The children sang their end of term performances with great heart and playfulness. They’ve been learning not only how to sing technically, but also how to give of themselves in a meaningful way, and they really delivered.
So oftensingers come for lessons because they want to be noticed, admired, liked. They believe they have to be “good” singers in order to garner that attention, so they agree to do the work. It doesn’t take long to figure out that’s a recipe for heartbreak.
Singing and performing come from an abundance to give, not from a need to fill. Mastering technique and developing musicianship need to be a source of joy in their own right. It’s not an audience’s job to like us or support us. It is our privilege to share our interpretations, our passions, our portrayals of a character, and our musicality.
When the fit is good between performer and audience, listeners are moved, entertained and impressed. Sometimes a performance is lacking, sometimes it is wonderful and an audience just doesn’t care for it. We can’t control how we’ll be received.
It’s wonderful to sing in private, just for our self. For some singers that is enough. We know it’s time to perform when we are so full of the music and its message we can’t bear to keep it to ourselves. From that place of generosity and wholeness comes a singer’s greatness.
I do so agree with your comments, Jocelyn, about the proper reasons why we singers peform. My pianist and I are the least important part of the presentation. He and I have the immense privilege of attempting to communicate to the audience our own love of the words and music on behalf of the poet and composer in the fervent hope that listeners will be entertained. As Dryden put it: “What passion cannot music raise or quell?”. I came across two other pertinent comments the other day – authors unknown – “Music is vitamin pills for the spirit” and “Music… Read more »
Thank you for the quotations!