Stop Judging Yourself (vocal coach Sam Johnson)
‘Reaction’ videos are one of the most popular types of content on YouTube. The host watches something – a TV show, movie, YouTube video, performance – and gives their opinion about it.
I’m not a fan. Do we really need one more outlet to bash somebody else’s creative work?
Recently a singer reaction video popped up in my newsfeed. A 30-ish year-old voice coach by the name of Sam Johnson was reacting to another YouTube video, “Famous Singers Worst/Best Live Vocals.” In other words, he was watching a popular video that scathingly compared famous singers’ best and worst live performances, and he was giving his opinion on those performances.
Have you ever watched a video, read an article, or scrolled through a comments section precisely because you expected to be angry about it?
I clicked play.
To my absolute delight, Sam was wonderful. He praised the singers’ best performances, pausing the video to explain to us, the viewers, what they were doing well and how we might achieve similar results. During the singers’ “worst performances” he paused to video to express his own frustration at how they were being characterized:
Everybody has bad nights, he insisted. Everybody has colds. Everybody has days where it just isn’t working right. He explained in technical terms what was going wrong with those performances – as a learning experience for the viewer – but found himself continually saying, “This isn’t a big deal.”
What a relief.
The Whole is Greater Than the Sum
I subscribed to Sam’s channel and really enjoy his uploads. As an amateur singer I learn a lot about technique and how to improve my own, but even if you’re not a singer, it would be hard not to smile as his generally uplifting attitude.
There’s one particular video of his I’d like to share with you, and I would encourage you to spread it around as well, particularly to students.
“Vocal Analysis of Sara Bareilles Covering ‘Chandelier’.”
First, Sara Bareilees is a gift from the heavens. Second, this live, solo acoustic cover is haunting and beautiful.
About halfway through this incredibly difficult song she went through a run of notes that, as a semi-trained singer I immediately registered as just a little off-pitch. Before my brain even had a chance to react Sam had paused the video and was speaking directly to me:
“Is she perfect on every pitch? No. Does it matter? No. Stop judging yourself as much as you’re judging yourself. Every individual pitch is not important. What’s important is the entire song.” (link)
It hit me like a ton of bricks. The fact that she missed some notes here or there was of no consequence to the song in its entirety. What mattered was how she moved the audience with the song, and how we feel when it’s over.
Let that be a life lesson to us all. The individual notes of your life aren’t all equally important. You’ll make mistakes. You’ll screw up. You’ll say things you shouldn’t and have days or even weeks when you weren’t your best.
Don’t get too hung up on any one individual moment. What matters is your life, in its entirety. How do you make people feel? What impact do you have on others?
Thank you for this, Sam. Keep spreading your joy.
