Shall we just get on with it now?

Well, well, well it's the summer holidays so everything gets a little more manageable for a few weeks but, as always, I am plagued by procrastination. Well I say that, I watched a webinar (standard) that included some techniques to get over the procrastination thing. Funnily enough I had already decided that I was going to split my to-do list up into smaller chunks in order to be able to tick more things off which is one of the techniques. It always feels good to tick things off a to-do list.

Changing the subject very abruptly, Facebook has been throwing up more "memories" than it ever used to recently. Has anyone else noticed that? Anyway, last week I was reminded about the very first cabaret set I did at The Pheasantry in Chelsea back in 2014. It was, by a country mile, the best thing I had ever done on a stage (possibly off-stage too) and really made me re-evaluate what I'm doing with my worklife.

I know I have a little more time as I gave up one of my regular jobs. I originally gave this job up in order to give more time to my choir, Songsations, but my thoughts have changed where that is concerned as well. The choir is going to be a fun project. Great if it brings in a few pennies but I think it's time to try and start making a living doing what I actually trained to do and go back to performing.

I know I don't want to do big shows like Phantom again but I definitely want to sing again, on a stage, in front of people. It will take a bit of time to get things organised but I have started putting things together for a new cabaret set PLUS I have started to learn a new song. A song that I will sing AND play the piano for. I am still a dreadful pianist but I am far better than I was before I started teaching singing. I will record the new song for you, not when it's perfect (as I have learnt perfection is unattainable) but when I can get through it without making too many mistakes.

One thing I do find, now that I'm a bit older, is that I have a brain like a sieve. I can't remember lyrics nearly as well as I could BUT the good thing about doing cabaret rather than musicals is it really doesn't matter if I go wrong so the pressure is less when contemplating putting a cabaret together. 

For the first time in a very, very long time I am excited about MY singing again. I don't feel the need to live vicariously through my students anymore as I AM going to do something about it and put myself out there again!

In the meantime, here's a little reminder, for you and for me, of what I CAN do (Ooh there might be one sweary word in this!). If you can't see the video below, click here!

Before we move forward, let's look back!....or some such nonsense.

So, I got myself back on the cabaret horse back in August following a very successful visit to Frinton-on-Sea to "star" as the Widow Corney in Oliver! Of course I thought my contribution to the production was massive (or at least important) until my landlady in Frinton came to see it and, during our debrief of the performance, said "You didn't have a very big part did you!". I could just tell that she had hoped to play host to Nancy or, at the very least, the Artful Dodger. Anyway, I brushed it off and left Frinton the next day telling myself "I am a good company member. My input counted" over and over again until my landlady's words had removed themselves from my psyche. So, I was back to London to prepare for a short cabaret set 4 days later.

This set was the start of, what I am hoping will be a brand new cabaret show all about the 80s. However I did start to think about the first cabaret show I did a couple of years ago and how I haven't really capitalized on it's potential yet. It has only had one outing and, although it was flawed, there was the bones of a fairly good show there. Unfortunately, as well as being incompetent I am, also, incredibly lazy.

Following the one and only performance of my first cabaret I was chatting to a friend about it. A very honest friend, who although she had enjoyed the show, had many points of constructive criticism to make. There were a few things that were rooky mistakes to do with staging that I knew I had done and knew I would not make again but the biggest conclusion we both came to was that there were many good "jokes" in there, I just hadn't quite found them yet. This all comes down to laziness but also to impatience. I would be rubbish at cross stitch or something else that took time to complete. That's why I like crocheting. You see results quickly and that's what I want when I write the material for my cabarets.

I'm even impatient when it comes to these blog posts, which is why they are always riddled with mistakes. I say my posts are edited by my sister but I haven't sent one to her to look over in ages because I am far too impatient to wait for her to check it before I post it. So, I MUST stop being so impetuous and take a bit of time to make sure things are hunky dory before I unleash them on an unsuspecting world.

Case in point, during my prep for my first cabaret I did a short set at The Pheasantry as part of Cabaret Confidential. I sang 5 songs that were including in the longer show when I finally got around to putting it together. One of the songs was Stiles and Drewe's "Diva", a song about a woman who can't sing in tune. I have perfected the art of singing out of tune but hadn't, completely, when I first performed it 2 years ago. See for yourself. This is the full version of the first attempt I made at singing out of tune and, for my money, it isn't quite out of tune enough.

I have performed it numerous times since and am much, much better at singing out of tune now. Who would have thought after all those years of training I would end up actively attempting to sing badly!

Anyway, this is the first of a few posts with clips from my past shows but I am hoping, if I can stem the laziness and the impatience in equal measure, I will have something new to offer soon.