Keeping It Real Katie
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Mics, Theater Life, and Patti...

10/29/2019

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A student of mine recently tagged me in a short article interviewing Patty LuPone (a broadway icon - if you don't know her YOU SHOULD! Check her out here). In this article, Ms. LuPone talked about how singers don’t know how to fill the house anymore and are relying on their mic's too much (as well as a few other things).

My student was wondering what I thought about this... so I'm going to tell you...

But before I do, I'd like to preface by saying I'm looking at this purely from a vocal & physical health perspective. I know VERY WELL that some of what I'm going to say is unrealistic for some productions. Especially in smaller theaters and communities where training and talent is somewhat limited. So please know that my intention is to inform about what the IDEAL should be when it comes to a life in theater.

Here goes...

YES - YOU SHOULD RELY ON YOUR MICS!

Frankly, if you are a big house who has a wonky sound system and you're expecting your performers to fill the space while belting or mixing, you're just asking your performers to hurt themselves. No amount of "breath support" or "putting it in the mask" will help them because, at a basic level, you're not dealing with anatomy at that point - you are dealing with the laws of acoustics. If you're interested in learning more about this I'd be happy to answer further questions, but I'm keeping it short here because there's quite a few pieces to the acoustics puzzle to understand overall. Suffice to say - belting/mixing as an actual viable way of singing and mics came into popularity around the same time because it was the first time you COULD make that sound in a functional and sustainable way without blowing your voice out constantly.

Looking at a slightly different realm, opera singers sing the way that they do because their art form is generally not sung on mic. And their voices STILL need to be able to carry not only in a big house but also over an entire orchestra. So they tend to be incredibly technically proficient singers (which is where the idea that being "classically trained" is better than not... which is questionable as well considering some teachers out there...). They also tend to have way too much push, but that has to do with the aesthetic of our current times rather than that being a useful part of their technique.

HOWEVER...
YES, YOUR PRESENCE SHOULD BE ABLE TO FILL A ROOM

I hope that her comment had more to do with general stage presence and ability to be captivating on stage, but I also think this part of her comment is also inherently dangerous to singers because so much of who we are as performers is wrapped up in our voices. You need to be comfortable on stage and OWN who you are so you can FULLY SHOW UP to do your job.

The ability to do this, for most, takes YEARS. Years of trial and error. Years of training. Years of putting in the time and effort. And still, at the end of the day, this is something that is viewed completely from the perspective of the viewer. I have seen excellent performers who I thought were totally captivating... but my viewing partner did not. I have also had people say to me, "Oh my gosh didn't she/he just GLOW on stage?!" And I'm over here like... "No?" It's all subjective. So please STOP beating yourself up about this one.

EIGHT SHOWS A WEEK = NO LIFE

I mean... this one is kinda true. But hopefully you're doing it because you TRULY enjoy that life. I know a few performers who are currently on Broadway for a 8 shows a week and while, yes, they enjoy their life, they've also curated it so that they CAN keep their bodies going during their runs.

What does that mean?
  • That means they don't go out partying and drinking.
  • They get enough sleep.
  • They make sure to get good foods into their bodies while avoiding ones that are going to break them down and cause imbalance.
  • They might not be in relationships or have children because they choose theater and their career first ( this certainly isn't a choice you HAVE to make... I also know performers who have happy spouses and children... but I personally chose not to do that...).
  • They frequently have parallel careers that add to their income in ways that keep them HEALTHY (I.E. not waiting tables for hours on end or taking jobs that require them to talk all day). And when your contract is up? Gotta find a new one... which is why they have those parallel careers. So they don't have to take jobs that break them down between contracts.
  • They spend their time and money on classes and lessons to keep them in top shape.

That's their life. Theater is their life.

LASTLY - THIS IS WHY WE
DON'T RELY ON PERFORMERS FOR TECHNICAL ADVICE

There is no doubt that Ms. Lupone is freaking AWESOME at what she does. I, personally, have had the pleasure of seeing her on stage when she was in Sweeney Todd a few years back and it was fantastic.

However, that does not mean she knows how to tell you what you should do with your voice. That's not her job. You want to know how she does what she does so damn well? You need to find out who SHE studied with. What is their background? What have they studied? Did they actually go to school or a training program to learn how to teach voice? Or are they also relying on their own intrinsic understanding of their OWN voice... and hoping that applies to you? (Hint: it most likely does not...)

You want a teacher who knows THE voice... not just THEIR voice.

In conclusion, my director and music director friends, PLEASE stop telling singers to NOT rely on their mics in big houses. Especially YOUNG singers who, no matter how much training they've had up till that point, cannot fully understand the function of their voice yet (too many hormones in there messing with the sensation of things on a DAILY basis.) You're just asking them to hurt themselves, without them knowing how to do anything differently. On top of that, you're perpetuating a culture of "The Show Must Go On... at any cost", which is exactly how actors fizzle, burn out, and give up on their dreams.

