VOCALS
Micah Barnes is a singer, songwriter, and vocal and performance coach. He travels between Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles on a
regular basis to work with clients and also offers private sessions online. His Singers Playground performance workshops, which he
developed at The Highways Performing Arts University in Santa Monica, CA, have helped thousands of artists deepen their skill sets as
performers on both sides of the border. www.singersplayground.com.
By Micah Barnes
The Art of Letting Go
A
ll creative people seek a way to control the process
of making art. Just like a sculptor approaching the
clay, we singers are in the habit of creating, molding,
or shaping our vocal and onstage performance.
We believe that’s how we can make the music
strongest and express who we are to the larger world.
While this may be true, this belief in control (which most of
us hold on an unconscious level) is also a way to allow our in-
ner perfectionist full reign, and a lot of times, that desire for our
work to be “perfect” is actually disguising a terrible fear that it is
lacking and not “up to scratch.” Perfectionism may drive us to do
better, but it can also drive us (and everyone around us) crazy!
Art built from fear is never as strong as art built from trust,
courage, or faith that we can let go of control and achieve even
bigger and better results. And by faith, I do not mean a religious
practice but rather a habit of letting go and surrendering our
“need to be good” to the universe so that the music can move
through us unimpeded.
Our Job Is Surrender
When coming into the presence of a true master singer, one
can notice a peacefulness that seems to exude from them – a
stillness that seems almost spiritual in nature. That is because
the truly wise among us understand that seeking to control
the process is a worthless cause. They are looking for ways to
surrender control when singing. We’ve all heard of the account
of the sculptor Michelangelo feeling his way to what is waiting
inside the clay to be revealed. The actual goal of the master artist
is to let go and allow the music to happen with as little “getting
in the way” as possible.
I’m not suggesting we stay so passive that we don’t know the
words and music properly; in fact, the better our understanding
of what we are communicating, the better we can let go and
deepen the communication! Once we have “done the work,” then
letting go and allowing the music to happen is all we need to
do in the moment.
That’s a scary prospect for most of us. “Letting go” means
having “no control,” and that means anything can happen. We
might sing out of tune or not come in at the right time. We
32 CANADIAN MUSICIAN
might end up looking or sounding bad! Sure, all of those things
might happen, especially if we are under-rehearsed or under-
prepared; however, by seeking control, we are tightening our
reins on the machinery and often creating a “tense and forced”
physical approach to making the sound. That means our voices
are hostage to our fear and there is no room for the music to
happen. “Surrender” becomes the key action for us “control freak”
artists who seek perfection.
Becoming Unreasonable, Uncontrollable, Uncontainable
& Unstoppable!
Letting go of our heads and allowing our emotional lives to
rule the day is also key to a great vocal performance, whether
it’s in the studio or live on stage. Messy, ugly, raw emotion is
something that we seek to contain as human beings, and yet
that’s exactly what will both liberate us from our head games
while singing and move the audience to identify and feel our
music the deepest.
Getting out of our head and down into that chaotic, intense,
passionate place is really hard for most of us. We humans are
programmed to act like everything is fine, everything is working
out, everything is going to be cool!
That is the complete opposite of what we want to be expe-
riencing onstage in performance or in the studio. When we are
singing we want to be feeling emotions that are unreasonable,
uncontrollable, uncontainable, and unstoppable!
That way, the audience has no choice but to be swept up
in our emotional truth. We want them thinking: “I’ve always felt
that way but no one has ever sung about my feelings like that!”
That’s how audiences bond with us on an unconscious level,
potentially becoming our fans for life!
So, as you prepare to the take the stage or get behind the
mic in the studio, dive deep into your material and find where
the messy, chaotic parts of yourself are ignited by the song you
are singing. Our job as singers is to “increase the drama” until
your emotions are unleashed, and watch how your audience
starts to receive, identify, and attach to your work.
It’s simple; all we have to do is lose control (which is admit-
tedly easier said than done)!