Several years ago, videos of goats screaming like people hit the internet and became an obsession. People shared the videos of the goats just plain screaming, or cross-cut them into videos of people singing opera or missing a high note in “Let it go” in Times Square on New Year’s Eve (you know who you are, Adele Dazeem).
Those were simpler times.
These are a few of my favorite goat videos:
And relating to singing:
(Stick around till the end for the final 3 chords – it’s hilarious)
I recently read that, while making the movie Don’t Look Up, Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Gad kept calling Meryl Streep the GOAT. Meryl, being even older than I am, thought they were calling her an old goat, and took it with pretty good humor; they had to tell her that GOAT meant
GREATEST OF ALL TIME
But really, if they’d been calling her an actual goat, would it have been so bad? Think about the attributes of goats:
Curious and inquisitive
Mischievous
Independent
Agile
Will eat anything they can put in their mouths
Sheep, on the other hand, tend to be docile, stay in their flocks, are playful but cautious, aren’t as agile, and graze on whatever is on the ground in front of them.
The term “separating the sheep from the goats” refers to separating that which is superior from the inferior. It comes from the biblical reference in Matthew 25:31-33
All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left”
Consequently, we think sheep are more valued than goats. But as performers, do we really want to be sheep? (I’ve been to buffets provided for singers, and trust me, we’re more like goats.)
There is value in caution, in being calm and part of a group, but, in general, I believe that:
In a world full of sheep –
Be a goat!
New motto: Cleanliness is next to goatliness
*******
If you’re looking for a place where curiosity, mischievousness, independence and agility are welcomed – nay, encouraged – AND eating whatever you can fit in your mouth is A-OK as well – why not sign up for a complementary “Ask Me Anything” or a “Vocal Discovery” session today. Online or in-person (if vaccinated)
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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