See what I did there? Did anybody else sing it?

As I am often asked about doing a pivot step ball change into the virtual world with the studio when the pandemic hit this year, I thought I would write a bit about it.

Yes, I did some work online with singers who were on tour, performing elsewhere in the world and needed a lesson/had a vocal issue, but it wasn’t the focus. My focus was in person, in the studio, in the rehearsal space. I wasn’t sure the virtual space was effective so we used it as needed, but I didn’t expand it.

And then March 2020 hit. My last day in my NYC physical studio was the same day Broadway closed its theatres.

Then we had to pivot, create, explore, get messy, get uncomfortable and figure it out!

So that’s what I did.

I took classes. I explored technology!!!! I tried mics and headphones. I explored and continue to explore the technology platforms. Thank goodness for my VoiceOver experience and recording at home, which helped immensely.

And then, then other questions: HOW to teach, HOW to work with singers and actors in the virtual space?

And guess what? We pivoted. It wasn’t better or worse, it was just different: different focus, different ways of listening, different ways of accessing; more specificity, asking more questions.

We can fight it, and stay “purist” to the in person only idea, but it’s not the only way and never will be again. I had to be all the things I write about in my artistry: pliable, ready to explore, ready to make mistakes, ready to get messy and figure it out.

And every lesson and every singer is invited into the virtual space, and we create safety there. We create the space between us and find the intimacy of discovery and exploration together. We collaborate on what the artist needs. What they want to leave with after that session. The session has focus, has reason, has flexibility.

The artist brings their space and safety into the the space we create together. And it works! it actually works brilliantly!!

The specificity and detail we are able to discover together has been tremendous. Every singer I have worked with during this year has grown - in one session and in multiple sessions. The collaboration of the two of us and the technology and embracing the “different” and finding out how to use it successfully has been illuminating.

Will I go back into the in person studio at some point? Yes, when it’s safe to do so. But the online space has become “home” too. I won’t be leaving it. My studio will be a combined hybrid when it’s safe to do so.

In the meantime, I have met and worked and work with singers and actors from all over the world, that I would never have had an opportunity to meet or work with. I work with the artists that have been a part of SEY Voice in person, now online. We breathe into the space. What do you need? What can we collaborate to discover today, in this moment? What do you want to leave this session with?

These are the questions I ask. These are the quests we explore together. Specific or general - and always uniquely developed for the individual artist on that screen.

Yet, vibration somehow transcends the dimension of online. There is magic in that. I still get goosebumps. We still laugh. We still cry. And it’s safe to express. It’s safe to make new choices. It’s safe to allow and explore and change our minds and figure it out together.

Just like in the in person studio. But different.

I will let you in on a little secret: I kinda love it. Not more; not less; just differently.

As we vibrate through the rest of 2020 and energize into the hope of 2021, embrace possibility. See where it takes you.

I welcome you, always into SEY Voice Online.