Intimacy

Yet again the winter is just around the corner and after a beautiful warm summer on the Greek islands I’m back in London to embrace the cold days and nights. I’m also here to embrace change and vocal maturity. Since the beginning of September I’ve been fortunate enough to have Talent Unlimited support my studies with Andrew Watts. We are working on getting a repertoire ready to record in mid October. It consists of some French, German and English songs alongside beautiful arias from the baroque repertoire.

Getting more and more involved with learning about what I can do with my voice is a fascinating process and Andrew is a great mentor in my journey in doing so. But what puzzles me the most is when he talks about vocal maturity. What does it mean? What does it consist of? I feel mature, shouldn’t that already reflect on my voice?

Discovering ones voice is an eye opening experience. It doesn’t end. You can never say I’ve discovered my voice and it will stay this way for the rest of my life as it changes all the time. Change is a wonderful but also a terrifying process. When change comes into the picture one needs to think about letting go and embracing something new. The best way to do this is not to listen to oneself. Something that every singer has a bad habit of and works years to get rid of!

Singing is not a fact, it’s a feeling, a feeling that you have in that moment in time. So when you dwell on how well you’ve sung in the past; all you’re dwelling on is that feeling you’ve had in that moment in time. This is against my personal beliefs but I still tend to do it periodically. The actual feeling that I’ve had in the past cannot be recreated, it cannot be relived. One doesn’t have that any more so the only thing that is important is what is happening now!

With that I would like to share a quote that I’ve enjoyed reading recently...

‘We often have the feeling, about one thing or another in our lives: If only this weren’t here I would be happy. If only I weren’t afraid, or angry or lonely. If only I didn’t have to do the dishes, or take out the trash, or do my income tax. If only I weren’t old, if I weren’t sick, if I didn’t have to die. But those things are here. This is the situation as it is. And none of it keeps you from practicing. None of it really keeps you from being happy. It is what you do with it that makes a difference.
And the thing to do is always the same: Give yourself to it completely. Be intimate.’ Larry Rosenberg