Clarissa,
There's a perspective that has to be taken into account here. When you're a fairly new student of singing, your perspective is primarily that of a student--nothing wrong with that, but it's a very different perspective than that of a professional singer and teacher of singing.
When I was an undergrad, I was very frustrated by the "potential" comments I got so often. On holiday years later from graduate school, I was visiting my old college when it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn't heard a "potential" remark in a few years, and I laughed and said I hoped I still had some.:-) Now as a teacher, I'm often the one making the comments, and "potential" is one of the highest compliments I give--and trust me, I don't say it unless I mean it.
Potential for what? To go as far as you like, given good training and health and luck and all the other things that need to come together for a successful career. It means I'm hearing something very good in the voice, no matter what stage of training the singer is at--teachers try to hear every voice as it is when they hear it, and as they imagine hearing it with further study and (vocal) maturity.
And yes, we on the jury panels and audition committees and elsewhere know that singers aren't always singing on their best days--frankly, the nature of live audition is there's usually only so much slack we can give a singer in terms of a grade or role or whatever, but most of us are singers too, and we are perfectly aware of all the things that can happen. As I often tell my students, there is no perfect day for singing--all you can do is go out there and sing as best you can on any given day, and know that it's more important to start building a reputation for consistently good singing and behavior than to worry about any one particular performance.
Sounds like you have plenty of potential, Clarissa, and from my perspective, there's nothing negative about that.:-)
-y
_Dr. Yvonne Dechance
Email: ydechance@s..., Homepage: http://www.scaredofthat.com/yworld/ Diction Domain: http://over.to/dictiondomain
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