Reflections on Shakespeare – A Science That Could Revolutionise Life
“O, the difference of man and man” “I do not much dislike the matter, But the manner of his speech” Anthony and Cleopatra. Act 11.Sc11
Almost all of us are like chameleons in that we subtly take our colour from our surroundings. But we also take it in more decided manner from other people and we react accordingly, just as they do to us.
With one person we feel, perhaps, an immediate affinity oft-times even before they speak. But let another come and for no apparent reason, deep within us we feel a sudden, inexplicable animosity, bordering on actual hostility. With one person we are relaxed and feel free to speak from the heart. We ring in sympathetic vibration and by some strange and wonderful alchemy they bring out the very best in us. Yet with another, we close up and grow watchful and defensive in their presence and become like Macbeth: “cabin’d, cribb’d and confined, bound in to saucy doubts and fears.”
And how would those two people later describe us to their friends. The one would surely say: “What a charming, friendly person – so open and warm”. While the other?
“I have seldom met such a rude, arrogant and unpleasant person!”
Two totally different perspectives – both right – both wrong, and both partial one way or the other. Truly, as the proverb has it: “A landscape artist does not see the same tree as a carpenter”.
But yet it really goes much deeper than this, and carries more far-reaching implications than mere differences of taste and of likes and dislikes. For suppose, as is very likely, the two people we have spoken of are writers or artists, judges or school teachers, politicians or film stars.
What then?
The amazing and devastating truth is that we can learn nothing, teach nothing, and do nothing when we are in the presence of someone for whom we feel an instinctive aversion or whose fundamental personality and outlook; whose basic way of thinking and feeling is not in complete harmony with our own.
Our genius is rebuked as Anthony’s was said to be by Caesar Augustus. Even Jesus “could there do no mighty work because of their unbelief”: a truly amazing remark.
And it just these very same atavistic and irrational responses that explain all the apparent inexplicables of everyday life; why, for example, x, though unworthy, gets promotion, while hard-working and reliable y plods along unrewarded and unrecognised; why a certain child in a maths class who is labelled an irredeemable dunce, will, for no apparent reason, suddenly blossom and top the class merely (and seemingly coincidentally!) because of a change of teachers – from an unsympathetic to a sympathetic one.
We love certain books, certain artists and composers, while others we cannot stand. And from those we dislike we will learn nothing – they have nothing to teach us be they ever so wise, sacred or erudite for “I do not much dislike the matter but the manner of his speech”. They are books written in tongues that we do not understand, and something mysteriously blocks the channels through which knowledge and inspiration normally flows.
For deny it as strongly as we will, the truth is that however rational and objective our judgements appear to be on the surface, the actual content of them has already been fashioned deep-down inside ourselves long before. Something within us has already whispered: “I don’t like him/her” or the contrary. It’s always a case of “Your cow may graze in my field – yours mustn’t even look over the hedge” – or as Shakespeare put it: “I have no other but a woman’s reason: I think him so because I think him so”. But it’s not only women who think so. We all do.
Was not this same fundamental truth exposed by Aesop centuries ago:
“Last year you insulted me” said the wolf. “It couldn’t have been me, Mr Wolf. I wasn’t even born then” pleaded the little lamb. “Well, you drink from my stream and make the water muddy”. “Please, Mr Wolf, I still drink only my mother’s milk”. Mr Wolf is irritated and angry, but at least he tells the truth in the end. “You can say what you like: I’m going to eat you anyway”. That’s Realpolotik in action.
Fundamentally, all the affairs of this world, from the smallest to the largest, be they parochial or national, are decided in such manner. Justice, reason and tolerance may all strenuously claim they reign, but dig deep and long enough and one eventually discovers that the power that really moves us is nothing other than our hidden likes and dislikes. As the Romans used to say: “De gustibus non est disputandum” – there is no arguing about likes and dislikes.
It is a wonder, is it not, that the study of these basic reactions and interactions – these compatibles and incompatibles – has not been raised to the level of THE science supreme, for seen in all its manifold ramifications, therein lies the key to the whole gamut of mans’ puzzling and apparently inexplicable dealings with man.
“I do not like thee, Dr Fell, The reason why I cannot tell, But this I know and know full well, I do not like thee Dr Fell”.
However qualified for the post, I’m afraid Dr Fell is very unlikely to get it. “For some much watch, while some must sleep, so runs the world away.”
How to Improve Your Singing Abilities
Almost everyone loves to sing, but if you are serious about taking it up as a professional career, you will have to improve your vocals in order to find success in the path you have chosen. Some people opt for vocal lessons to improve their sound quality and range just because they would like to sing for fun and want to be good at it. Some people are blessed with natural talent; some are just passionate about it, whichever category you fall in, read on below for a few tips on how to improve your vocal voice for your benefit.
• Find a coach who is of reputable fame and can teach you the right techniques of vocal singing. In order to further your passion or talent for singing, finding a musical instructor is the most important step in vocal training.
• Exercise your breathing and posturing regularly in order to strengthen your lungs and diaphragm to help you sing flawlessly.
• Warm up and cool down your throat and vocal chords so that you don’t strain them or damage it permanently. These exercises not only strengthen your muscles but also keep them healthy fit.
• Buy a microphone and practice singing on it as singing with a microphone and without one is very different, since you usually have to sing with a microphone, practice your vowels and high notes on it, so that when you actually perform for an audience, you don’t screech into it.
• Practice singing a song with the original artist singing along so that you can develop your pitch and perfect your notes.
• The more you will practice, the better you will get at it. But remember to rest as much otherwise there is a danger of straining your vocal chords.
• Practice speech level singing, this is singing in the normal voice you speak in, this will help in building your notes and pitch gradually so that when it’s time to hit the higher notes you don’t go into falsetto or start screaming and shrieking.
• Try to practice with good vocal techniques so that your voice doesn’t break or strain your throat. Good vocal techniques don’t close your throat and help keep the air in your lungs while hitting higher notes.
• If you can’t afford to take lessons from a private tutor, try to get lessons online of through CDs, they are equally as effective.
• If you are in a habit of singing with bad vocal techniques, you will need to get rid of it by exercising using the right muscles and technique. The most effective way is to first listen to a song and then imitate it.