The mantra “Live, Love, Laugh” has been sought out by high-end wall art curators for years and sets a tone for embracing the journey of life: #squadgoals. This sentiment can be a mental health booster for both singers and civilians looking for their personal ethos. This column will explore the mantra with a slight adjustment for students: Live, Love, Learn.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet famously said, “To be, or not to be: that is the question.” For the sake of this column, I will skip Hamlet’s ensuing existential crisis and summarize that we should indeed exist, or “be.” And since we do exist, it follows that we want to exist well. If you are reading Classical Singer magazine, it seems credible that music enriches your existence. Plato wrote in depth about life as a continuous search for good things that satisfy our needs and provide happiness and love that completes us. Learning more about your art will help fulfill your life, which leads us to our modified mantra: Live, Love, Learn.
Live
Pay attention
Seek happiness
Star in your own reality show
The art of living as a music major is a magnificent jigsaw puzzle for young musicians. There are thousands of pieces representing your lessons, classes, peers, professors, financial aid officer, and the tongue-twisting challenge of learning German phrases such as . . .
In einem Bächlein helle,
Da schoß in froher Eil
Die launische Forelle
Vorüber, wie ein Pfeil.
(Name this tune for extra Schubert street cred.)
As you assemble the pieces of your career, you will find Zen in learning vocal technique and be challenged to prepare for every solo, choral, and opera performance.
Your music major life is like a puzzle because . . .
“Right brain deals with emotions and performs tasks holistically while the left brain functions in linear fashion. . . . Left brain thinks logically and follows sequence while the right brain is creative, intuitive, and emotional. When you try to put together a jigsaw puzzle, you harness both the brain powers. . . . This intense activity works to exercise the brain cells and thereby activate them and increase their efficiency and capacity.”
(www.memoryjoggingpuzzles.com/why-jigsaw-puzzles-good-for-the-brain/)
Deep diaphragmatic breathing will assist you all day long from the practice room to your theory tests. Breathing is an involuntary process—yet students of singing need to work diligently to maximize efficient breath control. The Spire Wellness Team blog posted an in-depth study on diaphragmatic breathing and the potential benefits for stress and anxiety. I highly recommend reading the entire post, but these are some key tips they share:
“The more you use your diaphragm to breathe, the stronger the muscle will become. A stronger diaphragm also puts less strain on your body to breathe, which gives you more energy to put towards other system functions. . . . When you’re feeling anxious, your breath speeds up. If it gets bad enough, you might hyperventilate with quick, shallow breaths. Hyperventilation causes you to get too much air, while your body thinks it isn’t getting enough. This can lead to lightheadedness and fainting.”
“Diaphragmatic breathing is also an incredibly effective tool for reducing stress. Whether you’re feeling anxious in regard to an event happening in your life or feel like you’re taking on too many responsibilities, breathing from your diaphragm can help you to calm down and cut your stress levels. With all of the dangerous side effects that come from being chronically stressed out, being able to reduce anxieties and worries through simple breathing methods can help improve your health in many areas.”
(blog.spire.io/2018/05/06/diaphragmatic-breathing/)
Warren Jones once said in a masterclass, “There is breathing for living and there is breathing for singing.” With each breath we take, we live. So, put your phone down, take a breath, and pay attention to your life!
As you breathe deeply and embrace the moment, you might find yourself longing for a more joyful existence. Ingrid Fetell Lee’s TED2018 Talk, “Where Joy Hides and How to Find It,” is a designer’s perspective on joy and living. She describes joy as a momentary feeling of lightness that can be associated with cherry blossoms, bubbles, swimming pools, fireworks, etc. To find joy, she advises the following:
“Color, in a very primal way, is a sign of life, a sign of energy. And the same is true of abundance. We evolved in a world where scarcity is dangerous, and abundance meant survival.”
“Each moment of joy is small, but over time, they add up to more than the sum of their parts.”
“What we should be doing is embracing joy and finding ways to put ourselves in the path of it more often.”
Joy comes in bursts, like performance highs, and happiness is a long-term, sustainable attitude, like daily practicing. Seeking joy in singing will help you achieve happiness. Every singer is a work in progress, and when you accept your reality of where you are in the process, you will understand the improvements you need to work on. Are you a beginner? Are you graduating from a music program? Are you looking for the “wow factor” that will garner professional attention?
Wherever you are on your own path is exactly where you should be. This life is your reality show and the dream is yours to pursue. Adding color to your practice space and taking a few moments to gaze at the clouds or watch a butterfly can put you on the path of joy. The art of living as a singer is putting together the unique pieces of your puzzle.
Love
Follow your heart
Treat others with kindness
Invest in healthy relationships
The art of loving as a music major is a passionate affair. You have opportunities to fall in love with art songs, arias, operas, and all types of music. If you love classical singing, follow the music. Whether singing takes you to stages around the world or a kindergarten classroom, you can share your love through your work.
In the 2015 Disney film, Cinderella’s mother tells her, “Have courage and be kind . . . where there is kindness, there is goodness and where there is goodness, there is magic.” It is easy to get competitive in an audition-based profession, but ultimately you are only competing with yourself. Be kind to your colleagues in class, onstage, and online. Watch out for them and stand up for them. There will come a time when you may need help, and karma is b*tch. We might not all get a Cinderella ending, but the magic of friendship and love makes life a more beautiful journey.
Music offers unique opportunities to bond with peers in ensembles, study groups, etc. After the group dynamic of ensemble rehearsals, singers might need motivation to practice alone and study in a solitary library cubicle. But I do hope you will develop friendships with those that bring out the best in you.
After work (practice, study, etc.), connecting with friends releases stress. Love grounds us and gives us stability. Plato wrote, “Love is a desire for perpetual possession of the good,” and that sounds good to me.
Learn
Technique
Repertoire
Performance practice
The art of learning as a music major is a lifestyle. Classical singers spend their lives learning. Every new art song, concert, and opera production will require study. The successful musician will learn to love studying. We are life-long students of the scores we sing, and our study is the prerequisite to bringing music to life.
Maria Callas said, “An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I’ve left the opera house.”
Live and Learn
Society has attributed this saying to learning from our mistakes. You will make mistakes—that is part of the human condition and learning your craft. Learning from imperfect performances will make you a better artist.
Many undergraduate music majors sing new music for every performance or audition. It is not only OK to slow down, but most teachers recommend it! Yes, we want you to learn all the repertoire we assign, but it is far better to perform the same art song at least a few times in studio class before your juries. This gives you the opportunity to analyze which phrase or high note was difficult and then practice mastering that moment for the next performance.
When you begin auditioning for competitions, Young Artist Programs, or leading roles, you will offer the same five arias repeatedly. Most singers prepare a few arias to rotate in or out of the list for specific auditions. But when you get five minutes to show a general director what you’ve got, you want every note to be tried and true with the confidence resulting from successful performances.
Give It Your All
Many moons ago, I had the opportunity to audition for Baz Luhrmann (writer and director of Moulin Rouge! among many other film and theatre successes). It was a callback, and they gave me less than a week to prepare a requested aria I had never sung and was not my Fach by any operatic standard. I learned the aria and probably gave an average performance. Who knows? I cannot remember because it was a nerve-wracking experience and I didn’t know that aria by heart.
I didn’t get the gig, but I learned a valuable life lesson: show them your best. The only way to do that is to live your life, love what you do, and embrace a life of learning.
