[HANASHIR:16442] Re: Ah... the double-edged sword

[Ros Schwartz <ros...>]

Let me give my *strong vote against discouragement*.  (With all due 
respect to Fran, with whom I have had many wonderful - and supportive - 
conversations.)  When I started on this road, there were many who 
discouraged me.  "You write songs, you can't sing, why try to learn at 
this point in your life, when you already have a perfectly good career?" 
  Because:  ***if I don't try, I'll never know if I could***.  A singing 
teacher told me:  "You _can_ reach the soprano range, it's there in your 
voice, you just have to learn how to do it".  She was right:  with 
training, my range has increased from high C to high G.  I'm not "there" 
yet, but I can hold a steady tone for much longer than I could, and my 
sound gets better month by month.

I learned little from those who pointed out my faults.  (And yes, there 
were many.)  I was - and am - fully aware of the flaws and weaknesses in 
my voice, and my performance, and etc., etc., etc.  It doesn't help to 
be "informed" of what I already know.  What has helped, and sometimes 
stunned me, were the teachers who said:  "Yes, you _can_ do this". 
Me???  Perhaps someday, on my hopefully-soon-to-be-website, I will write 
a letter of public appreciation to the many people whose compliments and 
encouragement supported me when I was sure I could _not_ do this.  A 
small example:  Rick Calvert said, "My fingers used to freeze too, when 
I started out playing guitar publicly".  Rick??? who now plays as though 
he was born with a guitar in his hands???  If he too had incapacitating 
stage fright way-back-when, well then maybe there was hope for me.  (And 
there was.)

And - even if I had never been able to improve - in my home 
congregation, I am one of the very few people who is willing to 
songlead, and to sing in public.  Even a songleader with a poor-quality 
voice can keep the group singing together in rhythm, and on the same 
note at the same time, which is better than having no leader at all.  In 
contrast, I have been to services where the operatic intricacies sung by 
a cantor with a beautiful voice discouraged anyone from trying to sing 
along with her.

The key question is:  What are you trying to do, and what is needed to 
accomplish it?  If you are asking people to pay $100 a ticket to see you 
sing solos, you'd better have an absolutely beautiful voice or a 
stunning performance.  If, on the other hand, you are trying to help 
people experience a spiritual connection at a service, the emotional 
expression you communicate may be more important than the technical 
quality of your sound.

If someone wants to do something they are not very good at, I would say: 
  try it and see.  Even if it turns out that your goals outreach the 
physical capacities of the body and mind you were given ... you will 
learn, you will grow, nothing in life is ever wasted.

- Ros

------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------+
Hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network, http://shamash.org  
a service of Hebrew College, which offers online courses and an
online MA in Jewish Studies, http://hebrewcollege.edu/online/

To unsubscribe email listproc (at) shamash(dot)org and have your message read:
unsubscribe hanashir
------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------=