“Manaia had an idea. When you get ready to get out of the car, we open a window and let the drone out so it can do a sweep. From a higher vantage point, it should be able to show us what’s around the vehicle better than when I step out and do a visual sweep,” Jane explained.
I got into the back of the car in the drive and turned on the drone. It acted like it was confused because we were in a confined space, so I shut it down. I put it in my palm, held it out the window, and tried again. This time, it rose up and circled the car just like it did when I was outside it.
Jane had her tablet out and watched the screen.
“Send your dad a text and ask him to come outside,” Jane prompted.
When Dad received the text, he walked out the front door. The drone reacted to the movement and flew to where he was.
“Cool,” Jane said and then leaned out of the car window. “Mr. Dawson. Walk to the back of the car, please. I want to see what the drone does.”
Dad walked to the back, and the drone followed him. When he moved across the street, it came back and began circling the car again. She had me send a text to Hana to come out as well. It reacted to her the same as it had with my dad when he first came out.
She called my dad to come closer. When he began to move, it turned and flew to him. I recalled the drone so we could get to my lesson.
◊◊◊
At the studio, they directed us to one of their sound booths. They used it to do voice-overs as well as for record singers. A technician was sitting behind racks of equipment, looking through a window into the room where the artist would work.
This all seemed surreal. I was the furthest thing from a singer. If I didn’t have a soft spot for Rita, Halle, and Trip, I would never have agreed to do this. I was about to say ‘the heck with it’ and walk out when my friend Jett, the lead singer for Birthrite, walked in.
“Mr. Dawson,” she said formally.
I broke out in laughter because Jett was the last person to act like that. Plus, she was dressed like you would expect a rock singer to be. She gave me a lopsided smile and a hug.
“I was about to bail. I don’t know what I was thinking when I agreed to do this,” I admitted.
“Please don’t. Because of you, we get to sing on the TV show too. I guess Rita James was talking to your people, and they suggested I might be a good choice as your voice coach. When we heard what you were singing for, I had Angel call and see if we could get a spot on the show,” Jett explained.
I had a sneaking feeling that Rita had predicted I might decide to bolt, and the offer to Jett’s band was used to make me feel obligated. My internal debate finally settled on, ‘How bad could one song be?’
“Before you have a meltdown, let’s have you sing so I can see what we have to work with,” Jett reasonably requested.
“Okay. But if I’m terrible, I want you to be honest and keep me from making a fool of myself.”
“Sure,” she said and all but pushed me into the sound studio.
She guided me to the microphone and had me stand in front of it.
“Which song do you know the best?” she asked.
“Silver Bells.”
“Cue that one up,” she said to the technician on the other side of the window, and then looked at me. “When you’re ready, just nod, and he’ll start the music.”
I nodded and began to sing …
Halfway through, Jett had heard enough. I could see she was trying not to laugh.
“Dang it, this is a disaster. It’s probably best we cut our losses,” I said.
“I’m sorry. In your movie soundtrack, I’d assumed you were trying to mimic Sir Richard Jackson. I didn’t realize that you were really singing,” she said, which didn’t help.
“How did you get the soundtrack?” I asked.
“Rita sent it over.”
“Dear Lord. She heard that and still wanted me to sing?” I asked as I looked up for divine intervention.
“Have you had any voice training?” Jett asked.
“No.”
“Good. I know we only have a couple of weeks, but I think we can get you to the point where you can hold your own. Your tone needs some work, but the lower portions of your sound could be special. It’s your higher range that we need to work on.”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Look, give me today to see if we can take some shortcuts to get you there. If I don’t think I can get the job done, I promise to tell you. I don’t want you to look foolish either,” she promised.
I was there anyway, so why not?
◊◊◊
Jett started with the basics. She had me learn to breathe correctly and helped me adopt the proper posture. She said it would help me project better and would also help my acting voice. Jett was pulling out all the stops to get me to buy in by adding the acting reference.
Then she delved into the different kinds of voices. I’d heard the term ‘head voice’ before but had no idea what that actually meant. I discovered there were three voices: head, middle, and chest.
“Trying humming and pay attention to where you feel the vibration as you raise and lower the range,” she said.
