By now, you’ve either heard about, or seen Celine Dion’s miraculous and absolute moving performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony. If you haven’t seen the documentary on Amazon Prime, I AM: CELINE DION, you need to watch it.

We hear “vocal athlete” thrown around a lot, but what is it REALLY? Is Celine a vocal athlete? Are you?

When we hear world class athletes speak about their sport, it goes beyond what they have trained their bodies to do: yes, some natural ability is important; yes, the training of that body to inhabit that sport is crucial; and maybe even more importantly, is the mental ability, the passion, the MINDSET that allows for all these parts to come together and mingle and create.

“Hymne a l’Amour” - the Edith Piaf chanson that Celine Dion sang, and EMBODIED, is approximately 3 and a half minutes long.

Olympic athletes continue to shave time off their sprint, run, swim…

It is all the work, the sacrifice, the focus, the commitment, the physical discomfort, and on and on, that is reflected in that 3 minutes, or 90 seconds, or whatever the timing of the actual event is.

Just with world class Olympic athletes, the vocal athlete doesn’t show in the moment of performance what is has cost them to be there, and what it might cost them after they leave the stage.

This is why we continue to study, to train, to cross-train, to finesse, to develop, to discover - not just the body, the voice, the breath, but the MINDSET, and the MENTALITY.

Celine Dion has a progressive neurological disease, and you will see its debilitating consequences in the documentary. With her huge global success, she could have easily let it take her and give up, but that is not the athlete she is. She is passion personified. Her sheer force of WILL and her understanding of her own voice and body and breath combined with WHY she does what she does got her there to perform with every ounce of her being. And we were moved. Because it was real, authentic, and singularly, Celine.

Did that preparation and that performance cost her? Absolutely no doubt it did. Does she care that it did? I highly doubt it. Being the champion she is and committing to her performance and her raison d’etre by far exceeds the cost she will pay. She knows the cost and does it anyway. This is the athlete’s mentality.

The athleticism of the voice is so many levels of consciousness and so many integrations of self. We need to care and nurture ALL of it.

Yes, you must build your technique, your knowledge, your skills, but you must move BEYOND it too (see what I did there?!) and strengthen & acknowledge your mental health, your will, your courage, your mindset, and know and learn WHY you are doing this. Simply doing it is not enough.

Will it cost? All great pursuits do. It doesn’t need to be a negative cost. The profound sense of self when all the parts come together to create the magic of art, in rehearsal, in performance, in practice - cannot be replicated anywhere.

Every sport, every sports team, every physical athlete has a psychological coach. The culture of sport recognizes this as just as, if not more important than the physical work.

Perhaps it’s time, as singers and performers, to realize that this is important in our work too. Yes, get to the gym. Yes, go for a walk. Yes, take lessons, study, coach your music, languages, styles, build your instrument, learn about your industry. And YES, lean into the psychology and mindset of what you do with someone who is a professional in THIS aspect of your training.

Celine Dion did something the other night that was indeed miraculous. But SHE created that miracle by meeting her limitations head on and creating a team around her that would get her there and help her recover when she finished.

She is truly a vocal athlete.

You are too. Just commit to all the facets that demand that athleticism and don’t neglect the absolute necessity of your mind and spirit and the health that is crucial in that.

with fondness & fierceness,

Susan