Student Blog: Back to School

It is now August, so I am sure most of us are starting to prepare for going back to school. For me and other musical theatre majors, this auditioning and just getting back into that "go, go, go" mentality. Every semester is always a whirlwind of class, work, practice, and performing. A lot of times it can be hard to juggle these things.

However, I have a few tips and tricks that might prove useful.

First, when you are in a class outside of your major focus solely on that class. Our minds tend to wander to things that are most important to us such as "Which song should I work on next?" or "Did I do that dance move right?" Then by the time the class ends, you have no idea what the professor just talked about. Next time this happens try to notice small things around you that will help your mind focus on where you are.

Second, if you also have a job on campus it can be difficult to do that well while still doing well in your other classes. For that, the above technique also works but also doing any classwork or studying you can at that job. This previous semester while working I would sometimes either study a song or read up on a play which would help out tremendously and give me more time to practice. Finally, you get to practice and performance which is the most fun and rewarding but can also be the most stressful. For that again focus on little things around you which can help your mind focus on where you are. Something that I have found very useful is to find at least one good takeaway from your performance or practice. Whenever I feel dejected and think that I did a bad job I always try and think "Well, at least I learned a new song" or "Well, at least I didn't trip in my costume". because of this technique, there is never a bad practice session or performance because each one makes you better in some way.

Lastly, using a planner or calendar is a great tool because if we tell ourselves to remember something then there is always a possibility that we will get sidetracked and forget. To sum all of this up; always remember to focus on your environment and always think of something useful that you can take away from whatever it is that you are doing.

Now, let's go and crush this semester!

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