Sara's Bookshelf
Recommended Reading
The body is where all our emotional, intellectual, and spiritual secrets are embedded. It speaks before we open our mouths.
As we breathe in, we gather energy and take in the world. As we breathe out, we give our voice — and ourselves — to that world.
The foundation of all vocal study lies in the control of the breath. Everything else follows from that.
Take care of your voice. Rest it, warm it, respect it. It is the most human thing about you.
Everyone possesses a voice capable of expressing the full range of human experience — if we can only free it from the habits and tensions that have built up over a lifetime.
Our work is not how to do, but how to permit — how to allow the voice to be what it naturally is.
The voice is not an instrument you play — it is an expression of who you are.
To speak is to act. The voice carries not just words but the whole weight of what we mean.
Singing is not about performing. It's about telling a truth so clearly that the person listening forgets everything except what you're saying.
Second circle is the place of connection and communication. It's being present, in the moment — giving and receiving energy with another person or an audience.
Acting is living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.
Your body is your instrument. If you don't know how to play it, you can't make music.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
We didn't have music videos. We didn't have all of these other things. We had to work at it and learn your craft. I paid my dues.
The only thing better than singing is more singing.
Voice teachers are archaeologists — we are unearthing lost voices, buried under years of inhibition, tension, and self-doubt.
It is a basic human right to be seen and to have your own and separate identity, needs, wants, and aspirations expressed and recognized.
Presence is not a personality trait. It's a practice.
You can't change your backstory, but you can harness it to better understand when to slow down, pay attention, be kind to yourself, and let go of self-blame.
The most powerful person in the room is usually the one who speaks least and most deliberately.
It is not the critic who counts — not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again... who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
