Raw Emotion in Performance: How to Stop Holding Back
I was working on the final week of my Voice Liberation Method course today — the Integration — when I got so excited about one of the practice paragraphs that I had to stop and share it with you.
It’s not just a speaking exercise. It’s a mantra. Here it is:
The art of speaking freely demands three things: the breath to sustain, the truth to speak, and the faith to keep going. Today, I dedicate myself to this path — not because it’s easy, but because it’s mine. I feel the depth of this decision in my heart. I believe in the dream beneath the fear. These are the things that matter: clarity, courage, and the commitment to keep breathing through. This is the voice I was born to use. This is the path I was born to walk. This is the life I was born to live. And I will not be silenced. Not anymore. Not ever again.
I want you to read that out loud. Right now. Feel it in your body.
The Timid Performer
Right after working on the course, I taught one of my beloved piano students — a brilliant composer I’ve been teaching for about nine years. She wrote this beautiful, emotional piece. And she played it in a very... mechanical way.
I could feel what she wanted to express. But she was holding back.
And I realized: I do too.
There was a time when I didn’t. As a teenager, I was an unfiltered performer. I would stomp the ground. Fill the whole room with sound. To me, it wasn’t a performance unless you were fully losing yourself in it.
I credit my Italian upbringing merged with my Southern dad in Northeast Florida. Italians are known for big emotions — think opera, think Sinatra. Southerners don’t hold back either — think gospel, think blues. I grew up believing that raw, uncensored expression was just... what you did.
Then life happened. Adulthood put the fear in me. And for about ten years, I couldn’t sing in front of people without freaking out.
I can do it now. But I’m still not all the way back to that raw, unfiltered performer I used to be. I’m working on it.
The Exercise
So how do you get the raw performer to come out?
I asked my student to think of her favorite crazy characters from film.
She didn’t skip a beat: Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. Kathy Bates in Misery.
I said, “You clearly know what I’m talking about.”
Those characters are unforgettable because they have no filter. No censor. No sense of holding back. Every raw emotion pours out of them.
That is what makes a great performer.
I’m not saying you need to be a psychopath. I’m saying you need to access that part of yourself that doesn’t care what anyone thinks. The part that feels so intensely that it HAS to come out.
Think of your favorite unhinged characters. What would it feel like to perform with even 10% of that energy?
The Trilogy
I’ve decided the Voice Liberation Method is going to be a trilogy.
Thinking about it this way frees me up. I kept wanting to put more and more into the first course, but you don’t want to overwhelm your students. So Part 1 will be epic on its own — and then there’s more to come.
Part 1: The Voice Liberation Method — Release what’s blocking your voice. Find your foundation.
Part 2: Journey Through the Shadows — Shadow work meets voice work. Learn to express the emotions you’ve been suppressing.
Part 3: The Return — The performer awakens. You’re ready to share your voice with the world.
First things first. Let’s get Part 1 done.
✍️ Journal Prompt: Think of your favorite “unhinged” characters from film, TV, or literature. What is it about them that captivates you? What would it feel like to bring even a fraction of that raw, unfiltered energy into your own expression?
🎤 Want to go deeper? I work with people 1:1 on releasing the blocks that keep their voice stuck. Book an intro session here.
đź’ś Join The Healthy Voice Community Live sessions, Courage Circles, and a space to practice finding your voice with others who get it. Learn more here.
🌑 Singing Through the Shadows A memoir series combining essays and songs. Stories I’ve never told. Sounds I’ve never shared. Watch and Read.
📓 Unsilenced: A Year of Journaling Back to Your Voice Journaling helped me find words for things I couldn’t say. It unsilenced me. 52 weeks of prompts. Get it here — $22.
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Learn about The Voice Liberation Method HERE.
