What is Your Voice?

There is an abounding fountain focusing on the quality and training of a performer’s voice. But it's not the whole story.

In fact, it's the least interesting part of the story. While it has a small part to play, it is also one of the least important parts of your voice. So now that you can stop stressing about that, let's talk.

While that’s what might help you be categorized or understood in the wide spectrum of a sea of artists, at the end of the day, skill is superficial. Most people don’t listen to music because it satisfies their obsession with musical knowledge and perfection. People listen to music because of the way it makes them feel. And as a performer, you will hardly succeed in that area if you are wrapped up in what’s technically impressive.

There is good news!

Trained musicians only have one more step to success: finding your message, and your why.

If you are pompous about your training and skillset, you are tangibly privileged and likely out of touch. If you are decent, humble, and unafraid to get to the heart of the matter then you’ve got it. Stepping inside the story and taking it on as your own is the magic that keeps the blood of music pumping. You give the song the life, movement, and body it deserves, so you will share in one of the deepest emotional and spiritual connections life can offer. That’s the true privilege and honor of being involved with music. Skill is the rubber on the bottom of your shoes (which you need) but the music is every other part of you, everyone else, the entire planet, the universe, and all the other galaxies included.

People crave real.

Impressive runs or trying to fit in or sound like another artist are run-of-the-mill boxes to check for labels and top 40 radio stations. Sometimes. The point of music is so much bigger than that. Music is the universal language that can be felt and understood beyond language. That’s because, at our core, we are all connected to the same divine energy. Either you call that God, or any number of things, but there is no denying a shared connection that is more evolved than our current state of affairs. So in the end, the real you inside your voice is what will land, because it will inevitably reach someone who is feeling the same way but hasn't yet found a way to express or process.

You will naturally create a demand because there is only one you.

Finding and revealing the most vulnerable part of yourself is the most important part of your work. Be prepared for fear. Fear will work to convince you that vulnerability is putting your life at risk. Fear comes in the form of judgemental voices inside your head, and the negative voices from real-life people usually drive your purpose all the way home. Never to leave the house again. You never know whose life you’re going to touch or whose life you’ll save by being honest. This is important work, never demote yourself to a mere skillset. You are a lifesaver.

Your voice is your voice. Sit with that. Develop that. Be confident in the long-lasting valuable nature of that level of connection.

As you stay real with yourself, your audience will draw near. They will be devoted.

Hold onto yourself whatever the cost, because, in the end, the biggest cost is giving into the superficial. Your bank account and whether or not you impressed someone will never satisfy you, and most likely will be the very thing that destroys you.

So promise yourself now to stay true to who you are. When you do this, your voice will follow naturally.

Love,

Rachel