What is a Diva?

Monday musings...

We throw this word around so much...what does it mean, really? Who should use it? Who should be deemed thus?

According to the Latin origin - diva or masculine divo - means deity, goddess, god.

Diva has then been bestowed on opera singers,  then other exceptional singers in other genres and eventually has been used to described BEHAVIOR.

With the behavior, "Diva" has often been used to describe a negative thing. Bad behavior, unacceptable behavior.  This is just wrong.

First, one cannot bestow "Diva" on oneself!!! Someone else bestows that on you - after you are achieved a certain level of professionalism and prowess and artistic maturity.  You do not assume "Diva", you EARN it.  You earn it with your work, your commitment, your passion and your ability to translate these factors into your art AND your behavior.  

Behaving badly, treating people rudely et al is NOT "Diva behavior".  It is rude and ridiculous.  There is NO EXCUSE to treat others in your business - other singers, actors, dancers - including directors, producers, stage managers, lighting and sound people, props people, dressers,  AND ALL THOSE WHO LIVE IN THEATRE - like they are LESS than you are!   THEY ARE NOT!

A true Diva acknowledges the work EACH person does and how it affects the outcome of a show and performance.  Each person has an important part in this process.  A true Diva treats those around her with respect and kindness.  Nothing less.

A true Diva pays attention to those around her.  She is a team player.  She works for the TOTAL production, not for the ego of self.  

She may be tough, but she's fair.  She may be demanding - for the highest standards that will make a positive difference during rehearsal, production, preparation et al.  

She has built her craft.  She acknowledges others who do the same.  She is still growing.  She is still discovering.  She is about CREATING not pulling focus. She doesn't make excuses for herself, and therefore, takes no excuses from others.  She realizes EVERYBODY is responsible for their part in a production and EVERYBODY must do their part, including her!

She demands respect because she GIVES it!!  She demands perfection, because she wants that from herself!  She is mature, forthcoming, generous and focused.

She is about something REAL and CLEAR.  She is not about strutting around and appearing as if she is important! She is about the work and about the creation of art.  She brings positive energy into a room - she doesn't suck it out.  She is  straightforward and beyond games.  

We all know these real Divas - and we also know the fake ones.  If you want to be called a Diva in the purest, most real way, THEN EARN IT!!!! 

There is nothing more disgusting than the fake wannabe diva that behaves poorly and cannot bring any artistic merit to a production or process.  Often, they are the only ones who call themselves "diva".  Self-deception is alive and well!

The wannabes are simply rude, small-minded people who wish they were someone else.  Perhaps if they claimed what they have and develop it completely and concentrate on the WORK, they would develop a more positive reputation overall!

If everybody is a Diva then nobody is.  Use the term wisely.  A Diva is wise and true and generous and real.  Anything less is not.  

Singng when we don't feel like singing

Friday musings after a suggestion by a facebook friend...and I thank you for this!

How do we sing when we are in emotional turmoil or pain?  Should we? Should we stop?  Can we? 

Whether you are dealing with a death, a break-up, a crisis, a terminal disease close to you, a job loss, a major change of ANY kind that causes deep emotional stress,  this can and will affect your singing.  

Often when dealing with any major life issue, it isn't just the singing we don't feel like doing or feel we cannot do;  it isn't much of anything.  We do what we need to survive and often that is exhausting enough because our energy has been tapped elsewhere.

Why do we feel that we cannot sing?  Each answer will be different.  I believe it often has to do with the physical energy we need to focus to sing.  Also, the accessibility of emotional and spiritual energy we need to discover to create an openness and vulnerability to find the sound, the quality, the character, the life in a piece of music.  The sheer VIBRATION of sound can move us - literally and figuratively - and if we are tender already emotionally, that movement can shift us uncontrollably.  We may not be ready for that.  

Ultimately, whatever we can or cannot do in times like this - IT IS OKAY.  There are no pat answers; there are no definitives;  a moment at a time, doing the best you can in ENOUGH.

As an artist, we access energy on every level of consciousness when we create and perform and rehearse.  We aren't always aware of that consciousness but we do it!  Energy and vibration by nature is in motion, and it CHANGES us and the place we stand.  It shifts, it reconstructs, it creates.  Often, when we are dealing with strong emotional anxiety, we need to find stillness - and the slight shift of energy can be very disconcerting as our sensitivities are so ultra-heightened.

When I look around me at artists who are singers, who can get up there and perform during a crisis - loss of a loved one, personal trauma, whatever - I am amazed and wide-eyed.  But knowing some of them well, I can tell you this:  singing for the SAKE of singing is very different than performing for survival, when others are relying on you for work.  Sometimes, the reason that is more tangible - work/survival/others' survival - can allow you to find that extra something that makes you get up and DO.  You MAKE it work.  Do you pay for it? Of course you do.  The process often can take more time because you have find a way through it when you don't want to do it.

