Throughout the book—alongside information regarding vocal technique, stylistic considerations, and breaking down the subgenres that fall under the broad category of “gospel”—Dr. Robinson-Martin emphasizes the notion that gospel singing should ultimately be approached as a ministry rather than a performance. As such, authenticity in expression is paramount. She writes:
“When picking songs, it is important to acknowledge and sing your own story. You should start with the topics you can best articulate so that when singing a song, you can sing your own words from a personal place rather than the words of someone else. Stop and take time to understand the message of the song. Some singers will default to simply imitating verbatim what the singer on a recording does with the song, hoping to evoke the same response from the listener. As a result, his or her performance is merely an imitation of stylistic expression and serves primarily as entertainment rather than true ministry. Everyone has a story, and each person’s story is unique and worthy of telling.” [p.163]
Of course, oftentimes in lessons we choose songs because of the specific technical elements involved so they can be used as vehicles for vocal growth. And sometimes we choose songs with characters whose personal journeys are quite different from our own.
But the idea of developing your own authentically personal performance within the provided text, notes, and rhythms is a crucial part of our process as music theatre singers.
The last blog was concerned with honoring your own sound and singing with the voice you have. The next step is honoring your own story and unapologetically bringing that part of who you are to your performances. Again, in one or two or five years, you will have a greater wealth of personal experiences from which to draw as singing actors. But you’re not there yet, so draw from who you are now. You are not some barely-no-longer-teenager neophytes waiting to arrive in the real world so you can have real experiences. You are all adults with significant backgrounds, experiences, joys, tragedies, triumphs, and failures that have formed who you are. That is what you bring to your art.
Be a person. Honor your own story and listen intently and empathetically to the stories of others. Then sing about it.
Thank you for a wonderful school year; I’m so proud of the work you all have done. Enjoy telling your stories in juries and your class finals.
Now go practice. And have a wonderful summer.
Singing my story has become especially prevalent for me this year. With a ton of auditions, my senior recital, and finding my true voice, I am hoping that I am successfully able to sing my story. I am always worried that when I get up and sing, I just look nervous or bored. I know that I am not, but I am always worried that it will seem that way to an audience. I've been thinking about that a lot in regards to my recital. Not only is it a performance of my vocal progression, but also my acting progression. I am telling a ton of different stories through the different songs I am singing, and also need to present who I am as a person. I am trying to find parts of myself in every song and use that as my motivation for acting choices and vocal choices while singing these songs.
ReplyDeleteI love how you said "to honor your own story". I think it's so important to remember how different and unique we all are. I love acting because if you were to give everyone the same monologue or song, it would be done so differently and I think that is amazing. In my opinion, people come to shows to see YOU! They don't want to see a cookie cutter version of someone else. When we get new songs in class, I try to find a way to connect my story with the characters and make it my own. I want to keep growing and find ways to show who I am through performance.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the idea of, as you said above "honoring your own story" is an extremely crucial part of our art. We are human being and no one has had the same experience therefore we will all tell our story differently so picking songs and characters that allow us to tell an authentic story is extremely important. I feel that by making the right selection we bring life to these characters but they also allow us to learn more about ourselves as people. There are so many reasons I love acting but this is definitely one of the main reasons. As storytellers we owe it to ourselves, the author and these characters to tell it from a place of understanding and empathy and that often comes from common experiences.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this excerpt from your book. It's a bad habit, but I feel that we all fall into this category of singing through another singer. I think everyone becomes so focused on the technique and the breath and the words that we forget to enjoy singing the song. And song selection has a huge effect on whether we can fully make a piece our own. I think that my rep for this semester fits my type and vocal style nicely, it's taken me until the last week before juries to begin to find myself in the song and make it my own. I think a huge goal I want to accomplish within these four years of studying is to: be able to immerse myself fully into my repertoire/work and make it as authentically personal as I can. Because in an audition setting, the panel wants to see who YOU are while still seeing the portrayal of another character. Once you find your authenticity in a song, it completely changes the game and puts you a step ahead of many who have yet to bring this aspect to life.
ReplyDeleteThank you for a great year of voice, I've definitely seen improvement. Slowly, but surely.
I find that I get really stuck sometimes in trying to find pieces that will "challenge me" and, therefore, typically stray from my comfort zone quite a bit. While this is helpful a lot of the time, I think I need to remember to work on pieces that I really relate with as well, and find where my truth lies in on pieces that I maybe don't connect with as much. Some of my most successful and enjoyable performance experiences have been with songs that allign with my personal story, and I'm going to try to keep that in mind as I continue to work on new things .
ReplyDeleteThis has been a wonderful semester, and I can't wait to work with you again next year! I'll try to keep this in mind for finals!
I find, more often than not, if I personally connect with a song I enjoy it more, and therefor practice it more and sing it better. Not all songs are treated equally at my house. I believe that when someone is singing something they truly feel tells their story, you can see it. There's a very distinct difference in the way they emote because it's so true for them. I know when I'm living through a song because I won't remember what has just happened after I'm done singing it.
ReplyDeleteIt's so nice when I can feel myself improving. When I practice and it truly pays off. I understand this won't always feel this way, but it's a nice bonus when it does.
I feel that often times I try to hide my story and personal experiences behind who I am today. It took me a long and a lot of work to be able to subdue my history, and moving away from home aided that a lot. In the past month or so actually I have realized many instances when I have found myself using those things to improve my story telling. I am happy that I now feel comfortable bringing all of me into my work.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post. I really needed to hear this right before finals. This semester in acting we've really been focusing on how to become someone who is very different from you, and so I think I've forgotten that I have my own specific interpretation that comes from my unique life experience, and that's something to embrace.
