You may have heard that Dame Julie Andrews is scheduled to direct the 60th anniversary production of My Fair Lady this summer at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. You can watch an interview about it here:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-10/julie-andrews-offers-advice-to-aspiring-actors/6929054
In the interview she gave some good advice to artists:
"The underpinning of discipline is the foundation that leaves me free to then fly. If I know that I've done my homework, which is what I suggest to all young talent these days, then I've got something there that I can spring from. But if you haven't learned it well, paid your dues or put in the hours, you don't have as much to pull from.”
The end of the semester is really when we find out if we’ve been doing our “homework.” In other words, has the process you’ve been following this semester prepared you and helped you grow?
As indicated in your class syllabus, I firmly believe that your final grade in Studio Voice should be a reflection of the work you have been doing all year. If you have been disciplined and on task, the jury performance is almost always solid. If, however, you have an outstanding jury performance but you were not disciplined in meeting your other responsibilities throughout the semester then you will not receive a high grade just because you "aced your final.”
I adhere to this policy to emphasize exactly what Dame Andrews indicates: if you have done your homework, you have more to pull from as an artist. There may be shortcuts to throwing together a performance, but creating something artistic and powerful takes time, discipline, and practice.
When the semester is finally over and you have moved on to your happy holidays, I hope you all take some time to go back and honestly reflect on the last five months. Though this is not an exercise that will be graded, it may be the most important assignment of the year.
Work hard in your last week of class. I’m looking forward to your juries!
Now go practice.
I completely agree with Julie Andrews, the more you work and know about your craft the more you have to work with. It is true that knowledge (in your craft) is power and the more doors one will have open if one expands beyond what one knows. I have a difficult time knowing when to stop rehearsing and distinguishing whether or not I've worked hard enough. I always want to be my best, but balance is a skill that takes time but I believe that as long as one keeps working at it and has passion/natural talent for something, a dream can be achieved. I am thrilled for juries but also a bit anxious. This is my dream so I really want to do well. Sometimes it is hard to focus on the progress and believe that I am growing, but I believe I am. I hope it shows in juries.
ReplyDeleteAh! Julie Andrews...
ReplyDeleteI have often found myself guilty of waiting until the last minute to put things together for a performance or an audition, but have found that I, personally, operate MUCH better when I am prepared. When I used to procrastinate my practice, I would run through the material in my head up until the second before I had to perform. I recently realized, while doing Young Frankenstein, that I can't do that to myself forever if I'm planning on being a successful and happy performer. I started challenging myself to not go over any of the choreography or music once the show began. I had put in the work. I was at every rehearsal and, more importantly, I was present at every rehearsal. It was such a great feeling to simply walk on stage and know that i KNOW what I'm doing. I have also noticed this in studio. When I work on the song and prepare blocking before class, I feel so much better about working on my piece versus coming in cold with nothing decided. The same for voice lessons. When I spend time every day going over my material, I'm more confident. I don't stress that I have a voice lesson that day. If I don't practice as much I notice that I dread going to voice because I'm scared I'll mess up on something I should've fixed over the course of the week. Confidence is power, especially in this business. And just a little bit of preparation fuels that confidence.
I completely agree with all that was said. You should take the time to prepare, and you shouldn't just hold off until the last minute. I have had one of the toughest semesters this year then any other these past four years. Which is surprising seeing as how it's my second to last, but it was and I let it all effect my school work. I didn't work on things as much as I know I should have, I found myself scrambling to get things done in the last second. Which of course did nothing for my confidence because I work so much better when I have done nothing but prepare. Because like I said it is so true! You need to put in that work, you need to spend free time practicing, you need to do all these things, and what became hard for me was seeing all these people being rewarded for lack of work, lack of preparation, for putting something together last minute while I had been working on it for weeks. I let it get to me and effect my attitude towards my work, when it shouldn't have made me stop working, it should have pushed me harder to be even more prepared to help really show the difference between people who work and don't work. Because in this business, preparation is what is going to help you.
