Recently I was invited to an event to celebrate a good
friend of mine and she delivered the following words in her acceptance speech:
“For a singer, every performance is an audition and every
audition is a performance. No one really likes to audition, but it is a
necessary evil. As I tell singers who are nervous about auditions, those of us
who sit through hours and hours of auditions always hope that the next singer
who walks into the room, or onto the stage will be wonderful. That’s the good
news, the bad news is that there are a lot of them, and only so many jobs or
prizes to give.
Whenever I speak with young singers, at schools or contests
or in young artists programs, someone will variably ask” what is the one thing
you are looking for?
Please believe me when I say and I am not doing the
question-but that is the wrong question. It’s never just “one thing”. Each time
a singer makes a sound, the god given voice, the technique, and the
expressivity are inextricably intertwined.
Some people have more voice than technique, some have more
expressivity than voice. The ratio of each element to the other determines the
kind of career one can have. And then there’s looks. And heath. And resilience. And
tenacity. And luck.
In the literally thousands of auditions I've done over the
years, I have heard some sensational new voices-first rate, world class voices;
the kind of voices an audience will pay money to hear.
And a few years later, they have disappeared.
And then I hear people with far less vocal talent, who go on
to have major careers. Careers are not determined by what kind of voice the
person has, but by what kind of person has the voice.
The single-mindedness is not the “one thing” WE are looking
for; but rather, it is the “one thing” a young singer must find WITHIN.
If you approach this career with the idea of “well, if I
don’t make it I can always fall back on…”-then you won’t make it.
Successful singers are not necessarily practical people.
They are-at best- hard working dreamers. They are fortunate if they have
practical, knowledgeable, honest people around them. ….. Who are helping those
dreamers to come a bit closer to realizing their dreams.”
THANK YOU LENORE ROSENBERG FOR THESE WORDS…
All this was very true and going to the real question…
SHOULD WE DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS?
I think it is the same road and the same questions in every
profession…AND NOT ONLY IN THE ARTS!!!
Are dreams really pure fantasies, the result of a too
fertile imagination or real inclinations to do something specific?
Are we
predestined to take a specific road in our lifetime?
Are we the result of
genes, education, family surroundings, proper rearing etc… It seems that
sometimes what we have achieved or have not achieved is only due to Fate, and
may be because of decisions made by others!
What role dreams play in our progression through the years? Sometimes
we wonder if we should continue to dream impossible dreams, if we should carry
the sorrow of life leaving us or betraying us, or if we should burn with a wild
fever and go where nobody goes in order to continue to be, in order to see in a
mirror year after year a new image, a new person, a new fantasy.
How much can
we share it with others? Are they ready to understand it or even ready to listen
to it? Who will REALLY be ready to accept our dreams, and sometimes to share
them by just being present?
It seems that we spend our life chasing the dreams of
childhood or on the contrary fighting off those dreams… But are they really
dreams?
Sometimes others say that our dreams are only the product of
a fantasy and a waste of our time and even of their time, but for us they are
reality and they have to become reality in order to be. They are part of who we
are, they are us.
After a painful youth, my dream was to become an actor and I
realized it…To become an actor was the only way to overcome that wounded youth,
but was it a dream or a necessity? I
left France my adopted country to come to the American dream and I bless that
decision every day, but was it a dream or a burning need? I went from an acting career and directing
Straight Theater to the dream of directing the absolute definition of theater:
Opera and do not regret it, but was it a dream or a compelling need? I wanted to have artistic freedom and I wanted
to be in charge of a company and my dream was realized, but was it a dream or a
necessity?
And I could go on…
I heard all my life and still do: “how can you even dream of
doing this, or becoming that, or trying this road or that one?” It seems that
while around us we are called dreamers, only dreamers make their way in life,
create something, and reinvent themselves perpetually and there is nothing to
prevent them to make progress, to achieve, and grow.
Where would society be without the dreamers? Don’t you think
that all achievements in Politics, Science and every aspect of life are truly
the result of Dreams?
Throughout our life we sometimes dream to love the new
adventure until we are torn apart and sometimes we love it too much and badly…Sure
sometimes we can be burned and wounded and we try without protection to reach
the hidden and the inaccessible, but we live a full life.
Should it be our duty to follow this road, even if the world
around us denies our chances of success? But is it really that important if some
are in denial? And at the end of the road is it, was it important if success
escapes us and if we fail?
Should we fight and
struggle for achievement without rest, without peace?
Can we have questions
about the legitimacy of this road to dreams?
Can we take the risk of being
sacrificed for the possibility of success, and only a slight possibility of
achievement?
Can we be this hero looking to realize these dreams?
Yes we can and we should… Dreamers make the world a better
place, a place where we can find appeasement or pain but a full more complete
place… A brighter world full of lights…with always the possible danger of the
dream becoming a nightmare, and waking up after years of unachieved dreams in a
lonely desert or even a sewer.
We can wake up alone with no dreams left and a
vacuum around us, but was the risk legitimate?
Most of people do not have this need for dreams or even
function without it, are they luckier and happier? I do not know…
The world is
not and cannot be entirely populated by dreamers.
And are we reaching
a certain age or after some achievements able to function without dreams?
YES, but then the time comes to help with other
people’s dreams, to guide them, to protect them, and try to help them make them
real. Yes, we have this duty…and actually even at the beginning of the road if
we are not part of the chosen, the dreamers, we have the obligation to
understand them and the duty to help them. The world and life without the
dreamers will be a sea with no color, no depth, no waves, and no advancement…How
boring! The world without the dreamers
will be a Neanderthal world!
Dreams of Friendship? Dreams of Knowledge? Dreams of Career?
Dreams of Love? Dreams of Talent? Dreams of Truth? Dreams of Eternity?
Dreams of…of…of…
Successful people are not necessarily practical people. They
are-at best- hard working dreamers. They are fortunate if they have practical,
knowledgeable, honest people around them. ….. Who are helping those dreamers to
come a bit closer to realizing their dreams.
