First and foremost, I want to discuss why we chose this field. We all have our reasons, but sometimes through school, hardships in life, sleep deprivation, rejection, critiques, jealousy, bad advice, illness… (the list goes on) it’s hard to remember our reasons. Sometimes those reasons change… or maybe we weren’t really sure what those reasons were to begin with… we just knew we needed to do this. But what do we do when those feelings of Why am I here? and Can I quit now? come-a creeping in the brain?
So many of us get into this field because we profess to “love” it! We LOVE making music, dancing, and/or acting. We LOVE to express ourselves to an audience through performing! There is nothing else in the whole world that we would rather do than be on stage and perform! Okay… so we love it. It makes us feel good. It’s a rush. But what does it mean to love our art (be it singing, playing, acting, dancing, etc.)? Our wonderful resource that all students should know (and frequently quote in your music history term papers), Wikipedia, defines LOVE as, “…an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection.”
Let’s break it down. We can all agree that we have a “strong affection and personal attachment” to the performing arts. This is the reason most of us get into it (at first anyway). If you don’t, well… it might be time you look into a new field. If you’re here just because you’re “good at it,” you have nothing to offer art. In this competitive of a field, you won’t make it- you HAVE to have the heart. Technique is only the base of art. If you have no desire to do anything but perfect your technique, we as an audience have no desire to watch you. You’ve essentially destroyed the point of art: Expression of the soul (or lack thereof if we’re speaking about some contemporary composers, but in a way that’s an expression of itself…. discussion for another day). If you don’t desire to do that in performance, you shouldn’t be a performer.
Now let’s talk about the philosophical context. This is something a lot of performers don’t take into consideration when they say, “I love singing/dancing/acting!” However, it’s an essential part of loving! A personal attachment isn’t enough. If it was, there wouldn’t be a 60% divorce rate in the US… am I right? But seriously, how often have you thought about the “virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection” in your own art? What does that even mean in regards to our art? Here’s a better definition that’s easier to break it down. Regardless of your religious background or prejudices you may have against some proclaimed “Christians,” I think we can unite on this definition given to us in the Bible about love.
1 Corinthians 13:4: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5: It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6: Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. 7: It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves. 8: Love never fails…
I love this definition in comparison to how I look at my performing!
Patience. To truly love your art you must be patient with it (and those around you). Patience in perfecting your technique, in yourself as you grow, in auditions, in critique, in rejection, in practice. Be patient with yourself and your art. Don’t force anything that’s not natural. Going against nature is going against art. Be patient and let yourself grow.
Be kind! Be kind always to others, but be kind to yourself too!!! Stop telling yourself you suck! No matter how much work you still have to do in your technique, no matter how good that chick that auditioned before you was, you being unkind to yourself will be the #1 killer of your love of art! If you didn’t hit that note quite right, don’t worry!! It’s okay. We ALL have our bad auditions/performances. Let it go and smile about the fact that you’re going to perfect that eventually (but remember to have patience!!)
“It does NOT ENVY, it does NOT BOAST”!!! Okay performers- STOP IT! This is its own blog in itself- and will be soon… but I just have to address it (too briefly) now. This is what hurts my heart the most whether I see it or do it! Jealousy is a wretched poison that sucks the life out of everything inside of you! You can say you’re not jealous all you want, but as soon as you turn to someone and say, “I don’t understand why she got that.” In some way or another, you’re jealous! Get it into your head now… you cannot control what others do… only you. Stop concerning yourself with what he or she has that you don’t. There’s nothing you can do, so stop spreading the poison. When you feel those feelings and want to sabotage by gossiping about it- STOP- let it go. It won’t make you feel better. Same goes for boasting!!! There’s a difference between telling someone who will be excited for you and rubbing it in someone’s face. You know where the line is… don’t be cocky. Boasting also touches on another issue of needing attention. We’ll talk more about this in a later blog. You don’t need others' attention to be something. Don’t be so selfish in your art as to make it all about you. Don’t boast. Envy and boasting go hand in hand with “does not delight in evil.” Rejoice in the truth- work on your truth… your talent and share it with others. That’s why we’re here.
Pride and dishonoring. Oh pride. I’m not talking about being happy with something you’ve done in the past; being “proud” of it. I’m talking about the pride that many artist have in thinking they have some superiority to something/someone; that anything could possibly be below them. This, again, is another blog in itself, but let me just say- stop with the pride. Yes, we’ve all worked our hardest! But no one owes you anything… you are not above anyone… you do not have a “higher” or “better” art than anyone else- that’s all perspective. Yes, do your best in what you do, but don’t put yourself or your art above anyone or anything. Just love it and do it.
It is not Self-Seeking. Remember- in the performing arts there is an audience. Without them, it’s not the performing arts. Don’t forget about them. I’ll let that sink in for now and go on to the next one which is-: “it’s not easily angered.” I think being easily angered goes hand in hand with some of the earlier mentioned subjects such as Jealousy and can be helped with Patience.
Keeping no record of wrongs is a biggie! As performers, we critique ourselves A LOT and it’s really hard to let it go sometimes! Yes, it’s very good to critique your work, but you can’t beat yourself up about it! You have to note it and move on. So you got yelled at in rehearsal by the director for not knowing your translations… okay… that hurt… and you probably cried (I would). Now breathe and let it go. You’re a better performer for it- you won’t make that mistake ever again!
“It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.– Protect your art. Yes, be completely open to direction and suggestion- always continue to learn, but don’t let your art become someone else’s completely. There should always be a little “you” in there… that’s why YOU are doing this. Trust yourself. The biggest killer of true art is doubt. Always Hope!! Yes, this is a competitive field, it’s hard, it’s crazy, it’s full of unexpected twists, but don’t give up because someone else might not have faith in you. If you believe you can do it, don’t let anything get you down- there is always hope! Always preserve!! The arts are SO important and, yet, so shunned in this society- fight to preserve them! Preserve what you have to offer- because you DO have something to offer!
I know this has been very long first blog… forgive me. It’s hard to be brief when speaking about something I’m so passionate about. However, I do hope you have enjoyed how I view loving art and will take something away from this blog that you may have never considered. Feel free to post comments and questions. I have barely begun to scratch the surface of “loving art” and all of my blogs will be based in this love- no matter the subject. I do hope you pop in and read a bit every so often and take away anything that helps you lead a happier life as a performer! This is such a great field and we should truly love every moment of it!
Okay… I really need to end this post, so let me leave you with this: “Love never fails…”
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