Aspiring singer Emmalyn Spruce has decided to let the world hear her vocal talent with the online release of her song, “You Make Me Blind.” Spruce is a junior at CHS who has found inspiration in music. Along with writing her own songs, Spruce recorded her song in her house, using her own equipment. As she has been writing songs for just over a year, it makes sense that “You Make Me Blind” is the first song that she has released. This song has garnered quite a good following among CHS students. Like many kids today, Spruce finds music genres such as pop, rock, and indie-pop appealing. Spruce began musical theatre at the age of 11 and thinks that is where her interests in music began. Currently, Spruce is a member of the CHS Chamber Singers. She has been taking voice lessons with a local teacher for six years now and believes that her years singing, along with her involvement in the school’s chamber singers program, has increased her ability to sing multiple genres of music. Spruce engages rather heavily in music and singing; surprisingly, she and her brother are the first of their family to really pursue a career in music.

“My dad is not really artsy or into singing, but my mom is more into that kind of thing. She sang in choir in college,” Spruce said.

Along with writing the song all by herself, Spruce recorded it using her own electric keyboard, laptop, and recording equipment. By using an attachable USB microphone and garageband on her laptop, Spruce recorded the melody of the song on a keyboard and her own voice as two separate tracks. Merging the two parts together, she was able to finalize the song. Spruce utilized modern day technology as well as her own voice and piano playing to record the song. Although she had some help from the equipment that she used, the harmonies and keyboard parts are all from Spruce herself.

“I was really surprised at the wonderful reaction to my song; it was nerve-wracking, considering that I wrote it all by myself,” Spruce said. “It also opens you up to more criticism that isn’t there otherwise.”

Although these criticisms added to the pressures of releasing an original piece of work where the public can view it, the song has also received a lot of positive reinforcement. Spruce plans on continuing to write music as much as possible and releasing future songs. She believes that when creating an original song, lyrically and instrumentally, it is much more personal than just singing someone else’s lyrics.