HOW TO APPROACH A NEW SONG

HOW to approach a new song is always an issue. Do I stay as close as possible to the original singer? Do I change it a little, a lot, or in between? There are many things to consider, including the audience. I'm not talking about "selling out" or "doing karaoke". Remember the thing called musical maturity? You don't scat sing to a country song, you don't sing classical like it is country, and you also do not sing 50 riffs in every line of a song to show off your prowess in velocity, accuracy, and "creativity". I once saw a performance by two of the most famous female singers ever and it was more like a fight than a duet. It was a battle of riffs and lost musicality, emotion, and I was embarrassed for them. They seemed like enemies instead of friends. The most stupid thing is that there is no real competition among people who are great. There is plenty of room for them all. The point is, know how to use the spices, when you cook, and don't overwhelm the dish. You also have to find the balance between emotion and musicianship. There can be manic emotion, over the top and to the moon to the point that pitch goes off, the voice cracks, tears flow, blood spurts out of the eyes, veins pop...you get the idea. Too much feeling can interfere with control to the point that a song can look like a psychotic break to the audience. Volume can be used, meaning dynamic contrast, but are you singing or in a hog calling contest in West Virginia (where I grew up)? If your audience is conservative and expecting "pop music" and you give them anything else, do not expect much from them. If they are into R&B and you sing country, the may walk out. I played a gig once with my wife on a cruise and there were two audiences, depending on the song we were doing. The dance floor would literally empty and refill if we did popular on one song and R&B on the next. It was almost funny. You cannot please everyone. So what does that leave you? Regardless of everything else, you must have artistic integrity. You do your absolute best no matter what. In other words, you always do your absolute best no matter what. You have to have this standard because everything else will make you less of an artist. You will not love yourself if you: do less than your best, hold back, be too overly "careful", do not connect to the song or the audience. It is your job to connect to the song. What does the message say? Who could benefit from the message? Are you trying to make people feel better or feel worse? If it is worse, get out of the business. There is this thing which most songs have in some form or fashion-the concept of something having to do with love. Even the angry ones are expressing that love did not work. Everyone in their right mind wants it to "work". Artist integrity is about a quality and a responsibility. That is how to prepare a song. Dig down deep as you can into yourself and bring out true feelings and be honest with your audience. They know when you are lying to them. If you are paid for your performance, you would be lying and stealing from them at the same time. If this sounds intense, it is. Who wants to hear a wimpy singer? Show intense skill and emotion and have the sense to do it in a way which reaches and audience and will have the impact that greatness always has.

CRITICISM

One of the easiest things to do is to criticize singing. If you have perfect pitch, know style, form, dynamics, interpretation, emotion, and acting, you may well have a lot to say about a singer's performance. There is also a thing which I call "musical maturity". What is that? It is having the judgement to know to not show weakness, to not do something stylistically out of the "character" of the style, to not go for the note which will be flat or splat or break or to do something else which detracts from the art. My wife, one of my best students, knows I hear EVERYTHING and is sometimes a little nervous doing a new song in front of me the first time. Still, I am not harsh with criticism. When I hear things which are "off", I know why they are off. I also know what to do to improve them whether they are: transition issues, vowel distortion, breathing issues, melodic interval problems, lack of perception of harmonic structure, misunderstood lyrics, lack of connection to the song or to an audience, trying to "hide" and to sing at the same time, articulation issues regarding consonants, not practicing enough, not knowing HOW to practice, having illness (physical or mental), and much more, too numerous on a post on Facebook. Some people have no idea precisely what they are hearing and know far too little to analyze it. Most people DO have the ability to notice if something is bad or good, so be good for goodness sake! Be careful about criticism. Giving it and getting it can be harmful to your artistic health. NON-artists' criticism is sometimes very destructive. If something can be used to aid in improvement, use it. If not, DUMP IT!

