“America’s future will be determined by the home and the school. The child becomes largely what he is taught; hence we must watch what we teach, and how we live.” Jane Addams
I have been around the performing arts, LITERALLY, all of my life. With an opera singer mother and a tap/ballet dancer/choreographer/stage director father, I can honestly say I made my stage debut before I could walk. I’ve met wonderful people and had many “aunts and uncles” (a show bizzy way of referring to adults who are close to your parents but who do not want to be called mister, miss or Mrs. because they considered themselves “cool”) who had influence on me.
Many of those Aunts and Uncles were charming people who tended to be humble, but not too humble. They knew they were good, they knew they were talented but they didn’t hit you over the head with it. In the music world of my youth, my Mom and her friends could sing anything and play any role; it was magic. Dad and his friends knew everybody, saw everybody and had ideas which were incredibly clever. I have to say, I was often intimidated because they seemed so confident, free and relaxed.
One of the chief things I learned from them was to keep on. If you believed you could do it, you could do it. Maybe it would take perseverance and lots of practice, but you would eventually be able to do whatever you set your mind to. It was important to tell yourself you could do it. There was a time when I was about 15 I believed I could not do fouette turns. Aunt Helen believed I could and worked with me. My own ballet teacher noticed the improvement over the summer and was proud of all my hard work. As a result, I believe in self-fulfilling prophecies; I finally believed I could do the fouettes, so I was able to do them, with much practice.
Belief in one’s self is not a new idea but needs to be nurtured. It’s important for young artists to feel confident about their talent and abilities. We as teachers and directors should be supportive as well as realistic. Kindness and nurturing without impatience should be at the top of our list of teaching techniques for our students. Creating a climate of self-confidence and freedom to test their abilities should be our goals. We need to believe in them so they are able to believe in themselves. Cutting someone down doesn’t motivate, despite dressing it up as being constructively critical, it just weakens self-confidence. And self-confidence is important in our profession; undermining others really undermines our own goals.
Lifting someone up, encouraging our students and singers to be the best they are able to be doesn’t sound difficult to accomplish, does it? It’s a little thing but it can make a world of difference in someone’s life.
Mark Husey says
Completely agree, and would add this: it’s important to teach young people how to hear criticism and how to respond to it in ways that are positive. I learned this a bit late, that criticism is a gift- you have to unwrap it and see if it has value for you. While it may be a temporarily irksome (as in discovering there’s a malapropism or misspelling in the title of one’s published journal article – Self-fulfilling), we can edit and change and become wiser, stronger, and more polished for our efforts!
ddouglas says
Mark-
This is a wonderful and wise observation and I would like to hear your thoughts and those of others as to how constructively hearing criticism can be taught.
Marie Grass Amenta says
I can tell you how to hear constructive criticism (and have written one or two blogs about that very subject) without being offended. We must learn how not to take things personally, at least initially.
If someone points out a LEGITIMATE mistake or error (such as a typo), we should aim to take it at face value. It is only when things get snarky or a criticism is done in a mean-spirited way and NOT constructively or with the goal of hurting someone’s feelings ON PURPOSE that it becomes more difficult.
Taking constructive criticism is only ONE part of this equation; the other is how to KINDLY give constructive criticism. Both are equally important to learn.
Marie Grass Amenta says
Thank you so much for pointing out my mistake. I didn’t realize I had a typo when I queued up this piece. In my defense, it IS a concert week for me and I have other things on my mind. My second spring concert is June 3 and will be diligent for that week’s blog!