When you love to sing, dance, and act, your life becomes kind of crazy if you start to use your talent as a career, in a school activity, or even a major in college. But a good crazy. You know what I mean? Well you probably don't, so I'll explain. Being someone who is truly dedicated to their craft comes with a lot of hard work, fatigue, rehearsals, sore bodies, tears, and smiles. We spend most of our time at the school or in studios working for hours on what we love to do. Over and over we will practice it until we can't get it wrong. We find the little things and spend what seems like forever on them, when in the end it is the finish product that counts. Something people don't understand is how hard it is to do this as a career. It's physically and mentally exhausting.
As performers we strive for perfection, even though we know we can't be perfect. In the end all the hard work pays off. It pays off because once we are out on that stage we feel at home and we are doing what we love. Also as performers, we tend to compare ourselves to others. This is a huge habit that can be cancerous to our craft. For example, if I were to look at one of my peers and say to myself “I wish I could sing like them or be as talented as they are.” that would bring my self-esteem down or confidence down as a performer. We tend to look at qualities other performers have instead of looking at what we are capable of doing. Personally, I am guilty of doing this. All we have to do to overcome this habit is to stop comparing ourselves to other performers and remember that we are gifted with talent too.
After all the hard work we put into our craft, it can be paid off later on. How? Well, we connect with our talent on a personal level. As a singer myself, I usually find a way to connect to the piece of music I worked on and try to think of ways I can connect the meaning of it to the audience. I know I have said this before, but it really does help. We as performers want to make sure that we have inspired at least one person after we perform. Maybe that song we worked on for what seems like eternity is a song someone in the audience has a personal connection to. Maybe the song got them through a hard time or simply just made them feel content. We never know who is out in the audience that needs to hear the beautiful music we create with our voices. No matter how hard or exhausting life can be as a performer, it is our job to change people’s hearts, inspire, and connect. This is only a small portion of what life is like as a performer and I love it.
