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National Get Up Day

National Get Up Day #WeGetUp

Today is National Get Up Day, a holiday created in 2017 by U.S. Figure Skating to commemorate the end of January (National Skating Month).

For those of us with wobbly ankles who only remain upright on the ice with the assistance of well-placed friends on either side of us, how does this impact us? Other than getting out of bed in the morning (√), what does #wegetup mean to us?

The mission statement is outlined as follows:

The Get Up® campaign was launched by U.S. Figure Skating in 2017 to help skaters and non-skaters alike to recognize the grit, passion and perseverance needed to Get Up in the rink and in life every day.

Grit, you say? Passion? Perseverance? Seems like this is something I wrote about just a little while ago.

Whether you are getting up from a literal fall (on the ice, into the back of a chair after slipping on a rug, walking up your skirt in a performance, tripping over a crack in the sidewalk, having a tower of boxes fall in front of you as you are heading into a room, slipping on fruit cocktail sauce while working at American Serb Memorial Hall and smashing into a concrete floor – yes, all of these things have happened to me) or a figurative one (divorce, substance abuse, mental or physical illness, job loss, etc.), your only recourse is to GET UP. 

It will be difficult. You might be in pain at first. Metaphorically or literally.

And no one is saying you have to do it right away or all by yourself. Take baby steps. Find a support team – people who hold you up, whether it’s physically, psychologically, or emotionally.

If you had a bad audition or performance, you have to get back on the musical ice and practice.

  • Maybe you have to revisit the basics
  • Perhaps you need a coach or teacher – and if you already have one, examine what they’ve been telling you. Were you listening?
  • If they haven’t been telling you the right things OR if they have, but for some reason it wasn’t resonating with you, perhaps you need a new coach or teacher.
  • Perhaps you need to revise your repertoire – are you singing things that are a little above your technical ability right now? This isn’t to say you’ll never sing them – just not now.

Every day, you have to start anew. And some days that process is harder than others. As Jerome Kern said (via Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers):

#WeGetUp

National Get Up Day #WeGetUp

Skaters actually practice falling and learn how to do it without serious, long-lasting injury. Maybe that’s a skill that we should learn in other areas so that it won’t come as such a shock when it happens.

**************
I may not be able to help you stay upright on skates,
but I can support you in other ways. There are a couple of openings
in the studio right now. Why not find out how to work with me?

Published by Mezzoid Voice Studio

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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