One of the most important things I learnt from Ina Wiegand, my coach, as I was preparing for my Licentiate, is to sing in the moment. Ina rightly says that if you don't think about what you're singing, it's so easy to have what she calles "fish eyes" - those dead-pan eyes that have no expression or feeling. It's what makes potentially good singers bad.
Ina reminded me that you have to think as you sing - that you can't play your mind forward or backward when you're busy with a song - otherwise it loses its meaning. As someone who is often guilty of living in the past or in the future, I'm so glad she told me this. We often say, "I can't wait for this or that," and then when we get to the end of our lives we regret that it all went so fast...
I like what John Demartini says: living in the past is linked to regret, living in the future is linked to fear, living in the present is a state of gratitude, which is love and light. Great advice!
I will strive to live in the present in all I do - including singing...
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
My Licentiate
Tomorrow I will be doing my licentiate in singing through Rockschool...
It's been amazing fun, it's been incredibly hard work. I feel like I'm standing on the edge of a great big precipice, overlooking all the treasures of the earth - kinda like God's Window, that awesomely beautiful spot in Mpumalanga where you can see for miles and miles.
Most of the people I work with, from my Mom to my colleague Ina Wiegand to my business partner Corinne Farber believe that I'll do a great job tomorrow. I just wanna go have some fun! Yeah, I guess I'm a little nervous and I really want to pass, but as Ina said to me, whatever the outcome, I cannot lose because I have learnt so much. She's right. In the last 4 months that we've been working together, sometimes three times a week (what a schlep to Pretoria!), I really have grown as an artist and a performer.
Of course, Cor is a huge fan. We've had so much fun doing The Purr Factory together, and I'm thrilled to be performing two songs tomorrow from my own musical. Narcissus, thy name be Rob!
Ah, my Mom! I love my Mom! I recently tried looking for a day job again so I changed my second cell number's message to a bland corporate message. My Mom phoned me to leave a message and said it sounded so sad, like I was unhappy... I have subsequently changed it back to something far more exciting and musical. I'm now doing music full-time. I have never been poorer. I have never been happier.
As Jayson, a colleague of mine at Soul Candi said, we do not choose music, it chooses us. I'm so glad music chose me. It is my life's work, my undying eternal purpose.
Musica, grata Deo.
It's been amazing fun, it's been incredibly hard work. I feel like I'm standing on the edge of a great big precipice, overlooking all the treasures of the earth - kinda like God's Window, that awesomely beautiful spot in Mpumalanga where you can see for miles and miles.
Most of the people I work with, from my Mom to my colleague Ina Wiegand to my business partner Corinne Farber believe that I'll do a great job tomorrow. I just wanna go have some fun! Yeah, I guess I'm a little nervous and I really want to pass, but as Ina said to me, whatever the outcome, I cannot lose because I have learnt so much. She's right. In the last 4 months that we've been working together, sometimes three times a week (what a schlep to Pretoria!), I really have grown as an artist and a performer.
Of course, Cor is a huge fan. We've had so much fun doing The Purr Factory together, and I'm thrilled to be performing two songs tomorrow from my own musical. Narcissus, thy name be Rob!
Ah, my Mom! I love my Mom! I recently tried looking for a day job again so I changed my second cell number's message to a bland corporate message. My Mom phoned me to leave a message and said it sounded so sad, like I was unhappy... I have subsequently changed it back to something far more exciting and musical. I'm now doing music full-time. I have never been poorer. I have never been happier.
As Jayson, a colleague of mine at Soul Candi said, we do not choose music, it chooses us. I'm so glad music chose me. It is my life's work, my undying eternal purpose.
Musica, grata Deo.
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