The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 066 Sondra Radvanovsky: Authenticity & Expression

Starting point is 00:00:01 You're listening to The Mind Over Finger Podcast, episode number 66. Welcome to The Mind Over Finger Podcast, discussions on mindful music making, efficient practice, and building a purposeful career. And now your host, Dr. Renée Paul Gaultier. hi everyone i hope you're doing great today i speak with the incredible soprano sandra radvanovsky and please allow me to use the term fangirling here because i'm such a huge fan of this gracious wonderful artist if you've ever heard her sing you know what i mean and if you having you must treat yourself and check out some of her recordings. Sandra is a globally celebrated

Starting point is 00:00:56 artist. The depth and exquisite color of her voice are matched by her dramatic acting ability and versatility across a remarkable range of repertoire. She's performed in every major opera house in the world, including the Royal Opera House, Teatro alla Scala, Opera House Zurich, the Metropolitan Opera, and numerous others. She's widely regarded as one of the premier Verdi sopranos alive today, as well as one of the premier interpreters of bel canto. Sandra trained at the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and was singled out as a soprano to watch. On the concert platform, she sung with orchestras such as the Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, the Verbier Festival Orchestra,

Starting point is 00:01:42 and the Bayerische Zeitoper. Sandra's recordings of Verdi's music have become critical hits and made several season best lists, including those of NPR and The New Yorker. She's also no stranger to the screen. She stars in Anoxo's DVD of Cyrano de Bergerac alongside Placido Domingo, and she can be heard in numerous broadcasts of the wildly popular Met Live HD series. In our conversation, Sandra covers a variety of topics, including how she prepares for a role, the importance of understanding how we learn, performing at our best, and the importance of kindness in our field. As you'll be able to tell, I had a great time talking with Sandra.

Starting point is 00:02:27 She has wonderful insight in store for you, and I know you will enjoy this episode. Let's go to the show. Sandra Radvanovsky, it's such a huge honor to have you on the show today. Thank you for inviting me, and I'm happy to be here. Sandra, you have sang on stages across the world. We see you in the major opera houses. I've just had the pleasure of hearing you sing many times in the Queen of Spade here at the Chicago Lyric Opera. For those of my listeners who don't know about you, I'd love to hear your story in your own words.

Starting point is 00:03:12 So I'd love to hear how you got to where you are today and how your artistic path has unfolded. Well, there's the long version and the short version. I'll try to condense it a little bit. But I was born in Chicago in the Berwyn-Cicero area. And we moved out quickly after that to St. Charles. and then my father was transferred to Indiana where I joined a church choir and my church choir director said probably in the first year to my parents this girl has a god-given talent and my mom said well what does that mean and she said well I think she should start taking voice lessons

Starting point is 00:03:52 so one day I came home from church choir and on the television was Placido Domingo singing Tosca live. And I pointed to the TV and I said to my mom at 11 years old, I want to do that. Fast forward to me being 24 years old, and I won the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions and was invited to be a member of their Young Artist Program, which is a three-year training program and one of the best in the United States, North America, if not the world. And with that comes the opportunity of performing on stage with some of the best artists in the world. So I was very fortunate and I was fast-tracked really to the world of the operatic world. And I made my Met debut at the age of 25 with Placido Domingo, funnily enough, the man who

Starting point is 00:04:44 was the reason why I became an opera singer in a way. And, you know, I haven't looked back since then. And that was 25 years now that I've been singing professionally, give or take a little bit. I made my operatic debut at 21, but in a little, little opera house in Richmond, Indiana called Whitewater Opera, which is no longer, but I still take it. It was my debut and I did Mimi and La Boheme. So, and now here we are, I'm 50 years old and singing all around the world. And you know, I touch wood every day and say how lucky I am that I have the best job in the world and I love what i do and i get paid to do it so i still love doing it yeah i'm sure you do the same thing it was so funny after one of the concert i met someone in the parking lot who was so excited

