Student Blog: Building Your Tool Box

Hi there! I am glad you opened this blog and I am so happy I get to write one more week sharing my experience as a Musical Theater College Student.

People often say to me that they have curiosity about how our classes are and they often ask me if my training really helps to become a "good performer". My answer to this is... First of all being a "Good Performer" is subjective, not everyone has the same concept to it. Nevertheless, the more tools you have in your tool box, the more prepared you are to be the best artist that you can be and the better you use your instrument, in this case, your body and voice.

I am so lucky to be in this process and to have guides that I admire that help me a lot in this craft. I have realized that the key is to practice an often pause, bring all the things that you have learnt during your classes, coaching sessions, lessons, etc. and start picking which ones are aligned with you in the moment. I mention this because as an artist and as in life, you are constantly receiving a bunch of information, tips and it is easy to forget.

When you are building your artist tool box you don't want to throw away anything because something might not resonate with you right now but in the future, it will be of help and that is what you will be carrying with you during your artist journey.
In my experience and opinion, a "good artist / good performer" to watch and work with, is not the one who is flawless, but the one that has a rich tool box, is conscious and humble of his/ her capacities and keeps with this hunger to learn and keep adding to the tool box.

Every tool box is different for every performer, for me, this is the magic of authenticity. Of course, the foundation needs to be strong and there are essential things that every performer has to have in common as a general, but you will never find a performer with the exact same training, technique or the same warm up exercises.

Personally, I feel so lucky to be in this endless journey growing, learning and adding things to my tool box. Every day that passes I feel stronger and more prepared to take advantage of my artistic skills.

Finally, I want to mention that observing my friends and sharing some of our tools that we have acquired throughout life is the most enriching thing ever.

As I mentioned in a couple blogs ago, comparing yourself won't help at all, but sharing and creating community being authentic and truthful will help to expand this tool box and vision.

Thank you for reading me and letting me share this with you. I hope you find this inspiring and motivates you to keep adding tools to your own tool box.

Claudia Quintero, a Mexican and passionate girl