And then, some artists find that the raw vulnerability and the vibration of their beings begins to heal them through a tough emotional time.  It doesn't need to be pretty or "right" - it just needs to be real.  It needs to be truthful.  Isn't that what voice should be anyway? Truth? If it hurts, it hurts. If it's pain, it's pain.  It's through the acknowledgement of what is THERE that the healing begins to take place.

Your LIFE will take residence in your SOUND.  This is what makes you UNIQUE.  You should sound like no one else because your path, your experiences, your joys, your sorrows, your RESPONSES are simply - YOURS.  All of this is reflected in the mystery we call voice: That uniquely individual vibration that defines your voice.

Sometimes we HAVE to sing.  Sometimes we do not.  Only YOU will know when it's time to explore it while going through the experiences that only you can experience.

Is it okay to not feel like singing? Of course it is.  At some point, you will awake, and say, "today, I sing! I sing because I want to; I sing because I MUST; I sing because this is who I am and what I do."

Claim that knowledge in those moments of exhaustion and confusion.  Know it will come as it is supposed to.

In the meantime, look after you.  Give yourself permission to be where you are.  If you are where you are, you continue to walk your path.  If you don't - you remain stuck in a place you don't belong.

just BE.  Wherever that is today.

I will share a profoundly personal moment with you, dear reader.  The writing of this blog has been therapeutic for me as it has allowed me to verbalize my journey over the last few months.  I lost my wonderful Dad to cancer in March - my father, my friend, my mentor - and today is the day of his birth.  I celebrate him today - and I SING! I sing because he loved to hear me sing; I sing because he would want me to sing and it would make him smile! And, I believe it DOES make him smile - and THAT is enough to make me WANT to sing.

  The day belongs to you! BE IN IT!  However it makes sense to you - BE.

Are you Sabotaging your audition?

conversations with students bring such interesting things to the fore!

Audition sabotage - are you doing it before you even get into the room???

What do you do in the hallway while you are waiting?  

My advice is simple:  it is YOUR time, YOUR audition preparation and NO ONE has a right to interfere in that with conversation, questions, talking on the phone or other stupidity!  

There are always the twits in the music theatre hallway that have to "sing", stretch and yack...about how important they are.  If you have to talk about yourself that much, trust me, you aren't that important.  Whether it is intentional or not, these people are audition-sabotagers.  

They are there to pull focus and see if they can throw you off your game.  Sadly, too often, it works.  The stupidity of "me me me" and pulling focus does that - and you fall for it!!! STOP IT!  If someone needs to pull focus in an audition hallway, they have no business auditioning.  Remember who you are dealing with!  These are the idiots of our business.  

You are there to be seen and give your best self for an audition.  You are not there to get angry, ticked off, and irritated by the ditsy and the bizarre!  You are also not there to be friends,make friends, be companions, coffee buddies, gossip buddies or anything like that.  You are there to be SEEN and potentially get a JOB.  These people are not your friends in this situation! They are not your enemies either - your response should find indifference - neutral and clean.

There is no rudeness in keeping your own counsel and preparing yourself mentally and psychologically for what you need to do when entering that audition room.  That means SELF focus.  You can make a decision to create a bubble around you and protect your audition!!! You must bring your concentration, your focus, your talent, YOUR WILL with you into an audition.  You do not need it diluted or confused by somebody who doesn't understand the skill or craft of what is going on! And it is not your responsibility to educate them.  Leave them to themselves - remember, indifference.

Coffee, gossip, drinks - happen at another time!!! Audition means work.  Simple as that.

If it means you have to keep your headphones in your ears until you get ready to walk in, then do it.  If you need to read, do it.  If you need to wander away if you have an assigned time/number, then do it.  If you have to be still and stare at the wall, then do it.

Who is there and what is going on around you is IRRELEVANT to your audition.  But if you let it in, it can INFLUENCE your audition.  Your audition should be influenced by YOU and ONLY YOU. Your preparation, your focus, your execution.  

What you hear in the hallway should not register.  What you hear coming from the audition room should not register.  The only thing that should register is what you are prepared to do and how you will do it!  Are you prepared musically, dramatically, and physically? Do you know how you are walking into that space? Do you sense how you will walk and stand and present yourself? Is your music prepared for the pianist?  Can you "rehearse" the audition process in your head?

Find the things that help you stay focused, calm, PRESENT as you wait for your name to be called.  Do not let yourself "wander" into the minutia of the hallway!!! The nature of it will cause you to second-guess and wonder.  You are past the point of wondering!!! You are DOING!!  There is no wondering if you are good enough, pretty enough, if your voice is developed enough, if your shoes are high enough, if your skirt is long enough...YOU ARE ENOUGH!  Any of these thoughts will sabotage YOUR WORK.  STOP IT!

