At the beginning of this year, I downloaded a SMART worksheet to kick my year off as far as goal-setting.
It’s almost November, and that’s as far as it got. I downloaded it. But while I didn’t actually fill out the form, I like to think that I do set SMART goals, whether they be long-term or just ones on my daily to-do list. (They’re just not on a worksheet.)
The idea behind SMART goals is that they follow certain criteria:
What are your goals as a singer or a performer? Short-term or long-term? What short-term goals do you have to set in order to accomplish your long-term goal?
For example, if your long-term goal is to sing on Broadway, your short-term goals should include working on your singing, dancing, acting, and knowing about musical theater style, both now and as it is evolved over time. How will you accomplish those goals?
If you want to perform at the Metropolitan Opera, you’re going to have to work on your singing, your acting, and your knowledge of music theory and history.
You can be specific and say, “I want to sing on Broadway!” and you can measure that by actually having a contract. It very well might be attainable, but it’s not realistic that it’s going to happen if you just say it and don’t do anything. What can you do now to get to that point?
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If you would like to start building the skills you need to attain your long- and short-term goals, why not sign up for a Vocal Discovery session?
Christine Thomas-O'Meally, a mezzo soprano and voice teacher currently based in the Baltimore-DC area, has performed everything from the motets of J.S. Bach to the melodies of Irving Berlin to the minimalism of Philip Glass.
As an opera singer and actress, she has appeared with companies such as Charm City Players, Spotlighters Theatre, Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Theater of Northern Virginia, Opera North, the Washington Savoyards, In Tandem Theatre, Windfall Theater, The Young Victorian Theater of Baltimore, and Skylight Opera Theatre. She created the role of The Woman in Red in Dominick Argento’s Dream of Valentino in its world premiere with the Washington Opera and Mary Pickersgill in O'er the Ramparts at its world premiere during the Bicentennial of Battle of Baltimore at the Community College of Baltimore County. Other roles include Mrs. Paroo in Music Man, Mother Abbess in Sound of Music, Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, both Hansel and the Witch in Hansel & Gretel, and many roles in Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. Her performance as the Housekeeper in Man of La Mancha was honored with a WATCH award nomination.
Ms. Thomas-O'Meally received an M.M. in vocal performance from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. She regularly attends master classes and workshops in both performance and vocal pedagogy, and is certified in all three Levels of Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method. Her students have performed on national and international tours of Broadway productions, at prestigious conservatories, and in regional theater throughout the country.
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