Episode 13: Why you need a vision for your singing career

You ever feel like you're spinning your wheels but not sure you're getting anywhere with your music? Do you even know where you want to go with it? In this episode we're discussing getting clear about your vision so you can achieve your singing dreams.

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Transcript

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Hello. Welcome back to the Jewish Singer podcast. Thank you so much for being here. I really, really appreciate it. And if you are enjoying the podcast so far, Or even if this is your first episode, head on over to your podcast app and hit follow so that you get notified when a new episode comes out. Or if you're on YouTube, you know, subscribe on there as well. Thank you so much for being here. I'm laughing through this because I just recorded this entire podcast only for some reason on my application that I was recording it. Um, it did not take, and I actually joked about this happening or thought that this happened a few weeks back, and today it actually happened. So here we are again, just going to go through it again. Hopefully this time it's going to be even better. So today we are talking about vision and how important it is for you to have one as an artist and not only to have one, but then to do something about it once you have one. Right. I was inspired this week because I was having coffee with Ariella Zeitlin. You all probably know her. She's an amazing, fantastic violinist and singer. And she's recently started doing coaching for artists. and so she reminded me that I've gotten a little stuck on this hamster wheel of tasks and fulfilling short term goals, rather than looking forward to big, longer term or medium term goals for myself, not only for my business as a voice teacher, but mostly for my self as an artist. And I've lost sight of the dream a little. She asked me, what's your dream? What's the thing that you're scared to do? And it would have been really easy for me to say, well, I have this dream to build up my vocal studio and have more, You know, more students who are aspiring singer songwriters. I want to help them, achieve their artistic goals. I want teachers all over the world who, I can have under my umbrella brand and really just like infuse more, professional technical singing into the frum world, right? I have this dream, I have this goal. But that goal doesn't scare me. It doesn't feel. Unattainable necessarily. What does scare me is the potential of standing on a stage with a band behind me in front of a thousand people and performing my own songs, having to share my soul and share vulnerably my story, which I think if I'm honest, I I haven't like fully mapped out yet, you know, and that was something she talked about too yesterday, which you know, she's very clear about what her story is and she's and she's understood parts of her life that have happened to her and she gives it over even in a, in, in shows, you know, she has like a whole concert and there's a story behind it and there's a nice message. And I think that's something I haven't really figured out for myself. And so standing up in front of a big audience and, and giving over myself in that way feels super scary. And I've also, I've been a theater kid my entire life. I was doing opera in college. After college, I was doing musical theater. Just last year I was in another musical theater show with the Regal Productions and I get to go on stage in that, in that setting and be somebody else. You know, I have lines to perform everyone, you know, I'm being told what to say and what to sing and to some degree, like even how to deliver those lines, depending on what it is. So I, that's not me, you know, like, yes, I'm infusing a part of me into it, but kind of the draw almost is, is that it's not me. I get to play around with different ways of being and ways of moving my body and inflections of my voice and that's super fun for me, but it, but then that doesn't give me the opportunity to just settle into what's mine and what's, what's just, what's just me, you know, I've never really given myself that opportunity. I've never had that opportunity. So that's scary. And it's exciting and it's a vision to work toward. but that excitement that I feel, I feel that excitement now as I'm even talking about it, but only because I'm, I'm remembering it, I'm recalling, and I'm, I'm actively choosing to think about the vision, right? And sometimes we don't, we either shy away from it or, We just get out of practice, or we get distracted by other things. So that vision has to be on forefront, of everything that you do. In a way, you know, so I mean, it doesn't mean that you have to be thinking about it all day, every day, obviously, but it has to be something that you are going back to regularly periodically and very consistently. Okay. I need to check in with where am I on that? Otherwise you won't be able to get there. Right. So today we're talking about just vision in general. So number one, you got to have the vision, right. And then that's going to be your guiding light. It's going to show you the path. If you don't have a goal and you don't have the vision, then you're not going to be able to get there. It's like pulling up ways on your phone and going, Hey, can you take me where I need to go? You know, typing in where I need to go. And it's like, yeah, sure. No problem. What's the address? And you're like, I don't, I don't know. I don't, I don't have an address. I don't, I'm not sure. Okay. Well then how can it take you there? You know, it's kind of silly to talk about it in those terms because you're like, yeah, okay. But it's kind of silly to talk about it in those terms. But we do that all the time, don't we? So many times we're like, yeah, I'm a singer. I want to be a singer. I'm going to be a Jewish singer and I'm going to have shows and concerts and music. Of course I am. Yeah. Yep. what exactly is the vision? What exactly is the goal? There's many different ways to show up in the world as a singer. Maybe you want to do kumzitzes, kumzitzes. Maybe you want to be a kumzitz singer and you will have a, a story that you want to tell. You want to weave it in with Divrei Torah and you're going to, have your songs based on what you want to say. Like, what's that story? What does that story look like? Or maybe you really want to just be making, tracks and music videos, and maybe you want to be a voice teacher. Or maybe you want to be selling out Binyanei Hauma, that's the big dream, that's the goal, so you can't ever get there if you're not