Jennifer Hudson’s Tribute to Whitney Houston

I wanted to comment on the what a wonderful job Jennifer Hudson did singing “I will always love you” in tribute to Whitney Houston at the Grammys this year. It’s always difficult to sing under very emotional circumstances and for Jennifer Hudson singing this song in tribute to her idol must have been tremendously difficult. I thought she did it right and I wanted to talk about those things here in case you are even in a situation where you have to sing under emotional circumstances.

First: Keep it Simple: Don’t try to do every run or lick in the book. Just sing from the heart and try getting out some long tones from the very beginning. Nerves and especially emotions always affect you ability to breath fully and correctly. If you can breath and hold some long tones right up front it will help get the breathing rhythm to slow down and get back to where it should be.

Second: Pause when you need to: Take a moment if you need it. Collect your focus and go on with your song. Don’t feel like you have to rush. It was a great call to let her sing the first part by herself so she could get into a performance zone and rhythm. Then once she had taken the time she needed to get comfortable out there with what she was doing, they brought the piano player in.

Third: Keep your gesturing to a minimum: She just sang the song and let the emotion hit everyone. She didn’t try to put on a big diva show. She let the moment really be about Whitney Houston.

Fourth: Don’t try to copy the way the artist sang the song: This would have been very tempting on a huge song and moment like this, but she sang it the way she felt it. Never once appearing to try to out Whitney, Whitney. Sing the song the way you feel it in that moment and please, please, please sound like yourself, not like you are trying to copy the artist’s version of the song.

And

Fifth: Give a respectful and collected shout out to the person and those on stage with you: Please don’t fall apart at this moment. Keep it short and simple, if it is very emotional for you, you will be close to needing to let it out, but find it within yourself to keep a possible impending breakdown from happen on stage. You are there to honor someone else. Don’t make your audience suddenly have to focus on you. This is difficult, but if you have found the strength to make it through the song, you can make it off stage. Remember you were picked because you are professional. Not always an easy task, but you can handle difficulty and stress.

Sing Because You Love It!!

Here’s what matters…

You should sing because you love to sing; you should sing because you’re happy when you do it; you should sing because you can’t imagine your life without singing; you should sing because when you sing the stress and worries of your day disappear; you should sing because when you sing you are completely present in the moment, enjoying life and energy; you should sing because singing makes you feel alive and you should sing because singing connects you to something bigger than yourself!

Here’s what doesn’t matter…

What other people say about your singing. You and the people who work with you on your voice know all the technical things you are working on. Outside of yourself, they are they only ones who truly know and can critique your improvements and your challenges and how you are meeting or exceeding them. Don’t take gratuitous and uninvited criticism to heart. If there is truth in it… you will know.

More that doesn’t matter…

If you get the part or not… You can never be inside of someone else’s mind to know what they are looking at for a particular role. Nor can you know what other motivations a person might be dealing with when casting. Do what you do best, do it authentically and always, always, always do your personal best. It is not a competition with anyone else, but a personal dialog with your self. There is little you can do to change anyone’s mind, opinion, or what they think of you. If you interact with 50 people in a day you will have 50 different reputations that day… quit trying to control what everyone thinks of you… you can’t do it… do your best and stay focused on what you want to accomplish and your purpose. Let everything else go!!!

Here’s one more thing that is not the end of the world…

A bad audition or show… mistakes, flubs and blunder happen… EVERYBODY MAKES MISTAKES!! Look at them as challenges, learn from them and see mistakes as an opportunity for growth. Challenge your self to become better; please don’t let it drag you down into a self-imposed panic. That will not serve you in any way!

I want to leave you with something I read in a book called “Flow” written by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (please never ask me to pronounce that!) He ’s interviewed thousands of people about what happens to them when they are in the flow. I thought it was particularly relevant to singing as well as rock climbing and poetry.

He says that, “ The mystique of rock climbing is climbing; you get to the top of a rock glad it’s over but really wish it would go on forever. The justification of climbing is climbing, like the justification of poetry is the writing; you don’t conquer anything except things in yourself… the act of writing justifies poetry. Climbing is the same: recognizing that you are a flow. The purpose of the flow is to keep on flowing, not looking for a peak or utopia but staying in the flow. It is not a moving up but a continuous flowing; you move up to keep the flow going. There is no possible reason for climbing except the climbing itself; it is a self-communication.”

This is how I look at singing…. The only justification for singing is singing itself. Not what things you might get because you … if you are singing to reach a goal, get a part, achieve perfection you will be disappointed by others along your journey. If you sing to sing and it is a self-communication, you may still disappoint your self, but that is the one thing you have control of and can do something about.

Now I know that we live in a western, goal oriented and materialistic culture. I’m not suggesting you float around aimlessly just being happy and spinning in circles all day. Goals can be a great thing if you set them; but when you let those goals, or what other say about your goals become your master…. It might be time to reevaluate…