I’ve been doing some thinking about the concept of flow. Yesterday and today, I spent a great deal of time working on tax prep, and at one point, I realized I had forgotten to eat.
That is something incomprehensible to me. I can function just fine on lack of sleep, but if I don’t get fed on a pretty regular basis, I’m not pleasant to be around.
But I was in the groove, in the zone, focused, all these words which basically means I was in a state of flow. This happens to me sometimes when I’m writing, when I’m practicing. in performance, and when I’m teaching.
What is flow? It’s
not being on autopilot
not being passive or relaxed and letting things come to you
in performance, being so in character that you literally forget where you are and who you are (there is one very embarrassing story about just that circumstance that I will save for another day)
a state of intense concentration
But it’s more than that. Achievement of flow involves an alignment of a variety of elements:
Concentration
Challenge
Skill
A sense of something beyond self (which is why I forget I’m hungry).
To find out more about the idea of flow, here’s a great site with a lot of links to other articles about flow: What is Flow?
Have you experienced flow? Tell me about your experience in the comments!
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As a result of my recent accident I’ve decided to postpone my February Group Voice Class for Adults till May.
If you’re interested in participating or in finding out more about voice lessons, feel free to contact me
(I’m feeling much better, but I’m still taking it easy for the time being.)
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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