Recently I was in contact with Dr. Dean FH Macy – CEO of New England Talent, Ltd. Having taught some big names such as Barbara Streisand, Dr. Macy has some interesting and very useful views on how to become a better performer!
He recently shared with me the transcript of a radio interiew with the then 13 year old Meredith Ryan Packer, after her Carnegie Hall concert. The interviewer Paul Harvey asked, “As you were preparing for the recital how did you feel?”
MRP: “I was very calm. I had to concentrate on my gown and my makeup, that it wasn’t too much or too little. I didn’t think about anything else other than getting ready.”PH: “And you weren’t nervous or scared?”MRP: “Not then. But when there was a knock on my door and the stage manager called in to say, “Get ready. Five Minutes.” I was traumatized. And then I went ballistic. I bounced off the walls. I was scared and nervous and my whole body shook.”
PH: “When you came out on stage to sing your first song, were you nervous, scared. What were your feelings?”
MRP: “Right before I was really nervous, but then once I sang the first note I was fine cause I knew I was prepared and I knew the song and I had been worked hard enough and I had been pushed to the outer limits of society practically by my rehearsals with Dean, my voice teacher.”
PH: “When you finished the first song and you got the applause, were you nervous then or was it gone?”
MRP: “After that you can’t be nervous because there’s so many other things to think about.”
PH: “Like what?”
MRP: “What is the next number. What am I doing. What is the staging, if any. What is any possible thing I decided to change. Double checking any words I might have forgotten.”
PH: “Aren’t you concerned about what the audience thinks?”
MRP: “You think about the audience but only during the applause. You can’t think about them during the song because what will happen is that you get out of focus. You’ve gotta be able to make sure the accompanist is watching and following you right. You gotta make sure that you’re doing the right motions. You gotta make sure that you’re not doing anything to distract. You gotta make sure that everything looks okay. You gotta make sure that you’re not in the shadow. You gotta make sure that you’re standing in the right place. You gotta make sure that the tone quality is correct and you’re not off pitch so you can correct it. You gotta make sure that your words are on cue. You gotta make sure that your facial expressions are on cue. The last thing you have to think about is the audience.”
(26 year old Meredith is now singing professionally with the Sydney Opera in Australia.)
I think this is a great interview and insight into a performer truly performing in The Zone. It describes an excellent performer who has received solid training and exceptional preparation. The point just before her performance, Meredith was “bouncing off the walls”, but the moment she began singin gher first song, what happened? She lived in the now, and become 100% fully caught up in what she was doing. (see Chapter 20 “Living in The Now” from “Performing in The Zone” )
The question: “Aren’t you concerned what the audience thinks?” is really not aimed at Meredith – it is aimed at her ‘ego’ (see Chapter 28 “Self Talk: Angels and Devils” from “Performing in The Zone” ) Again Meredith has a great response here. Her focus when singing is on the singing itself – not the outcome of the singing. She avoids ‘end-gaining’ entirely (see Chapter 40 “Alexander Technique” from “Performing in The Zone” ).
Thanks to Dr. Dean Macy for providing this interview!
1 comment so far ↓
I found that the Alexander Technique helped me greatly with anxiety and stage fright.
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