Focus

I watched the Olympics faithfully these last 2 weeks. When I couldn't be here, I taped the events to look at later. As a Greek, I was so thrilled to drink in the beauty of the country of my ancestors, the city where my own father is buried, and of course to watch the athletic excellence on display.

As most of you know, I use a lot of sports analogies in my practice, so it shouldn't come as any surprise that I spent much time analyzing the similarities between athletic excellence and vocal performance. The word that stuck in my head was FOCUS! So Let's talk about that for a minute!

The "Archimedes Principle" of physics teaches us that no two objects can occupy the same space at the same time. For instance, we could do an experiment:

Place 3 golf balls in the bottom of the wide mouth jar.

Pour rice on top of the balls, stopping about 2 inches from the top of the jar.

Place a lid on the jar.

Shake the jar from side to side -- NOT up and down.

The balls will rise to the top of the jar. WHY?

No two objects can occupy the same space at the same time.

As the jar is shaken, the rice settles to the bottom. The balls will be forced to the top.

Similarly, if we fill a bathtub to the top with water, and then get into the tub, much of the water will overflow onto the floor because our body, when put into the tub takes up the space that had been occupied by the water. This is known as the "Displacement" theory.

Well what does this have to do with FOCUS?!

If it is true that thoughts are things, as explained in Science, then it is reasonable to conclude that no two thoughts can occupy the same space at the same time, and when an athlete FOCUSES, he or she is keeping one single thought in the mind, the thought to achieve. This is the principle behind sports psychology which uses visualization techniques to keep athletes concentrating ONLY on the task at hand, and nothing else, not the noise of a crowd, not the thought of "Oh Gee! What if I Miss this Dive" , or anything but the perfect outcome.

When an athlete loses FOCUS, his/her concentration falters and then so does the performance because no two thoughts can occupy the same space at the same time, and that's when FOCUS leaves.

The Marathon is a great example. The athletes running the race had trained for years to qualify for the Marathon, but it was hot and humid in Greece, and the course was grueling with steep inclines and burning newly laid pavement on the track.

Only those who kept their FOCUS, their rhythm, and their strategic formula for winning, were able to even finish the race. Those who experienced physical discomfort in the heat, or in their body did not! Because, yes, you've got it! No two thoughts can occupy the same space at the same time.

So how can we connect this thing, FOCUS to our singing and our performance? Here is how!

First of all, there must be Sufficient Preparation. You must have practiced enough to have the vocal fundamentals totally on automatic, so that you will not be thinking of placement, or your breathing, or whether or not you're gonna hit that high note, or whether your hair looks good, or if you look fat in this dress. Sufficient preparation means that when you get up to sing, the ONLY thing you are thinking of is delivering the meaning of the song, and expressing your essence! Preparation means you know your lyrics blind! It means you have studied them and know exactly what phrasing will work the best. Every beat, every note has been planned, so if you DO decide to to be spontaneous with your style, it'll work because you prepared for it.

Next, is Awareness! This involves being aware of all the external factors over which you may not have control; your musical accompaniment, the lights, the microphone, the elements. Awareness of these factors IN ADVANCE, helps you to keep your focus during the performance so that if the sound guy should mess up and turn your mike off, you aren't thrown, and can easily get back into your concentration zone once the problem has been corrected.

I had a gig at a County Fair years ago in Springfield, IL. where the stage was set up next to the corrals. It was pretty hot and humid with lots of flies around. In the middle of one of my songs, one of these flies flew right into my mouth. I blew! The fly departed and I kept on going!

Awareness also involves the internal factors like anxiety, fear of disapproval, and things your inner critic has to say. Once you have confronted that you may feel nervous and can accept the feeling and even use it to energize you into giving the best performance you can give, and you keep your FOCUS, the anxieties and fears can only shrivel up and go away!

The final element of FOCUS is Communication. By concentrating on your audience, no matter how large or small, and communicating to them, you make the most of why you sing in the first place; to say, "Here I am, world! This is who I am, right here in front of you!"

When you are prepared and aware, you can reveal yourself in your communication to your audience and draw them inside of you. You are triumphant, and they love you!

All of these principles are covered in detail in Volume Two of "A Voice For a Lifetime in 30 Days" entitled Stage Presence". An may I remind you that as a lifetime member-supporter of Sing Your Life!, you receive all 4 Volumes of my E-Book FREE !

'til next time....