Talent could take you quite far, but the training will take you that much further

Often watching figure skating (I'm the biggest fan), I'm also listening to the precise words of the commentators.

The title which I gave to this blog is a quotation from one of the recent competitions I was watching on the TV.

One of the Russian skaters representing Canada was showing a great talent on ice, but at the same time showing the lack of training and lack of maturity, which defines a professional skater.

He was fresh from the junior competition, where he earned the title of the champion, but was still skating on a junior level, not defined and not strong enough with the execution of his jumps and even the overall skating.

It was clear that he had the raw talent, but it was not supported by a professional coaching, at least it seemed to be that he did not have enough of it.

The commentators expressed the hope that down the road, given his talent, he would be able to climb up on the top of the charts and perhaps, one day may be qualified for the Olympic Games, furthermore that they will be offered in Russia very soon.

Similarly, you could hear a lot of singers, who "supposedly even made it", but their singing, technically speaking, is very poor.

Yes, they possess a lot of talent and charisma, and most times the exceptional looks, but the lack of training causes not very adequate vocal performances and sometimes the loss of voice - or worst of all, the vocal damage.

Moreover, realizing that they might not get through the assigned performance, they lose it, not only vocally, but emotionally; they have anxiety attacks at night and they're "bringing up" right before coming out in the spotlight.

Once, during the interview of the well known pop star, the interviewer asked her how she feels before coming out on stage. She said, "I throw up every time before I go under the limelight."

The interviewer asked, "Why is that?"

The answer was, "I'm never sure if I can deliver."

The same pop star had a bleeding polyp removed and for five months, had not only the singing voice, but also was not allowed to speak.

She did then, and still does now, look quite traumatized while performing. 

She's singing looking and sounding very precocious.

The same commentator asked the artist, "Do you think if it will ever happen to you again?"

Without any hesitation, the answer was, "Of course. If I go on tour and play 200 concerts, it will happen for sure."

Those artists have everything, it seems at the glance, but they don't have solid vocal technique, which will protect them from the vocal and nervous breakdown.

Very unfortunately, we lost our pop icon, Whitney Houston.

It's not a secret that for the last while, she too experienced severe voice problems and even was booted out of her concerts.

How disheartening it might be for the singer who was born to sing and perform!

But that is the fact and evidently, nobody could help her.

If all these artists who recently experienced the voice disorders, which prevented them from continuing their once precious performing career, had adequate, solid and truly professional training, they would not succumb to any voice injuries and would continue to "serenade" us with their natural talents.

They would not be "dying" of fear before, during and after their performances, as they would be performing by design and not "playing it by ear".

In any sport and the arts, the winners are those who predominantly know the final outcome of their performance, who structure it "by the book" and thus, approach it with physical, emotional and in the case of the vocal performance, vocal strength.