Sunday, November 16, 2014

Why Do You Sing?

Musings this Sunday morning...

It's a simple, yet highly personal and highly complex question.

Why do you sing?

Don't try to answer too quickly.  We are always looking for "sound bites" and pat answers.  This is not that type of question.  At least, not to me.

Why do you sing?

YOU.

Not, why do you THINK you sing.

Not, why did you START singing.

Not, who do you sing for?

Why?
You?
Sing?

Often these are the questions, or this is the question we forget to remind ourselves of as we journey through the development of the craft of voice,  of being a performer, of developing our artistry, of juggling and struggling to make ends meet as we pursue the business of show, or not.

We can feel so discouraged, or angry, or grouchy, or disillusioned, or bitchy because of the business, the struggle, the rejection,  the tiny morsels when you are really starving - that we forget the answer to this question;  if we ever truly claimed the answer in the first place.

How would you feel if you didn't sing?

What would you do if you decided NOT to sing?

Perhaps those questions can help to create an angle to allow you full access into why you DO sing?

The clearer you are about why,  the more focused your day becomes.  The more focused your day becomes, the more open the journey becomes.  The burden becomes lighter.  It is a burden CHOSEN by you,  not placed on you.

We all have a choice.  If you are trying to pursue a career,  you can often feel as if all the choices are not yours.  In fact,  the choices of why and how and when in many cases are still very much in your control and in your power and decision to DO something about them.

 So, why do you sing?  I mean, really?  Not the answer that your teacher wants to here;  not the answer you give your parents;  not the answer you think everybody wants to hear after this length of time trying to be a singer;  not even the answer YOU think you should give to make yourself feel better,  feel important,  feel crucial.

The answer is often in the shadows when the lights are off;  in whispers;  not because you are ashamed of the answer,  but the answer becomes too personal to reveal to anybody else BUT YOU.

Nobody needs to know why you sing.  People will speculate.  People will tell you THEIR answer. 

Your answer is really all that matters if you choose to answer it honestly,  and claim it fully.

There is not a right or wrong answer.

There is only YOUR answer.

Your answer then reveals TO you about you;  and where you are supposed to be next;  and what the next question is;  and who you ask that question of.

The question AND the answer will keep you grounded as so much around us is trying to give us artistic amnesia.  

Keep asking the questions.  The REAL ones.  And keep clearing space to find the REAL answers.  Nobody has to approve,  disapprove, like or dislike.  The question is real,  and it deserves a real answer, that only YOU can provide.

Ask it,  discover the answer.  YOURS.





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