Let's make smarter performers, shall we?
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Drunk Purple Elephant: Part 2

10/19/2019

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I needed space and a slower pace...

Slowly… VERY slowly (like, 10 years slowly)… my relationship with alcohol improved. I started to notice the things that triggered my need for a drink. I started hanging out with new people who didn’t need alcohol to have a good time. I spent more time outside of the city. I started running to take the edge off.

This past July, I finally made an active commitment to decrease my alcohol consumption to… nothing. It hasn’t been terrible for quite a few years, but I could still feel it’s hold on me. So from July 4th until September something or other I completely and HAPPILY quit. 

Since then, it’s come back here and there. But not at ALL with the same voracious NEED that was there previously. I do, honestly, find myself enjoying the same situations just as much as before when I needed (yes… needed) alcohol for them.

Until the other night. Very briefly. I got a glimpse of it again...

And it made SO. MUCH. SENSE. I suddenly had a whole new understanding of WHY I was so stuck in this cycle in the past.

When I was in NYC, I was building and working. Building my performance career. Building my teaching studio. Building my bank account. All the while working multiple jobs to support me WHILE I continued building.

Building and building and pushing and pushing myself forward. Always forward. FULL OUT NO MARKING!!

So much so that when I finally got home at night... I STILL had all the admin work for my own businesses to do.

My brain was never allowed to turn off.

Thinking back, I was numbing. Numbing from being overworked. Numbing from the fact that I was anxious ALL. THE. TIME. and couldn’t shut my brain off and actually get a good night’s sleep. And I would drink so that when I HAD to sleep, my head would hit the pillow and I would be out for at least a few hours.

And I ALMOST fell into it last night. Because I’m STILL building.

BUT! This time it’s only for a few weeks. I know when I can take a step back for a second and breathe.

So… I tell you this in the spirit of transparency. I DID have a drink last night.

But just one. A small one (for real though). AND I made a plan. I have rehearsal till 5pm tonight and then I’m done working. I have time tomorrow to get whatever else needs to be done and it is MORE important that I DON’T engage with the current zeitgeist that is HUSTLE.

And I made another commitment to myself.

You’ve probably (hopefully) at this point seen my posts/emails about my “Performance Lifestyle Reset!” coming up Nov. 4. Well here’s a cool thing about it…


I’M GOING TO BE DOING IT WITH YOU!

Not just sitting off on the sidelines telling you what to do. In fact, EVERY time I’ve run this I ALWAYS do it with my participants.


Because it feels crappy to me to not walk my talk. Because I want to be able to empathize with and really HEAR what you're going through and what your difficulties are.

And because I have more to learn too.



This time… I know in my Nutrition section I’ll have “No Alcohol” as one of my goals. To SUPPORT that goal, I’ll have “Meditate or journal twice daily, morning and night” in my Mental/Emotional/Lifestyle section. (If you're lost on the sections bit head here to learn more...)


I have an idea of what will be in the other sections as well, but that one specifically became clear to me last night.

And that’s the point of this reset. To help you COMMIT to the actions you want to take towards a healthier lifestyle AND be able to set OTHER intentions that can support your actions.

So… If you’re interested in my “Performance Lifestyle Reset” after reading this, then check out this video to get more info about it.


Or if you’re just ready to go for it and just need logistics, head HERE to learn more and sign up!


You are worth a balanced lifestyle. We need your creative genius in the world. We need to you SHOW UP fully for your performances. And if there’s something getting in the way of that, this is just the step in the right direction you need to get started making a change.

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Drunk Purple Elephant: Part 1

10/19/2019

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I'm sitting in a coffee shop feeling REALLY apprehensive about this post...

It’s time to address the drunk purple elephant in the room…

Alcohol. Specifically, alcohol and the performer’s lifestyle.

Before I get too deep though, I want to throw some disclaimers out there (just to be safe… in case of charging drunk purple elephants):
  1. I am not a mental health or alcohol and substance abuse counselor. Any advice I give in here really is meant from personal experience and training in health and life coaching and should not be taken as professional advice in those specific capacities.
  2. I, personally, find myself actively disconnecting from the terms “alcoholic” and/or “alcoholism” so I will not be using them here. YOU, however, are welcome to use any terms you’d like, totally judgement free :)
  3. This blog is not meant in anyway to be a self diagnosis for you. If you feel you need active help in this area, please seek out a professional (which I am happy to help you with if you shoot me an email through my contact page).

OK! Now that we’re all clear we need to back up a bit to my story so you can see WHY this is such an important topic and why the taboo around it’s discussion needs to be broken. And I’ll start with honesty (though it scares me to do so)...

I started experimenting with alcohol before it was legal for me (sorry mom!) But really, being a young student in college that wasn’t unexpected. As an undergrad in musical theater living in NYC, life was sort of turned up to the max for me. I was at the extremes of any spectrum at all times. When I sang, it was overdone (hence how I ended up pre-nodular AND with a fold hemorrhage…). When I acted, it was either melodrama or just BLAH. When I tried to lose weight, it was binge and purge. When I partied, it was great fun until the next day when I had to deal with the consequences. 

