Back from class and tape pickup and delivery. Very tired. Class was fun again. Tammy's friend Lauren sang and she's got a terrific voice and takes notes very well. I've got one gal who's having terrible trouble - on Tuesday she was so nervous she couldn't remember her lyrics. So, I let her have two days. Today, she was so nervous she could barely breathe and get through the song, and still forgot a couple of words. The song is They Were You, from the Fantasticks - a fairly easy and simple song. Once I explained to her that most of the words in the song are short and didn't have to be held, that helped her. She did it a second time - less nervous, but then got very emotional in the song, for reasons of her own. I told her she'd sing again next Tuesday and when she's rehearsing to pick an image of someone she cares about and sing it directly to that mental image, sans the over-emotion - simple and heartfelt. Another thing I emphasized to several people was that just because they're not singing (when there's a two or four bar piano part before they come in again) does not mean they "drop" character - it's the same as a scene - if you're standing off to the side and waiting for your line to come in while four other people are saying theirs, you don't stand there out of character. One fellow sang Anthem from Chess - he sang it haltingly and his body language read totally uncomfortable - didn't know where his hands should be, shuffled, etc. I asked him one simple question: What's the title of the song? He replied Anthem. I said, "What's an anthem?" He looked at me and totally understood my point, and his second go-through had strength and for most of it he was much more comfortable. That's the fun of this class.
