Perils Of Self-Expression

A singer’s greatest challenge and ultimate goal is to have her listener feel what she feels. Different singers come to terms with this challenge in different ways. One singer, for example, may embrace her feelings of vulnerability directly and sing with extreme emotionalism in the hope that the listener will become absorbed in her emotions and understand them. Another singer, by contrast, may hold back her intense feelings and depend more on the listener’s ability to empathize with what she is singing about. The issue is to what extent the approach a singer chooses enables her listeners to feel and understand her feelings and mood.

In some instances, a fragile or bruised ego is the source of a singer’s artistic undoing because this psychological state could easily incline him to devise bad solutions to effective communicating. A singer may possess a powerful voice with accomplished ability, outstanding musicianship, and a unique style, but it all will be wasted if heartfelt emotions, that mean something to others, are not communicated clearly and directly. When this happens, artistry can degenerate into the worst of all possible artistic vices: excessive self-indulgence.

In this artistically unbalanced state of mind, the singer forfeits the very powers of communication that the singing art form has so generously provided him. Clearly, all of us sing because it is emotionally and psychologically gratifying, but when a singer’s only concern is with himself, with his own needs, then singing can become a lopsided psycho-emotional experience with very limited ability to communicate the singer’s feelings, moods, and states of mind. By contrast, the authentic singer aims to create a powerfully evocative experience that is shared by both the singer and his listener. Great art, in other words, is not a private matter. This is true for singing as it is for any art form.

Years ago, I was on tour with a famous pop singer whose performances were exactly the same night after night—her singing and stage movements occurred at the same spots in the show (it wasn’t a totally choreographed act), and they always sounded and looked rehearsed and disingenuous. Additionally, during her show she barely said a word to the audience—it was as though we were watching a live music video. Sitting in the audience, I kept thinking to myself, “What is she doing? Why doesn’t she make some personal contact with the people who adore her and have spent a great deal of money on her music and to see her live?” In the end, it was a very forgettable evening.

Since I was her teacher, I had to tell her what I thought when she asked me for my critique. She was taken aback when I told her that her talent and reputation did not match up with her performance, that she needed to reach out to her adoring fans in a sincere way and let them know that she cares for them and appreciates their support, and finally, that her singing, although technically fine, was ultimately unsatisfying because she was either “singing into the air or only to herself,” and not to and for her audience. To say the least, she was not happy with me and there was tension in our relationship for some time. But the critique worked—she made an impressive turn around and gave her fans what they wanted: an exciting, moving, and personal performance. During the rest of the tour, she never mentioned my critique again, and it was only afterwards that she thanked me for having the courage to tell her what others would not.

Image source: re_bekka/Shutterstock

Comments

[Builder Auckland]

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