ReplyDeleteHomework is practicing. Preparing and practicing is the only thing that helps you improve. Homework is useful because it helps us not forget what we have previously learned. For me, I don't mind homework, especially if the lesson was hard to grasp. Putting time into something really helps in the long run. I usually do homework right after school so it is still fresh in my mind. It also makes me more confident knowing more and more each day. Hard work definitely pays off, it especially makes you better as an artist. People who don't practice as much or try as much, don't succeed like the people who do. Even in singing, homework is to practice a couple or more days in a week. If you don't, your voice won't become better. Plus, there will always be someone who knows more and who is better than you so practice, practice,
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I feel like homework doesn't necessarily mean practicing. There are other ways we can do our homework that doesn't involve our voice. We can do homework by researching and exploring different forms of singing whether it be with musicals or pop music. The more we broaden our horizons and the more knowledge we know, the more we can pull from it, just as Julie Andrews says. Often times, when I'm not practicing, I'll listen to the soundtracks of musicals that I've never heard before so that I have more exposure to as many musicals as possible. I also feel that you can do homework by attending plays, musicals, ballet performances, concerts, operas, ect. for the sole purpose of becoming exposed to other forms of the performing arts. The more well-rounded of an individual, the more likely that you'll get hired for a job in the future.
ReplyDeleteI have never struggled more than this semester to find motivation and joy in my practicing and homework, but this quote from Julie Andrews and watching my fellow actors has reminded me why we do what we do. I've been looking for the "why" behind my degree and my classes since they have felt overshadowed by personal issues, but it's pretty simple: because art heals. Having confidence, feeling safe and normal, feeling like a part of something, becoming a vessel for another artist's work- these things can only happen with practice. Remembering this will help me this week and for the rest of my career and maybe, just maybe heal a little bit from a difficult semester. I hope if there is one piece of advice I can pass on to those people who have more than a few semesters left in school it's this: Take care of yourself, but part of that entails honoring your commitment to your education for yourself. As for me, there's a lot I can't change about this semester, but if I work hard this week I will finish with less regret and greater hope and motivation for next semester. I forget what her name was, but a choreographer did a master class with us last semester and I remember she said there are three things that matter in the performing arts "Work hard, have fun, be kind."
ReplyDeleteI find that preparation is the most important thing to me as a performer. Especially when working with any kind of text, I find that my most solid work comes from having those words deeply memorized so that they can come out without having to think about what they will be, so I can just respond freely to what causes me to say them. I often get frustrated with myself when I have a mediocre performance or audition and then reflect back and find that my practice was in fact mediocre as well. It's easy to do "just-enough" in rehearsal then in hind sight see that you did not "do enough" but, for me, it's often difficult to diagnose laziness in the moment. In past semesters I have let singing fall prey to laziness, or get trumped by other priorities, which is ridiculous because improving as a vocalist is one of my biggest desires right now in my training. Upon beginning this semester, my most important goal was to discipline my practice and really make my vocal improvement a priority. I have not been perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and I still have a long way to go, but I honestly feel more prepared for this jury than I have for any of my previous singing finals. This is not to say that I necessarily think I sound better in these current songs than any other, but I feel like I know them more wholly. Time will tell what this means for the actual final performance, but whatever happens I feel like I can look back on this semester and feel good about the progress I've made and know how to continue improving my discipline and practice ethic.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I hate to practice when I'm upset. The reason for this is because when I'm upset, my throat usually clenches up or I can't sing from crying. I feel like I'd rather sing when I'm in a healthy state always. It's better to sing correctly then sing in an unhealthy way. When I'm upset, sometimes I'll belt my heart out to get the emotions out of my system, yet this isn't very healthy at all. I'm guilty of belting and singing songs that can strain my voice but everyone does this sometimes. I try not to do this, and I value practicing very much. I believe everyone should practice at least once a day or every other day for a good 15-30 minutes, healthy. Warm up and don't strain yourself. Know your voice and what it can handle. I know it's hard for me sometimes to sing nonstop, so I don't do it. This is where cardio comes in so I can work out and make my lungs stronger. This will help me sing more healthy and for longer periods of time. You just have to know your body and what you need to do and what you know can't do.
ReplyDeleteYou know you can't do.**
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