but for most of us, it was the rather harsh, frank comments that got our attention. Yes, it might have been nice if people had said the same thing in a friendlier tone of voice but would I have gotten the point?
What is distressing is that all (or at least almost all) of these singers should have someone advising them on repertoire and performance as well as vocal technique. My first college studio class consisted of all the newbies learning how to walk out on stage, bow and acknowledge the accompanist. We might not have been ready to sing anythign yet but we were all read to learn what comes before and after the singing. There's no excuse for singers not being taught how to enter the room, what is appropriate attire, and coming in singing rep they can barely get through. I realize that just because a singer shows up doing something does NOT mean that their teacher didn't tell them explicitly not to do all of those things, but still when you see a pattern (and everyone hearing auditions at this level seems to see the same things!) you have to wonder what the hell is going on.
As singers we take a lot of criticism. We get it from everyone. A good bit of it is BS and a good bit of it is useful and we have to learn to sort through all of this with the help of a team of professionals. But we can't simply avoid the harshly worded but valid criticism. Too much of what we need to hear comes from people who do know what they are doing and don't have to be nice to us.
The overall problem with our profession as it is today is not that the criticism is too harsh, but that it is too often PC pablum. People mostly don't want to tell people the things Cindy said at the start of this thread which is not helping them. It doesn't help me for people to humor me by letting me sing arias that don't work for me, but too many people are happy to do that so long as the checks clear. Sorry, but we need more Cindy and a lot less of whatever the hell is going on at the moment.
Houndentenor
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." -- Mark Twain
