525,600 minutes

Once upon a time I was in the High School drama club back at Juanita.  I had been a member since I started there, and it was now fall of my second year.  We were doing a variety show for our October production, a group of unrelated whatevers.  Darien and I had auditioned with a section of 'Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead', and I had tried to round up some gents to sing a showtune piece, but neither act made it through the first round.  I was assigned to help "run sound".  But the show already had someone to run sound.  The choir director, Mr. Whitbeck.  So he sat at the sound board and actually ran sound, and my partner Jenny and I divided up the rest of the workload: one of us would put the appropriate CD in the player, and the other one would push 'play'.
One of the acts was a foursome of students who were singing "Seasons of Love" from Rent.  They all had nice enough voices, but their performance didn't do much for me.  So I'm hanging about in the theater one rehearsal, and Mac, the drama director, turns to ME and says, "Jeremy, could you go with these guys to help work on their performance?"  Gasp-ola!  Well, okay, I'll try.  But I had never directed anything before.  We went out into the school hall, and they sang it for an audience of me, and I had nothing.  "Um... maybe you should walk slower when you're going from there to here."  That was the sum total of the constructive criticism I offered them.  I wasn't prepared; I was surprised by the moment and had no framework for the assistance I was to provide.  I was not asked to help in that capacity again for the rest of my time in High School.  So, Jeremy of many years ago, here is what you should have said:

"What is it that you are trying to accomplish?  If this is just a pretty song, then there's no reason to emote or walk around or sit down.  Those actions will have no meaning unless you know why you're doing them and they are coming from the heart of the music.  What is your specific part of the song about, to you?  Your lines, your harmony?  The audience doesn't need to know how they are supposed to feel, but rather go on a journey with you.  You need to feel it first, and take them there."

-J