In any endeavour, how you start is crucial. 
But I would go even further and say it is not the start itself but the quality of the intention that precedes it.
For example, when I start to sing, the performance doesn’t begin with the first note. It begins with the intention, and it is the intention that inspires the breath. Not just a taking in of air, but a breath that has a definite meaning – why am I about to say what I am about to say?
I find myself more viscerally engaged with a performer (and I believe this applies in any field, but I feel it keenly in music) when they are completely in control of the silence between the notes. The gaps between the phrases. The thoughts between the words…opera singers especially are very adept at acting when they are singing, but sometimes they forget that they can also act with the breath. When a singer breathes with intent, with meaning, it connects the entire performance and raises it to a much higher level.
Inspiring public speakers understand this very well. An effective leader can sometimes fill the pauses in a speech with more power and meaning than the speech itself. When we have a conversation with a friend who is inspired by a brilliant idea, there are no gaps, just fizzing energy and excitment all over.
Play with this a little – focus on the way you breathe automatically between thoughts as you speak. Notice how it is inseparable from the heart of what you mean to say.
A start is just a beginning until it is breathed into life - with focus, passion, meaning and authority ( and even, conversely, humility).
{ 1 comment }
