Elizabeth Tait SS Ch. 11 Summary

Summary: This chapter, like the last, was a hodge podge of a variety of pieces of advice.  However, one theme pervades the entire chapter: Be true to yourself.  Smith shows many different examples of this theme being true, and he starts with speaking about choosing repertoire.  He essentially advises to sing pieces you love.  If you don't love it, you are very unlikely to be successful in communicating with the audience.  The singing business focuses on the fach categorization, but you should take that in with a grain of salt, because voice categories are "at best subjective and often meaningless."  If you sing an aria well, you can convince anyone that you belong in that role!  Smith then moves on to audition preparation.  Positive visualization in three steps is what he highly recommends: visualize the audition space, mentally review the text and message, and then sing through the piece mentally.  And once you have prepared your best, be true to yourself.  Nothing is worse than an apologetic performance an overconfident one.  "Where we are at any given moment is where we are."  Smith next moves to learning repetoire in a 5 step process.
1. Study the text (understand what the poetry is saying)
2. Speak the text (energized but monotone)
3. Speak the text in rhythm (not punchy, but accurate)
4. Get the pitches in your ear (best way is to play it on the piano!)
5. Sing it
And then onto more uncategorized advice:
- it is best to mark during staging rehearsals, but bad marking is worse than just singing
- we can't be as emotional actors because it will inhibit our voice
- you don't need to sing a lot before performing; sometimes even speaking is enough!
- your chops don't matter if you are not organized in mind, heart, and wallet!  
Key Terms
fach
positive visualization
audiation
mark
Key Concepts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyt6Emkv3iY
Making Connections: I find his reasoning of why he decided to quit a professional singing career very intriguing.  So becoming a professional singer has as much to do with personal preparation as your personal fit into the industry.  Hopefully, we can all create our own niche in this industry!