Starting point is 00:05:32 because he says that he follows you everywhere and he goes from concert to concert everywhere you are oh you know it's it's funny but you really start to get this cult following um of people and you see them show after show after show and now with social media and being so accessible on the internet I get messages from these people saying oh yeah I'm going to be at the show or I get messages from them saying this is my critique of your singing and it's amazing you know people they're just some of them are really brazen and say well you know you sang the first show better than the second show and this note was better than that note and hey you know what at least they're coming to the opera and i appreciate that and or some places where we can hear you sing

Starting point is 00:06:21 soon well i leave um tomorrow actually for rio de janeiro not so close uh for a concert there and a master class for the kids in the favelas which for me is teaching has really become my second passion now as well as singing but teaching children and adults as well how to sing and sing properly is my passion. And after that, I go directly to Berlin, the Deutsche Oper to sing three performances of Aida, and then a new production of Pikdom. So this is my Pikdom and Aida year, because after that, I go to Vienna to sing Aida. And then I'm recording a new CD after that. We'll be looking out for that one to come out for sure. Yeah, I'm excited. It's about time. Sandra, you're talking about all of these roles. And that's one thing that fascinates me

Starting point is 00:07:20 about vocalists is how you go about really preparing for a role, because obviously it's a little bit different of a process than for us instrumentalists. There's, you know, acting involved. And of course, you have to deal with with costumes and learning the language. But What does that process look like for you to prepare for a role? That's a really good question, because you're right. You, for people listening, you as an orchestra member have the music in front of you. You don't have to memorize it, but you're playing the whole night long where I'm singing on and off the whole night.

Starting point is 00:08:00 How do I prepare? It really depends from role to role. For instance, Pikdom, the opera that we just did in Chicago, is in Russian, which is not not a language that I speak, even though people look at my last name and assume that I speak Russian. I don't. So technically, I had to learn the Russian phonetically. So if someone were to say to me, Baba bibe bo, I had to learn how to say Baba bibe bo, exactly like a Russian person would say it and for a four hour almost a four hour long opera it was very difficult and I worked with three different Russian coaches just to get the Russian perfect because some people might not

Starting point is 00:08:47 know this but I am a bit of a perfectionist a bit of a type a personality and if I'm going to do something I want to do it 150 so it was really my mission to get this Russian down musically That said, this also was a different style of music for me to learn. So this opera took a little longer for me to get in my voice and in my body and the words in my mouth and into my brain. So I will say that this was a good six months of hard work, nonstop. In the last two months, for sure, it was eight hours a day, 10 hours a day, really working on this music.

Starting point is 00:09:31 And sometimes, for instance, if it's an Italian opera, because I speak Italian and I've done a lot of Italian music, it's very familiar to me. So I can learn an opera like that in going from opening the score to having it completely memorized in about two months time. So it really depends upon the role. Then there's also different levels of knowing a role. there's being able to hold the score in front of me and to be able to sing through it knowing all the notes but not having memorized the words and not having memorized all of the music and everybody learns it and memorizes differently and I learned very on in my career very early that when I put movement with the words when I'm walking when I'm if I work out if I go for a long walk. If I sit in my rocking chair here at home, I memorize much more quickly. And it's a

Starting point is 00:10:30 very weird, random thing. But it's funny, sometimes movement also with staging helps somebody remember a staging moment or the words in that moment. And so everybody is different for sure. And some people learn a lot quicker than I do. For instance, Christine Gerke, who is there doing the ring cycle right now in Chicago is probably one of the quickest learners that I've ever met in my life. I swear she can sing through something once and it's memorized and I hate her for that. But everybody, you know that, and that's part of my job as a singer was learning how I learned and how quickly or how slowly I learned. And as we grow older, it's funny, it gets quicker, but also the memory goes starts to go and now that I'm 50 it's funny I'm like wait I knew this opera

