How to be a Joyful Singer

What does the word Joy mean to you?

 

 

To me it’s different than happy. It’s deeper.

 

 

It reverberates. 

 

 

It can be like a balm.

 

 

It’s closer to peace.

 

 

Ever feel like one minute you’re basking in joy and the next you’re not sure where it went to?

 

 

Like you suddenly realize things feel harder than they should?

 

 

The opposite of peace. 😏

 

 

Singing used to feel easy, not like a chore, not something you HAD to do, but something that you couldn’t wait to do.

 

 

I can remember that “burned out” feeling- the hum of stress surging through my body, the anxiety I counted on as my fuel for achieving and moving towards my goals.

 

 

Joyful singing felt like something far away, something reserved for other singers.

 

 

And then when it was no longer tenable to continue on as usual, when my body said, “there has to be another way,” that’s when I began to seek out joy.

 

 

I discovered that joy is there for the taking and available to all of us.

 

 

How do you tap into joy?

 

 

Joy comes when you are clear on your values, on what’s truly important.

 

 

I learned I had to include the things that bring me joy in my day-to-day life.

 

 

I had to make radical changes in my routine in order to find that spark, that love, that joy in my singing practice as well. ✨

 

 

It meant prioritizing the activities, the work, the people that lift me up, the things that make me happy, make my days better.

 

 

This takes a little bit of planning.

 

 

It takes being intentional.

 

 

You can’t expect Joy to just magically appear. (Although it can and it does.)

 

 

But it’s necessary to cultivate joy.

 

 

Respect Joy.

 

 

Nurture Joy.

 

 

Feed Joy.

 

 

Imagine a parking meter that you have to feed. 🅿️

 

 

When you are feeding the joy meter, things run smoothly. When you forget to feed the meter, suddenly a ticket materializes on your dashboard.

 

 

It’s your reminder: you need to feed the meter! ❌

 

 

It isn’t a perfect science.

 

 

Some weeks it’s easy!

 

 

Some not.

 

 

I realized last week that I wasn’t being as intentional.

 

 

I was spending more time doing things that didn’t bring me joy, feeding things that zap my energy and not feeding the things that make me feel like ME.

 

 

I was rushing through dinner.

 

 

My walks were shorter.

 

 

I skipped my quiet time.

 

 

I realized, I felt out of balance.

 

 

Do you ever feel like this?

 

 

Are you even aware that there is a LACK of joy?

 

 

(Sometimes, it becomes the new normal.)

 

 

To find your way back you have to do some tending. 🌱

 

 

You have to slow down and ask some questions.

 

 

Things like:

 

 

What is your general mood?

 

 

How are you interacting with yourself? (The self talk… is it positive? Kind? Encouraging? Or is it zeroing in on all your flaws?)

 

 

What’s driving you?

 

 

How did you get sidetracked?

 

 

What’s dominating your attention?

 

 

 

Now we have something to work with. 🗺️

 

 

Make a list right now of all the things in your life that bring you joy.

 

 

Maybe it’s spending time with your family…

 

 

Reading a book.

 

 

Concerts.

 

 

Stretching.

 

 

Being outside.

 

 

Calling a friend.

 

 

And here is the thing, sometimes you don’t feel joy until AFTER you do the thing. 

 

 

Maybe like exercising. Or going to a social event. 

 

 

But at some point you experience that feeling of great pleasure and so it needs to be on the list.

 

 

➡️And for us workaholics- include those pleasures in life that aren’t connected to work/ making money. Think of this list being full of what Jordan Grumet calls purpose with a lower case p.

 

 

Write it all out.

 

 

Now think about the things that suck your energy or you despise doing. 🙅🏻‍♀️

 

 

Is it possible to spend less time doing those things?

 

 

If not all, can you make some room to include more of what’s on your joy list?

 

 

As singers, when you realize the joy has faded, it can be quite disheartening.

 

 

Where did the feeling go for this thing you used to love?  Why is it suddenly so hard and feel like real work?

 

 

After you make your joy list, your next step is to check in with your voice. 

 

 

Meet your voice like a person.

 

 

A friend. 👯‍♀️

 

 

Who is this friend?

 

 

Get to know her.

 

 

Ask her questions.

 

 

Ask her how she is feeling, what does she need? 

 

 

Shed light on what’s taking place in this relationship. 🕵🏻‍♀️

 

 

How have you been treating her? Like a good friend? Or a bully?

 

 

Constructing a map back to joy includes tending to the relationship you have with your voice.

 

 

↦ How you interact with her.

 

 

↦ How you talk with her.

 

 

Once you tend to the relationship, ask yourself why do you love to sing?

 

 

Why do you do it? What is its purpose in your life?

 

 

If singing has become a joy-less activity, can you reframe “the why”?

 

 

Can the intention for singing be an act of self care?

 

 

Maybe a mindfulness practice? 

 

 

Or a way to heal through making sound?

 

 

An act of healing?

 

 

These are a lot of questions to think about and process.

 

 

This is a glimpse into some of the work we do in the first module in A Course in Joyful Singing.

 

 

This is the beginning of reclaiming Joy, the beginning of cultivating this thing in your life, in your creative practice that you deserve.

 

 

YOU DESERVE JOY.

 

 

I’m here cheering you on! Let me know what you come up with this week as you sit with those questions. I’m all ears!

 

 

Have a great week!

 

 

Erin

 

 

 

PS. If you’d like help infusing Joy into your practice, let’s take the first step together. Join my monthly Monday Night group voice class. Come, stay on mute and do warmups with me, or if you have a song you’d like support with, share your voice and receive some coaching. $25. Register HERE before spots fill up. Replay is emailed if you can’t make it.