Head phones with music, head phones with silence, a book, a magazine, a blank page...anything to create sanctuary in a crazy space with all that other energy lurking!  If someone tries to draw you into conversation, a simple smile and quick answer and go back to what you are doing.  If they are stupid enough (or conniving enough) to continue to try to engage, you can say you are preparing and need to focus and would be happy to speak at a later time. This makes you a professional not a bitch or unapproachable!  The audition hallway is not about winning a prize for the most popular at the club! 

Your audition bag should include your music, your shoes, your makeup, a change of clothes if necessary, and anything to keep you focused/busy/drawn into your energy and not letting others leak in!  Create it - it is YOURS.  

Be professional, respectful, engaged and present.  DO YOUR WORK.  Take your breath and your moment and claim that audition!!

What about SHOES at the audition???

home from teaching tonight...

Heard from a voice student who is a veteran dancer in this business...we had been discussing shoes last week, and her most recent audition experience brought this up again so I decided it was time to address it...

Dancers - BRING ALL YOUR DANCE SHOES to a call!  You never know what will be asked for and you need to be ready for all possibilities!  And I mean your heels too...ESPECIALLY your heels!!! YOU ARE A DANCER!  If you don't know the drill, then LEARN.

Which brings me to music theatre singer/actors and heels - ladies I am speaking to you, unless gentlemen are auditioning for a drag show...and in that case, some of you can probably teach some of your female counterparts a thing or two about heels!!

I have heard numerous casting directors over the last year say this "If I see ballet flats/flip flops in an audition again, I am gonna scream!"

Flip flops?!?!? are you KIDDING ME!? Girls, there is NO EXCUSE for this!! Do you realize you could be completely sabotaging your own audition by the footwear you are wearing into the room????

YOU MUST LEARN HOW TO WORK IN HEELS.  Simple.  Unless you are auditioning for a child's part in a children's show and want legs that look like pipes - leave your flats in your bag and CHANGE YOUR SHOES IN THE HALLWAY!!!

Don't wear your heels to the call - bring them with you!  Work in them, practice in them, walk in them, balance in them.  Get somebody to critique you who KNOWS how to walk in heels!

First, heels gives you line - and it shapes your leg.  You hold yourself differently.  You walk differently.  It gives you a different energy.  Learn how to use heels to your advantage - and not just character shoes! Do not use character shoes to audition in unless you are dancing! If you are doing a singing audition/acting audition, find the heels that you are comfortable in that are performance shoes.  Only you can decide on that.  The only way you will know is if you LEARN and TRY.  Do not say "I don't wear heels" and throw out the idea! What if the character you are being considered for actually wears heels? Still not gonna do it?!??

Heels do not mean 5 inch club wear!  A simple kitten heel can be elegant and dressed up.  If you aren't used to heels regularly, a wedge heel might be more comfortable to walk and stand in. You have so many options - think of your boundaries being: no flats and no clear hooker heels! (unless you are going for a specific role that demands either!!!)  Otherwise, any height is acceptable if it makes sense for your type and your ability to move/walk/support!

Some of my pet peeves:

1. walking on your toes in heels - a big no-no.  Learn how to balance your body through your hip joints and walk from your HEEL.

2. walking taking long strides - or too short of a stride. Stride should be 2 "feet" lengths apart - ish! NO MORE!

3.  Open toe shoes that don't fit - if your toes hang over - those shoes do not fit!  Your feet have to fit INSIDE those shoes! If you have toes that don't, then wear closed-toe mules or something that doesn't distract from your singing and presentation!

4.  Open toe shoes that show an un-pedicured foot!!!  Look after those toes!!! AND those heels!!

These are a few - but important ones...

No one can go wrong with a great pair of pumps that have a heel height that is comfortable to move in/walk in and ties in an outfit and a type.  A great pair of pumps in a great color can also be an outstanding addition to an outfit!! And why not be the ingenue with "the great red pumps" and be remembered that way, instead of another ingenue in flats?

Have those dance shoes and those audition shoes ready to go!  Know they are there and reliable no matter what!  Check for scuffs and secure heels. Create the package you wish to create and present it fully - with confidence and poise!  

Guys - your shoes are important too.  They are part of your outfit, and your persona.  Don't neglect them!! Know how to walk in them - and keep them polished if they are leather.  Otherwise, keep them CLEAN! No flip-flops for you either!!!

Your footwear matters - and it is up to YOU to find what works best for your body, your feet, and your type.  Remember the audition is a JOB INTERVIEW! And you are not interviewing to be a lifeguard - you are an ACTOR/DANCER/SINGER - you are an opera singer - are you an ARTIST!  Interview accordingly!!