Starting point is 00:11:25 10 years ago why did I not remember it so it's it's an interesting process and and it changes you know from opera to opera it is indeed sounds very interesting and memorization is such a tricky thing for all musicians but I love hearing how thorough you are and another thing you mentioned that I love is I often tell students to get to know themselves and get to know how they learn and it really looks like you figured out what works best for you it really it's the the key I think to being not just a singer but any kind of musician you have to know also and very important for musicians when to get up and walk away from the music because you reach that point where you you're saturated and sometimes we as musicians have a tendency to push to push to push saying

Starting point is 00:12:26 oh well i don't have enough time i have to learn this i have to learn this but there's a point when it becomes detrimental to your learning it's it just it's not going in into the memory banks as I call it, you know, they're full. The databanks are full. You just have to step away. You have to walk away. And for me, taking a half an hour break even, and then coming back to it fresh and doing something completely different and random in that half an hour, like folding clothes or washing the dishes or going for a walk in the woods, because we live in the middle of the woods here in Toronto. And sometimes you just have to hit that reset button. And that is so key, I think, to all musicians is just realizing when when you can't push any more data information into your

Starting point is 00:13:15 brain another thing that you mentioned is how you immerse yourself in this preparation process do you oftentimes feel like the emotional aspect of a role or a character starts to influence you or takes a presence in your life very infrequently now when i was younger a lot i still can't sing the song to the moon in rusalka without crying because my father finding him dead when i was young i see him and get teary now. And singing the fourth act aria in Trovatore, D'amor sulla rirose, I still, every time I sing that, fight back tears. But I learned that I am, there's a great aria from Adriana Lecouvre called Io son l'umiliancella, and I'm just a humble servant,

Starting point is 00:14:20 is what she's saying. I'm a vessel for the music. And I learned very early on that if you get too emotionally close or attached to what you're singing, it's very good to get attached. But if you get overly attached, it affects your voice. It can affect your voice. And for me, it definitely affects my voice because I start crying. And when you're crying, you can't sing. And, you know, so you learn that there's a line in the sand that you can't cross emotionally. And I only learned that by crying my head off in the middle of a performance and going, wow, that's a problem because I'm done now. I can't sing anymore. And I learned that if I am feeling all of this emotion, oftentimes people in the audience will say, oh, you know, that was a really nice show.

Starting point is 00:15:23 And I'm saying to them, but whoa, I was just, I was emoting and I was feeling all of this. And they said, nope, didn't feel it. Whereas sometimes when I'm just reading the phone book and being cold and, and not thinking about the character so much, it flies out to the audience and they feel it. And I'm thinking, wow, okay, they're going to hate this because I was just not emoting or I wasn't emoting enough. And it's really, it's really conundrum because I want to feel it. You as a all of this storm and drawing, you know, this herch and schmerz and all these emotions. But when I feel that, oftentimes the audience doesn't. So it's, it's really, it's an interesting business what we do. I love this analogy of being the vessel. I think that's beautiful.

Starting point is 00:16:16 It is. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure you must feel the same way too. Like you said, emoting, usually for us as instrumentalists, what happens, well, Well, I'm sure it's the same for vocalists as well, is there's this desire, this very strong desire to communicate our emotions with the audience, which turns into physical tension. Yes. And that actually really inhibits the actual execution on the instrument. Worded perfectly. Yes. And it's interesting also as a singer, we have another aspect of standing on stage, which is very naked in a way. our emotions are raw we're there just begging for them to like us and sometimes that can also get in the way of our performance because we get this desire to please and this desire for them to

Starting point is 00:17:09 to want to like us so much that it overtakes our characterization and our vocalization as well And sometimes I have, if people could actually hear the subcontext that goes on in my head during an opera, it sometimes has nothing to do with the character at all. Sometimes it's, you know, Sondra, don't be stupid. Stop doing that, you know, or don't fall when you're jumping up on the bench. and you know it has nothing to do with the character but it in a way is my inner dialogue to tell me to basically loosen up be free and most importantly be in the moment yes that's very very important yeah and that's one that i learned later in life as opposed to earlier in life but being in the moment and really reacting to everything in the moment because we as opera singers, we know what's going to happen in the next moment, right? The audience members don't. And it's so hard not to telegraph. Okay. I have a, you know, I'm going to die now,