INFLUENCES IN YOUR LIFE

Happy Birthday to one of the most complex, talented geniuses I've ever known. He did nearly everything at a professional level. Professional at golf, pocket billiards, baseball, engineering, architecture, piano, and the list could go on and on. I haven't met anyone else like him. Was he perfect? No one is. He was passionate about enjoying life, was intense at times, had been the gunnery officer on a naval destroyer, ranking second to only the captain of the ship. He supervised many projects, which he designed. The construction costs of those, we added up once and it was over half a billion dollars (60s, 70s, and 80s dollars). He left his mark on the world in buildings at universities, hospitals, schools, industrial projects (including a 60 million dollar steel mill), and was licensed in at least 7 states. He sat in with Duke Ellington's band, twice. First time was on drums at the age of 21 in NYC. The second time was on piano at the West Virginia Governor's Inauguration Ball. He would have been 87 today on 12-12-12. His favorite singer would have been 97 today, Frank Sinatra. My father taught me chords on piano, architecture, and engineering. He also taught me an appreciation of 40s music. I got to play lead trombone in big bands in Las Vegas with some people from those famous bands. Wouldn't have happened, had I not had the influence. He pushed me harder than I needed to be pushed, but I think he never full realized his own strength. He took his genius for granted. Many do. Who are your influences? You might look for successful ones. Acknowledge them by learning and doing. Appreciating them and thanking them won't change your life. Being grateful is a great thing. Demonstrate your knowledge and your skill. Doing something effective; well, that's another story!

STUDENT TYPES

There are several types of students: ELEPHANT-gives you a twig to try to push it. ROPE - and you are supposed to PUSH it up a hill. NO ROOM - Do not enter the dojo with your cup full, there will be no room for anything new. SHIRLEY - This is like an actress who has been into EVERYTHING and this type gets advice from EVERYWHERE and most of it is either wrong or useless. CAKE BAKER - Learn the secret in one lesson and go after it! Do NOT try this with flying lessons! PARTICIPANT - this type tries a little, but not enough to ever be excellent. ALL IN - This one learns, applies, works, has self discipline, a powerful goal, awesome purposes, strong work ethic, and trusts in and has faith in the process. I've seen one of those get a recording contract and tour. Another one sang in the Broadway play touring group of The Producers. The odd thing is that the differences look huge, between those who do and those who won't, but it is amazing that a little more time and a little more effort than average can often lead to miraculous results.

A few years back, a couple of guys had other people sing for them while they lip synched (moved their mouths but were not actually singing). This became a huge scandal They dropped out of the music business even though a valiant effort was made to save them. The most famous vocal coach, Seth Riggs, worked with them and made public statements that they were, in fact, able to sing. This was too little, too late. Perhaps they could sing, but were they good? The whole mess was considered a fraud, a sham. TODAY Today, when you hear an album of a singer, they may have put a thousand hours into the vocals. The vocals have been altered electronically in many cases. Having done some recording engineering, I have experience with pitch correction and a nearly infinite number of possible tweaks, which can be done to enhance the sound of vocals. Many, if not all, of the same effects are available for live performance. What are we actually hearing in performances? If the singer sounded great on the original CD or download and then he/she sounds worse or terrible, is that less of a sham than Milli Vanilli? If it is less, not by much. YEARS AGO Years ago a singer had to have developed the art to a level of near perfection and without the aid of equipment beyond the singer. There are still some great singers around, but in the past, there was no assisting an amateur level singer into sounding as if the time was put in to be great.

Change your voice, change your life!   Ask any true artist if this is true.

Whether a singer, actor, speaker, a business person, a doctor, a lawyer, it doesn't matter.

It is part of a first impression.  It is THE impression in the long run.  Your voice is your expression of yourself, your being, your soul.  What you say or sing and how you sound are an extension of YOU!  

Does your voice need an adjustment, an overhaul, or exercise?

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LISTEN TO THE MUSIC!

I was asked, "Why is it that many of the general populus can't tell the difference between trained musicians and mediocure amateurs?"

 My Answer: I think that it depends on background, experience and exposure to higher level professionals over a long time. Part of it is as simple as "To what or to whom are you listening, as far as musicians or bands or singers. The standards are higher in L.A., New York, Nashville, and Las Vegas, to such an extent that it is typically assumed that anything short of perfection is unacceptable. Most non-musicians or non-singers have a deficit in recognizing excellence and may be somewhere in a range of being between being atonal and unexposed to excellence of musicianship.

