"Let It Come From You. Then it Will Be New."

The other day as I was practicing for my recital I had the thought, "What am I doing? Am I just a glorified karaoke singer? I sing to tracks, most of the time, I cover songs instead of write them, and my background is in Musical Theater. What am I doing trying to sing these country songs?" I am sure we have all had moments in our lives when we feel like a fraud, a hack or "poser"...not the real deal. But, this bothered me. I have so many friends, people in my family and famous (or semi famous) artists who I look up to who play an instrument, and write their own songs. They are playing clubs and networking to get their original material out there. I can't tell you how much I admire that. Where do I fit in though? Can my vocal offering still be somewhat valid or even equally valid?

When I sing in church or perform a character on stage I feel close to the real deal. At church I am the vessel that is helping to bring the Spirit to the meeting through music. I am bearing testimony of what I am singing about. On Stage I have worked for months to create a character and I feel I can transform into that person and go on an intimate journey with an audience as the play unfolds. I feel like an "artist" in the sense that I created something (with the guidance of my director) from a blank slate.

But, here I am, singing a genre that I admittedly do not know much about and I am expecting people to come and sit for close to an hour listening to me whale away in my ignorance...Yet, as I have thought about this over the past few days, I have gained some confidence. True, I didn't write these songs and I will sometimes sing with a track, but these songs are coming from me. There is a phrase in the lyrics of "Move On" from Sunday in the Park with George (Sondheim) that says, "Anything you do. Let it come from you. Then it will be new. Give us more to see."

As I work on these songs, my goal is to not be a carbon copy of the original artist. (that is another talent for a different platform) I listen, learn the song, ingest it, and then let it rest in that truthful place inside me where it begins to become a part of who I am as a performer.

Everyone of us is unique and special and has something wonderful to offer the world. I have learned with a certainty that when something comes from that honest place inside ourselves, whether original work or not, that it will be beneficial. Maybe not to everyone in the crowd, but even if it touches one person and helps them become better for it...it was worth it.

Here is the song I referred to in this post. Pay particular attention at minute: 3:15: Enjoy!!