A Third Path…

I’ve been working to shift the assumptions around what artistic training looks like. Outside of major hubs like NYC and LA, young singers and actors are usually given two options: private lessons or signing up to put on a show. Both are valuable. But they’re not the whole picture.

At TCE, I focus on adding a third path: group process-based training. Here is why I think this approach matters…

1. You learn the tools to become a coach for yourself and others.

When you’re asked to respond to someone else’s work, you have to:

• Clarify what you’re seeing.

• Identify what’s landing.

• Articulate what feels disconnected.

• Offer solutions.

The moment you can clearly explain why a moment feels emotionally vague, you deepen your own understanding. You learn the important lesson of how to give and receive feedback generously and with empathy. You stop performing on instinct alone and start performing with creative awareness.

2. You develop accountability.

In private lessons, it’s easy to hide. It’s just you and your teacher.

In a group environment:

• You show up prepared because others are showing up.

• You contribute because silence is noticeable.

• You commit because your growth affects the room.

• You use your colleagues as your coaches to hold you accountable to progress and showing up fully.

Accountability starts being about commitment to community and using that community to fuel your growth.

3. You build emotional stamina.

Watching someone else work through resistance gives you perspective. Being seen while you’re still figuring something out builds resilience.

In a showcase-based model, you present the finished product. In process-based work, you let people see the draft. That vulnerability builds emotional strength.

4. You learn how to define your own process and develop your personal creative discernment and aesthetic.

When you have to discuss your process out loud and with others, you have to get clear on:

• Why you made a choice.

• What you were experimenting with.

• What your so that statement is.

• Who your work is for and what it is for.

You develop language for your work and sharpen your eye and ear to attune to the kind of work you want to engage in and how you want to engage in it. You develop a sense of your personal creative aesthetic and knowledge of the kinds of rooms that allow you to thrive.

Private lessons matter.
Productions matter.

And I think group process-based training is the missing piece in the artistic training trifecta.

*Disclosure: I was feeling stuck in articulating my thoughts and ChatGPT helped me define them. Please forgive me, but some of the points were so well expressed that I struggled to veer from them and included them because they are worth repeating and so clearly articulated my sentiments. In retrospect, I should have just taken a walk to get my thoughts clear.