Me 'n Andy

So, this kid I've been training since he was a sixth grader is now 18 and has been accepted to the Musical Theater wing of the Tisch School at NYU.  Always a good singer, I worked him hard on technique and when he was in junior high, he got a two year gig with The Rockettes doing their Christmas spectacular-awesome-holiday-thing.  I think they did something like thirty shows a day....   Anyway, he had two very fun seasons at Radio City Music Hall but during that time, he did what all kids do; he got taller and his voice started changing.  And the competition got better.  So our next task -- if he wanted to stay in the business -- was that we had to work our way out of cute kid/great singer mode and into the ever expanding and complex universe of performance.  Not easy for a perfect kid who could nail any line reading or inflection he was given by an adult.
Vocal Technique can be learned in less than a year.  Vocal Performance, on the other hand, is a life-long quest.  It's the  process of turning off the cameras of self-observation.  Some poor, tortured performers have quite a few cameras going at the same time.  Their attention becomes compromised when they concern themselves with elements outside of their control -- only to then start focusing on how poorly the elements within their control are appearing.  It can be pretty unsatisfying.  Today in the Times, the Eagles' Don Henley was quoted saying that he only rarely feels the song "Desperado" and that most of the time, it's like sticking needles in his eyes.  Now, I like Don, he's a totally cool guy and a great songwriter but what he is telling us is that, by focusing on the needles in his eyes, he is only observing himself in performance and it's a grind.  Instead of doing everything he can to bring "Desperado" to life for four minutes a night -- every night, he vacates the spiritual realm of the song, parks his intellect elsewhere and goes to a commercial; in front of thousands of paying customers.
Back to Andy; his next performance will be his most important (as it should be with performers...).  He's singing a no-fireworks, simple song out of "Spring Awakening" in front of hundreds of people at his school.  Nothin' too high, nothin' too low, the melody doesn't really go anywhere, but it has tons of lyrical complexity that can take a singer down in a moment if the cameras of self-observation suddenly flip on or if he goes on a mental vacay.
And next year, this kid with more professional theater experience than a majority of his peers will start all over again learning musical theater at NYU.
And, once again, it's time to let go.  For both of us.