quite sure what the real dream is, you know, so I really invite you, to dream and think about what is it that lights you up? What is it you're scared of? What's the dream? What's the big dream that scares you, as Ariella asked me? And, and not just scared because you want to go running for the hills and you don't want to do it, but you know, what's, what's the thing that's like underneath you, you're not sure you can do it, but you know you really, really want to do it. You have to name that. And then you can start the beginning of the path that will lead you there. So, next week I hope to, please God, make an episode that talks more about practical goal setting once you do have this vision and goal. So something else I wanted to say, too, on this topic is I think sometimes as singers we run the risk of getting caught up in little things that are just like spinning our wheels. For instance, Consuming too much social media. If you are someone that is on social media and also posting on social media, just to stay relevant. And honestly, I'm super guilty of this. I spin my wheels posting so I can grow an Instagram account and a business and a brand. And that's really important. It is because it, I mean, for me, that's how I've chosen to disseminate my information as a voice teacher and my music. And so, you know, there's certain realities of like, okay, if you're trying to grow your brand on Instagram, then you have to post. Right. And sometimes I'll be at the end of the week and I'll realize, you know, I, I hit my real quota, my Instagram real quota, you know, or maybe I didn't. And, but then just thinking like, okay, well, what was that all for? You know, like, what did it get me? Did I have moments in the week where I created? Did I have moments where I got, where I filled up my cup creatively? Did I do anything this week that moved the needle forward on my goal? Did I do anything this week that's going to get me closer to that vision? If not, then, maze. You know? Then what are we doing? Yes, the other stuff gotta get done. Okay, yes, your dishes have to get done. Somebody buy me a dishwasher, okay? I think that's just what it's gonna have to boil down to. But, yes, there, the, the, you know, there are little things in your life that they have to get done, but it's imperative that you keep your eye on what's, what's even one little thing that you can, do to stay connected to that goal and that vision, because that's just what keeps you moving forward. And Tachlis on, just an artist level and a personal level, when you stay in tune with that feeling of creativity, when you stay in tune with your vision, it just kind of like feels more alive, you know what I mean? When you create and when you can stay connected to that creation that you're working on, there's something that just like bubbles up. You know what I mean? I'm like picturing one of those, um, you know, when you have those like tablets, dehydration tablets or something, or no, not dehydration tablets. You don't want to get a dehydrated hydration tablets that you put in the, in the water. And it just kind of like fizzes and bubbles, you know, and like, Ooh, effervescence, effervescence, that's the word. There's kind of this, like, Energy, right? There's a, there's a vibration that when you stay connected to your vision, you're infusing your whole existence and everything you do your work, your music, your, your home life, even I'm imagining with this, with this effervescence, with this vibration of creativity and joy. And I think that's another really big reason that having a vision and staying connected to that vision is just important for us as people. You know, and you could compare it to also in Judaism when we talk about always looking forward to and imagining the Geula or Shabbos, you know, the ways that we, and we have to prepare ourselves for Shabbos and prepare ourselves for Geula. And that means we have to stay connected to it. We have to stay connected to that idea of redemption, to that vision that we have. And another thing I want to say that's kashore to this topic is that your big goals and your dreams that you have with singing are important. Okay. And this is kind of going back to. I think last week's episode, just about, not knowing where things are going to lead you and like following Hashem's little whispers in your, in your ear about where you should be going and what you should be doing with your, your time and your life. But a lot of us singers are like, well, this is just singing. You know, in that I have so many things that I'm responsible for in my family, in my life. And like, is this something I should really prioritize? Am I being selfish? Is this, you know, maybe it's just silly, like, Oh, I want to be a singer. Is that maybe it's just silly. Okay, and you're not silly. Okay, I'm not here to tell you about how you should prioritize the very important things in your life, but I know that, that it's not silly and that it's something that's very holy and high and that can be used for a lot of good. You don't have to persuade yourself that achieving this vision that you have doesn't matter, or it's not important. It could be that you have to work very slowly towards this vision. And I think that's maybe a good reframe for it because that vision is there for a reason. It's completely there for a reason. And you can work slowly towards it. And you can also set smaller. Goals for yourself. So you have one, like, maybe you have this huge, big, long term goal, and then you need to break it down into smaller goals and not just in smaller tasks even, but just like, okay. So I want to sell out Binyanei Hauma one day. Okay. But first we got to work on just like getting a song out, you know? So you work backwards in terms of what the smaller projects will be and getting there, knowing full well, that you're going to have that vision to always look back to. B'kitzur(in short) I just want to say that if you have this dream and you have this vision, you're supposed to, you're supposed to go after it. If it's nagging at you and this is something that you feel is just a part of you and you can't explain why and you know that you need to do it, you're supposed to. So you should be always with a lot of hatzlacha and a lot of clarity about what your vision is and how to achieve it. And I hope you have a beautiful rest of your week. Thank you so, so much for tuning in. I hope this was helpful. I know for sure I didn't say the same things on this go around as I did on the first, but hopefully it's exactly what you needed to hear. And sending you lots of love. Happy singing. Take care.