"She's got it. I think she's got it".
I like to trust in the power of sleep. Work really hard on a problem, then sleep on it. When I woke up this morning I felt that my show had fallen into place. I went out on my walk, purposely leaving my i-pod at home, so I would be forced to practise. I rehearse by talking to myself out loud. Goodness knows what the neighbours think. I sing out loud too, like a mad-woman.
It's going to be fine.
I'm off to the hairdresser at noon and that will give me a bit of quiet reflection time while I sit under the foils. No magazines for me today.
I've been reflecting on the collective value of small decisions. Small decisions add up. The decision to perform at open mic every month, The decision to enrol in Cabaret Summer School again this year, to immerse myself in it to the exclusion of most other things, decisions to speak at events even if I was not going to be paid. Pushing myself to learn as many songs as possible. And having a double singing lesson each week last year has definitely improved my voice.
Whereas at last year's showcase, I'd had to learn two of my songs from scratch (extreme sport!), I've sung all three of this year's songs before. That gives me a bit of confidence - I've done the groundwork.
There's really not much point obsessing now. My performance will be whatever comes out of my mouth tonight. Two things have helped me to cease the panic. One is the regular "Table Topics" session at my Toastmasters club, where you are required to get up and give an impromptu speech on a topic which is given to you on the spot. The other is the monthly open mic night Cabaret Live! where you don't know when you will be called up to sing. There's no point stressing for the whole night, so you might as well breathe a bit and relax.
Hopefully all this will come together tonight!
You can still book online for the show - please enter the booking ref Dunstone:
http://www.cabaretconfessional.com/summerschool/
No comments:
Post a Comment