Five Women's Stories. 1/5. Olya and the music.
My dad bought us a stereo when I was 5 years old and my mom bought the CDs.Beatles was one of them. Since then I would fall asleep listening to music every night. I briefly went to music school during that time and played piano. Then we immigrated, and piano didn’t.
Soon I started buying my own CDs. I would go for all genres, rock, pop, classical, alternative, electronic. I was always smitten by guitar sound and attempted to play as a teenager but was supposed to focus on school and homework. My mom always had excellent taste in music and we would often go to opera and theater performances.
Fast forward 10 years, another immigration, another college, a whole career in construction, and I finally bought my first guitar. An electric. Black and white, much like the one I have now. I gave it a good try but it wasn’t the right time. I was still in school and working all day. It takes a lot of time and dedication to practice regularly and enough. Plus I got discouraged with my finger tips hurting like infierno and stopped.
But by then I realized I couldn’t just play guitar, I had to sing along. I wanted the whole experience. I would imagine myself together with my friends playing and singing in many languages at a bonfire.
So I begun taking voice lessons. I found the classical teacher and she started me off with se tu m'ami and nel cor piu non mi sento. You know, the opera stuff. I couldn’t help but laugh at myself. But I kept going. Until I stopped. I took another hiatus to deal with life. Then started guitar lessons again and stopped again.
But in 2022 it became obvious that I needed an outlet for intense feelings the year brought. Good and bad. Really good and really really bad. I even had my first gig where I actually played acoustic guitar and sang three songs. And it felt so good. I was so happy even though it was terrifying and I botched the very first song. I felt fulfilled and knew I wanted to experience it again.
In the summer I auditioned for the Long Beach Chorale and now I get to sing Vivaldi and Fauré with 40+ people, a chamber orchestra, and a professional conductor.
I also played and sang for the last 6 months straight in my home studio where I have 6 guitars, a bass, keyboard, an amp, and a mic. I sang every song I could think of that I liked. And I loved it. I finally let myself just have fun with it! And it’s been so rewarding! I wish for everyone to sing!
I learned to not take myself too seriously and let go of self deprecating talk…
