Cynthia Bythell Music

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