I saw a book that may have belonged to Teresa P., which was a "music appreciation" book, named Musica Mente (in Italian). It was used at about the 10th grade level there (in Italy). The music theory portion went beyond the level of college freshman music theory in most American music schools. It is a stark contrast. On the other hand, in Hungary, for example, the level of commonplace musicianship far exceeds that of the U.S. It is interesting to note that Budapest has an enormous amount of music venues, far outnumbering most of other European countries. The short answer: most people are unaware of what they are hearing and cannot identify the various components, let alone have any vocabulary of the nomenclature regarding it. I call that being "musically illiterate". 

So... One of the first steps in being a great singer or musician is to listen to music. How hard is that?! Not too hard at all. However, you want to be familiar not only with music from the beginning of recorded time, but also with music from all styles and all cultures. This literally gives depth and breadth to a musician's "ear". Ideally, listening coupled with analysis and understanding will result in even better musicianship.

 There are classes in "music appreciation" in high school and in college. I took them both and found them fascinating. They do not go into the depth of "music literature" classes, but they are an excellent foundation for listening. Music History is another exciting subject to gain a solid chronological understanding of the development of music all the way up to today. There are courses in some colleges, which are actually on The History of Rock Music. When a person says, "I know what I like", and it is based solely on personal preference, that person may not know the difference between Bach and Haydn or Beethoven and Mozart.

I can recognize the differences between The Beatles and Three Dog Night. I also know that a three dog night is a night so cold that it takes three, not two, dogs to keep you warm and also to where that might refer. Some people might have trouble differentiating between the Beatles and Dave Clark Five or might wonder if Dave Clark was related to Dick Clark. How about Little Richard or Jerry Lee Lewis? What are the similarities and differences between them? What are some similarities between Frank Zappa and Yes? How about Kansas?

 Maroon 5, Adele, and Pink are on the charts this week. It might be a good idea to discover their influences and also to listen to their music, if you are unfamiliar with them. Then, what about jazz? Many styles and many artists are worth exploring. Country? Take a listen to "I Know You Won't" by Carrie Underwood. If you have an aversion to Country Music, set it aside far enough to analyze the chord structure of the song. Analyze the song structure. Does it have a chorus, a verse, and a bridge? When I heard it, I could play the chords on a piano after about two to five minutes of experimenting with it. I could write them out or play them onto a sequencer or into a recording device. Why? YEARS of listening result in understanding and recognizing precisely what I am hearing. It is not magic. Others can do this. Is it common? That is another topic of discussion.

 When I listen to music, I can focus on one instrument or all of them. I can write every note I hear. I can transcribe a solo or a band. The largest was a big band. It was tedious. It wasn't easy. It was time consuming. But doing that makes you listen and you hear more and you hear more accurately. I can analyze a singer and can tell you if there are issues, such as: pitch, tone, timbre, register transitions, breathing, and even emotional things-intentional or otherwise.

 There is a range from absolute ignorance to absolutely perfect duplication and execution of a song, including, but not limited to: style, musicality, dynamics, phrasing, musicianship, and artistic interpretation. Artistic interpretation can be enhanced or diminished by all the other categories of skill and understanding already mentioned. Just as there are levels of literacy in language, there are also levels of literacy in music. Everyone is in a different "place" with that. Barring a lack of intelligence or brain damage (this is NOT a joke!), anyone can improve musical literacy. "Listen To The Music" - The Doobie Brothers

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Why Study? Why Practice?

