“There are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened. We all have a choice. You can decide which type of person you want to be. I have always chosen to be in the first group.” – Mary Kay Ash
In my mind, there are two very important trends I have noticed that seem to be taking over our industry by embedding themselves in today’s singers psyche. I don’t know if it’s because the perception of the current economy puts real stress on how and where to spend your hard earned money, and/or that the proliferation of the virtual world has changed not only the professionalism when corresponding with others in our industry, but also has influenced mistakenly, a singers idea about vocal technique.
The virtual world seems to provide many possibilities for imitating the sound of a particular singer of today or yesteryear. I am amazed at how much time today’s singers spend surfing the web looking for and comparing singers. This could be a great tool if used for investigating and understanding different types of vocal and even drama techniques and styles, when shared and discussed with your mentors, voice teachers and coaches. However, using this tool to only imitate another’s vocal sound may create a pathway to unhealthy singing possibly causing serious vocal problems as you move forward.
Wouldn’t it be more gratifying to spend your time, energy and money on getting your own unique, consistent and authentic voice up and running? Yes, it’s often not fun. Practicing can often simply become a mindless routine; you simply replicate what you are doing over and over again while trying to listen to the results to hear the right sound. It can feel mundane, monotonous, and boring, most times continuing to give you the results you have always gotten. This can be discouraging and make you want to give up. When this does happen I have noticed that often singers instead, spend hours mindlessly singing through their audition pieces or the roles they are interested in. They just want to feel good so they over indulge and wallow in their emotions without regard to whether it helps express the character, intent of the music and words. It makes them feel like they have accomplished something. In reality it accomplishes nothing except helping to continue reinforcing bad vocal habits. Then when it comes time to audition, they wonder why they didn’t get the job. It’s wiser and less expensive in the long run to spend your time, energy and money concentrating on putting your own vocal technique in place so the world can hear your authentic and distinct sound that would allow you, when working with coaches, to be able to express the characters emotion through the sound of your own voice.
And what’s with the poor spelling, bad grammar and incomplete sentences we seem to be receiving in emails today? Is that part of your Personal Brand that you want to be remembered for? It doesn’t seem professional to most of us on the receiving end. Others with whom I often speak in our industry are on the same page about these subjects. So is it a generational thing? I don’t think so and neither do others. It’s about making professional choices. You can choose to focus on the content when you read, comprehend and reply to email that needs your thoughtful response. Yes, this does take a bit more time, some contemplation and some actual completely spelled out words. And grammar, punctuation, and spelling are out the window! How is that possible with the advent of spell check on most every device? Is this how you want the professional world to perceive you? Is this you representing your Personal Brand? All of these things count as you build your career and reputation! With your friends or family using a Tweet or Facebook post are personal messages so it is understandable that you would and could use all the internet short hand and emoticons. But remember that there is a difference between a social email, text or tweet with your friends and a professional electronic communication with your colleagues in the business world.
So what is it going to be? The same ole, same ole, running around like a chicken with its head cut off, or are you strong enough to stop all the distraction and take a long hard look at where you are right now and how you got there! Want to make some drastic changes and really find out if you have the “right stuff” for the making of a singing career instead of simply over indulging in your emotions and making everything personal? You will have to start owning your own time, energy and money. That my friends, helps build the kind of foundation you can trust for finding the lessons when failure and mistakes happen, and they will. No more excuses. Take your life back! Be able to trust yourself! And bravo for starting that process now!
Now you know what I think. Let me hear from you because want to know what you think.
Ciao Carol
