30 November 2007

Welcome to a New Diva Blogger!

We who love music realize that it is exactly this element of hard work and thoughtful study which eliminates the lazy and uninterested from our ranks and makes this hard-won title - MUSICIAN - something of which to be proud.
~ Phil Farkas

I would like to extend a warm welcome to blogdom to my dear friend and fellow performance diva, Imelda Franklin Bogue!! She is an incredible singer, a wonderful person and a true soulmate and musical sistah! Do visit her new blog and if you live in the NYC area and have a chance to hear her perform, don’t miss it! :-) Welcome, Imelda!! Looking forward to many more wonderful posts on your doings in the world of New York opera!

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In regards to her thoughts on performing for family, I must agree that one definitely can get a good case of nerves even when performing for people you know love you. For myself, I have always found family and friends of family to be either the toughest critics or the most politely-and-slightly bored audience ever! And consequently, I no longer sing or play at family functions, which are few and far between anyway.

It is odd, but perhaps nerves are due to one’s own perfectionism ~ the desire to perform well, no matter who is in the audience. And certainly this continues to be the case for me even after I have given a less than stellar performance and can remember every wrong note sung and every missed beat and still people come up to me afterwards all aglow and moved by the music. And I am touched in return that my poor performance (in my eyes and ears) could still be used to uplift someone. And isn’t that what this beautiful, painful art called music all about? To share one’s soul with others in the hopes that someone, somewhere will be touched and encouraged to press on awhile longer.

Oremus pro invicem,
~ Mikaela