Zelenz Academy

Monday, December 22, 2014 by Shella Zelenz | Practicing

You can learn all of the necessary techniques, stage presence skills, and master musical knowledge, but until you let go, you will never fully experience what you are truly capable of. Letting go is one of the scariest lessons to learn when you master any instrument. This can feel especially true for singers because singers are the instrument. When something goes wrong on your piano or flute, it is easy to blame the instrument (keys sticking, bad action, etc.). However, singers don't have this luxury of hiding. They are fully exposed at all times.

As such, singers have a tendency to over-sing to compensate for the need for vocal control or they can hold back considerably for fear of what may come out of them. If I were to say there was one magic bullet that I carry in my teaching toolkit, it is the teaching of letting go.

This is especially difficult because music in general is a very complex subject to learn. There are so many things to keep in mind when performing or learning a piece of music. There are external factors that can influence the performance and will always be unpredictable. To choose to become a musician is to dive into the most complex in-depth thinking while simultaneously being fully physically aware and engaged, emotionally connected to the music to fully express its message, and yet the magical key ingredient is to let go when all of those other facets are fully in place.

My one magic trick that I use with nearly all of my voice students who struggle with letting go is to tell them to "fake opera." I say this to adults and small children alike. There is something inherently known within each individual what an opera singer sounds like. When you ask someone to do this, they automatically tend to naturally do many of the physical things they should be doing, but often don't. Simultaneously, they have to get past their fears because you can't be the opera diva and sing like a mouse. It forces them to LET GO.

I encourage them to do this when no one is around so they can experiment with it. Every single one of them giggles and turns fifty shades of red when I tell them to do it. I ask them to do it with me in the lesson. They are often mortified. I sing with them in my biggest opera voice so they don't feel so exposed. It is a test of faith in one's own abilities. The confidence they glean from this one exercise has consistently provided nothing but amazing results for each of the students that embraced their "fake opera" exercise.

So go "fake some opera." I dare you to let go.