Starting point is 00:18:17 you know, or for instance, in this peak Don that I just did with you in Chicago, I kill myself in a very interesting way. And it was very hard for me not to telegraph that I have this plastic bag in my hand. And in two seconds, I'm going to kill myself with this over my head. it was very hard to stay in that moment of what am I going to do next? What am I going to do next? Yes. You know, Sandra, one question I have, and I hope that I can ask it in the way that makes sense. I'm really fascinated by the way technique works for a vocalist. And I was thinking about it this week and thinking about the fact that for you guys this visualization in terms of what you hear in your head must be so strong because for us I'll use the violin I play the violin

Starting point is 00:19:10 if I want to play in tune I mean there's some technical things I can do if my finger needs to land there and yes of course I can practice intonation but I can see my fingers and I can very easily control my fingers and there's an aspect of technique on an instrument that is very visual and of course we need to have a really strong image or idea of the sound that we want to produce but it's so different for you guys with the organ being a part of your body so So I'm really curious about how that works for a singer. How does a singer practice or work on the technical aspects? It's a really great question.

Starting point is 00:19:59 And you're right, because your instrument is tangible. You can touch your instrument. My instrument, unless I have some kind of machine, I can't touch my instrument. it's another thing that I learned in my my career was everybody is different in the way that they think about technique and if there was one way of singing we would all be perfect if there was one way of playing the violin we would all be perfect and I learned that some people some singers I should say this um learn by listening other singers learn and have a technique by feeling and I am a singer that because I get very fooled by acoustics of a theater um for instance the

Starting point is 00:20:52 the lyric opera is is a large dry theater acoustically for us as singers on the stage because it is such a long haul and you don't get a lot of reverb back which you can is very easy to rely on that sometimes and if you don't hear it the tendency is for us as singers to push the sound so I learned very early on I am a person that needs to feel it in the right place in my voice, wherever that sound is vibrating properly. And also a little bit in sound as well, because I know that when my high notes sound really shrill to my ear, it's proper and it's the correct technique. Because I am further away from my ears, my eustachian tubes, my eardrums, when I get it more in the front, it's further away, the sound is further away from where I hear, which is my ear,

Starting point is 00:21:52 And it's going out instead of me listening to it and going back. But everyone has a different way of figuring out technique. Some people use imagery as well, thinking about a tube of air, you know, that's constantly flowing. I personally don't use imagery. I like to think very technically. I like to think I need to lift the hard palate or the soft palate or my molars, and I need to engage my support and all of that. But it really is hard now that I'm teaching more to find a vocabulary to talk to singers and say, okay, if I tell them an imagery thing and that

Starting point is 00:22:41 doesn't work, then if I tell them a technical thing and that doesn't work, then I tell them, will listen to yourself and that doesn't work. It's very hard to find a way to kind of crack the nut for some people and get your idea from your brain into their brain. And I'm sure my teacher, my old teacher, Ruth Falcon, who is in New York, I think she was a saint trying to find a way to tell me, okay, no, not this, but how about this? And how about this? And how about that? And I tell you, she earned her first salary 20 times over trying to teach me how to sing and sing properly and with good technique. That's fascinating. And you know what it makes me think is I think all of us instrumentalists would really gain in sitting in a few voice lessons or maybe even taking some voice lessons.

Starting point is 00:23:38 Because oftentimes, a phenomenon I see and I've experienced too, is a teacher will show us how to do something. And because it's hand positioning, let's say, they can move our fingers, they can physically take a finger and show us how we should do it. And it's so easy for us to stop at that and not explore how that translates from the viewpoint of our own mechanics and how our fingers move and the shape of our hands. yeah but to it inspires me as a teacher as well to really find the words to guide students how to figure it out for themselves yes because i cannot experience their gestures and their movements i can see if a hand position looks correct and i can offer advice on how to move it but that might not be the right hand position for that specific person so i i think it would be so interesting for instrumentalists to sit in vocal lessons and hear the kind of guidance they could really um you know assimilate and and see how they can i don't know if that makes sense what i'm saying but they could really well you know it does for me because i i when i was at

