Someone asked me what I do right before I go on stage to sing. So here’s my “secret sauce.” 😉
Before every performance I take the time to pray and ask to be used as an instrument for people’s upliftment. I firmly believe that even the most beautiful and polished voice can’t really touch your heart, if it’s not charged with vibrations of love and joy from a higher Source.
This practice has become so natural to me that sometimes I tend to forget what I asked for and then marvel at the fact that my prayer is actually granted!
I remember quite a few occasions when I performed not in the best of moods. Maybe I had had a bad day, or had an argument with somebody just before the concert, or something technical was distracting me, like a microphone malfunctioning, or something similar. Or perhaps I had a cold or a cough and didn’t think my voice sounded that great, so part of my attention would go to trying to not sound like a frog by focusing on my technique and on trying to use my voice as best as I could.
And yet, after most of those performances, people would come up to me and say things like “It usually sounds good, but tonight was really amazing!”, or “This was the best night of my entire life”, or “I felt a healing power coming from your singing” (that’s when you know it can’t possibly be coming from you!).
Now, how could that happen? What were those people hearing? Or better, what were they feeling?
Think about it: when we’re not in great shape we tend to be a little more humble about ourselves and our skills. When we have an argument our mind tends to dwell on it afterwards and usually we regret having said or done something that might have hurt the other person involved. As a result we shift our attention from ourselves and expand it to include others. In both cases (when we feel more humble and when we shift our attention to include other people’s reality) we finally step aside and allow Inspiration to more freely flow through us.
You see, when we pray and ask to be used as instruments, our prayers are heeded! The only obstacle to the process is ourselves! Our doubts, pride, fears get in the way and make us believe that we are in charge of everything, leaving no room for God.
I’m not saying that we should try to get sick or get into an argument in order to perform better!
But we should learn to consciously open our hearts, inviting a Higher Consciousness—God or whatever you want to call It—to flow through us, to help us tune into what this particular audience needs and to bless them through us.
Not an easy task, certainly. But it’s so worth it! We can help people in ways that we can’t even start to fathom. And the joy one feels in doing that is indescribable! It can fill your entire being throughout the whole performance and stay with you for hours, even days after the performance. And I don’t know about you, but when something feels this good I consider it a sign from the universe that I’m definitely on the right track!
So there you have it! 😊
PS: I’m convinced that most of what I wrote here applies also if you don’t sing music that’s strictly “religious” or spiritual. Getting your ego out of the equation is fundamental for pure and high artistic expression of any kind.
