How Good Are You?

After 6 years here on the web, I think I have coached more than 500 singers, many of whom are still with me as private students either here in LA or by long distance. There are a few similarities among all of my singers that I would like to explore with you because you may see "yourself" in this picture and become more motivated to continue your pursuit of vocal excellence!

Some of you think you're better than you really are.

You take a few lessons, or read a book on singing and decide, "okay, I got it!" Then you go out and sing here and there, get a few "nice job" comments and remain sort of satisfied...but not entirely.

Why?

Because what you really yearn for is,

"That was amazing!!",
"You're the best singer I've ever heard", or
"Give me your autograph, so I can say I knew you when..."

But those comments never come because you think you're better than you are, and you don't work on the things you need to get to the "amazing" place. You don't practice, you never commit the fundamentals to automatic, and you aren't real when you perform.

Clearly, YOU can improve! All it takes is your commitment to your singing and BEGINNING the steps to success! You must declare to yourself that you CAN be much better and make a commitment to DO the drills until they are on automatic! So for you, the path is fairly clear!!

But then there are those of you who are BETTER than you think you are! You guys are in serious trouble!

You sing from the heart, indeed, you let your heart and soul pour out when you sing, and you leave your audiences crying for more...but you are not satisfied. You pick at every little flaw in your singing; you drive yourself nuts over a single note that wasn't perfect and you think about that day and night...one tiny mistake that went totally unnoticed by your audience, invades your dreams and makes you crazy.

I've said over and over an again on this site that a true artist is never satisfied. We are constantly driven to do better and better, all the time knowing that it will never be exactly what we wanted. But we put it out there because we are also driven to share the gift God gave us with others.

The problem with singers who are better than they think is that many of them stop sharing! They become so consumed with the flaws in their singing that they simply stop doing it! And what a loss that is...for them...and for the world!

In some cases however, the truth about this second category of singers is that they are both better than they think...and also not as good as they think.

What does that mean?

It means that a true artist, who knows what he/she has to give, gives it...freely, openly and from the heart. If it's not perfect, then its not, but the listeners decide, not us!

And this singer who will not give because it's not perfect, is also the singer who will not work on his/her performance, or put in the practicing required to even approach the perfection he/she seeks.

So, do you see that there is a basic lie here? If you're not as good as you want to be, and you know it...truly and honestly, then you work at it...and work at it...and work at it. But if you're not as good as you think, and you don't know it, then you don't work at it. And if you are better than you think and you don't work at it, then you're lying to yourself!

And the singers who are both better than most, but not as good as they can be...are stuck in between these two scenarios. They are tormented!

Why do you sing? Answer this question and you get to the root of this issue of how good you are. I sing because it represents a vehicle through which I can express my true self...so my reason is self expression. And through performing for over 40 years, I have learned that it's good...that people like it, and I have come to trust their ears over my own, which can only hear through the curtain of my "inner critic".

So why do you do it? If you're better than you believe you are, then you must think you're not too good...so why?

Can you let go of your EGO and allow the truth to spill out? It's a tough one! We all have egos! But I hope you understand that the gift you have was not given to you by your ego, or to feed your ego. It was given for you to share with others.

So it's up to you now, singer! How good ARE you really? How good do you WISH to be?

Do you get what I'm tellin' you here or do you disagree? Let me hear from you! All cogent comments will be published in the next newsletter!