I have thoroughly enjoyed the thoughts I developed through this inquiry. Whilst I am a performer, and somewhat extrovert, I do love my own company, my own thoughts and alone time.
Thinking about my own personal reflection, and what gets my 'mojo' going, depends on what's in store for that day/week/month. One thing it always comes down to though, is singing.
I am a trained musical theatre performer, however many of the people I admire, or in some cases idolise are in different professions.
Theatrically, Sutton Foster is an inspiration. She is of a similar vocal range to mine so I often fine clips of her singing songs I am looking in to performing or auditioning with. She is a strong dancer, with tap and a great actress. She has been used many times in premiere Broadway performances or revivals and overall is a strong successful Musical Theatre performer. She has the Tony awards to prove it. A personal favourite performance on youtube is this: Sutton Foster - Thoroughly Modern Millie
Last week, I saw one of my favourite bands final ever performance, as they are ending their career as "Anberlin". They will all continue personal projects but as a band, and 12 years on from their first song release, they are quitting while they're ahead. This band was the soundtrack to my teen years. I had to see them one final time, even if it meant flying to Florida.
I am very passionate about music. My idol is Ben Gibbard, frontman of Death Cab for Cutie (and The Postal Service, All Time Quarterback). It is literally top of my bucketlist to see him perform live. I nearly had chance to last year on 2 seperate occasions, but couldn't afford to fly back from New Zealand for it. Death Cab for Cutie - He's a lyrical genius (and bonafide hottie.) Through some of my personal lowest points in life, music is what's got me through.
Don't get me wrong though, some of the happiest points in my life have been because i've been the one singing!
On a day to day basis I listen to music, whether its walking to work or back, or in the shower. I get a buzz off it, and can't remember the last time I went a day without it! It just makes me happy. Another thing I do near enough daily is youtube/vine. Vine is hilarious and youtube is just heaven! I regularly watch short funny clips on vine and can often be found in glorious corners of youtube stalking the likes of Natalie Weiss for musical gems (Royals with Tap!).
Something I notice a lot of on these sites, is "haters". Whether they are criticising the vocals, the look, the length of the bleedin video, they always seem to find something to bitch about. I imagine most of these people are brave behind the screen but wouldn't dare tell someone they were fat to their face.
I have mentioned both of these types of the above before. Firstly internet safety, the fact that I can see Miranda sings has a &^%*&^*& on youtube outwardly for anyone to read worries me! Also, the fact that people are so willing to slate other people.
The world needs to change. Sadly, it won't.
The "musical theatre" world seems a lot more forgiving than the "pop" world. If someone hit's a bad note, you may get the odd "sharp!" comment, or you'll get the odd "she had been ill all week before this performance, lay off her!!!" - but generally, you get people complimenting another artists work where deserved.
This video is of me and Victoria, from our 3rd year showcase at Liverpool Theatre School back in 2009. 25k+ views on youtube and nothing but sweet comments What Kind of Girl is She [title of show]
Go to a video of Ariana Grande, and some people say she can't sing, some people think she's too skinny and the others are just chatting nonsense because they feel brave. When actually, she's a pretty, awesome singer. I wish I could hit them whistle notes!
I feel quite passionately on how people are so quick and easy to slate another human being, yet compliments seem few and far between.
I currently feel very out of shape. I am the largest I've ever been, now a size 11/12, and feel totally unhealthy. I am battling with myself not to do a show I've had the opportunity to feature in, which is a 2 hours, twice a week rehearsal period for 6 months, to instead focus that time on going the gym. It sounds crazy to my friends but I just feel horrendous! I would like to be a size 10 again, so not a huge ask but I am busy with uni, an evening Maths course at local college, working 38 hours a week AND trying to squeeze in auditions where possible. I feel too large for show business, and something needs to change.
I'm still trying to work out if this is all my own feelings, or because of the industry, I feel more pressured. Either way, I think it only fair to myself, to be the best possible version of me that I can be.
My nephew Charlie was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. He is 10 years old.
Thankfully, he is now in remission, but my goodness I had never felt feelings like it. This year, his Christmas list to Santa asked for some lego toy and that Santa definitely visits those on his old ward at Birmingham Children's Hospital with presents. - I think we can all learn from Charlie. Be kind to people!
I identified with a couple of the points you raise here! Firstly, I agree that people are much quicker to see the negative and make complaints rather than the positive and make compliments. I've worked off and on throughout my twenties in all areas of customer service, retail and catering, and it's something that I experience on an almost daily basis. I have to say, I'm quick to do the same thing! I have, once or twice, found myself tweeting about terrible service, but it's rare that I make compliments. Maybe it's because we expect service to be good so it shouldn't seem noteworthy when it is?
ReplyDeleteIn the theatre world, however, it's not so black and white: people have different tastes, different attitudes and different opinions on what is 'good' and what is 'bad'. I agree with you that these opinions are more forcibly given on Social Media. A friend of mine is a lecturer at a university and one of her MA students is looking into the rise of cyber bullying with an emphasis on attitudes towards feminism! I think that'd be an interesting thing to look at!
I also identified with your comment about size: one of the reasons I decided to stop auditioning for commercial and musical theatre work was that I was getting sick of being the shortest, fattest, oldest person in the room! Next to all these five foot nine, leggy blonde eighteen year olds, fresh out of college, I felt jaded and uninspired. An actress friend recently asked her agent why they were only putting her up for particular roles (carer, auntie, barmaid, etc) and they explained, quite nicely, that she was a lot larger than when they had originally signed her and that she now only fit certain character criteria. We chatted about this for a while and it's such a shame that certain body-types are considered to only be suitable for certain roles. It's very rare you see a larger or older lady being the love interest.
And for the record: size 10-12 is not large at all, but I'm the same at the moment and I'd love to get back to an 8-10! When I was in college I was a 6 but I know I'm never going to get back to that again: I'm not as springy (or as active!) as I was ten years ago!!
xx
This post immediately caught my eye with your image of Miranda from her 'Miranda Sings' You Tube phenomenon! I wonder if the people that write these negative comments actually realise that Miranda is her alternate ego and actually she is an amazing musical theatre singer called Colleen Ballinger. I have to say that she was extremely convincing as I refused to believe that anyone would purposely perform in the way she does as her character, although extremely entertaining! And I think this is the point that people forget, she is an entertainer and uses her immense knowledge of the world to play on the reactions and perceptions of those within this industry.
ReplyDeleteI in fact think that she must be extremely intelligent to have maintained not to mention talented to upkeep this persona. Certainly not an easy job to do!