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…
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