If you’re lucky, your choir goes from strength to strength: numbers grow, standards improve, and the sense of community deepens.
But sometimes things start to slip. Numbers fall, confidence drains away, rehearsals lose their energy, and going to choir begins to feel like a chore rather than a pleasure. When that happens, what can you do?
I’m attending a three-day workshop this weekend and I’m feeling nervous.
It’s a common feeling when stepping into the unknown. But I’ve been to countless workshops before — so what’s going on?
We’re all very good at sabotaging ourselves. You know the kind of thing: “I can’t do that” or “That was a disaster.”
However, there are some simple and powerful phrases that can help us overcome these self-doubts.
There is a big difference between succeeding at all costs and not bothering to make an effort. Neither brings true satisfaction.
The secret is to pitch somewhere in between: to take the work seriously, but to not lose sight of how relatively unimportant it is compared with what else is going on in the world.
I saw an interview with George Clooney the other day and he pointed out that “You learn nothing from success. You learn everything from failure.”
Fear of failing is what holds people back. Yet failure is how we grow and learn.
My partner is always sending me videos with ideas for singing warm ups, usually involving complex clapping or stepping.
I tell her that they will be too difficult for the singers I work with. But am I being too safe and under-estimating the singers’ abilities?
We all aim to do the best we can. But if we wait until we’re perfect, we’ll never get anything done!
It’s OK to be “good enough” at what we do. Here’s why.
Most singers starting out are terrified of getting it ‘wrong’. They hold back in all sorts of ways and approach singing hesitantly.
But if you’re not ‘failing’ and getting it ‘wrong’, then you’ll never progress.