I’m not a great singer. I wish I was. However, there’s a tremendous blessing for me as a musician and songwriter in the fact that I’m not a great singer. The blessing is, at least, twofold.
The first blessing of not being a great singer is that I need/get to share my music with people who are. I have been blessed beyond measure by Will Robertson and Caroline Patterson, along with many others such as the various soloists from Ebenezer Baptist Church, who give voice to my music through their incredible singing. Not only do they give voice to the music, but they make it their own. Sharing music, like sharing anything, makes the music better. By not being a gifted singer I have unintentionally ensured that I am never musically isolated or alone. I’m not a rock an island.
The second blessing is that the music that I write can be sung by other people who, like me, aren’t great singers. Being a great singer doesn’t mean that I don’t have a beautiful voice. The human voice is inherently beautiful. But what it means is that there are limits to what my voice can do melodically, harmonically, and tonally in terms of singing. Whereas I used to view my voice as a limitation, I realize that I have the perfect voice for the type of musical experiences that I am trying to nurture and create.