Trust Your Training

Life keeps sending me the same message: trust your training. Imposter syndrome is strong in the music community and I’m no exception. I wanted to let you know what happened to me recently to send me that message, once again.

The Proposal

A couple of weeks ago, the producer asked me to conduct for the pit orchestra for Kim Moore’s Phantom of the Opera. I hadn’t touched a conductor’s baton since college. We won’t talk about how many years ago that was. I turned them down because I don’t have much experience conducting.

I had been playing flute with that acting troupe for the past two years. There were times, as first chair, that it was my role to jump in and help with rehearsals. She called back and explained that they were so impressed with my ability to help with rehearsals that they wanted me to conduct. She pointed out that I have the training and I help people practice all the time as a teacher, I just need to trust my training.

She was right. I am good at helping people practice because of my interest in practice techniques. I also rehearse people every day as part of my job as a flute and piano teacher. My husband and I discussed it, and we decided to go for it. After all, I am technically fully qualified for the position. Also, I have a tendency to underestimate my abilities.

Several Weeks of Nervousness

When I got all of the information about the conducting position, they told me that I also had to rehearse the singers. I wasn’t just the pit orchestra conductor, I was the music director. AAAAHHH!!!

If you’ve read my post about singing, you know that I absolutely love to sing, but I’ve only recently overcome my insecurities about it. I have good reason for those insecurities.

What if I messed up? What if someone called me out on a mistake that I didn’t realize I did? What if they could tell that I haven’t worked with a choir in a very long time?

Reminding Myself To Trust my Training

When I was in college, I was required to take three courses on teaching people to sing and how to conduct a choir. Since then, I’ve been to educational workshops and had many in-depth discussions with a few friends who are professional singers. Flutes and singers have a lot in common with tone production and breathing. Even James Galway has mentioned that he’s interviewed famous opera singers to help him with his tone and vibrato.

I’m a Lutheran, and we’re famous for being the best in the world at teaching choirs to sing. In addition to the “street cred” that I get for being a Lutheran in the world of music, the information isn’t limited to music world. I even saw information on that little factoid on the travel channel. It’s a bit of a mystery why we’re so good at teaching people to sing, but it’s because we simplify everything to make it as easy as possible.

I spent those weeks of nervousness reminding myself of my training, reviewing my textbooks and workshop booklets, and bolstering my self-confidence.

The First Rehearsal

After those few weeks of self-doubt and reviewing my information from old classes and workshops, the day finally arrived. I spent all day reviewing the music, running the parts for myself, and practicing doing cues (that was the only part that it seemed I was rusty at). Finally, evening came and time for rehearsal.

This is a semi-professional musical, so some people are pros and some are amateurs. I knew that there would be the gambit of training from, “Hey, you have a nice voice,” all the way to classically trained.

I started with asking if anyone didn’t know how to belly breathe. All the kids raised their hands, so I taught belly breathing.

Then we dove into the music. I never came up for air. I was in my element. We were singing with the recordings. I was pounding parts on the piano and throwing out diction tips. We were having a blast.

I taught back-breathing to some of the more advanced singers to help them hold their notes longer. They were really excited to get that new skill. Everyone was very receptive to my working with them and everything felt completely natural.

I was going to teach J-breathing for one of the pieces because of some accented sections, but there were too many singers in that piece who were just learning belly-breathing for the first time. I mentioned that to the producer at the end of the rehearsal and one of the classically trained singers overheard me and asked me to teach him.

By the time I got to my vehicle, I was walking on air. It was one of those dream rehearsals that everyone involved in music education has ever wanted to have. I felt silly for worrying all those weeks.

How Does This Apply to You?

It’s nice that I felt vindicated, but this blog is about me helping you to be a better musician. I mostly share practice techniques, but sometimes we have to get past our psyches in order to be better musicians.

So, as musicians, we have specialized training. It starts with your private lessons, then goes to festivals, classes, camps, and workshops. Your training even includes the people you talk to in the bathroom at those events listed above. Sometimes you even learn more from those bathroom conversations than the event itself. Your training also includes reading articles, listening to or reading interviews, and being on web forums.

My whole message in this is to trust your training. Rely on your education. You know this stuff. You can do it. You might be a little rusty and that’s okay. You might have learned it a long time ago and have to review it, and that’s okay. You still know it and it will come back to you at the drop of a hat.