| Dear Judy and vocalist(er)s, after having read interesting things about acting (I've even started to think it can be very nice, I never though about acting that way, thanks Judy, for bringing up the subject and for sharing your experiences), I though I would like to add a few purely psychological things. For the moment I would just let the differences between acting, tv acting, song acting, opera acting, over acting and vain acting, for what they are. I am far from an expert on psychology, but have discussed this subject a few times with friends of mine who are shrinks. Judy wrote: (...) snipped I may be being too judgemental--but perhaps her apparent attitude stems more
from a some deep-rooted insecurity or desire for approval than vanity or
arrogance. But not knowing her very well, it's hard to tell! (End quote) Vanity, arrogance, insecurity and desire for approval all are believed to stem from the same neurotic basis, and most narcistic characters (that's how most performing artists are seen by shrinks) posess I think at least three of these qualities to a lower a or higher degree. For artists in general, it is often said that having a neurosis can be helful. People that believe in Freud think that being neurotic helps you to come closer to your subconscious, and they also believe that the subconscious is highly involved in art. Obviously you can also be neurotic to such a degree, that it has more disadvantages than advantages when being on stage, unless you have some kind of a Woody Allen role. In the case of the singer mentioned, she is for some reason (lack of intelligence, or indeed a neurosis that is too strong, or just the fact that nobody ever told her, or... ?) not able to hide her vanity. Personally I think that if you concentrate on your technique and all the other things involved, you don't have the time show your vanity, but I must admit that I am not a very vain person, so I could be wrong. It would be interesting to know how many great singers are also great neurotics. With pianists I know the examples of Rubinstein and Horowitz are often mentioned, where Horowitz had a better technique and was obviously also the more neurotic of the two, even to such a extend that his depressions kept him from the stages twice for many years in a row. Callas of course is a good example of a neurotic singer, and she probably found an extra energy in her neurosis. I think when it comes to showing virtuosity, it is very difficult to tell where sincerity stops and (a too strong amount of) vanity begins. But holding each high note has nothing to do with virtuosity and many tenors have proven in this way, that male vanity can easily go to the expense of music. There is even a role for that type of singer: the Italian tenor in Strauss' Rosenkavalier. A question for those amongst us who have seen and/or performed the Rosenkavalier with tenors they knew: who would be the better performer for that role: someone who has given himself a lot of thoughts on how to portray such a tenor, or someone who just is like that? Best greetings, Dre | 
