Sunday, January 8, 2023

Nothing but time

Time stops when suddenly you see her

Time stops and what you thought you knew changes

And life beyond this moment is better, bigger... 

    -"Time Stops" from Tuck Everlasting 

I've always found it fascinating how differently we can perceive time. When I was a kid, sitting through an hour of church seemed to take forever, but one hour of watching cartoons was over in no time. As an adult, I've noticed that Saturday and Sunday seem to move faster than any other days of the week, for some reason. 

One of the most common phrases I hear from seniors in their first voice lesson of the school year is, "I can't believe I'm a senior already!" Despite taking classes for three years, it always comes as a bit of a surprise looking back and realizing how quickly that time has passed. But many of those same students have also expressed that time feels like it's crawling by when they're in the thick of a semester with long days of classes and rehearsals. 

I sometimes hear ads on the radio for a company called 3 Day Kitchen & Bath. Their pledge to customers is that they can do an entire renovation of a kitchen or bathroom in three days or less—a job that can typically take weeks. I'm no contractor, but that seems really fast. I wonder if those workers feel like time is moving more quickly as their deadlines approach than it does when they're at the start of a project. 

The beginning of the semester presents a good opportunity to reflect on how we use our time. In a previous blog, we talked about how time can be viewed as a commodity, evidenced by the phrase "spending time." Regardless of whether we invest our time or waste our time, we all experience the same number of hours in the day. 

I decided to do a bit of math when it comes to our time together. Each of you receive 12 voice lessons per semester at 45 minutes each, adding up to 540 minutes of lesson time per semester. This means there are 1,080 minutes of lessons in each two-semester school year and 4,320 minutes over the eight semesters of a four-year degree. Divide that by 60 minutes per hour and it adds up to exactly 72 hours, or the equivalent of three days. All of our weekly lessons in all the semesters of an entire degree, when all is said and done, only amount to three days of time. 

How are we spending that time? Three days is apparently enough time to completely demolish, renovate, and rebuild an entire kitchen. Is it enough time to build the vocal skills and artistry you want for yourself? Are we both doing all we can to maximize our time together? 

As we get going in the new semester, let's consider how we're using our lesson time. If we make the most of our time together, you will be better able to make the most of your practice time when we're apart. Review this blog from 2019 about establishing effective goals. Then let's decide how we can best prioritize our three days of time to get you where you want to be. 

Now go practice.



13 comments:

  1. It's crazy to think that we have spent such little time together, since my freshman year I had a different teacher, and my sophomore year was spent completely on Zoom. It really does make me sad. It is crazy to think I have had never ending days but somehow I feel like I was a freshman in college yesterday.

    But I do think one of my goals is to not take the time out of my lessons to over analyze my voice and technique, as much as I do love it and it helps, I feel as though it sometimes takes time away from discovery. Another goal is to come with questions and be 100% prepared.

    Crazy to think this is my last semester!!

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  2. Looking back upon my first semester of college, the thing that I can say with the most confidence is that it went by SO fast. It truly feels as though semester one dance placements were just yesterday and I was just having my first lesson with you! That being said, I feel as though I've made leaps and bounds in that time that feels fleeting.

    My biggest goal for this upcoming semester is to be cognizant of my posture at all times. As I've started in Voice & Speech class, I've begun to notice that my posture is not only to be improved upon singing wise, but in speech as well. I also really want to come in with questions prepped for the lesson in order to make the most out of our time together. Finally, I'd love to open up and be vulnerable more with both me and with you!

    I am so looking forward to this semester of work!

    Alexa Shaheen

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  3. 2022 was definitely a wild ride for me. In the thick of it, I felt like time had stopped and I wasn't progressing. However, looking back, I learned and grew SO much. Coming back to the MTP has given me a whole new perspective on life and how I can become the best version of myself. Four years is a very short time when you think about it in the scheme of things. I am here to work; I am here to learn how to hold my own and feel confident in the work I am doing. I will never take any of that for granted!

    This semester I want to focus on finding my voice and fine tuning it through a daily practice routine. I will show up to lessons prepared and ready to work. I won't be afraid to try new things and ask questions!

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  4. Looking upon the number of hours actually spent in voice lessons at the University of Utah, three days feels like very little time; at the same time, 45 minutes also feels like very little time to accomplish anything of substance. In order to maximize my progress and achievement in voice this semester, I'd like to eliminate the down time I create in my voice lessons by attempting to TALK less and DO more. Furthermore, I have recently been looking into the ins and outs of vocal auditions, and I realized I am not sure what I "bring to the table," or what it is that sets me apart from others vocally. Therefore, this semester, I'd like to discover what my "niche" is and understand how to present my voice in a marketable manner. Lastly, I would like to come up with a warm-up regimen for me to do on my own when I feel especially tired and cold, as I find that the routine I utilize for myself when practicing at night, after a full day of talking, is not adequate in preparing me for dem lab performances, when I have hardly spoken to anyone and woke up only an hour prior.

    With regard to time - I have much of it to spare this semester, which has not been the case previously, but the trick will be to utilize it in a productive manner, as I'm not in the habit of planning how to use so much time effectively.