Learning and practicing in the arts are factors which are undeniably necessary, but although there is always room for improvement, it is not as overwhelming as it may appear. Is there an infinite amount of knowledge one must have to be a professional singer? Is it a never-ending quest for perfection or greatness? If that were true, there would not be any professional recording artists. A real artist will not remain on a plateau for long. Most recording artists, who still aspire to continual improvement, will study or practice things to improve all aspects of performance and business. The singers who really stand out are consummate performers: Usher, Harry Connick, Jr., Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Lady Gaga, just to name a few. Some are living, some are not, but they are/were multifaceted entertainers. They are not only singers, they have acted in motion pictures, Broadway, some have also been great, good, or adequate dancers. They have not stood on a stage wondering things like: what do I do with my hands, my arms, how do I move, how do I connect with the audience, can I connect with the audience, are they going to like me, are they going to not like me? The list could go on. Have Usher, Madonna, Frank Sinatra, and Michael Jackson worked on dancing? We can be impressed with the results of instruction and practice, as evidenced by performances. The ones with the best teachers and the discipline of mastering the craft never worried about embarrassing themselves. They worked to raise the skill level to that of a professional. Some people may say that this or that performer is a “natural”. True, the performer may be awesomely talented, but no one is born singing, dancing, acting, or performing. Then there is the “charisma factor”. What makes a person likeable, interesting, or fascinating? How can that be learned? It can be practiced and it can be learned, but if it isn't genuine, it will be met with rejection or revulsion. I have some theories regarding this and they seem to be proven by the results which the superstars have experienced.

Singing Star

The formula for being a singing star is... It has to be easy, right? The great ones make it seem like it is effortless. How to get from effort-full to effortless? Maybe have 2 or three voice lessons, 2 or 3 acting lessons and a couple of dance classes. That should do it! Oh! Throw in an acting class. Yes, I AM being sarcastic! If most people knew what most singing stars have gone through with classes or school, they wouldn't ever start. The great ones have years of practice, lessons, experience and more. What is the "more"? Talent and objectivity are two things. Most singers evaluate themselves as either being way better than they are or way worse than they are. Both viewpoints cause more problems than you can shake a pair of vocal cords at. Somebody invented the word "pitchy", supposedly meaning that the singer is out of tune, not on the note, either sharp or flat, or all of the aforementioned. Where does that lead one, to actually do something about it? It depends on what the real problem is. Is it intervals, not having an adequately developed melodic and/or harmonic "ear"? If a person is "pitchy", he/she doesn't know why or the singing wouldn't be so hard to listen two. Some people sing well and never had a lesson. Why is that? Strong natural ability and the ability to: hear, duplicate, assimilate, and emulate with a high degree of accuracy musically, stylistically, and emotionally. Those people are very very rare. Oftentimes they have additionally had instrumental training and experience, however.

How To Get Off The Crack

The chance of accidentally finding how to get your voice to stop cracking is about equal to throwing all the pieces of a watch up in the air and expecting them to come down in the precise place and in the precise order to have functioning watch.

I wish this weren't true. I really struggled and worked at getting my voice to not crack. I practiced and practiced but the crack did not go away. Why? I was practicing the wrong way. I did vocal exercises that did not help. In fact, some of them made me hoarse and they were actually great vocal exercises but I did not know how to do them properly. So, I was getting nowhere in a hurry. I even bought a book by one of the top vocal coaches in the USA, but until I was shown how to use the book, I just kept failing and flailing away getting more and more frustrated.

There is a way to get your voice to not crack. The question is not if it works. The variable is how long it takes because every singer is different from each other. We have differing levels of ability, intelligence, and we learn things at varying rates. IQs prove that. You probably already know that IQs have been being measured for quite some time.

Habits are a huge problem for voices which crack. The crack is actually a habit. Another factor is mindset or mental attitude. WHAT? It's all in my head?! Not entirely, thank goodness! But the change, like any other, starts there. It will take physical control to start eradicating the crack and it will be in conjunction with using the mind to gain muscle coordination to not crack. I have actually noticed that good athletes progress faster than non-athletes in this.

How To Prepare For A Singing Competition

1. Get a vocal coach who knows the voice, musicianship, style, acting, and dance. OR
2. Get a vocal coach who knows the voice, musicianship, style, and acting. Study dance at a professional studio. OR
3.Get a vocal coach who knows the voice, musicianship, and style. Go to acting classes and dance classes.
4. Give yourself 6 to 12 months to prepare.

Taking one voice lesson is about as smart as taking one flying lesson and then piloting a plane. Good luck! Someone said that when preparation meets opportunity, that is what luck really is.

