In my own singing, the good outweighs the bad in general, and it helps to remember that. I’ve also found that 5 minutes of singing paradise keep me going for about two years of hard labor.

Every note you sing makes the universe a better place.

I think these sorts of things can happen despite all manner of preparation. There’s something about performing in public (different than running stuff in practice) that can cause you to, however momentarily, take your eye off the ball, lose a moment of focus, whatever… and then you don’t hit the note or chord, you physically don’t go to the place to accurately hit the pitch, whatever…

So Dana is, of course, correct that we should not be too self-critical. But that doesn’t mean we’re gonna stop doing it, right?

Another view is to look at things proportionately. In your post, you point out the good stuff… and even beyond the good stuff, I’m sure there was a lot of just fine singing. Now look at the flubs alongside that. They are small in number… and often, an audience doesn’t even realize that there’s a mistake! As performers who are used to “the show must go on”, we let those flubs fly right by, and almost always get right back on track… so the overall effect of the performance is negligibly affected by what we might think are huge gaffes. This kind of view often helps me not obsess too much over my mistakes.

I think you’ll find, upon reviewing your performance, that it was the momentary things that threw you. You’re a fab singer, you have great pipes, you *know* how to sing – I’m sure you were eminently prepared for your 2nd Friday at Upper Fourth. But – and especially for singers – the *atmosphere* of the performance can affect how it turns out. You’re in a bar, lots of distraction, stuff in the air that’s *not* there in your practice space… so occasionally there’s something that you can’t anticipate, that would adversely affect your ability to deliver any particular note.

It takes a very particular mindset to be able to perform like you’re in a practice room. Classical musicians tend to have this mindset – like my college piano prof, who had the uncanny ability to track every position of his 10 fingers at any moment during a performance (dang!). Your milieu is, by its very nature, affected by the audience or ambience. So… maybe you have to expect that “things” will happen (or insert your favored epithet for “things”), certainly to a far greater extent than classical performers.

Hope this helps!

Your knowledgeable fan -

Chris A.