For years, I have been involved in competitive singing. Some singers would laugh at this concept: saying that singing is an subjective art form, not something that you can measure and evaluate, score or rate. I am a very competitive person, and so, drawing an analogy from sports, you would think that I would have won many contests in this field (since I have singing ability and have been exhaustively trained). However, that is not the case. What I learned this weekend is that the competitive spirit and the desire to win is NOT what propelled me ahead. Instead, it is freedom from all that - releasing myself from the competition.

How to do the release? Well, in this situation, we thought we had nothing to lose - if we did well, great, if we didn't, too bad - but either way, the same results: the quartet was retiring. This gave me a sort of permission from myself, that whatever I put out there would be okay. I wanted it to go well, but I didn't put myself under any pressure to make it happen. The big question is how to keep this feeling with the new group? I tried to memorize the feeling on stage, that confident, strong, performer's attitude.. and I have a feeling that I can re-create it. I feel sure that L'Attitude has the talent and the expertise needed to prepare to win a contest. I know that Laura & Mary have won plenty of times in the past and have that freedom. And now, Donna & I have had that experience, too.. and will carry that forward.



More photos..

This entry was posted on Monday, April 26, 2004 at 2:19 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.