Conquering Flying Cows

I was at a voice student's dress rehearsal for a recital and she was having major memory lapses. As the rehearsal went on, she just got worse and worse. The more upset she got, the less she could remember and actually sing through. Her flying cows were winning.

What the heck do I mean by flying cows? Do you remember the movie, "Twister"?I may have changed some things in my memory of the film, but the scene I have in mind goes something like this... The two main characters are scientists who study and chase tornadoes. In this scene they are going to drive across a bridge, over a large expanse of water, with wild winds all around them and with a tornado bearing down on them. Suddenly, a cow goes flying past their vehicle, grabbing their attention.

Here is where my analogy begins. We all experience forms of "flying cows" - something that is unexpected and grabs our attention. It can be a word slip, phlegm, someone rattling a program - anything that can potentially distract the performer. Well, had our movie characters been totally focused on the cow, they would have driven off of the bridge and plunged into the water and drowned. Instead, they noticed the cow and then kept driving straight down the road toward their destination, thus avoiding disaster. My poor student got so focused on her mistakes, her "cows", the she crashed.

Learning to focus on what is coming up ahead is one of the most valuable skills a performer can learn. It can also be one of the most challenging. However, any distraction, whether it comes from within (one's thoughts) or from the outside (a wrong note in the piano, a crash outside, etc.) will kill one's performance, if one lets it. For example, as soon as my attention is on the word I missed, I am out of the present moment. I am trying to retrieve a word that it is already too late for. The moment is gone and if I try to recapture it, I forfeit whatever still lies ahead in my song (or speech). Instead, I need to stay focused on the phrase coming up next.

Practice letting the cows fly past. Yes, you will notice them. But they don't deserve any focus. Concentrate on the phrase you are going to sing, not the one you have already sung. With enough experience and practice, one can learn to stay on task.