BAD MUSICIANSHIP = BAD SINGING It doesn't matter if you know the terminology nearly as much as it matters: if you can hear melody and harmony accurately, if you can hear rhythm accurately, if you can understand and assimilate music accurately.

Most singers do not want to become a national joke. Study and preparation can help avoid bad consequences.

TV Singing Competition - The Fallout

This will be short, but not so sweet. There are casualties from the barbaric TV singing competition shows. The legal teams of such shows have done a fantastic job of protecting the TV producers, judges, and all affiliated workers from the competitors and their families. It is easily justified because "artists and singers are soooooooo crazy! They might retaliate!"

WAIT A MINUTE!
To those who have "uneducated musical ears": There are singers who never arrive at the actual show and are not selected to participate. These people are sometimes spiritually, emotionally, and artistically crushed (sometimes destroyed) in the process. (Thank goodness the lawyers protected the show!!!!!) We could say that the fragile singers should have been stronger. The singers should have paid attention to the documents and contracts they signed and should have got a clue then. We could say all kinds of things because after all, it is just music; it is just singing. When a nasty rat of a producer says, "There is nothing unique about you," He is showing that his intelligence is lacking, his manners are absent, he is not aware enough to notice differences. Hell! He probably has trouble getting his shoes on, not knowing his right foot from his left. The same producer says, "You sound like you are a Christina Aguilera wannabe." Another potential career goes down the toilet. Who's fault is it? Why do you think those contracts were so skillfully prepared? People get hurt. The world is getting colder. People are growing apart. Political correctness is an agenda to simply "divide and conquer." But it justifies keeping distant and NOT caring. Why do French people kiss 3 times when they greet one another? Because in America, that would get you sued.

Compassion is no longer in fashion.
People's value systems are clashin'.
They take hopes and dreams and they're dashin'.
People are just numbers, so it's fine to smash them.

Yeah, the last was a "near rhyme".

You want to see some honest pain? Look at the face of Jennifer Lopez at times. There are critics and there are artists. Mingle criticism with art and you will always get conflict-some inner and some outer. Conflict=plot=interest=audience=commercials=sales=who gives a crap if people are hurt or destroyed because WE ARE MAKING MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll be right back after this word from my sponsor...

TV Singing Competitions

TV Singing Competitions - Looks like these things are springing up like weeds in a garden! How many are there now? One thing is consistent. Singers who sound bad, fair, or fairly good are suffering from the same disease: Allergy to Pitch. Sure, there are some who have no clue about rhythm or style, but the consistent thing, the common thread running through the bad ones is usually BAD musicianship. The producers of the shows think this is hilarious stuff! What could be more funny than people attempting to create an artistic performance making complete fools of themselves? The same people who think that is funny probably also laugh when people fall and hurt themselves.

WHY? Why do these shows keep happening? It could be the "Rocky Syndrome". Unknown person rises beyond him/herself, finding fame and fortune. Only thing is, how many people actually DO get hurt along the way? As long as people will pay and watch, the sponsors are happy. Makes you wonder how much it cost to watch people get eaten by lions, or to watch people fight to the death. What an extreme analogy! How dare I! Why should I care? It is entertainment. Is it art? Have our standards of art and manners dropped? Take a quick guess. BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Time's up.

One day there may be a singing competition where the audience votes by opening trap doors under the singers. Seems like there was a commercial like that. Hmmmmmmm Foretelling the future?

What IS musicianship? I wrote about it some time ago and will be releasing more information about musicianship soon. If you cannot define it, how could you possibly have a profound understanding of it?

Not to banter about semantics, but most people have absolutely NO idea what the word "Algebra" means. How many of us took that in school? If you were confused about Algebra, maybe it would have helped to have understood what the heck you were studying. Anyone can memorize and maybe get a good grade OR cheat in class. Where will that get someone? Turn on the TV singing competition shows. OR NOT. Some people like a ballet while others prefer an old fashioned circus. They do not look alike. They do not smell alike!

