MY LIPS WANT TO TWITCH!

OK . . . maybe Jackie Evancho (the phenomenal little classical singer on "America's Got Talent") is coached to the "n'th degree." Maybe her every cute remark is just as rehearsed as her every passionate gesture and every rounded vowel and every breath in her magnificent, if somewhat eerie singing ("How is a ten year old making sounds like that?"). But every time she sings I get a thrill and sometimes when she speaks I know that unvarnished truth is coming out of this kid's mouth because she is speaking the feelings I had as a 10 year old and still feel today when I am singing from my heart and soul.

At last night's Finale, Jackie spoke of loving singing so much that when she sings sometimes she smiles so much lips wanted to twitch. That joy, that rapture just from the act of singing was clear from watching her performance, which was (and here I disagree with the "distinguished judges") far,far, far from perfect. Thank God! She's a little girl. She's just at the beginning of her journey and she's human. But please, if you didn't get to see and hear this performance, swallow some of your snobbery and pride and go on the "AGT" website. This is what I mean when I talk about singing for the pure joy of it.

By the way, there was some other pretty fabulous joyful performing at Broadway on Broadway as well, which I caught on the BroadwayWorld website. Loved Mandy Gonzales perfectly imperfect Elphaba and those proud Cagelles who must have been freezing their pride off.

But all of this is about LOVE and JOY. Loving singing. Loving acting. Loving what you do. I've recently returned to auditions myself and I'm having a ball. I look at each EPA as a chance to do what I love. Feel the power of the music flowing through me, sharing the moment with the accompanist and the auditors and then leaving it in the room. With love. Look, I know times are tough for all of us who do this thing for a living; old timers, new comers, aspiring students alike. But let's take a second to remind ourselves why we started to sing in the first place. I hope for a lot of you it was because it made you smile so much your lips twitched.

P.S. Day after the final votes have been tallied and the winner announced. Jackie did NOT WIN! and I am so happy. This little girl needs to be nurtured slowly; not have a Las Vegas act. She will have a long and fulfilling and (I hope I hope I hope) happy career.

Musings on Singing When You are Under the Weather

Wow, has this been a crazy couple of weeks!  Not only have I been sick, but at least three of my students have called me with "HELP WHAT DO I DO ? I HAVE TO SING AND I'M SICK!" Questions.  All three of them had different issues and I'm going to share what I told them. 

 First of all was the issue of the baritone singer/actor who not only is performing in a show but had an audition where he had to sing and act a lyrical ballad.  I reminded him that he was not just a voice.  This young man, as we all are, is a three mode performer.  He is a very strong actor, who has a face, voice, and body that can communicate the truth of his song and his character if he trusts them.  Sometimes, we are not able to rely on "the voice" being there 100% so we have to ask more of the rest of our instrument to help us out in an audition or performance situation when there is no understudy or opportunity to change an appointment or canceling is not an option.  I also suggested he "take it easy" with both his audition song and his song in the show and see what happens.  My student took this advice to heart and got wonderful results in both situations.  

The other two students who were under the weather were doing recordings and I gave them different advice for very different reasons.  One I told to put off her recording, because it sounded like she had actually done some minor, temporary damage to her voice by talking too loudly too soon after being ill and she is a heavy-duty R&B singer at the beginning of a very promising career. The other student is the young soprano I mentioned in an earlier blog, who is at the finishing stages of recording her demo CD and had some "fixes" to do.  Just because she wasn't 100% it didn't seem like there was any reason to not try to go into the studio and listen to what we had and try to fix what we could.  Despite her fatigue and the fact that she was recovering from a cold, knowing that the "finish line" was in sight and hearing the inspiring sounds she had already made in the previous recording sessions, she managed to do some pretty incredible singing that evening.  

And what have I been doing for my cold?  Water, water, water, water, water.  Rest, rest, rest, rest.

Musinex, every twelve hours.  Chicken soup.   

STRESS, ANXIETY, AND AROUSAL IN PERFORMANCE

I just read a great article in the NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) Journal called "Understanding Performance Anxiety" by Shirlee Emmons and Alma Thomas.  They pretty thoroughly covered the issues of preperformance jitters, the differences between people who deal well under high stress and those who function better under low stress, the condition that defines an Ideal Performance State, and ways to manage performance arousal and anxiety.  We have all felt it at some time or another; be it before an audition or performance, or sometimes right in the middle of singing.  To quote the authors "stress tends to be the result of the interaction between the singer and the environment . . . Whether, however, the environment causes an anxious response in performers will depend on the appraisal of their ability to meet the demands of the performing situation.  Examples of stressors include:

The  very presence of the audition panel

Another singer performing the same repertoire (song)

The presence of the voice teacher during a performance

An opening night with press present

An accompanist arriving late

Bad weather  cutting size of audience

An ill-fitting costume

A critical attitude on the part of the musical director

The presence in the audience of a musical or theatrical VIP"

I'd like to know if any of these have affected you negatively (stress, anxiety) or positively (arousal) in auditions or performances or if you can think of others you'd like to share.  Please email me at joan@joanbarberstudio.com and I will share the results with the rest of our ''BEING VOCAL" community.  Then we'll talk about how they affect us and ultimately share our SOLUTIONS!

 

Revelation of the Week

A young soprano in my studio has been working on her demo CD for several months now.  After lots of detailed preparation both vocally and dramatically, she is ready to record a variety of songs from musical theatre to pop to rock.  This week for a change I decided to have her just sing her songs straight through . . . no breaks, no time to think, no time to evaluate how she did, no time to re-adjust her "technique" or her acting choices . . . just as if she were doing a cabaret show.  I had my back to her, so she could feel free to be as active as she wanted to be, but all I would hear was her voice as it would sound on the CD.  Well, what happened was pretty fabulous!

Her sound was more vibrant, exciting, and varied than it has ever been.  Her acting was thrilling and spontaneous.  And her reaction to the experience was overwhelming joy and excitement.  She said she found new things in each song that she'd never found before.  Try this exercise for your own audition and/or performance workout.  Take a bunch of songs you have accompaniment for and just SING THEM STRAIGHT THROUGH with no stopping, evaluating, or judging.  Let the music and your own impulses guide you on a journey of discovery.