Starting point is 00:24:50 tanglewood um their summer program yo-yo ma gave a master class and i learned so much from watching him teach and play another cello player because he plays that cello like a singer sings and he breathes with the line and that was one thing that I really took away from watching that is that instrumentalists have to breathe just like singers do and I was I was my mind was blown when he said that and then his other thing that he said was that also playing for an opera as an instrumentalist is different than playing with a orchestra symphonic orchestra and i asked him i said can you can you expound on that please and he said well we have to breathe with the singers if if you're doing opera as an instrumentalist whereas when you're playing with a symphony

Starting point is 00:25:51 orchestra you have to have the sound kind of be not homogenous but it all has to be interwoven in a way that operatic has another level to it and i was so taken by that and i thought well yeah because choral singing is different than singing solo too and and i you're right i think that instrumentalists would do would do themselves good coming to a voice lesson and vice versa with singers going to an instrumentalist lesson as well. Because one thing I've been repeated over and over in my life, and when I started to realize that it's true, and now I say it to my students all the time,

Starting point is 00:26:31 is how would you sing this phrase? And when you know how you would sing it, usually you're able to work around the specific technical aspects of the instrument and make it sound like that. So that would be really interesting to take some singing lessons for that aspect as well. I think everything that we do, every musician, instrumentalists, singers, everything, it's based on breath and breathing and keeping that breath flowing because the music always

Starting point is 00:27:03 has to be on the breath. And so it's the same for instrumentals as well as singers, I think. Yes, I love that. And, you know, speaking of that, how does it work for you with such a busy career? your how do you care for yourself and for your voice when you have to juggle traveling so many performances all of that oh well that you know that's that's a really tough one and it's it's one that's constantly changing because the world is changing so much right now uh with the coronavirus number one but number two traveling when i first started my career as i've said you

Starting point is 00:27:48 You know, I was 21 when I did my first opera and I'm 50 now. So it was well before 9-11 and before all these travel bans. Travel right now is so difficult and it's only getting worse and it's exhausting. And people expect you, for instance, I have to fly to Berlin and get directly off the plane and go into a rehearsal. and you know you're sitting on a plane for eight or ten hours and you're dry and you're sleep deprived and you're jet lagged and you know oftentimes they just don't care they're they think that well you're here you have to rehearse and it should be perfect and it's really just you

Starting point is 00:28:34 learn how much time you need as a singer as a human being you make sure you get as much sleep as you can. And I've had to say no to so many social events and things because my voice is my instrument, but it's also how I communicate. And if I'm emotionally exhausted, it shows up in my voice. If I'm going through a stressful situation with my family, such as I have been going through the last year, it shows up in your voice. If you're fatigued, if you're ill, it shows up in your voice. And people in the audience don't know that people have paid a hundred, $150, $300 for a ticket. And they expect every time that you open your mouth, they expect that you're going to be singing 100%. And they want that and they want their money's worth. And they don't know that

Starting point is 00:29:34 maybe I had a fight with my husband that day, or my mother is not feeling well, or, or, or, you know. So it's very interesting. And I have learned to kind of create two separate personalities. And I'm not bipolar. But I have my private Sandra, and then I have my more public persona, which I call Sandy Singer. And you really learn to differentiate between the two because Sondra is the one that takes care of Sandy Singer in a way. I have to make sure that I take care of myself, that I drink enough water, that I really don't talk too much the day of a show and make sure that I don't over critique myself and that I don't cram too much into my schedule because it's very easy to see oh I have a free day let's fill that with voice lessons oh

Starting point is 00:30:34 let's fill that with interviews and Sandra in the back of my brain is going stop no you need to stay at home in your pajamas and just rest that day and it's really hard to do that but you have to find and, and I'm sure you're going to agree with me, a balance. And both our careers are all about finding a balance, not just with singing, but with personal life too, and vacation and my husband and my family and finding that balance is like the, the, the Holy grail. It's the Holy grail the and I'm always searching for that holy grail of balance between personal life and singing life and I still I still don't think I found it so for all of the young young singers out there and young musicians it's it's a constant quest and search for that that balance and am I singing

