A tribute to Ella Fitzgerald’s hemispheres

If you think I listen to opera music all day, then you are wrong. Lately I had a nice WhatsApp conversation about that, with someone that thought so. Well, really I do not, otherwise I lose my mind. I listen to opera music a lot because it's part of my study process, but when I don’t study, I would like to just hear other things. And that goes from old jazz to reggae and pop music to Beethoven. Everything is welcome and I also like to tell you why. Because all that music shows you different sides of your creativity. And that's where I want to be, to get the most out of my own life and out of the life of my audience, because ultimately both singing and training are an infinite cooperation between me and the audience. You have to understand each other from different perspectives, to roll-out new insights and improve the status quo.  

But what has that Grande Dame of Jazz to do with music and audience?

Great Ella Fitzgerald. Even though I have only discovered her when she already had passed away (and I know her only from Youtube), every time she fills my Florentine living room with her voice, I have the idea that she is only singing for me. And I am fascinated to hear her sing, because Ella really understood what the dialogue between her and her audience was and what it meant for all.

The special thing about artists of such a quality is that they should be able to sing both with technical and emotive capacities. As I am starting my career as a tenor singer I know how complicated that is, because you have to you use both hemispheres at the same time. The left half for the technical work, where you will be quite aware of how you sing or talk, what you say and what you do. And then you have the right half of your brain where you find the ' why ' and where you must feel the intuitive side and the ‘what’ and ‘how’ to engage your audience.

I am grateful for the tenor part, because it supports me incredibly well when I give Public Speaking trainings.

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So speaking is quite hard!

You can see how complicated it is to talk. In daily life to express yourself, and then just think for second what it requires from your being, when you have to stand in front of a large audience that comes specifically for you. This requires real technique and being in charge of yourself. So you know what you want to say and above all, with what intention. What is your purpose and why did you choose for that one? What do you want to achieve and how do you end up doing it? This requires a high degree of training. Something that today is not yet fully seen as necessary, while it actually should have been necessary for quite a long time.

How many times have you been at a lecture and you thought 'Oops, this is going to be a long three hours', or ' Yes, he seems nice, but I do not understand him because he mumbles’, or ‘I am not really fascinated by the speaker because he is too nervous and is surviving instead of that he shares his story with us'.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, speakers with their eyes closed, speakers with trembling knees, speakers with trembling voices and speakers that actually do not really know why they are on stage. It happens. And just with some extra practice, the improvement will be amazing.   

Heart and head combination for a great result

To get the mission clear: every being deserves it to discover his own power. No matter what age, time, professional background or whatsoever. Real power is what we all have inside us and no one must be left behind in completing that human revolution (Let’s call it like that to emphasise the importancy for the matter. It's about your life. That's something we won't take for granted, will we?).

Ella’s incredible head – heart combination is so on an inspiration for me. Technically top and with a huge self-expression, she dared to stay in the light. And the cool thing about it is that she transmitted that energy to her audience with the result that her audience was seen, heard and recognized. Complete validation in one concert.  

The secret is revealed

So that’s all? Just some head-heart combination and being a full self-expression with a clear Why, What, How purpose? Yes – that’s the secret. So have fun with it. There is only one thing… you may think that you know and understand it now… but the real practice requires other things: reflection, awareness, improvement of your craftsmanship...

The truth is, that when you have people in front of you, you might get off track… and that’s what we have to overcome to make you the best version of yourself, because you can be totally at ease in front of the mirror, but sometimes circumstances can shake you!

And that’s where I and my colleagues come in :-)

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