From: "DIANE M. CLARK (MUSIC DEPARTMENT)"
Subject: Re: First Bad Review
To: vocalist
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

Sara wrote:

>Can any of you offer me some positive ideas about how to deal with bad
reviews?

First, realize that a review is only an opinion. We can't please everybody,
and WE ARE NOT WHAT OTHERS SAY WE ARE!

If I get an unfaborable review, I try to "kill 'em with kindness," especially
if I am likely to be reviewed by that person again. If I had gotten the
comment you quoted, I would write to the reviewer and thank him for being
kind enough to give me a review in the first place. (After all, it is often
hard to get noticed at all.) I would thank him for recognizing my vocal
training and complimenting my appearance. Then I would say something like:
"I'm sorry that you perceived my singing as 'vomiting' and I wish I knew what
it was that you did not enjoy about my renditions. However, I appreciate
your candor, and I shall certainly work all the harder to improve my per-
formance in the future."

|\ Dr. Diane M. Clark, Assoc. Prof./Chair of Music Dept., Rhodes College
| 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112, 901-843-3782, dclark-at-rhodes.edu
() http://gray.music.rhodes.edu/musichtmls/faculty/dclark.html