked in the beginning of 2010 a friend who is a singing teacher. A week later, I took my first hour with the heart's desire: to lay down as skilfully an appearance as my sister, who had sung Hildegard Knef's "For you it's raining red roses" on my birthday .
A few notes I met in the first hour. So inspiring an experience that in the weekly lesson with Stefanie Hoffmann I practiced breathing without any inner grumbling, my voice formed, the intonation profiled. And so I was able to sing almost without errors "by the first time, it still hurts" by Hans Albers.
In December, almost a year after the first vocal lesson, I wondered if I would be ready to perform. "You can do it!" Stefanie encouraged me. But practicing behind a closed door feels different than standing in front of an audience ...
Then came January 6, 2011: The 50th birthday of my sister, the day I had taken lessons. She had invited us all to the Italian, but I was too excited to eat. Finally, I heard my husband announce my stage solo . There I stood, and because no headlights blinded me, I could see the strained glances.
Even meekly, I began to sing "Rosen aller Rosen blooming", but after the first notes I felt: I sound good! There the wobbly knees were gone! I enjoyed performance, attention, applause. My sister hugged me with emotion, my husband beamed proudly, I felt light as a feather. I can now understand that some artists are addicted to stage. I perform for friends and continue to sing: Anyone who drives a car with me is currently hearing Heidi Kabel's "The Original of the Waterfront".