The summer between undergrad and grad school I wanted to lose weight, so I joined Weight Watchers, and kicked it’s butt! I lost 50 pounds! Yahoo!

Except... not so much with the yahoo...

My meetings in NYC at the time very much celebrated any sort of weight loss. The leaders didn’t necessarily look at what the REAL problems were for people. (Ex. I had them look at my journal one week when I didn’t lose weight and they said it was the Snickers bar I had once during that week… not the multiple glasses of wine per night…Snickers was more points!)

Looking back, my obvious issue was that I would survive only on veggies (no points!) with a smattering of fat and protein throughout the day and LOTS of black coffee with Splenda (my best friend at the time) and end up with like 15-20 extra points at night (I had 32 or something like that for the WHOLE DAY). Wine was about 3 points…. So guess what I used to make up the extra points…


And I worked out A LOT. Too much. So I got those extra points too…

Fast forward and I’m keeping the weight off, but I’m managing most of a bottle of wine PER NIGHT. Now, the problem was that alcohol was:
  1. Serving a very real purpose (at least to me) of letting my brain “relax” working 4-7 jobs at any given time trying to keep up with NYC expenses 
  2. Not something anyone saw as being a problem! Because, I was realistically only drinking maybe a glass more on a day to day basis than most of my friends and they were willing to get just as blasted on party nights.

Fast forward again - CANCER!

I find out after a routine doctors appointment that I had a pre-cancerous lesion. But like, stage 4 pre-cancerous. Like, if we don’t fix this NOW you will officially have cancer. There’s no wiggle room.

I was only 22 or 23. VERY not ready to deal with this. But also, I just have to go in and do the procedure and everything is hunky dory! Right?

So I go in to get it dealt with. And while I’m literally ON THE TABLE ready for them to do the procedure they start making me sign PAPERWORK saying that I am cool with the fact that this could result in my being INFERTILE.

No. Nope nope nopey nope nope. I knew I always wanted kids. I was dating a wonderful man (now my husband) who might be the one to help out in that department. And I had to make the obvious choice (to live) and potentially give that up...

As I was walking back to the subway afterwards I broke down crying on the streets of NYC and realized something had to change. My accompanist mentioned a performer he knew (Farah Alvin... check her out) who was also a health coach specifically dealing in women’s health. I signed right the f*** up.

We got me off the Splenda and eating real sugars. We got me out of Weight Watchers (not that it’s a bad thing overall, just not great for me). We got protein into me. We got good fats into me. We got good whole grains into me. I ended up gaining back some of the weight but I was still within my healthy range and WAAAAAY saner. 

But above all - she listened. I talked to her about the alcohol. And the issues I was having with NYC. And slowly, over time, I accepted that things needed to change. I couldn’t be a healthy person in that city anymore.

I needed space and a slower pace...

Stay tuned! Part 2 comes out in two days...

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My (Vocal) Pet Peeve...

10/1/2019

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"Hey Singers! I'm losing my voice..."

I have to tell you about something that drives me a little nutso...

As you probably already know I'm a health coach, a singer and a vocal technician (read: fancy voice teacher). And there isn't a Facebook post out there - not political, not vaguebooking, nothing - that bothers me more than this post:

"Hey singers! I'm losing/lost my voice and I need your fastest fixes. And GO!"

Why does this bug me so much?

Because the thought process behind the question is inherently flawed! And I don't think people mean to do this, but this is - in a nutshell - what they're saying:

My career is more important than my body.
Even though my career IS my body.

See the problem here?

And don't get me wrong. I'm the queen of "been there done that" on this one. And honestly... it's only gotten me in creative trouble (pre-nodes, vocal loss for days multiple instead of singular, getting passed up for roles...)

As an artist, we never want our craft to "break" in any capacity. And as a performing artist, it's especially hard when our "craft" or "instrument" is our body.

So here's a perspective shift for you:

Losing your voice, twisting an ankle, getting a cold - it's not just your body telling you to slow down and give it some love and attention...

It's your CRAFT saying, "Whoa! Slow your roll! Let's make sure we're at our best here!"
It's your CRAFT saying "Keep me strong!"
It's your CRAFT saying "Keep me healthy!"

And if this is YOU? If you're the one who always has a cold, or a headache, or you're losing your voice all the time, or you have carpal tunnel from practicing, or you're stressed out because you're being stretched in a million directions at once, or any of the many multitudes of things that keep artists stuck...

Then reach out to me! Hit up my Contact page and let me know what you've been struggling with.  It doesn't matter whether you're in an actual creative career or if you have a creative side of you that needs nourishment.  Let me help you connect your health with your craft so that you're not only doing the work you love - but you feel ENERGIZED and ALIVE and TOTALLY IN TOUCH WITH YOUR BODY while you do it!
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