53: Five Questions For Sasha Cooke
with Sasha Cooke
1. What can a young artist do to ensure a repeat engagement?
I have these things I share in master classes, which are called Sasha Spiels. They are: preparation, gratitude, gut instinct, and openness. So preparation is probably the biggest. I've just seen so many musicians shoot themselves in the foot in the rehearsal room by not showing up prepared. And with singers, there's just no excuse because we're a flesh instrument. You cannot cram things into your flesh. A violinist can practice 10 hours a day. We can't practice 10 hours a day. So preparation - and how we pace our lives, our calendars, our families - is crucial.
I sometimes say it's like Thanksgiving dinner. You have one oven and 13 dishes need to all go in. So which ones need a week? Which ones need a year? Which ones need a month? Only you can know. So, like every season, I'm sort of looking down the pike, thinking, that Vivaldi with Chicago Symphony, how much time does it need? Oh, that new piece... I mean, I'm doing it this day. I do it all the time. Preparation is just big.
When I get off the plane-- You know, in the symphonic world, get off the plane, car picks you up, go to your hotel, go to rehearsal, you have maybe one day of rehearsal, next day’s the performance. No time to be learning anything or counting. You just want to be ready. You want to be in the space of the hall. You want to be in atmosphere mode, emotional mode, listening mode - not counting, not thinking.
On that same note, when I was at Juilliard, Renee Fleming's publicist came to visit and said that Renee did a thank you note after every gig. So I thought, I can do that. I think, you know, after every job. So I did. Now, skip ahead to I'm in France. I'm singing an opera with a gentleman, which was who is transitioning to admin. And Dallas Opera came up and I said, Oh, yeah, I've-- I've sung at Dallas Opera. And he said, I know. I've seen your file. You write thank you notes. I was like, I have a file? I think, I mean, to answer it in a short way,
How do we up our chances of being rehired? We show up prepared. We're easy to deal with. We're very kind. And then we're grateful at the end of it. So time is money. Less is more. Don't say everything that comes to mind. Be respectful of everyone’s space and time. And then say thank you.
And if you've done those things, you know... you don't need to lose 20 pounds. You don't need to change the way you look or the way you sound. They've hired you. But you need to do all the things possible to up your chances for being re-invited. So preparation and gratitude kind of fall into that category.
I think I get rehired because of gratitude. Because I think when I'm on stage, I'm actually channeling gratitude - because I am grateful - but I'm remembering that, I'm putting it as an important priority instead of thinking about my dress or my sound or, you know, who's taking a photo, you know, is-- I'm just sort of like, Wow, this piece was written and all these people are here to marvel at this human creation. And we're sharing in this experience together. And then, of course, the practicality of thanking people, you know?
When you arrive at a job, there are so many people that have been working behind the scenes. They booked your hotel, they made the poster, they organize the schedule, they put water in your room. So much goes on behind the scenes, all you have to do is say, Thank you. But if you don't, you didn't. Wouldn't you want to do that box, you know? So I also think that it's an energetic thing because people pick up on it.
It's an antidote to stress. If you're about to go on stage, you're like, What’s my—what’s my first word? What’s my first word? What’s my first word? Channel gratitude and it will shift your energy. It’ll shift your physicality. You'll just sit back a little bit into your heels and you'll feel a little bit more comfortable. We have to play these mind tricks, right, because we're on stage, which many people would just abhor, it’s like that life, that fight or flight feeling (is a fight or flight?) that fight or flight feeling of, Oh! My gosh, I almost-- I mean, it's scary! Our hearts are tested, our systems are tested, our nervous systems are tested. So how do we kind of find ease and calm and meditation and stillness? Gratitude is one of those things. Gratitude is a really great quick fix.
