Now that I am back to the books and on a strict schedule everyday, I am truly in my element. 

It really is the best place to be, surrounded by similarly minded people, all working towards their goals. I am very grateful for this experience!

My favorite thing that outsiders often wonder about is time in the practice room. Especially the time that singers spend compared to instrumentalists.

Unfortunately, it would be utterly impossible to sing for 6 hours a day the way that some of my friends practice their instruments. 

You can trust that I would if I could.

The question still lingers. A singer in the practice room. How does it go?

Allow me. 

After a piece is learned, it is a matter of syllables. 

Syllable by syllable, note by note, measure by measure… do you follow? 

We break a piece of music into so many infinitesimal pieces that it does not even sound like music anymore. And, through magic, it becomes what you hear at the opera house. It is called being fabulous.

But, let us go back to this syllable by syllable nonsense. Do you even know what a syllable is? 

Once you have looked it up, then you can know the true secret.

I have to find just the proper alignment of all of the muscles in my throat and mouth, just enough expansion of the muscles I need out of the equation, all while squeezing my abdomen in such a way that sends the air from the lungs, as compacted against the diaphragm, back upwards and out of my mouth. This is Singing 101.

What does all of this information mean to you?

Just one more question. Do you know what neurosis is?

It is a state of being, I am not a doctor, in which one is excessively obsessive and irrational. It is entirely plausible that it could affect someone doing something like… singing syllable by syllable over and over again until the piece is put back together.

The problem is, at times, it can impact all aspects of life. Not just the singing. 

EVERYTHING has to be just so, done to perfection, bit by bit, and until it is right, it cannot be finished. 

Do you see where I am going with this?

I will have you know that I am working diligently at finding a balance in this aspect of my work and life. Little by little… over and over again… I correct myself and redirect my behavior.

And who knows how long that will take!

XOXO