A Singing Practice That's Just For You.

I recently read an interview with Natalie Portman where she shared something that blew my mind.

While filming Black Swan, director Darren Aronofsky would occasionally say to her:

"Do this next take for yourself."

Do it for yourself.

Such a simple sentence.

And yet… whoa. 🤯

Because as singers, many of us are trained from the very beginning to think about everyone else.

• The audience
• The teacher
• The casting team.
• The imaginary panel of critics living in our heads. (You know the ones. They somehow have opinions on everything and were apparently given free rent inside our brains.)

So over time, singing slowly becomes about:

Am I doing this right?

Will they like this?

Am I good enough?

Is this impressive enough?

And after a while, we can lose touch with a very important question:

Wait... what do I actually want?

What songs make me light up?

What kind of singing experience am I craving?

Somewhere along the way many of us unknowingly become very responsible students and very responsible singers.

We're productive... prepared....

We're checking off ALL the boxes.

None of that is bad.

But sometimes I think the joy quietly slips out the back door while we're busy being "good."

I know this because it happened to me. I was so concerned about what others thought that singing became a chore, heavy with expectations. Sucked the joy right out of it. I felt done.

If you can relate... if you're noticing that you are feeling a little burned out, a little creatively numb.... like something feels missing.....

It might mean that your focus is on the other.

So the answer won't be to "Practice harder."

Singing was never supposed to be only about productivity and people pleasing.

Sometimes it's simply:

"This song makes me ridiculously happy and I want to belt it while standing in my kitchen holding a wooden spoon."

Which, for the record, I fully support!!

(And this was the way I found my way back to my voice and the joy it gave me. 😆)

So this week I want to give you a tiny experiment:

Set aside just 10 minutes of singing time that's entirely for you.

Not for improvement.

Not for posting online.

Not because "you should."

Not because it's strategic.

Not because someone assigned it.

Just because you want to.

Sing the nostalgic song.

Sing the weird song.

Sing the song that doesn't fit your "brand."

Sing the song your heart keeps wandering back to.

Notice what happens.

Your singing practice doesn't only exist to make you "better."

It can also exist to make you more connected, more alive and bring YOU joy.

I talk much more about this in this week's podcast episode:

Episode 9: A Singing Practice That's Just For You

Inside I share:

- 4 practical ways to reconnect to your own voice and creativity

- Why so many singers slowly disconnect from their own desires and creativity

- Why singing doesn't have to be shared publicly to be meaningful

- The surprising cost of always singing from obligation instead of joy

- Why discipline and joy don't have to compete with one another

Listen HERE.

If any of that resonates, I promise I want to hear from you, send me a message!