Starting point is 00:31:32 too much am I singing not enough I don't know you know I really to that I I don't have the answer for everybody, but I know that I'm happy. Very well said. Thank you. You know, Sandra, a few weeks ago, you had a post on social media that really resonated with me. Thank you. Yay! You were talking about kindness in the workplace. And I just feel, as you said, times are changing. And I feel like there's a real wave in the classical music world where I think we're all yearning for, you know, solidarity and friendship. And I think people are tired of competition and, you know, tyrannical conductors and such things. And so I wanted to hear a little bit about this from you, if that's okay with you. Absolutely. I hope that that post

Starting point is 00:32:32 didn't sound like a rant, but I, I had stepped away from social media for, for quite a few months because I've been dealing with a lot of family issues with my mother and such. And I just couldn't read another unkind post or disingenuous post from another musician. And while I was dealing with an ill mother. And I just had to step away because I felt so overwhelmed by the negativity that we as musicians, as singers, show to each other. And I'm thinking, we're all in this together. We are all with the same goal in mind. And that is lifting the audience's spirits with our music with our musicianship with with what we do our gift that we as musicians have been given this ability to transform people's lives for those few hours that were in front of them

Starting point is 00:33:42 and my goal is to for that time that that I'm on stage to just lift them up and to carry them along and take all of their worries and problems away just for that time and for them to feel everything that we're feeling on stage. And I think the whole world needs kindness right now. We are in a society that is just so negative and so condescending and so critical of everyone right now that wouldn't it just be easier to approach everything with love and light and kindness than to knock each other down. Why not lift each other up? And it frees the soul. And I find that since I posted that, my singing has gotten better because I too will be the first to admit that some days I'm extremely negative. And it's easier to be negative in a way than it

Starting point is 00:34:45 is to be positive and to take that moment and to compliment someone as opposed to just criticize them and so yeah maybe it's my mission now on on social media and in the world to to just love everybody and shower them in kindness and I know it sounds utopian and blah blah but But it's my it's my passion and it's my thought and it doesn't have to be everyone else's. But that's what I'm my goal now is to do that. That's beautiful. I love that. Thank you. Sandra, how about a round of rapid fire questions?

Starting point is 00:35:27 OK, let's go. For the people who are dreaming of a career that resemble yours, can you tell us a little bit about what your life looks like? Suitcases. i live in suitcases that is my life how about a favorite book that you would recommend to our listeners i haven't read a book in ages because the moment i sit down to read a book i fall asleep it's the truth i'm so sorry it is my goal it is my goal when i go to rio and sit on the beach to read a book. So that's a, yeah, I've had a hard time with this now. So now I listen to audio books in the car. Oh, see, and I don't drive anywhere. So I can't listen to audio books

Starting point is 00:36:16 because I'm never home. I'm never home to drive. You know, we're gone on the road 11 months out of the year. So my, my three suitcases, I'm trying, I'm trying, I have a new, I have a new Dan Brown book, I think. So I'm just going for, you know, not heavy duty readings, just easy reading for right now. I'm really curious about this one. What's your favorite tool in the practice room and why? The mirror. And the mirror is my favorite tool because I think every singer should look at their vocal position and pulling tongue tension and jaw tension are the easiest fixes to a tight voice getting rid of that and looking in the mirror is the way to do that what skills do you think young musicians studying today should acquire in addition to learning to play their

Starting point is 00:37:11 instruments or mastering their voice languages language skills i think is very important because nowadays you have to sing in every language that and breath support but that's you know that's back to my technique I think all singers need to learn how to sing on the breath instead of tight yeah instrumentalists as well I think yes tight is just tight tight is not emotion tight is just tightness and a lot of singers think that oh I'm emoting but you're just tight i'm gonna start using that tension is just tension i'm sorry it's not emotion what doubts or resistance have you had to face on this journey so many uh my i think my biggest resistance was a polyp on one of my vocal cords that i had from when i was a child and that was

