When pupils in the studio are assigned a theme for concerts and showcases, I often come up against singers who dislike the repertoire or genre chosen.
It's a hard one, when kids are thrown by unfamiliar sounds, or a style they see as 'old' or 'cheesy'.
It strikes me then as even more important to keep ears open and challenged, to introduce 'new' (OLD) sounds and feels and tunes young people know nothing about, and to give them access to music history along the way.
So much has changed in music, but the raw and real live performances by artists who learned their craft viscerally, in front of small crowds in clubs before crafting themselves into the superstars of yesterday have incredible truths and gifts musically.
I remember having to sing many songs I did not like because I was contracted for an entire season - weeks at a time singing 6-7 nights a week. What I learned was that whether I loved the song or not, I needed to be good at singing them and I needed to deliver them to an audience who did not need to know how I felt about them at all. They had never heard ME sing them and they loved the songs way before I got my pipes on them!
This was the lesson.....you do not sing for yourself, you sing for your audience, to allow THEM to feel. You sing to deliver a message they may feel very strongly about and towards. If they hate the song, thats one thing but they should not hate the singer - the perogative is theirs always.
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