I GOT IN!!!...(<----jerk?)

Let me start by saying, I love my singer friends. It took a while; there were many semesters in undergrad when I would only associate with jazz majors because singers drove me crazy. Now most of my all-time favorite people and some of the best colleagues I know are singers. I love when they do well, love LOVE it! I also work in managing classical singers, so I really do love spreading the gigs around.

HOWEVER, am I alone in wondering how tasteful/considerate it is to broadcast your acceptance news IN ALL CAPS ON YOUR FACEBOOK WALL???!!!! seriously. I can't make up my mind on how I feel about this. I love knowing how my friends and colleagues are doing. I love going to their shows - more often than my significant other would like, in fact. But is it a little insensitive to use social media this way? Especially for things that you know lots of your other colleagues probably got rejection letters from?

Should we not care? Should we proudly claim our accomplishments and know that our true friends and supporters will be thrilled and that everyone else will get over it or unfriend us? Is there a happy medium? Is there a tasteful, humble, grateful way to acknowledge one's hard-earned success? Is there a backlash for people who do this kind of thing? I know I tend to think that people who are constantly BROADCASTING THEIR SUCESS!!!! don't need any more gigs and so aren't the first on my list to call. Am I an inadvertent hater/....bad colleague? (dun dun DUNNNNNNN!!!)

I think in this age of social media, this is applicable to many non-music related events: getting into a prestigious college, or job, country club, I dunno. Should we care that people, maybe people we know/are friends with, got rejected for that same position? Not all of us can have newsletters - maybe we should, but let's face it, we don't. I kindof think that an email list would be a more effective way to be nice, but perhaps not the best advertising for your accomplishments. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, what are the other options?

- Post a more formal announcement "I am proud to announce that I ________" and leave it at that.
- reserve these ecstatic posts for your musician/band Facebook page, website, email list, etc.
- post a formal press release/flyer/announcement from the company that has your name on it - that way  they're doing the bragging for you, right?
- leave the ecstatic bragging for your mom/significant other, because you know they'll be posting it everywhere.

Actors, musicians, competitive performers/athletes of any kind, I'd love to know your thoughts. Do we proudly and loudly gush about our achievements, or tone it down a notch to spare others' feelings. 

That S is burning a hole in your dress...

I recently learned - from one of the (ahem) awesome followers of this blog - of a true instance not only of being an amazing colleague, but of a really effective audition/performance prep technique. I have (un-creatively) dubbed it: The Superman Effect.

Apparently the talented guys of the Presidio Brass ensemble have a routine before they perform at showcase or a show that pretty much makes them some of the most awesome colleagues I've ever heard of. They pump each other up right before the show by telling each other that they are...Superman. No, really. That's the routine. It goes a little something like this:

Trumpet A : Dude, your cape is showing, it's totally flowing right out of your back
Trumpet B : Yeah man, I feel it, it's kindof heavy but it's blowing in the wind and feels awesome. You better be careful, that Superman S is burning right through your shirt, do you see it? Cuz I see it
Trumpet A: Yeah, I see it, its freakin huge today (sketches big S with finger across his own chest)
Trumpet B: You're gonna have to by a new shirt, it's that strong, its actually blinding me
Trumpet A: Your cape is totally going to knock something over and may blow us all off the stage
Trumpet B: We are totally going to rock this
Trumpet A: **** yeah we are!

You get the idea. Silly? Absolutely, and that's the beauty of it. Right when you're the most nervous, it makes you laugh. But you don't feel that stupid, because someone else is pumping you up, and relying on you to do it for them. Like football players doing ridiculous grunty chants before a game - because it works. And while you want to scoff at your colleague because it sounds so dumb, the smarter part of you knows that participating in this goofy back and forth is a lot better for your morale and mindset than all the negative self-talk and self-doubt you would otherwise be indulging in.

This past weekend I had an audition, and the talented second trumpet player from Presidio happened to be on hand to give me the Superman/woman treatment firsthand. I wanted to scoff, to brush it off, but instead when he told me my S was burning through my dress, I smiled and emphatically outlined it with my finger from shoulder to shoulder. Later, while I was singing my audition, I felt the nasty critical thoughts creeping in, and instead I felt my cape billowing out from my shoulders, and away they ran like comic book villains, to return yes, but only to be vanquished again by the superpowers blasting through my carefully selected audition attire.

So on October 22nd and 23rd, when my stalwart and awesome cast is performing The Yeoman of the Guard at Opera San Luis Obispo, I know what I'll be saying to them: "Girl, the costume designer is going to kill you because that S is burning a hole right through that dress."