Showing posts with label performance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label performance. Show all posts

Saturday, 3 December 2016

Every living day is a learning experience


So you go around with a chip on your shoulder, with the nose so high up in the air as if you walk inhaling imported air. You straddle around like you are on Yudhistira's chariot, always two feet above the ground, quite full of air. You speak with such confidence convinced that your listeners are impressed with your command of the language.

You think you produced a masterpiece that everybody would sing only praises of it. That is until you send it for proofreading.

That is when your bubble bursts, your ego gets deflated, and you get down from your mighty horse and is brought down to the ground. You soon realise that the things which you had taken for granted mean more than what meets the eyes.

You get an extra 'e' when you are a lady engaged to a man. A fiancée is to a female just what a fiancé is to a man.

Everything seems watertight as if you have a foolproof system but your friends tell you that he has full proof that 'fullproof' is not even a word! I guess you are the fool now.

You thought you had thrashed out all your work of trash, forgetting an 'h' thrashes your good to the trash bin. It just 'hanged' your credibility, not to have it hung in the hall of fame. Even your offspring cannot help as no matter how many of them you have, you will never know. The plural of offspring is offspring. You, even in the sleekest way, is not slick enough to notice that. I guess you should not have been too emphatic on your convictions but rather be empathetic to others' views as well. Anyway, I am contented that you have decided to put your ego aside and contend with all the line of corrections. But, I do wonder sometimes if it is all a facade, and you may wander into other fields to avenge after your recent ego-bruising experiences.

But we move on...

Wednesday, 20 August 2014

Beware! They may be laughing at you, not with you.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Foster_Jenkins

Florence Foster Jenkins (1868-1944)
"People say I can't sing, but they can't say I didn't sing!"
Sometimes fame and fortune goes to our head. We think people around us who appear happy laughing away actually laugh with us. We believe we have such an aura that draws us to our wit and charisma. We think we have that innate charm to seduce people to yearn to be in our presence. We believe that they are having such a good time, laughing with us at our jokes. The truth, however, may be far from that. They may actually be laughing AT us!

I heard a podcast recently of a lady in the early twentieth century who refused to accept her inadequacies of being an operatic singer.

Since she was young, she had been interested in being a singer. Seeing her lack of aptitude, her father denied her of her wish. Luck came to Ms Jenkins in the form of a handsome inheritance after her parents separated and her mother subsequently passed away.

With her newfound wealth (she earlier struggled to make ends meet with her meagre income as a music teacher), she enrolled the best teachers and trained in Europe. Many were disheartened with the ability of the student but admired her courage.

After that, it was a party and singing to a group of people who 'enjoyed' her work. She would criticise her detractors as being jealous of her ability. She managed to avoid big public performances till the age of 76, when she bowed to the pressures of her fans. She performed to a packed Carnegie Hall, which had never seen such a turnout since its inception.

The reviews in newspapers were scathing, to say the least. They crucified her performance and ridiculed her every note - even though the audience had a whaling good time. Even one of the songs was aptly named 'The Laughing Song'.

This final outing turned out to be the coup de grâce for Ms. Florence Foster Jenkins. She died of a massive heart attack a week after her Carnegie Hall performance!

“Be afraid. Be very afraid.”*