I recently started taking singing (vocalization) and guitar lessons in Medellin, Colombia and am ecstatic with the results so far. I started my singing lessons at the end of October 2020 with Mara Diosa, a seasoned Colombian vocal instructor that I found on superprofs which is a platform that connects students and teachers across a wide range of subjects. She’s been trained in both popular and lyrical (opera) singing and her profile on superprofs is available here. She also has her own Youtube channel which she hasn’t updated in years available here.
Above, I’ve included my first public recording of singing a song since I started taking lessons. I sang Edelweiss in my living room in memory of the recently deceased Christopher Plummer, co-star of The Sound of Music, one of my childhood favorites.[1] I’m excited that I feel comfortable enough to sing in small groups and on the internet, but I realize I still have a very long way to go. I look forward to an illustrious journey over the coming months and years of becoming a better vocalist and guitar player.
I started taking guitar lessons just a few weeks ago after Mara informed me that her husband could teach me. He’s adept at quite a few instruments, including the guitar, the harp, the cuatro, and the piano. I find the guitar to have a steeper learning curve than vocalization, at least to the point of getting comfortable playing songs, but I am making progress. Here is a recording of my first song in which I sing and play guitar at the same time. I also started a new YouTube channel where I’ll be uploading my songs and covers.
Lastly, I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by the friendliness and hospitality of Mara and Yulder’s (her husband) family. They have two beautiful kids and live in a compound that was originally started by Mara’s grandparents. In the compound also live cousins, nieces, nephews, and brothers and sisters. I’ll end this post with a heartwarming video I took around Christmas time at the compound 
.