Mike, Sally, List, It does seem, (if I may over-generalize) that our attitudes very much affect the way we interpret things, ie approaching a musical phrase, singing in a particular style, interpreting literature. Whether it's defining styles in terms of rhythm or, "Finding the essential thought,"--whatever will put us in a receptive (and perhaps creative) mode. How many times do we, as teachers, repeat concepts or examples again and again in hopes that a student will be open, either at that moment in time, or in the future, to glean something from it--and learn. I have often had the experience of approaching a song one way and later finding something completely new in it (or in my voice's approach to it) at another point in time--and perhaps merely because I was thinking of it differently. I tell my students that the mind is an essential element to our instrument. The popular jargon of the day of "getting in touch with one's feelings," applies elementally in music, we must get in touch with the most musical aspect of a piece we're working on, a style we're working in, and try to bring to it a way of thinking, understanding and therefore a way of singing which best gives it life. --Erica
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