Dear (Adult Student Name Withheld), After several tearful sessions, it’s no wonder you would be thinking of “taking a break” from your singing lessons. Usually when a student quits, my response is, “I understand, and it has been a pleasure working with you.” This is different because I have grown to care about you as a friend. You are strong, brilliant, full of love, brimming with personality, funny, uninhibited, creative, and so much more. You also happen to be a good singer. You have done your best to do as I ask, and you have progressed at a good, steady pace. What did you start telling yourself at the lessons that made you cry? Why did you start to refuse to use some of the tools I offer? I’ve heard the word “can’t” from you several times lately. Do you feel like you’re not doing it right enough? The truth is you are way ahead of the crowd. Let me remind you that there is no end to learning. We are never finished in the Performance Arts (or anywhere else). Beyond each level is another level. The greatest opera singers are still “working on it”. Most of them have coaches to help. We can always be better, and that doesn’t make us bad. In fact, I believe we are all loving source energy at our very core. When we tell ourselves we are anything less than the goodness we actually are, it causes pain and distorts our reality. Can you love yourself even if you don’t appear to be the perfection you truly are? Not that long ago, you created a funny theatrical character, and I made up a friend to match. Our ongoing improv at your lessons was fun and filled with laughter. Simultaneously, you progressed quickly to a level where you seemed performance ready, and I even invited you to perform at a mic. This quick movement forward might not have been a coincidence, and it gives me a sort of “outside-the-box” idea: Let’s kick off 2019 by spending a little time making up a new “game” to keep our sessions light and fun. Laughing is good to open up the voice, and nothing serious is actually going on. Maybe you could enjoy being here moment by moment working on the more advanced singing skills we’ve begun. Meanwhile, we can continue holding a positive expectation for the future, and keep you always moving in the desired direction… With love, Cynthia
Similar Posts
For My Mother
ByCynthiaMy mom gave me the gift of music. Some of my most cherished early memories include sitting side by side on the organ bench as she played and we sang together. She taught me beginning piano and basic singing technique, put a $50 piano in my bedroom, and set me loose! I was inspired by…
Creative Space
ByCynthiaIt’s that time of the year when lesson cancellations run rampant. Summer vacations definitely take their toll on my teaching income. That’s o.k., life is full of trade-offs. When business is overwhelming, there’s lots of money. But, if it slows down to a dull roar, there’s more personal time. When I was young, I worried if things were slow, then complained that…
No Inoculation Needed
ByCynthiaPeople said it looked like I was having fun, and that was so true. For me, nothing is more fun than performing, and last Saturday night was no exception. I had a funtastic time singin’ and swingin’ at Café Leila in Berkeley. The audience was super receptive, and seemed so happy that I wondered if…
Other Side of The Door
ByCynthiaWhen I was in my twenties, a friend informed me that I was the most driven person she had ever met. Certainly knocking on doors until one opened, was a specialty of mine. It worked. But many times when better opportunities appeared seemingly out of nowhere, I wasn’t able to make use of them. I was too busy following…
One Person At A Time
ByCynthiaRecently I got swept up in the state of the world. It’s not like me. I’m a kind of “head in the sand” person who doesn’t generally partake of the news. For the sake of my amazing recovery from chronic depression, that’s the way it needs to be. So anyway, since mortal reality reached out…