You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.
In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats,
so you can know who you are, what you can rise from,
how you can still come out of it.
Maya Angelou

To take any kind of rigorous Vocal Training is to encounter defeat.

Sometimes, it is encountered daily.

Certainly, you encounter it in each Vocal Training Session, and rightly so. It is in the struggle with defeat we learn not to be defeated. And that’s a completely different thing.

Said another way, in Vocal Training, it’s necessary to encounter defeats. Right. Without encountering defeats, there is no possible way to Keep Moving Forward.

Here are my takeaways from Maya Angelou’s beautiful statement:

• Your defeats teach you who you are. What physical and mental habits do you have that are counterproductive to singing? Unless and until they are encountered – that is, we are required to examine them – these things may never (ever!) come up or be discovered. Confronting them, discovering them, and working through them –feeling the defeats – is part of how you become who you are as a Vocal Artist.
• Your defeats show you what you rise from. We all come to Vocal Training with ‘baggage.’ This can be misinformation (from ourselves or outside sources), and/or a misunderstanding of terms used in singing and Vocal Training. It is only possible to know where you want to go – what you want to become – when you understand and learn what it is you need to rise from.
• Your defeats show you how you can still come out of it. Ok. But what is “it”?
• How about a habitual way you’ve always sung that’s counterproductive and harmful?
• Perhaps you’ve sung for literally years – and now you voice won’t work the way it used to, and you don’t know why. You’re scared it’s ruined.
• Or perhaps you left singing all together and decided “I’m not a singer anymore” but later decided to begin again.

How can we still come out of these – or any other ‘defeats’?

The way out, MaJoVTA Members – and the way forward – are one and the same: endure the defeats, absorb them … feel them. Then, persevere with your Vocal Training anyway.

#feeldefeats
#butnotdefeated
#dothereps
#majovta