Exposing your heart in singing.

Posted on | July 24, 2009 | No Comments

"I believe it is not generally recognized how tender is the performing self, or the student's "heart" in the one-on-one voice lesson. The tennis star John McEnroe said,"It's difficult when you're out there on the court. You're really exposing your whole soul." If this is true for someone who just needs to hit a ball with a racket, how far more true for someone to let go of sounds that reveal his innermost thoughts and feelings." 

p 16, "With a Song in my Psyche" pearl Shinn Wormhoudt

This is such a big issue. Singers do have to be mentally tough, I think, to survive, to get over anxieties and worries and self concern and put themselves out there after criticism and judgement (often their own!). But the tender heartedness to share and reveal what is in your heart when you perform – that is where the magic is. When the practice and technical work are in your muscle memory and you can rely on your instrument, your voice, and then reveal what is in your heart through your voice – isn't that what we all long to do as singers? It is a vulnerable place, sometimes a lonely place, but I believe it is our job, to reveal emotions which often we don't share. Those emotions which are uncomfortable, or socially unacceptable such as anger, fear, despair or even ecstasy, joy, jubilation, are our turf!

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