Good afternoon Sorraco!
Although it took me quite a while to realise, Sorraco is one of the best things that happened to me.
I'd like to share with all of you what I have learnt over the past 3 years as a Buddhist, Musician and most importantly, as a performer.
To me, performing in front of an audience is about sharing with them what's important to me. In order to share, we need to communicate our thoughts across. Communication thought the arts can occur in many mediums.......singing, playing instruments, acting, stunts, speaking, dancing.....and the list goes on. A good performer is a specialist in communicating his art to the audience such that he is able to make the audience feel exactly the way he intends to. A simple example will be an Orator(speaker). In a speaking contest, it's not the person with the best pronunciation or the sweetest voice that will win. It'll be the person that is able to capture the attention and 'move' the audience that is going to take the first prize.
So we see that essentially it all boils down to having an effective channel and method of communication. This differentiates a master performer from a beginner.
So how do we develop this skill of being a good communicator? Well I believe it's all in the Buddhist teachings. Amongst many facets, the ones paramount to me are two things...........Awareness and Low Aversion(dislike).
Awareness is knowing how the audience and others react to your performance. If we don't know what the others think, then how are we to know that we have moved them or merely tickled them? The greatest obstacle to developing Awareness is having Aversion to anything, esp to people in the same field.
Lynzabel's feedback to us are a gem in helping some of us become aware of certain realities relating to what went on backstage during the rehearsals. if we are able to take it positively without any aversion, then we will be in superb condition for growth towards being a master performer. The moment aversion steps in, we will be blinded even by the greatest of all comments.
Interestingly, this 'Aversion and Awareness' issue goes both ways. As I have said above, the best potential master will learn from receiving feedback unconditionally, without any aversion. Likewise, the best way to be aware of the truth is not to have any aversion pertaining to the subject. So the best person to give feedback is someone who does not have any aversion or dislike for what he sees. If a critique can see things as they are without being averse towards it, then he is able to be unbiased and therefore more accurate in seeing the truth.
So whenever I hear someone comment about my playing, I try to accept it without any aversion. The moment I get annoyed with him or his comments, I am doomed to never being able to develop a high degree of Awareness.
Before I give feedback to anyone, I will also ask myself whether I am being objective. I will simply ask myself whether I am unhappy with the person or with the situation. The moment I detect any Aversion in me, I then know for sure that my comment or criticism is likely to be clouded by my Aversion and is therefore not accurately reflective of the truth. I will then refrain from passing any comments until I can work on lowering my Aversion to whatever person or situation.
I hope I have communicated my thoughts to you in an effective manner. If I haven't, then perhaps I better stop writing and go play my bass for you! Perhaps the way I pluck them low strings will move you to agree with me that to be a master performer, the surest way is to nip our aversion and anger in the butt so that it will never be an obstacle to developing a heightened sense of Awareness, the greatest asset any performer can have!
Cheers and have a great day of 100% Awareness and zero Aversion/Anger!!! :)
Although it took me quite a while to realise, Sorraco is one of the best things that happened to me.
I'd like to share with all of you what I have learnt over the past 3 years as a Buddhist, Musician and most importantly, as a performer.
To me, performing in front of an audience is about sharing with them what's important to me. In order to share, we need to communicate our thoughts across. Communication thought the arts can occur in many mediums.......singing, playing instruments, acting, stunts, speaking, dancing.....and the list goes on. A good performer is a specialist in communicating his art to the audience such that he is able to make the audience feel exactly the way he intends to. A simple example will be an Orator(speaker). In a speaking contest, it's not the person with the best pronunciation or the sweetest voice that will win. It'll be the person that is able to capture the attention and 'move' the audience that is going to take the first prize.
So we see that essentially it all boils down to having an effective channel and method of communication. This differentiates a master performer from a beginner.
So how do we develop this skill of being a good communicator? Well I believe it's all in the Buddhist teachings. Amongst many facets, the ones paramount to me are two things...........Awareness and Low Aversion(dislike).
Awareness is knowing how the audience and others react to your performance. If we don't know what the others think, then how are we to know that we have moved them or merely tickled them? The greatest obstacle to developing Awareness is having Aversion to anything, esp to people in the same field.
Lynzabel's feedback to us are a gem in helping some of us become aware of certain realities relating to what went on backstage during the rehearsals. if we are able to take it positively without any aversion, then we will be in superb condition for growth towards being a master performer. The moment aversion steps in, we will be blinded even by the greatest of all comments.
Interestingly, this 'Aversion and Awareness' issue goes both ways. As I have said above, the best potential master will learn from receiving feedback unconditionally, without any aversion. Likewise, the best way to be aware of the truth is not to have any aversion pertaining to the subject. So the best person to give feedback is someone who does not have any aversion or dislike for what he sees. If a critique can see things as they are without being averse towards it, then he is able to be unbiased and therefore more accurate in seeing the truth.
So whenever I hear someone comment about my playing, I try to accept it without any aversion. The moment I get annoyed with him or his comments, I am doomed to never being able to develop a high degree of Awareness.
Before I give feedback to anyone, I will also ask myself whether I am being objective. I will simply ask myself whether I am unhappy with the person or with the situation. The moment I detect any Aversion in me, I then know for sure that my comment or criticism is likely to be clouded by my Aversion and is therefore not accurately reflective of the truth. I will then refrain from passing any comments until I can work on lowering my Aversion to whatever person or situation.
I hope I have communicated my thoughts to you in an effective manner. If I haven't, then perhaps I better stop writing and go play my bass for you! Perhaps the way I pluck them low strings will move you to agree with me that to be a master performer, the surest way is to nip our aversion and anger in the butt so that it will never be an obstacle to developing a heightened sense of Awareness, the greatest asset any performer can have!
Cheers and have a great day of 100% Awareness and zero Aversion/Anger!!! :)
Malcolm
posted by ah lum @ 2:36 PM
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