and that is not singing! (Apologies to Oscar Wilde...)

There are time when I ask myself before a performance, "Why do you put yourself through this?" Then I answer myself, "Because, Snides, this is what you wanted to do with your life, remember?"

Singing is work. That's why we get paid to do it. I had a colleague some years ago who told me I had a "workmanlike" approach to singing. I took it as a compliment. I try not to "freak out" every time I sing. I volunteer to sing when I don't need to. Just over a week ago at the Masterworks Festival, I offered to sing on a Faculty Recital on a day off. Why? If there is a chance to sing, I will take it.

Many, many years ago now, when Bill Parcells was coach of the New York Giants, Lawrence Taylor (one of the great linebackers of all time) sustained a season-ending injury late in a game that the Giants had well in hand. When Parcells was questioned as to why his star defensive player was still in the game at that point, he said something like, "Look, Lawrence Taylor is a football player. As long as the game is still going on, that's where he belongs."

That's how I look at singing. If there is singing to be done, I want to do it. I would rather sing in church than sit in the pew. I'd rather be singing on a concert than listening to one. In a way, I am not a "fan". I would rather participate. That's what I do. That's who I am.

Jeffrey Snider, SINGER