UPDATES & ARTICLES
In 2026, the first of our singers should be performing at a professional level. As a part of the studio culture club, you have a rare and meaningful opportunity. It exists because I have agreed to work with you toward a specific end: cultivating excellence in voice and performance. Your presence here is not accidental; it reflects my belief that you are capable of that undertaking.
Whether or not you ultimately choose to pursue a professional career is beside the point. The path to excellence is the same for all singers. There is no shortcut for those with less ambitious goals, nor is there an alternative pathway that avoids the necessary work. To access a high standard of singing and performance, one must walk the same road—fully and honestly. You must desire to be your best, love singing enough to practice, if not endlessly, at least sufficiently to make the music your own (memorization), and seek to express yourself emotionally and authentically so.
Doing this is a holistic undertaking. It engages the mind, heart, body, and spirit, and asks you to do your best to become your best. It also requires learning things that, at least initially, are beyond your awareness. Not only do you have to improve what you have, but you absolutely must improve in ways that will represent an extension of yourself. You must explore unknown mental, emotional, physical and spiritual strengths, which makes the journey challenging.
Growth demands that you move past what you already know, past what feels comfortable, and into territory that asks more of you than you expected to give. Doing so isn't rocket science. You just keep singing and seeking more, recognizing that there is no top. There is no endpoint, only more to be discovered.
Advancement only occurs when you attempt the work for yourself—when you take responsibility for your own progress. Trying to move forward without assuming that responsibility makes the journey very long indeed, perhaps longer than the time I have left to help you. I can offer information, learning and performance opportunities, but none of those produce results unless you actively take responsibility for your own growth.
Culture plays an integral role in creating the conditions for performance excellence to become a daily reality. Several major pop careers were launched on Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club, most notably from the 1989 revival, which featured Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, and JC Chasez, alongside performers like Rhona Bennett—following in the tradition of earlier stars such as Annette Funicello.
Their success was not accidental; it was the product of a rare culture of excellence cultivated by The Mickey Mouse Club. The program treated young performers not as novelties but as serious artists, immersing them in daily discipline, professional standards, and constant peer comparison that demanded growth. Surrounded by equally driven talent, performers were pushed to refine craft, resilience, and work ethic long before fame arrived. This environment normalized excellence, making extraordinary ability feel expected rather than exceptional, and, in doing so, created conditions in which sustained artistic careers could emerge rather than fleeting childhood notoriety.
You can be part of a culture that moves toward sustained excellence. The expectations are there. They always have been, whether you recognized it or not. The question is, how will you respond to those expectations? How will you see yourself, your opportunity, and how will you choose to make yourself available when you show up?
What I encounter most often is never a failure of a singer's capacities but simply a failure of consistency. These arise for many reasons. They include: a foundational lack of self-belief; a limited awareness of the sustained energy required to move beyond long‑established habits and character traits; an incomplete understanding of how self-care values influence outcomes; and how personal values influence performance values.
Our sustained values do support who we are—but they can also limit us. They empower or sabotage, depending on how they are applied, or not applied. Values that make us good people, good employees, and solid citizens can be just as limiting as they are helpful for someone who wants to perform.
While people often claim to live in alignment with positive values, their actions also don't always reflect this. Getting enough rest, eating well, exercising, and doing all the things that add up to having the living resources required for excellence don't happen as consistently as people would have us believe. If you examine the effects of social media on people's lives, it is evident that this technology interferes with their lives—often more than people admit.
Lifelong learning and growth must be chosen. I can only hold the space for excellence to occur. Those who listen carefully, who recognize the opportunity for what it truly is, and who choose to engage fully will succeed. A few of you are already on that curve, which makes me very happy. It's a beautiful thing to perceive.
Not every member of the Mickey Mouse Club became a stellar talent. Who does and who does not excel under our culture club circumstances is not up to me at any level. I can only show up and work on myself — to be the best teacher I can be.
Awareness cannot be imposed, but it's also not hard to achieve. Actually, quite simple. Just accept the realities as they present themselves.
1. You are not a part of the Songkraft studio by mistake but by choice. Your choice and mine.
2. People in the studio to which you belong are evolving toward a professional level of excellence, and you can, too.
3. The group culture is essential in that it forms a culture club (see Culture Clubs: The Real Fate of Societies by Susan Minsos) that supports the tenets of excellence so that we (instructor and singers) can all participate in them.
4. How each and every one of us shows up plays a role in the extent to which the culture as a whole evolves. (Please note that this is why it may appear to you that the culture is segregated to some degree -- like interests, capacities, etc.)
5. Mutual admiration plays a HUGE role in the evolution of the culture. Jealousy and comparative competition have no place in an evolving excellence culture club. You have to show up and work to feel the love ... same way you might for a song. If you don't give it (the culture or the singing) what's needed, then you won't succeed in meeting your excellence goals.
There is no better way to undertake personal growth than in a singing studio. It works because singing requires all that one has to offer. It demands presence, courage, discipline, vulnerability, and honesty. To give your best, you must actively strive to improve.
The great gift of singing is that it is available to everyone, and unlike many significant human challenges, you'll survive the undertaking. No one has ever died from earnestly trying to sing and perform at their best. While people sometimes feel like they will die if they try to perform a song, I can't recall a single case where anything but self-doubt was killed on a performance stage. If you continue singing and performing, self-doubt eventually ends. It's a great place to be.
Please note that self-adjudication never ends. It's necessary, but not debilitating. Self-doubt and self-deprecation can be overcome and give way to constructive self-assessment, but it takes time. That, however, is time very, very well spent. In fact, there isn't a better way to spend time than working to get beyond self-doubt and self-deprecation.
I have learned that people must come to this work on their own terms. My task is to be here: holding space, offering guidance, and waiting for individuals to show up differently—to show up, each time, trying to do better than before. It is essential to understand that this is not a one-hour-a-week commitment supported by a few hours of practice. Excellence requires maintaining a growth mindset throughout your days and in every corner of your life.
To reap the benefits, you must allow yourself to fully become the singer. This is not a switch you turn on and off. The singer is a character: someone who maintains a growth‑oriented mindset, who understands that there is always more to learn, and who attends to the creative way as a way of being—at all times and in all things.
You must become, and remain, a singer. Though highly stylized, music is a fundamentally human expression—the voice giving shape to what cannot otherwise be spoken. It allows emotion to move forward through life in a way that is both honest and healing. In our modern Western culture that struggles to engage with feelings, singing provides a rare and vital pathway for emotional integration and release. When emotion is not given a voice, it does not disappear—it settles into the body and influences thoughts, behaviours, and relationships.
Singing offers a disciplined way to meet feelings without collapsing into them or pushing them away. It teaches presence under intensity, allowing emotional energy to move rather than stagnate. This is essential not only for expressive integrity but also for personal coherence: a singer who can carry emotion with steadiness and clarity develops greater resilience, honesty, and the capacity to engage with life directly.
Want to improve yourself? To sing, or not to sing? That IS the question. LOL
Your choice.
Enjoy,
JTM