2. How do you support a network to support a growing career?
Well, this kind of carries into the gratitude piece. You know, sometimes singers will ask me, you know, how do I get more jobs? Or... And I said, Well, have you reached out to your network? What about that director that you worked with in college? What about that conductor you crossed paths with at a summer festival? Write them an email. Say, I was just working on this Handel aria, and I thought of you. Thank you for our work together. Who knows what will come of that? But you're keeping your network alive. You are keeping those branches of connection, which we all have from people you've interacted with. Staying grateful and staying in touch. So I, I feel like a huge amount of my time is staying in touch, you know? Because possibilities are everywhere. I could run into someone on the street of New York and get a job from it. I could be at a concert in San Francisco-- You know, these things are always there. So it's just about staying present and staying on top of contact.
3. What does it mean to fully prepare?
Well, for me, I mean, I was a pianist first. So for me, preparation really is immersing myself in the harmonic world. Is the music then the poetry or text separate from that and the story and the drama. So there are all these different pieces which come together. And all that matters is that you've done them at some point so that when you arrive in the rehearsal room, you're present, you know?
I was singing at Lincoln Center and I went to the bathroom and there was a flood or something. So the bottom part of my dress was just wet. I could have freaked out. I could have been really shaken. Thank goodness I knew my music. Thank God I didn't have to worry about that. I could I could deal with the stress of that moment.
But if I have to add on top of that stress of the music, why would I do that? Then I you know, derail. So it's kind of like, I think about this notion of, What boxes can we check in advance? You will never regret preparing more than needed. You will never regret it.
In the opera room, you know, like a rehearsal space, it's so fun to play. So fun to play with intention and action and ideas. I'm not thinking about music. I'm thinking about drama. I'm thinking about fun. And then the audience is thinking about fun. If I'm counting, they're counting. If I'm thinking about my ah vowel, they're thinking about my ah vowel. So it's kind of about putting it into the computer in the right order, whatever your order may be, as long as you do it. I mean, I say this because I've had experiences cramming music, and it's just not fun. I mean-- Calling singers a flesh instrument maybe is not the best way of putting it, because all instruments involve flesh. But we make our sound by our flesh.
So if there is stress, if there's tension, it's in the sound. So preparation is the key to freedom. That's the key to comfort and ease on stage. I play this game where in the dress rehearsal, before a performance, I pretend the audience is there. So even here for the New York Philharmonic in the dress rehearsal, I'm playing the room already. It's just like, you know, they've, they've done studies on mice being put in a maze. Well, when those mice go to sleep, their brain is still running the maze. Well, if we're in a rehearsal room and we can play the audience already, whether they're in there or not, our brain is even more ready for the audience the next day. We've already been in the space. We've already celebrated the music, and the emotion makes it all the more easy to access, you know?
4. What career lesson do you wish you understood when you were just beginning to perform professionally?
I think the lesson that I wish I had sooner was not to trust everyone, because I think when I came into this industry, I was very trusting and I was a friend to anybody and I shared anything with anyone. And soon enough various things happened that were hurtful. And I wish I had just been a little bit more careful about the information I shared. You know, people can use it against you. And in my case, they did. And I-- That's the one lesson I wish and I would share with young singers or instrumentalists is be aware of what power you're giving to others and be selective about your committee, your crew, the people you trust, not everybody and doesn't need to be everybody. You just need to know who they are.
5. What role can cultivating special projects play in a career?
Well, I love this question because I think we're in a new age of artists just taking the bull by the horns and doing it themselves. I think years past you'd wait for the phone to ring. You'd wait for your manager to say, Oh, you got this offer. Now It's like, Well, let me just make it happen, you know? And I think cultivating special projects is a huge part of that. During the pandemic, I created a project with 17 composers and it completely changed my life, not only because all of this wonderful art came flooding into my home, but because I learned a part of myself that what am I waiting for? Just go ask. Go make it happen.
I was on unemployment. I was scared about feeding my family. I was probably depressed and lyricist friend sent me a poem inspired by George Floyd, and we asked a composer to set it and something just sparked and I thought, Oh, I want to do more of this. Little by little, I had cultivated a special project, and I was just at the Grammys a couple of weeks ago for it. Did I imagine that that moment on unemployment would take me to the Grammys? No. So I think that's just a testament to, listen to what speaks to you.