{"id":306,"date":"2019-12-19T18:40:06","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T01:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sheree.net\/?page_id=306"},"modified":"2023-12-27T13:03:02","modified_gmt":"2023-12-27T20:03:02","slug":"about-sheree-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sheree.net\/?page_id=306","title":{"rendered":"About Sher\u00e9e"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pearl Award Nominee Overcomes Hearing Challenge to Record CD<\/span>
As long as Sher\u00e9e Fitzgerald can remember, she has loved music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many young girls she dreamt of \nbecoming a singer. At four, she would stand on the fireplace hearth and belt out \n“Oh, You Beautiful Doll” to the amusement of family and friends. But the slight \nlisp that was so adorable at four never went away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The little girl with big dreams had a \nhearing loss that some believed would prevent a career in music.  Her \nhearing loss is in the higher frequencies, which are crucial for diction and \nword recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this, Sher\u00e9e’s rendition of \n“Healing Waters” (from her new What Matters Most album) has recently been \nnominated for a prestigious Pearl Award as “Inspirational Recording of the \nYear.”   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annual Pearl Awards, sponsored by the Faith-Centered Music Association, was televised August 26th at 6:00 pm on KJZZ-TV. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Sher\u00e9e was raised in Northern \nCalifornia.  Early on, her mother taught her that musical gifts were \nintended to bless the lives of others.   She loved to perform for \nchurch groups, accompanied by her mother or sister. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her high school teacher, Gerald Smith, \nalso encouraged her and reinforced her mother’s message on the power of music to \nuplift and inspire others.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He taught me that music could create an \nenergy of love and acceptance in spite of differences among people,” Sher\u00e9e \nsaid. “I experienced personally how music could unite a diverse group.  \nSince then, I’ve felt compelled to always use music to share a positive \nmessage.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sher\u00e9e recalls working with her teacher on a German art song.  “It was frustrating because I could not hear the German Z sound (ts),” Sher\u00e9e says. “My teacher wrote it down phonetically and literally showed me where to place my tongue”.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In my excitement over learning something \nnew, I began using it in the wrong places in English words. From time to time, \npeople would comment on it. I would just thank them and go on because I could \nnot hear the problem.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent hearing test revealed why Sher\u00e9e \nhad difficulty learning the German art song. Her hearing loss is moderate at \n2000 hertz and profound at 3000 hertz. The most important frequency for speech \ndiction occurs at 2000 to 4000 hertz.  Because of this, Sher\u00e9e has \ndifficulty hearing many spoken sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You can tell Sher\u00e9e has had hearing loss \nfor a long time because of the way she speaks–with a slight accent,” says Troy \nDeMill, her audiologist.  “People with this level of hearing loss struggle \nwith the r, s, ch, k, and d sounds.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My music teachers were often perplexed by \nme,” Sher\u00e9e said. “Few understood how serious I was and how much I wanted to \nimprove.  Some thought I wasn’t paying attention when I missed parts of \nwhat they were saying.  So I would change from teacher to teacher, hoping \nto find someone who knew how to help.”    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
studio<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Record producer and songwriter Bill Tate \nobserves, “With her child-like accent, sunny personality, and the fact that she \nmisses parts of the conversation, it’s easy to interpret Sher\u00e9e as less than \nserious about her music.   But nothing could be further from the \ntruth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One teacher finally told her to give up \nall thoughts of a career in music, saying, “You are not giving enough to this, \nand you don’t know how to speak.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, Sher\u00e9e refused to let go of her \ndreams. “I believe God has given me musical talent for a reason.  To give \nit up would be to abandon one of my missions in life,” she said. “Developing a \ntalent takes faith and tenacity. Perhaps this has taken a little more faith than \nusual!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her first recording was an inspirational \nchildren’s album, The Spirit in All Things.  Then she recorded a collection \nof hymns in Spanish, Sirviendo Con Gozo (“Sharing with Joy”), a favorite in \nLatin America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, producer Dennis Lisonbee of Provo \nand arranger Greg Hansen of Orem worked together to create her most recent \ninspirational album, What Matters Most.