I was first introduced to karaoke back in the early 1990's, when I walked into a bar and someone was on stage singing their heart out. I sat down and began to watch as others went up on stage to sing. Sometimes one person, sometimes two, and sometimes even a group of friends would walk up and sing their favorite songs.
I was a little confused about how they knew the lyrics for all these songs at first. Then I noticed they were viewing a karaoke screen. Then I noticed there was a list of songs you could choose from to sing. Some of them were my favorite of all time songs. I have always loved music, I think most of us do. The thought of being able to get up on stage and sing the same songs as my favorite music artist do was fascinating to me.
My friend started egging me on to get on stage, but I was way too embarrassed, at least on that first trip. I did notice, some of the people got up there were very good, others, not so good. The audience seamed to be very tolerant of the karaoke singers that were not so good. All the karaoke singers received applause.
I found out that this bar was holding karaoke on every Saturday night, and I became a regular. It was so much fun to see these people get up to sing, some of them too drunk, some of them very embarrassed, but oh so brave to try. Some, oh man, some of them were so good, I thought maybe they should be professionals. Well, after a few trips, my inhibitions began to weaken as I had a desire to give karaoke a try.
The karaoke stage is a very frightening place at first. As you walk up and all the eyes in the room are on you, and they all seem to be sizing you up before the karaoke machine even starts. My first song was "Take It To The Limit" by the Eagles. In hind site that was a little ambitious for my first song, as the ooo's were a higher note than I could hold. I almost didn't finish the karaoke song as I was so ashamed of the voice I was hearing in the speakers. I knew my face was red. When I finished click the next website singing, the audience was very polite in applauding my attempt at karaoke.
I still had the desire to keep trying, and you know what, I eventually got better. Hearing my voice in the speaker helped me learn how to make adjustments to my song. I also learned to pick songs that were in my range. Outside of church I had never sung in public before. In church you sing as a group, so your voice can get drowned out by others. With karaoke, you don't have that luxury.
I remember then, I kept wishing I had a karaoke machine at home just to practice with. The karaoke machines were very expensive back then. They also had a huge limit as to the number of songs they had in their data banks. Things have improved a lot since then.
Now you can get a karaoke machine very inexpensively. There is another way you can practice karaoke at home without buying a machine too. There are a number of sites that now offer karaoke. Search for your favorite song, then press play, and the lyrics with the shaded tempo show up. Some site offer just the karaoke, while others offer music videos, internet radio, or mp3's along with the karaoke.
So if you love to sing, and you love karaoke like I do, then try practicing at home before you have to get on a stage.