Being GOOD ENOUGH
I (Elizabeth) have been listening to the Julia Louis Dreyfus podcast
Wiser Than Me, where she interviews older and wiser women. Her conversation with food writer, author, and publisher Ruth Reichl recently rang a few bells.
During the conversation, Ruth remembered being offered the position as the food critic at the New York Times - she was terrified - but one of her mentors encouraged her by saying that to get better at things, one had to be in a place of discomfort (first bell started ringing!)
At that time, Ruth was writing long-format articles for a magazine and had lots of time to polish her work. But working at a newspaper would force her to write things quickly and with particular parameters. The idea was that the writing had to be “good enough” to fill the required space concisely while also remembering that the next day, your work would line someone’s birdcage.
This concept reminded me that this was how I developed my voice teaching career, and I often recommend this to young teachers!
Early in my teaching days, I tried to teach every kind of student I could get myself in front of so that I could (possibly) begin to understand different types of voices, i.e., a 10-year-old versus a 17-year-old versus a 25-year-old versus a post-menopausal woman, etc. I did this not only to understand the voice but also to discover what voices I enjoyed working with and to determine my teaching strengths.
I also tried to say yes to every single festival adjudication opportunity because it forced me to be efficient in my language, create mental rubrics for how I was evaluating the voice, and demand that I be consistent in how I was expressing myself on paper and aloud as a teacher.
There is something wonderfully exciting about hearing 50 different voices in a day at a music festival, ranging in age from 10 to 75, and being creative enough to say something positive and constructive.
There is also something incredibly humbling knowing that yours is only one opinion in a vast array of opinions that a singer might receive. Which means you can’t get caught up in overthinking.
Not everybody is going to “get it” or care about your opinion - your feedback may end up (literally) lining someone’s birdcage - but if the idea of being kind, being technically accurate, and being efficient in the way you communicate can help us get over ourselves then being a little bit uncomfortable is worth it.
And, being in a process where perfection is not the goal can be liberating.
Happy 2024 - Emily and I wish you much discomfort and imperfection for your growth this year - reach out if you want to know more about how we can support you.