Several singing competition winners were allergic to singing in tune. Think not? Longevity will usually accompany skill, artistry, and great musicianship. That's it. Sermon on musicianship. Time to study. Time to pray things get better.

Opposites...

Good.
Bad.

Abundance.
Scarcity.

Heavy.
Light.

Weight.
Weightlessness.

Tall.
Short.

Loss.
Gain.

Fat.
Thin.

Beautiful.
Ugly.

Dichotomies (or opposites) form “either/or” thinking and “either/or” value systems and habits. There are many shades of grey between black and white. There may be infinite shades of grey, but we may not be so perceptive as to be able to recognize and to differentiate between them all. Yet, they do exist. Sure, it’s simple to keep it simple but is it the way to arrive at a person’s “best”, to think in such narrow terms?

Everything is not equal. Everything is not opposite, either. The most brilliant minds know this as an obvious truth. The most brilliant singers, artists, mathematicians, engineers, and scientists also are the most aware of the multitudinous grey areas. It is the subtle difference between the “good” and the “great” that the “good” do not notice.

Happy.
Sad.
These are feelings, or emotions. Are there only two?

Angry.
Content.
Are they opposite? Are angry and calm opposites? If put on a thermometer of “anger”, is anger at boiling and calm at freezing? There are degrees and decimals of degrees between water freezing and water boiling on our ‘water’ thermometers. Both Celsius and Fahrenheit are “water state based” temperature measurement systems.

If you are stuck, consciously or subconsciously, in the style of right versus wrong thinking, you are severely limiting your success at everything. Your awareness is barely functioning. You are seeing one, when there are a thousand (or more). Your value systems will also be set up based on opposites and without degrees. The effect of this thinking (or the cause of it) is an illness called “being a perfectionist”.

A perfectionist usually sees things as perfect or wrong. Perfect or imperfect do not enter into the equation. “Imperfect” implies that something may be good or right but a portion is not. A perfectionist does not see or hear or feel things this way. Since in reality there are degrees or increments of things, it is almost beyond the comprehension of a true perfectionist that anything can exist between right and wrong.

In nature, there are degrees of things. There are incremental stages of development. These things have been observed and recorded and verified. In some religions, there is only right and wrong, good and bad, sin and non-sin. When these value systems are in the makeup of a person’s thinking on a subconscious level, very imperfect consequences can result. One consequence is that of being a malcontent-nothing is ever good or right. Another consequence is being hyper critical of self or others. Being a hyper critical person will have an insidious effect, in that the hyper critical person has an immense amount of trouble achieving any goal which requires incremental change. Incremental change is essential to learning and to advancing in art, in science, and in life.

If a person is a perfectionist, he/she will be mostly blind to incremental progress and will therefore discount it as if nothing has improved. God help the perfectionist, if the perfectionist will not help him/herself.

One Lesson

There are people who, in the past, have shown up for singing lessons, took one lesson, never to return. The good news is that this is rare. The bad news is that those same people would not go to an airstrip for flying lessons, attend one class and then expect to fly a plane without getting killed. Singing looks easy and so does flying, when the person “in charge” is very, very good at it. It is silly to think that a highly developed skill is gained through just a little bit of knowledge. You wouldn’t go to a doctor, who spent one day in medical school, to get your broken bone treated.

Anything you have learned in school was learned by consistent attendance, and repetition of studying and (hopefully) applying what you studied. The process is: you get information, you do something intelligent with it, and you repeat this until you have a profound understanding and the ability to utilize your newfound knowledge and skill. Or! You study and memorize, make your “A” and know little or nothing about the subject a month or a year later. What was the purpose of putting in the time, if you gain nothing in the long run?

So, above, we have three scenarios: 1) A person expects to learn a vast subject in a day. 2) A person consistently learns and applies and gets good at something. 3) A person treats life like “school” and goes for the grade but never is fully involved with the subject. The results of each approach should be obvious but evidently are either not obvious or are not important to the student. One of the three approaches results in success. The other two are a waste of everyone’s time.

