Mommy K

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So in High School, from ages 12-17, I took voice lessons.  My vocal coach was Mrs Mary Ellen Klerkx Sands King.  To me, she was Mommie K.  Every week, I would go to her house in Fox Chase, with my book of Italian Arias, German and French songs and attempt to sing these incredibly hard songs in prep for voice competition.  Listen to this song - Amarilli Mia Bella - it was one of my songs.  It was not easy.  Look, it's a cakewalk to sing rock and roll.  Try singing Ave Maria in a church with just you and a harp, or worse, a cappella with no instrument to hide the imperfections in your voice.  She taught me how to form vowels and hold high notes with power.  You may laugh, but this is like a football player making fun of Yoga - this takes practice and is WAY HARDER than it looks.  She taught me how to sing correctly, use my diaphragm and basically is the entire reason I can sing as well as I do today.   Mommy K was also in local theater, and one of the best experiences was helping assist her one woman show and learn what it was like to be in the theater by watching her do her thing.  This was an honor, and I loved doing it so much!  She was a huge influence on my life.  Above and beyond her vocal teaching, she was a life coach, before that was even a "thing" - she knew me as a person, my goals, fears and shaped my character to help me have the confidence to face 1000 people on stage and not let it get to me.

One of my favorite songs I sang while under her tutelage was called "The Rose".
I still know it to this day and sing it all the time in the shower:
This morning when I came awake,
There was a rose in full bloom,
Looking inside my window.
I knew her when she was a bud, just the other day.
Now she is a rose, come to stay until her leaves fall off.
When their all off, she'll go away.
She won't be a rose, but she'll return, she knows.
She won't go far.  And I'll save her leaves in my rose jar.

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