I’ve been thinking about a wonderful performer I had the privilege of working with when I toured with Phantom of the Opera…over a decade ago! Wha’ happen???
Patti Davidson Gorbea played Madame Giry, the ballet mistress, and I still remember her focus, precision, and professionalism.
I remember she shared with me something a teacher of hers had said: There is no such thing as a perfect performance. There were always going to be mistakes. The funny thing is that I remember Patti being one of the most precise and “perfect” performers I’ve ever seen. Her performance never wavered. She always seemed to be focused, consistent, and present.
I tell my clients in their lessons, “Okay, so we have one hour together. You will make at least sixty mistakes.” Once that is checked off the list of things to worry about, 98% of the time, the client is free to get some great work done.
We as artists often approach our work like we are taking the SAT. We are trying to make sure we don’t get any wrong answers. When we’re focused on wrong answers, we can all guess what we are likely to get.
When we embrace the truth that we are going to make mistakes, we weave a safety net. Not only that, but it is in these mistakes where we find the most gold. I don’t know why that is, but I just know it’s true.
I also know this is true: When we embrace that we are frail, weak, broke-down humans with myriad imperfections, then God’s perfection fills up our imperfection. And when we perform, the people in the audience feel loved. Because we are telling them the truth about us and about them. When we are trying to appear perfect, we are lying.
So cross the worry-about-making-mistakes off your list. You are going to fail. You are going to make mistakes. And they will be great because they will build the stair to your next level.
Have a wonderful April, everyone!