Practice is where the magic lives. Practice is the time and place where you do the things to cause improvement to take place. If you have the proper tools to get the job done, you exponentially increase your chances of success. Conversely, if you have the wrong tools, you will make no progress, or worse still, you will get worse. I had a student a few years ago who went to a major university in Massachusetts and in a month lost an entire octave of her singing range. Her teacher, (who had a doctorate degree in voice) through tears, told her that she did not know how to fix her and that she was so sorry for having messed her up. At this point she started studying with me over the phone and in a month had all of her range back. You can truly get worse by practicing incorrectly or by practicing the wrong things.

To Be At The Top Of Your Game...

To be at "the top of your game" as a professional singer or musician takes more time than most people would ever guess. You do hit some plateaus along the way. They can feel like stagnation, like you are stuck. Like everything else, how you look at things is vital. When you hit a plateau, it is very likely than you will never get worse than you are on that day. You have reached a level that can be maintained without nearly as much effort as the effort it took to get to that level.


Spending a total of 3 hours a day is common, yet you have to build up to that, if you are not at that level of practicing. Between 3 and 6 hours a day is not uncommon among people who are professional or are heading in that direction. If that sounds outrageous, you can learn to bake a cake in an hour or so and make an edible cake. However, learning to bake a cake is not like learning to be a great singer or musician, because "knowing" and "doing" are not the same thing. You can know how to do something but you have to work on it for many many hours over a period of months and years to achieve greatness in the arts. It is true that in the culinary arts that hours are involved and many great chefs have spent more time in the kitchen than you would in several lifetimes. Practice (or the "doing" of it) is usually done alone and the audience doesn't ever see it, nor would they find it as interesting as the performance.

I have heard that some of the great singers spent 20 hours in the studio on just one song. Multiply that by 12 or 14 for a CD. How much time was spent in individual practice outside of the studio? How much was spent prior to ever arriving at that stage? Most professionals focus on the results of their practice rather than thinking how awful it was to use up all that time. Hell, they could have been watching TV instead, right?

The pleasure derived from being a professional singer is almost infinitely more rewarding than watching even the best that television has to offer, but no one knows this better than a professional singer. The same goes for writing and arranging music; it is hard to put into words the amount of fulfillment and gratification one gets from making music. Is the price paid worth the effort made? Ask anyone who has "made it".

Do you want the reward without paying the dues, so to speak? If so, don't expect anymore back than what you have given. That's the reality of it.

But wait, there's more. Great performers have also spent time in dance class, acting class, and/or working with a mentor or mentors, who can help with these things. To see what happens with those people who did not pay their dues, go out and see your local band who looks like one or all of them is a mannequin, or worse yet, spastic moving things trying to create charisma or stage presence but in actuality are hiding from the audience, disconnected, as if the crowd does not deserve any better. If you insult your audience, don't expect anything better than what you are giving them.

If this sounds harsh, there is nothing more harsh than the sting of failure. Plenty of "has-beens" or "never-weres" can attest to this as they blame everything and everyone, other than the fact of never having put in the time to learn and practice like the real professionals do.

The Pursuit Of Excellence

Whatever happened to the pursuit of excellence? Is excellence someone else's "job"? Many of us have become excellent fans of sports, music, art, dance, but what happened to our own goals?

What if you found out that to be a great singer or a great dancer, that it took as many hours in the day as a great olympic gymnast or skater puts in? Where would all the TV and YouTube time come from? Can you imagine working on every facet of your art and spending six to eight hours a day? Can you imagine 3 hours and 40 minutes on exercise alone, just to be the best as a dancer? Imagine it. It happens.

You get out of things what you put into them. If you want mediocrity as your result, then be mediocre with your practice. Sacrifice a big 15 to 20 minutes a day and, if you're lucky, you can maintain a healthy level of mediocrity. When you practice every other day, which is an "inconsistent approach", you will get inconsistent results. Sometimes things will work and sometimes they will not work.

It is fantasy and self-deception to expect greatness if you do less work than those who have achieved the results you love watching on TV, in concert, in sports, and other areas of life. Make a choice, if you have a passion, and decide to learn the fine art of practice and preparation. The sacrifice will be great but so will the reward.

Excuses

What happens when you find an excuse as big as your goal?