ReplyDeleteI had an awesome practice on Friday! I just locked myself in the practice room for an hour and a half and just sang, and by the end my voice was just so locked in with technique and resonance. It was so cool. I felt like I could freely tell a story without worrying about technique, but it just made me realize I should do that all the time. I don't pretend to be a singer before actor anyway, so when it comes to performance time, I think I should just embrace the acting side of singing and trust that I've done the most I can with my singing.
Reading this post made me think about how, even though the lines of a song are always the same, the interpretation from person to person is always unique. Even though those same lines have been sung hundreds and hundreds of times, no one has ever interpreted them exactly like you will IF you follow your instincts and use your own personal history to relate to them.
ReplyDeleteI really love this post. I think to be a good actor and a good artist, it is first necessary to be a self aware and authentic person. I know that much of the reason I have progressed is college as an artist is because I have given myself the time to figure out who I am, and what I want out of life. I am still for fully done doing that, and sometimes I need to remind myself that that's okay.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very acceptable to pick songs that I find vocally challenging, or I do not relate to the story of the character on a personal lever, but I think as long as I work hard to understand the character, and bring it to life using the technique and creativity I have as an artist, that is the best way to serve myself.
Thank you for a wonderful semester!
I think it's really important to honor who you are. I think for me, I get told so often by professors to step outside my comfort zone, and it is really easy for me to get frustrated because I feel that I am not being true to myself. I think it is important to remember to be true to yourself while still being brave and stepping outside of your comfort zone. It is a fine line, but I think that is where skill meets craft. It is something I struggle with, but it is something that relates to honoring yourself and your story. I think I want to work songs that are challenging vocally, and then songs that are challenging character wise. And eventually, pick songs that are challenging in both realms. It is all a process, and I think being self-aware during this time of discovery is the going to be the most beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to continuing this journey over the summer and into next year!
Thanks!
Brian, Brian, spitting truths as per usual. As I've expressed in these blog posts and I'm class, I am not as comfortable or capable a singer as I am other aspects of our craft. But I've noticed in the past year, that while some performers have incredible training and skill, as an audience member I would much rather watch someone tell me their truth. And that's really hard for me to do as a singer, because sharing my own story is vulnerable. I am in process of honoring my voice, but to fill songs with my own experiences makes me have to care about what I'm singing, even if it doesn't always sound good. So that's definitely something to keep in mind coming into juries and finals this week. Looking forward to another year of progress.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this wholeheartedly. I get the impression that I don't bring who I am out in my performance, but it doesn't so much have to do with a conscious choice to bury myself as it does the jilting constrictions one can have when they are learning and are out of their comfort zone. My other professors have pointed out occasionally how some people who are lively and wild in real life become reserved and restricted when they are on the stage. I think this post falls into that observation. I feel the training we undergo is to help us make room within our performances for who we are. We can never leave who we are entirely when we perform, and through training we can ensure that the personalities and stories we carry with ourselves can color and contrast our performances rather than inhibit them.
ReplyDeleteI needed to hear this right about now, thank you. While I was taking lessons from you we talked a few times about singing with the gas and the brakes on at the same time and I think a huge reason I did that was because of an unwillingness to let my voice be heard/honor my own true voice. It's so easy to get caught in a cycle of trying to sound or be like some other brilliant singer or actor that we admire instead of just beautifying and honoring what we already have, and carry with us.
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I think this is, again, one of those things I work on constantly as an actor and forego bringing into the voice/singing part of my training because there is definitely a part of me that is much more concerned with technicalities and sound than you know... actually bringing heart and authenticity and life into my songs. I have this idea that if I first "perfect" things technically then I can more fully release into the humanity and messiness of it, but I don't know if that will end up working out for me since I will never be able to "perfect" anything. I believe I have been able to sing my story and bring myself to songs on occasion, but it is definitely not a consistent part of my repertoire. I think this is a wonderful reminder as we approach juries and perhaps if I can release into bringing myself to my pieces in this very human way, even I will enjoy singing my jury!
ReplyDeleteThis is so important, especially being in the age range we are in right now... Young adults aren't written for as much as one would think.... There typically high schoolers or slightly older roles, and it is hard finding material for this exact age range that we are all in now.... I think that often we pick material that isn't as challenging as it could be (highschool stuff.. aka bring it on type) or is meant for older actors and requires more life experience. That being said, it is our job as the actor to find a way to let ourselves shine through whatever material suites our story and our voice, and to honor who we are. That is both the challenge AND the joy of what we do!
ReplyDeleteI am always searching for material that I love to sing but, I find a lot of times it is either not age appropriate or I am not the appropriate race. As people have told me I have a "black" sounding voice which I take much pride in. This creates problems because I feel pigeon holed in what I can sing. I am always trying to find new artists I like who I sound like or artists I can take a twist on. I love lindsay mendez and she is an actor I can play similar roles to which makes me look at her understudies what they have done and what I can take from the repertory they have. I have grown much more in the second half of the semester than I expected which has allowed me more options to sing differently then, I have ever sang before learning how to produce a head dominant mix will open so many doors to me.I am so excited to continue to grow as a vocalist.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need to honor our own story as well as voice. I think that when we commit to a piece, we have less time to worry about what everyone else is thinking and we just have all our energy focused on giving an honest best performance. Let your story into the music. Bring all your emotion, bring all your technique, bring all your soul. I really appreciate this past year in your studio and thank you for your help. I've grown immensely.
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