STOP!!! NO!!! DON’T DO THAT! Beyond…and back!

And we continue in the series of Beyond…and back.

How did you respond to the title? Did you hold your breath? Or are you wondering what I am talking about?

I remember a singer coming in for a first session. We began some vocalizing and she started, and simply stopped. I was surprised, and asked her why she stopped. She responded with “well, I probably did something wrong and expected you to stop me.”

WHAT?!?!?!

What are we doing?!

I really really REALLY cannot support this type of teaching.

I will not blow sunshine up your butt, but I will not create an atmosphere of “I can’t do anything right” either.

What is the point?!?!?!

I often say to singers that I will not stop them unless something completely derails and we have to reset. Otherwise, let’s see how you are able to take a behavioral idea and begin to create consistency and adjust as you go. Why? When we are on stage, in rehearsal, we don’t get the luxury to simply STOP. We have to be in the moment and make the adjustment.

Make a list for yourself:

The study of voice (for me) is…

Now, make another one:

The study of voice (for me) should be…

And now:

The study of voice (for me) has been…

Anything that is perceived to be “wrong”, “bad”, “negative” let’s ask why?

The study of voice is full of opposites and two things can be true at the same time!

I talk about tangible intangibles all the time. It can be complex, yet simple. It can be ease-filled, yet active.

And it goes on!

Go back to those lists you created and see if you find opposite words. How can you reconcile them? Or can you? How do you begin to silence those voices in your head that say “Stop! No! Don’t do that! Not like that!” ???

You DO. Behavior is ACTION. Technique is ACTION.

It is the ACTION that stops the voices.

You figure out why you are doing that particular warm-up, exercise, vocalise. What is it helping you access? Why is that necessary for your voice? What does it reveal ABOUT your voice and about your physicality? Can you stay present in that exercise to notice changes, physical and acoustical responses from one key to the next? From using different onset, vowels, syllables?

What is the end game? What are you leaning into?

Observing allows you to CONTINUE, NOT STOP. Observing and continuing to do and following through begins to create a technical and physical behavior that can adjust in real time.

If we, as teachers, are working to create a safe place for singers to explore what their instrument does, then we need to nurture and encourage the questions, and ask those questions for a singer to create that observation without value judgement in themselves.

I will always tell a singer that there is NEVER value judgement from me; they are always going to be harder on themselves than I will be. That doesn’t mean they aren’t going to get a good workout! It means, because of the atmosphere, we are collaborating in the building of behavior and it’s safe to make choices, get messy and figure it out together!

If and when we stop, it is to observe and talk about what just happened: What was the sensation? What was observation? What are you listening for? How can we physically adjust the sensation, the body, the breath to allow for MORE of what we are after?

DO NOT STOP. Stay present and continue to adjust, observe, recognize what so you can figure out why, and build on that technical behavior so that your study of voice list moves from was/should be/could be - to IS.

The study of voice for me…IS…

This is where the opposites can live together comfortably.

with fondness & fierceness,