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  5. Time is certainly a strange thing. Honestly, I can’t help but wonder literally where all of it went. It’s been a major part of my stress this school year, and I feel like I don’t have enough of it all the time. Thinking back to this time last year, preparation for the agents felt as if it was a long time away, but I’m already here. I remember this past Friday, when Dave was talking about the agents, I said to my friend next to me “Jesus, we’re already here.” I have a tendency to want to cram everything I want to do and sometimes I wear myself out because I feel like I need to do everything. Even in my everyday life outside of theatre, I try to create a strict schedule for my hobbies, telling myself to relax at 10PM and read before bed at 11PM. A part of me wants to go even harder this semester, but the other part of me wants to tell myself to chill out, and that growth can still happen after school. My goal for this semester is to remember to keep my head up. And also to remember I can do anything but I don’t have to do everything, so that I don’t burn myself out.

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  6. It is insane to think that all of the work that we do together can be completed in three days. I know that a lot of those things take prep time but when thinking about it, I know that I can out some more pep in my step to make sure that I get the maximum time together especially that it is coming to an end. I have loved every second of voice lessons and am sad to see it end but I am going to go out with a bang. I will be bringing in new songs, perfecting old songs, and becoming a great performer.

    Alex Fish

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  7. Having been at the U a year before joining the MTP, everything that you said about time moving quickly was absolutely true! I felt as though the time flew by and summer was here. The same holds true for this last semester. In some people's eyes, like my Dad, my first year of college just seemed to be a test run, just trying out classes I liked until auditions opened up for the program. But that one year of an undeclared major helped me find myself so much! It helped me develop time management skills, better writing, being comfortable with just myself, and really allowed me to experience a good social life as well as a life I had built for myself. It just really made me think that I am always learning, and I want to have that mindset as I head into more of these voice lessons. I am trying to improve as much as I can, and I need to allow myself to put in the work, because before I know it, the time will have already flown by!

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  8. Having our time together put into perspective of only three days total is a big thing to realize. The constant work and mental energy that we all put into our art can make it seem like all of my time here at the U are being used so quickly, but then looking at lessons as only 3 days total makes it seem so small to everything else I have experienced. At the end of my Junior year here at the U, my main goal is to be more consistent with my placement in singing, I want to be more forward always! My secondary goal is to have at least 3 different song types that will be something I can pull out for an audition at any whim.

    - Tate Foshay

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  9. It’s crazy to think that all 4 years of voice lessons could be narrowed down to 3 days of in lesson time. I’ve definitely felt like time is going by fast throughout my time at the u, and I definitely want it to slow down so that I can breathe it all in, but that’s just not how this works. This semester I want to work on coming into each lesson ready to work, and having specific things to work on both in lessons and at home. I feel like I grew a lot last semester and learned a lot about my voice and music, and I’m excited to keep spending time on that!
    -Nate Ginsberg

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  10. Three days feels like such little time to complete everything I wanted to voice wise. Knowing that we’ve only spent that much time in the voice studio reminds me how important creating a sustainable and regular voice practice routine is. I think I’ll be able to better maximize my lesson times if I’m making sure to practice and implement the things we’re working on outside of lessons too. This semester I have goals specifically relating to vocal technique that I want to continue working on, but the biggest thing is developing trust and consistency in my technique so that performance nerves don’t impact me as severely. I want to focus on the parts of my voice that scare me, and I hope finding vocal material that I feel confident singing in and enjoy singing will help.

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  11. Brian, I honestly cannot even fathom most of what you said here. It sounds completely insane when you put it this way and I’m just mind blown with how short it all truly is. Time is the weirdest thing ever. This past week seemed to go on forever and everything went by so slowly but then if I look back at all of last semester, I can’t believe how fast it went despite it feeling long when we were IN it. I think that’s why it’s important to enjoy everything while it’s happening because we will all look back one day and realize it’s already over. There’s so much I want to do but sometimes it feels like there’s not enough time to do it all! My goal is to figure out exactly how I want to spend my last 3 semesters here in order to be the singer I want to be. I need to start prioritizing better and make even more use of our time together because it’s sad to think I won’t always have such easy access to you. I want to absorb as much knowledge as I can while I’m still here!

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  12. Luckily, I was able to walk away from this blog post feeling more inspired than terrified… good news!

    Since everyone gets the same number of hours each day, I hope to continue into this semester with more mindfulness surrounding how I am spending my time. I want to find new material + prepare for classes or auditions, but I also want to ensure that I am fitting in time for the things outside of school that I feel fueled by.

    Although we could do all the lesson times over the course of four years in just three days, I feel as though what makes that time so valuable is the work that happens between each lesson. I want to make sure that I am putting as much effort into each week of practice as I am delegating to those weekly forty-five minutes of lesson time.

    — Ashlen

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  13. But really, is time a real thing? I think time is an illusion. And therefore I cannot be scared by your mathological musings. All of my personal new years goals are related to using my time the best I possibly can.

    My goals this semester are to continue to solidify my voice, build a more solid repertoire, and find new rep that i'm excited about, and feel more confident about singing in many different styles. I want to really work to audition for as much as I can, and I will try to do my best with the little time that I have.

    This is JT Kaufman by the way, I am just borrowing Zyena's computer.

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