Hope you enjoyed spring break. I did. Now back to work!
Throughout the school year, this blog has served as a reminder to check in with the goals you have set to see how you’ve been meeting them. Now that we’re essentially six weeks away from the end of the semester, you may consider either adjusting your original goals or adding some additional short-term goals to keep you moving in the right direction over the homestretch.
One obvious goal is to be well prepared for your jury or your class singing final. “Well prepared” means you are comfortably memorized, you have a thorough backstory for your characters, and you understand the emotional arc of each story you are telling.
For memorization and character work, try giving yourself deadlines. Divide your songs into short sections you can thoroughly prepare instead of just working an entire song from start to finish. Write out the text and really make sense of the story as it appears on paper. Then go back to the music and apply your thoughts to the story the composer is telling through music.
Practice performing. Singing a song all the way through without forgetting anything is the first stage of memorization. But it’s not really internalized until you can do the same thing with distractions—and what is more distracting than performing a song in front of people?
Ask a friend or two to listen to you sing some of your repertoire (even without piano accompaniment). See if you can do the song all the way through and stay committed to the story. If it feels really awkward to sing for your friends, that probably means it’s doing the job of providing you a sufficient distraction. Sing it a second time for your friends right away before you get comfortable. Then sing it a third time and pick one or two things to do differently. If you’re not ready to sing for your friends yet, try singing to your mother over Skype, or someone else who will be a safe audience.
Once you have performed in safe situations, you can slowly add “higher stakes” performances (like masterclasses) to see how your body reacts under those circumstances. Jumping right from the practice room to a jury or class final might be too far to go in one step. Put these songs in front of a friendly audience first.
Being authentic and sticking to your plan in scary situations is one of the most important skills we are learning here. And it takes practice. So go find a friendly audience to sing for and then be part of someone else’s friendly audience.
Now go practice.
