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I stumbled on this Youtube channel which asks artists to record their songs with minimal arrangements, live in studio conditions, in one single first take. A lot of them are actually quite nervous before they start. Once the first keys are heard, and the first notes are sung, it all flows effortlessly. I love this concept because the results are very raw: the voice of the artist is heard without any arrangement or autotune, and the instrumentals are usually tamed. So the focus is very much on the voice itself. The camera is also centred on the face of the artist while performing. All the emotions are seen and heard “as is”. There is an inexplicable beauty in the authenticity that comes out of these recordings. As if the artist was walking on a thread, bare, vulnerable to the slightest gust of wind, knowing full well that all eyes are on them, betting their life on this one and only chance.
Come to think of it, this is like life. There is only one take for it, no rehearsal time granted. At a particular point in time, all actions are uniquely performed once, and once only. There is no redo, under the exact same circumstances. We are also changing from moment to moment. So even if we had a redo, we would not be the same person taking the redo. So we are indeed to live this life in one single and first take.
What does this mean ?
If you only have one chance at something, you surely would not want to waste it and make full use of the opportunity when it comes. Which means we should not be wasting our time on earth dabbling at living, we should live to the fullest, doing what our heart sets us to do, and not living half heartedly, or living a life that was not designed by us. Since you are given the mic, sing the song of your choosing.
This also means that there is no redo, you give it all you got in the moment. Perform to the best of your abilities. And if your abilities are not that great, and are given the chance to, go improve them. There is no rehearsal to life indeed, but for goals that are achieved overtime, there is an invaluable journey to be experienced in order to acquire the necessary skills to perform. All the singers that showed up at the First Take certainly had vocal training previously, to achieve this level of mastery.
You are also going to be scared and nervous, just like the singers ahead of the recording. The stakes are certainly high for them and their career, given the large audience of the channel. In comparison, for each individual, the stakes of living life should be even higher, because it’s about self-actualisation, fulfilling our desires, mission and abilities, so that would warrant maximum levels of anxiety. Yet, if we observe how the anxiety goes away as soon as they start singing, that would tell us that the moment we start living and taking action, the fear will disappear too. If we never do anything, never take the plunge by actually doing, we will forever live with the pre-show jitters and the fear of something that could go wrong.
May we all live life with as much soul and authenticity as those artists when they are performing.
This is indeed the first and only take we’ll have at it.
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