Vocalist.org archive


From:  Margaret Harrison <peggyh@i...>
Date:  Thu May 11, 2000  4:46 am
Subject:  Re: [vocalist-temporary] Jealousy


Lisa wrote:

> I went to Eastman School of Music at the age of 17,
> the only singer to be accepted from a regional audition that year. I was on
top of the world.
> HOWEVER, I discovered that the competition, and my own lack of self-worth
really destroyed my
> ability to sing well. When I was getting my Master's Degree, someone even
suggested maybe I
> had "peaked" at 17

and Karen wrote:

> But I do often turn my negative feelings
> inward and regret being too immature, too unfocussed, too lazy, and too
> many other things (none good) to have decided on a singing career when I
> was 17

and I react:

Where is it written that everyone has to decide the path they are to take for
the better
part of their lives at age 17? That is so young. So many of us are immature,
because of
our chronological age and the few years we've lived. We need to try lots of
things,
experience the world. A very few people are so focussed and single-minded (or
so
one-dimensional, looking at it in a negative fashion) that they can choose a
single thing
at that age and dedicate everything in their lives to it. Gosh....I'm gettin'
close to
that half-century mark, and I don't want to give up everything just to pursue
one
interest.

And even if the hypothetical 17-year-old did focus and devote everything to one
pursuit -
there's no guarantee, or even likelihood that things will work out favorably
for that
person.

Not that my saying this will change anything, but I think it makes no sense to
beat
oneself up, or even regret, that at 17 there was not an ability to focus on a
single
pursuit in life. That's not immaturity - that's normality.

And also, there is not a single definition of success. A successful singer is
not only
the singer with the international career, selling lots of records, being
famous, etc.
There are many types of successes, and I think many of those successes are more
intrinsically rewarding than those of the "rich and famous". As several have
written
recently here, the international singing career means that many other wonderful
and
rewarding things that life has to offer will be nonexistent or compromised.
That may not
be bad, but it's certainly not for everyone.

I can't believe that the best opera singer in the world could have had a more
intrinsically rewarding experience than I did when I got to sing in the onstage
chorus at
the Kennedy Center Messiah Sing-in last December. Me, with my modest vocal
instrument and
reasonably decent vocal technique obtained slowly, with difficulty, over many
years of
study, having not even started singing until my mid-thirties. If I can have a
rewarding
experience like that (and I've had others like that, too, and have also made
some
audiences happy), any singer can, who works hard, sticks with it, works with
good people,
and takes advantage of opportunities.

So to the 30+ year-old singers who are now late-blooming, I say: Good for
you!!! You have
lots to offer that no 17 or 22 year-old can come close to. You wouldn't be
where you are
now if you hadn't lived the life you lived, with your failures as well as your
successes.
Because those experiences add to your ability to make your music happen.
You'll make
yourself happy with your singing, as well as many people in the future who will
be your
audience and your colleagues.

Peggy

--
Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
"Music for a While Shall All Your Cares Beguile"
mailto:peggyh@i...

emusic.com