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lisonbee says, “There were special steps \nwe took along the way to accommodate the hearing problem.  “We brightened \nthe headphone mix above 2000 hertz, boosted certain instruments and turned up \nthe overall level,” says studio owner and engineer, Guy Randle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to finetune the album, Sher\u00e9e \nhalted the project for a time and flew to LA to attend a professional vocal camp \nsponsored by Seth Riggs.   There she was inspired by Nashville vocal \ncoach, Brett Manning.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manning carefully analyzed her \nsinging.   Baffled, yet intrigued by her speech problem, he devised a \nsystem to sharpen her consonants.  He took on a Professor Higgins role; \ngently teaching Sher\u00e9e step-by-step the building blocks of consonant \nproduction.  The results were astounding.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“She essentially relearned phonetics from \nscratch,” Lisonbee said. “I was amazed to hear how subtle changes in her diction \nimproved the vocals.  Things began speeding up considerably in the \nstudio.  When she sang the final song, ‘What Matters Most,’ we laid it down \nin record time.”
 
“In the end, the team produced an extremely high \nquality, professional album,” Lisonbee said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Few people realize what a triumph this \nalbum represents.   It’s a triumph of tenacity over adversity, the \nfulfillment of a young girl’s dream to share music with a message.”   \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other noted articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pearl Award Nominee Overcomes Hearing Challenge to Record CD As long as Sher\u00e9e Fitzgerald can remember, she has loved music. Like many young girls she dreamt of becoming a singer. At four, she would stand on the fireplace hearth and belt out “Oh, You Beautiful Doll” to the amusement of family and friends. But the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width.php","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9JFPm-4W","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41,"url":"https:\/\/sheree.net\/?page_id=41","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":0},"title":"Events","author":"shereenet","date":"March 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 PAST AND PRESENT Sher\u00e9e sings lullaby's September 15th, 2008 Announcing \"Jay Curtis Fitzgerald Hastings\" Concert in the Park Sher\u00e9e\u00a0with GUEST, \"Lacy Fitzgerald, Dallyn Vail Bayles & The Olsen Sisters\" Tuesday August 22, 2006 @ 7:30pm to 8:30pm Brigham Young Park Southeast corner of State Street and Second Avenue (Across\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wp.sheree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/ConcertintheParkFlyer06-229x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11,"url":"https:\/\/sheree.net\/?page_id=11","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":1},"title":"Music Video’s","author":"shereenet","date":"March 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Un Lugar Celestial This Is My Fathers World Amazing Grace I'm Runnin' On","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":768,"url":"https:\/\/sheree.net\/?page_id=768","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":2},"title":"Seems Like Yesterday","author":"shereenet","date":"June 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sheree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/SeemsLikeYesterday.jpg?fit=498%2C794&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20,"url":"https:\/\/sheree.net\/?page_id=20","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":3},"title":"Listen","author":"shereenet","date":"March 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Albums What Matters Most\u00a0 Sirivendo Con Gozo\u00a0 The Spirit in All Things\u00a0 Seems Like Yesterday\u00a0 Singles","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sheree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/bg.jpg?fit=587%2C359&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sheree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/bg.jpg?fit=587%2C359&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sheree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/bg.jpg?fit=587%2C359&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":65,"url":"https:\/\/sheree.net\/?page_id=65","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":4},"title":"Contact","author":"Sheree Hastings","date":"March 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sheree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/person-smartphone-office-table.jpeg?fit=450%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":81,"url":"https:\/\/sheree.net\/?page_id=81","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":5},"title":"Member Login","author":"Sheree Hastings","date":"March 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/306"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/sheree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":828,"href":"https:\/\/sheree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/306\/revisions\/828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}