So Many Dishes

My undergraduate degree is in music, and I was a vocal performance major. So I have sung in front of an audience all my life.

I sang my first solo at age four or five, as part of a church holiday program. According to my parents, I cried because nobody applauded when I finished. In those days, people didn’t applaud in a church, but my grandfather had always clapped when I practiced the song.

I didn’t make a career of singing, but I’ve been active as a church singer, and I used to sing at a lot of weddings. But in my career as a choral conductor I performed frequently on stage, albeit with my back to the audience.

In terms of speaking, I have been involved as a service leader at our church. On the occasions when the music ministry has presented a music-based service, I’ve presented “mini sermons” that tie our theme together. Recently, too, our minister has asked me to present the “story for all ages” portion of the service when our religious education director has been away.

So I guess I can say that I have a lot of experience in front of an audience. Here’s an example (ignore the first couple seconds with the camera pointed at the carpet 😄):