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There are always two sides to every coin, and in the case of singing, our egos quite often tell us that we’re showing off, and don’t deserve to be on stage. This can be a learnt childhood response, a response to others’ judgements, or a dreadful performing experience – or even just the thought of it!
- Embrace imperfection and allow mistakes; audiences value authenticity over flawless performance.
- Shift control to instinct and body by committing fully to the song's meaning and feeling.
- Accept and feel fear instead of avoiding it; owning fear reduces its power and frees performance.
Our spirit knows that we deserve to be there, and that confidence springs from self-respect. We all know that. It’s just hard to do it when you’ve got people looking at you, much easier in the comfort of your home, or anywhere you feel safe. Often with the luxury of no-one hearing you at all:)
Our mind tells us that changing that belief will take a very long time due to said traumatic experiences mentioned above. But the truth is we can change the way we feel, in that we can choose to feel another way.
We have to be able to do that to sing, in fact. We have to believe in the song so much that we take a back seat and let our instincts take over, training the body over time to do it for us. We’re then simply a channel through which spirit can express itself.
No small tall order. We’re most often taught NOT to respond in this way, to let go and surrender when singing. We’re used to being in control, and to controlling our experience, hence the battle when we sing. The ego’s buttons being pushed into overdrive like a hyperventilating aunty.
In essence, when singing we’re learning to come from a place of trust, over time. Trust in our vocal technique, trust in our instrument, trust in our emotions, and trust in our instinct. A lot of trust there. Something else the ego hates. Hey ho.
The secret to singing is that it’s experiential – all about feelings. Committing to the meaning and feeling of a song absolutely, so that we get out of the way and let the body sing for us.
And yet the negative feelings can be so strong that they’re all we focus on. Another secret of getting over the resistance is to accept the fear and allow your self to feel it. Our instinct is to run away and try to block it out, which means we than obsess it and can think of little else. By owning the fear and allowing it in our consciousness, we then get bored with it after a while and can focus on some more positive, life affirming feelings.
So, in essence, LET YOURSELF SUCK! I can guarantee that if you mess up, an audience won’t really care. Not really. They will notice it in passing. They care what’s happening in their Iives. They’ll really perk up, in the moment, if you’re truly authentic and commit to the meaning of a song. We’re all interested in each other’s stories. Tell a story well, and that will be remembered. It doesn’t have to be sung perfectly (although that’s optimum), merely truthfully.
Related article:
Spirit vs Ego – the old battle
TinyMCE /TinyMCE