Starting point is 00:38:10 my biggest obstacle in my career and overcome after my surgery. And I'm a huge proponent of vocal surgery now, if needed. And that was 2002. And I've gone on to still have my career. Yay. Absolutely. What's a habit that you have that you think has contributed to your success? Persistence. Also, I'm not afraid of change. And I am a risk taker. So I learn the best by trying something on stage, and either succeeding greatly or failing miserably. But I learned from my failures. And I think that that has taught me a lot. That's really great. Thank you.

Starting point is 00:38:58 Is there a performance that has stayed with you throughout the years? And if so, why? Yes, I would say one that has haunted me was when I sang the one and only time that I sang Suat Angelica in Los Angeles, a new production with the director William Friedkin, who did the movie, directed the movie The Exorcist. And it was life altering on so many levels, the music, the character, the story. But working with William Friedkin changed the way that I am as a singer and as an actress on stage. And I am forever grateful for that experience. And I don't think I'll ever be able to top that. what is the best advice that was ever given to you that you would like to pass on to the listener oh boy i have so much advice best advice ever passed on uh probably from william friedkin and he taught me that less is more and that was not just with my acting but with my singing less is more oftentimes we pile on

Starting point is 00:40:23 this and that and this and that and he said to me Sandra just shut up and sing and you know he was right we we we over analyze it we it's not brain surgery you know we're just singing. We're opening our mouth and it's modified speaking. It's not more than that. And people overanalyze it. And you know, when it comes down to it, you have to just put your fingers on the strings and vibrate, right? And I have to put air through my vocal cords and make my vocal cords vibrate like your strings vibrate instead of doing all this other stuff. Just open your mouth and sing, you know? That's very good. Sandra, how about a quick actionable tip that listeners could implement today in their musical lives? Allow the music to move you. Oftentimes we as

Starting point is 00:41:21 musicians look at it as a job. And it's sometimes we forget the reason why we're doing what we're doing. And I think so many people, we can say that to anybody in their daily lives, you know, they have a job and there's a reason why they chose that profession. Don't forget that. Thank you for that. You're welcome. And we love what we do. And there's a reason why you and I are doing what we do. And that's because I truly love singing and I love music. Sandra, I'm such a huge fan. I just love your incredible artistry. You're such a gracious lady. and i am so honored that you took this time today to sit with me and chat i feel very self-conscious that i'm using your vocal cords so much this morning oh well i am i am actually

Starting point is 00:42:17 right now just relaxing before before leaving i had a when you talk about schedule we had a week planned into my schedule here of just downtime i call it pajama time um here in our house and just relaxing and walking in the woods. And it's me time. It's Sandra time. So you have not taken away from that at all. Thank you so much, Sandra. Thank you guys so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Sandra Radvinovsky. Let's keep the discussion going and let Sandra and I know what your favorite takeaways from today's episodes are. You can find us both on Facebook and Instagram.

Starting point is 00:43:09 She's Sandra Radvanovsky and I'm Mind Over Finger. Of course, I'll have all the information on how to contact us and more details about Sandra and her career in a link to her website and some of her YouTube videos in the show notes. And speaking of which, I'd like to invite you to visit mindoverfinger.com to find the show notes, more information about mindful and efficient practice and performance preparation and to sign up for my newsletter to be the first to know about special trainings on practicing that are coming up in a few weeks and to receive your free guide to a super productive practice

Starting point is 00:43:44 using the metronome. Finally, just a few words about the Mind Over Finger tribe. This is my private Facebook group where I pop in once a week to talk about mindful practice and answer your questions and where you can exchange with fellow musicians about practicing and music making. You can find The Tribe at facebook.com slash groups slash Mind Over Finger Tribe. So that's it for today. Again, thank you and à bientôt.

The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 066 Sondra Radvanovsky: Authenticity & Expression

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