Self-Expression – Voices 21

Singing, I’ve done since I was really young. My dad used to say that I’m good at since I screamed all the time as a baby.

After the screaming phase, I would just sing all the time. Every time my parents would take me to restaurants, the mall, wherever, I would just sing.

Music in general is therapeutic, whether it’s singing or listening. Also, writing songs helps me deal with things, but I don’t share them.

I just don’t feel comfortable putting them out there now. It’s really cool to see other musicians do that, just put their music out there. That’s not easy, it’s very vulnerable.

I always look forward to band practice because it’s a release. Even going to guitar lessons, it’s just a nice break from staring at a screen all day.

It’s also cool because all of my coworkers are musicians too and they’re all in bands. We talk about it every day so it’s not like I ever leave the music space.

I like performing in front of people. It’s definitely not easy. For recitals, I force myself to do it because I get so anxious.

I feel like if I force myself, I’ll get used to it. Every single recital I’m just like, ‘I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to do this!’ Then, once I do it, I’m like, ‘this is fine’ and I want to do it again, so I can get over my anxiety.

I like singing a lot with jazz instruments like saxophone. I play jazz songs a lot on the guitar.

Even though it’s not common to play jazz on acoustic guitar, I still do it. It’s fun.

Jazz is just really fun in general. Also, indie is really calming.

Sometimes I write songs with my partner. Some of the songs for the band, we’ve written together. It means a lot when we sing those songs.

Also, he’s written a lot of songs about our travelling. Every time we sing those songs I get flashbacks. We have a couple of songs about the Philippines that always make me miss home.