Transcription
Hey, everyone.
I'm Veronica Start, your holistic vocal coach.
In this pod series, I'm diving into one of the seven psychological foundations that I believe should shape your singing, helping you sing with real soul.
On the first podcast, we talked about emotions, and since we're stacking up layers of understanding throughout this series, I hope you can watch that one first.
Today I'm talking about our identity as singers.
First, let's look at the dictionary.
There's two definitions for identity that stand out for me.
The first is the fact of being or what a person or thing is, and the second is a close similarity or affinity.
Now, let's close our eyes and remember our childhood.
Let's think about the roles we love to play with our friends, who we love to be on Halloween and who we pretended to be when we grew up.
Now, let's think about the adults who are around you.
Those people who nurtured your play and nurtured your expression.
Now open your eyes.
Do you recall at least one person in your life who listened to you as you talked or as you told a story?
Was there at least one special person who saw you as you wanted to be seen and made you feel special?
Well, congratulations.
You have a personal hero.
And if you're really lucky, you have more than one.
These inspiring figures gave you a feeling of acceptance, and maybe they specifically admired and nurtured your talent as an artist or a musician or as a singer.
Your personal hero affirmed your true self, your original self, your core sense of self.
In calling forth that special person, you've retrieved a weapon of mass creation for your singing arsenal.
My personal hero was my grade four teacher, Mr. S. During that school year, he gave me the lead in not one, but two Christmas plays. And he also made sure my stories were read out in class and they were also published in the local newspaper.
It was obvious to me that this teacher saw me very differently from my own self image.
I literally glowed inside.
This was such a contrast to how I felt at home.
It was the first time I could even conceive that I was more than what I was conditioned to believe about myself. And there must have been a part of me that knew he was right, because I trusted his vision.
In reality, I don't think Mr. S. thought he was doing anything more than his regular job.
But from my perspective, my grade 4 heart, mind and soul experienced a quantum shift in my sense of self.
The role of personal heroes in our lives, no matter how brief your encounter, is to show you who you are and who you can be beyond your own vision and self-image.
We connect with what they say because of limbic resonance, a feeling of mutual understanding and connectedness.
So, you see, this isn't a one-way street.
Mr. S. had to feel a role in his play, and I could see that he delighted in my ability to connect with his vision and to flourish under his direction.
This is a good example of recognizing a close similarity or affinity.
The world had conspired to create an affinity between me and Mr. S., and had changed my identity forever.
Now, how about those negative influences in our lives that impacted our sense of self?
Before experiences at school, I had the identity of a mud puddle: confused, dark, dirty.
That sounds dramatic and tragic and, looking back…Well, yes, childhood can be like that.
The magical gift that my personal hero gave me was the possibility to consider another reality.
I didn't have to live in the negative opinion of someone else who had power over me.
This is why our personal heroes are so important in the development of our identities as singers.
Singing is leadership, and we may take for granted the amount of courage it takes to stand up in front of people and to use our voices.
We also need that freedom, that permission, to allow a regulated nervous system to support unlimited sound.
As we grow up, life throws plenty of opportunities to quiet our voices.
We also need to stand on our own in a affirm our own sense of self, maybe even multiple times a day, depending on where you're at in your singing journey.
Keeping a memento like a picture, or a quote from that special person and putting it in a noticeable spot, can rekindle those early seeds of recognition, and it will sustain that initial burst of positive inspiration.
The ability to affirm yourself is the single, most liberating skill that an artist can master, and we build that rock-solid sense of self, brick by brick, day by day, never letting go of that original spark.
When self-doubt creeps in about your direction or your singing ability, just revisit that encouragement from those who believed in you, and you'll find clarity in your creative vision.
I suggest carving out time to reconnect with what you felt when someone first ignited your dream to sing. And this bond with them proves that you can be 100% confident in your identity as a singer.
So that's my step two for singing with soul, knowing your identity.
Please like, subscribe, follow me, save this post, yeah, yeah, yeah, do all the things so that we can keep in touch.
And you can catch step three when we go deeper on the identity topic and talk about your mentors.
Bye, for now.
See you soon.