New Year message - claiming or dabbling?

It's almost another new year...I honestly don't know where the time has gone!! Is this a sign I'm getting old?!?

My almost new year question is: are you dabbling with your craft, or are you claiming it?

Isn't it time to make a decision and DO it?

With true craft, comes real responsibility.  Responsibility to work at it daily and develop it ferociously!!

Within craft, you can mold technique,  artistry and knowledge.   The talent is but a small portion of the overall equation.  It certainly helps, but if it is not harnessed, developed, acknowledged and driven by a passion,  it really means nothing.

None of these things exist in a vacuum.  They need each other to define a claim:  talent,  technique, knowledge,  artistry,  passion,  curiosity and honesty.

Dabbling never truly finds a habitation of any of these things fully.

"I sing well enough..."
"I should be able to do this after this much time..."
"I don't really care..."
"Can I learn it quickly?"

Wanting something and not being honest enough to commit to it fully enough to realize it is simply dabbling.

Dabbling can also mean a delusion - that SOMEDAY you'll find it, but you never commit enough to find it, or find out it's simply not what you do well.

So if you say "I want to learn to sing well;  I need to learn to sing well;  I must find my voice" - THEN DO IT!!!!!

If you are new to this,  reviewing it,  rehashing it - then dive in and explore!

If it's time for a change - make one!  If it's time for a risk - take one!

Whatever area of craft you want and need to explore - quit talking about it and COMMIT to its development.

ONE LESSON will not help you.  Years and years of study and no development will not help you.  What are you studying?  Sounds like dabbling to me.

Commitment to a goal and an honesty of that goal and a clear focus for that goal will allow for the possibility of claiming your craft,  or making another realization of where that craft should manifest itself.

You are not a singer if you have never studied voice;
You are not an actor if you have never studied acting;
You are not a dancer if you have never studied dancing;

You may have an affinity toward a craft - but until you claim the physical manifestation,  the artistic directive and the ability to summon the talent in its totality at will - you are still in process,  or perhaps dabbling.

Loving to sing, or "act" or dance is great - but do not confuse the doing with the loving!

We can learn to do and be and still love it too!  In fact, the love of craft and journey gets deeper as we gain knowledge and develop responsibility to what we are doing.

So,  if you catch yourself saying "I should really take a voice lesson...."  perhaps change that process and decide to say "I should really commit to developing my voice regularly".

The tune ups/occasional lessons/check-ins etc happen AFTER the claiming has occurred.

So,  perhaps it is a new year for claiming, re-claiming,  re-committing,  and re-alizing what you are about.  It will be for me too!

a Jazz Voice and Cabaret Master Class

January 29th  Thomas Young is offering a Jazz Voice and Cabaret Master Class in NYC!

There is limited enrollment for singers AND auditors!

TRUE VOICE NYC is hosting this event and all the registration and important info in available on their website.

Mr. Young brings 40 years experience in jazz idioms in 30 countries of performance!  He has worked with many of the great jazz musicians of the 20th and 21st century!

Whether you are a beginner in jazz idioms, curious to explore more or a seasoned professional who just wants a tune up - this is YOUR class!

You will also be able to purchase an edited recording of your work from True Voice to use as a teaching tool,  a possible clip for your website or whatever you wish!

Here is Mr. Young's Twisted on youtube.

A special registration rate til January 1st available.  Registration available til the class fills.
REGISTER NOW!!!  Singers and Auditors!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Wishing all of you a wonderful holiday season!!!

Blogging will resume I promise!

From my family to yours -  peace, laughter and love!

Is it too late?

Friday evening musings...

Often, singers ask me that question...is it too late?

My answer begins with "too late for what?"

Often, singers who say they want a career, really don't know what that means and what it entails.

Often, singers who say they want a career, don't realize how many "careers" could be had under that umbrella!

It is never too late to do SOMETHING.  What that something is has many many factors.

Is it too late to pursue an international career as an opera singer?

That depends on your training, your talent, your temperament, your fach, your resume, your age, the universe, the business and the combination of all of it!!

 Is it too late to learn how to sing well?

To sing as well as YOU can, at any given age?  never too late.

 Is it too late to have a regional career as a singer?

Is it too late to be in music theatre?

Is it too late...

The question tires me and makes me tense.

The question has a panic about it and sense of desperation.  Panic and desperation do not bode well for success at anything, for anything.

Perhaps it is time to ask ourselves - what do I want and why?  And is it feasible to pursue it? And if it doesn't work out, am I comfortable to look at other possibilities?

I believe, if there are possibilities,  there is forward motion.

I would like to hear a singer ask me "what do you think my possibilities are?"

Now THAT is a question!!!! That has breath, and space and a forward looking optimism that will allow for a realistic view!

Are you, the singer, willing to consider the possibilities within the boundaries of YOU?  Are you willing to consider the possibilities of you within the boundaries of the business?  Are you willing to consider the possibilities of what "career" actually means?

Talent, ability, or not - some personalities are not best suited for a career as a professional singer on the international or national scene.  Some are better suited at the regional level, or even at the local and community level.  Professional comes from attitude and ethic no matter what level you are on!  Perhaps learning to sing well does not necessarily take you down the singer career-path.  Perhaps you find a place for yourself in other aspects of theatre.  Perhaps you are a teacher who sings!

Maybe you find a place in the classroom, or in a choir, or conducting a choir.

Perhaps you have a world class instrument, but you choose to have a family and build a business as a manager, or create an opera company or a theatre company and inspire and lead others into performance.

If there is a possibility, it is never too late.

Often, there are simply those who choose to create unrealistic goals for themselves.  It is almost as if they create and stage a self-sabotaged drama around themselves.

And then there are the oblivious who believe they are somewhere they are not.  They ask questions, but they don't really want to the answers, nor hear or listen to them.

So, before you go directly to "is it too late" - ask yourself what you want and what the possibilities are?  Then are you simply prepared to do what it takes to seize that possibility - and is it a REAL possibility?

It is NEVER too late to claim the truth of YOU - and then, and only then, are the possibilities real and true.

We all need that reminder from time to time in order to keep the path clear and uncluttered, to reclaim a path, or simply walk a new one.

Wherever you are, BE there.  Consider the possibilities and the realistic view and then, claim the possibility by doing whatever it takes to make it REAL.