WEBVTT - Aim Higher 0:00:15.276 --> 0:00:27.876 Pushkin, take a deep breath and go. So you're creating 0:00:27.876 --> 0:00:33.196 those little accents from down here. Yes, that's it one 0:00:33.236 --> 0:00:37.276 more time. This is the last episode of the show, 0:00:37.356 --> 0:00:40.796 and I think I've got my takeaways. One takeaway is 0:00:40.796 --> 0:00:43.796 that good coaches can have huge effects, and so it 0:00:43.876 --> 0:00:46.476 really matters who gets them. Another is that the people 0:00:46.476 --> 0:00:49.196 who get the best coaches aren't always the people who 0:00:49.236 --> 0:00:58.756 need them the most. The people who most need a 0:00:58.796 --> 0:01:02.076 coach are people in a position of weakness. Of course, 0:01:02.196 --> 0:01:05.916 coaches can make the strong stronger, but the real magic 0:01:05.956 --> 0:01:10.316 happens when a coach attacks a seemingly hopeless situation like 0:01:10.476 --> 0:01:25.796 this one. That's it, you do. Oh. My strategy has 0:01:25.796 --> 0:01:28.916 always been to hide my weaknesses, but it's hard to 0:01:28.956 --> 0:01:42.716 hide this one. My voice this Yeah, I'm Michael Lewis, 0:01:42.876 --> 0:01:46.636 and this is against the rules. This season has been 0:01:46.716 --> 0:01:50.636 all about the rise of coaches. For this final episode, 0:01:51.396 --> 0:02:11.676 I'm hiring myself a coach. It happens every time I 0:02:11.716 --> 0:02:14.796 publish a book. I'll be three days into a speaking 0:02:14.836 --> 0:02:19.596 tour and poof, I won't be able to speak. Last season, 0:02:19.636 --> 0:02:21.596 the producers of this show tried to get me to 0:02:21.636 --> 0:02:25.076 record two episodes in a day, only to find that 0:02:25.156 --> 0:02:27.676 I was incapable of getting so many words out of 0:02:27.716 --> 0:02:31.116 my mouth without my voice going. It's kind of funny 0:02:31.196 --> 0:02:33.476 because my wife and children often say that I never 0:02:33.516 --> 0:02:35.636 shut up, and I sort of wish that it could 0:02:35.676 --> 0:02:38.756 be true. So take a deep, silent breath in and 0:02:38.916 --> 0:02:56.476 hiss one. Two, he'd been strong, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, twelve. 0:02:56.796 --> 0:03:00.956 All right for maybe a man in his nineties with emphzema. 0:03:00.996 --> 0:03:04.196 I would say that was pretty good, But I'm not 0:03:04.236 --> 0:03:06.716 going to allow that with you. You must build that up. 0:03:06.876 --> 0:03:12.596 That's his name, is Eric Vitro. We're in his house 0:03:12.636 --> 0:03:15.196 in La. If you were there, you could see that 0:03:15.356 --> 0:03:18.516 Eric isn't just any old voice coach. His walls are 0:03:18.556 --> 0:03:21.916 decorated with frame records that went platinum and thank you 0:03:21.996 --> 0:03:25.596 notes from the singers who recorded them. I'm standing in 0:03:25.636 --> 0:03:28.876 front of his piano. Behind it is a wall that's 0:03:28.916 --> 0:03:32.036 more like a mural. The entire thing is filled with 0:03:32.076 --> 0:03:35.276 snapshots of this coach, with the world's most famous people, 0:03:36.476 --> 0:03:39.076 hundreds of them, lots of beautiful people taking on the 0:03:39.236 --> 0:03:42.956 very spot where I'm standing. These are all SuDS. Yeah, 0:03:43.076 --> 0:03:45.956 Cuba good. Yeah. Do you know Cuba. I don't know anybody. 0:03:46.236 --> 0:03:49.596 I didn't know he sang anything. Yeah, he's done Chicago 0:03:49.676 --> 0:03:54.596 Summertide or London and on Broadway one of the nicest 0:03:54.956 --> 0:04:00.196 ariana Grande John Legend, pink Seawan Mendez. And they look 0:04:00.436 --> 0:04:04.156 not just happy to be here, they look grateful, especially 0:04:04.196 --> 0:04:06.036 the actors who came to him to learn how to 0:04:06.076 --> 0:04:09.636 sing in a Broadway musical or a Hollywood movie. Emma 0:04:09.676 --> 0:04:13.476 Stone and Ryan Gosling for La La land Renee Zellweger 0:04:13.636 --> 0:04:17.796 for Judy, Natalie Portman for Everything. The Wall is an 0:04:17.796 --> 0:04:21.276 Awards show speech waiting to happen? Well, Ferrell say, oh, 0:04:21.276 --> 0:04:24.836 wouldn't he sing it? I worked on the movie with 0:04:24.916 --> 0:04:27.436 the Stuck Brothers where he's saying at the end, all right, 0:04:27.516 --> 0:04:31.156 all culminates with him singing time to sing by. I 0:04:31.196 --> 0:04:32.996 can't believe I had the balls to call you up 0:04:33.036 --> 0:04:36.236 and ask you to do this. I really can't. On 0:04:36.356 --> 0:04:38.556 a whim, I'd call the agent who turns my books 0:04:38.556 --> 0:04:41.716 into movies and asked him, who's the coach for actors 0:04:41.716 --> 0:04:45.036 who need to fix their voices? Say actors who don't 0:04:45.076 --> 0:04:48.796 normally sing but suddenly need to the answer came back 0:04:48.836 --> 0:04:54.556 immediately Eric Vetro. Hollywood agents all know just how vulnerable 0:04:54.596 --> 0:05:05.236 their clients feel. I was petrified. I didn't like singing 0:05:05.276 --> 0:05:08.076 in front of people. I always loved singing, but privately 0:05:08.356 --> 0:05:10.796 in my call in the shower, my own husband had 0:05:10.836 --> 0:05:13.716 never heard me sing. Even stars need help to shine, 0:05:14.356 --> 0:05:16.796 the brightest have a sixth sense of where to find 0:05:16.836 --> 0:05:22.556 that help, like this actress Emily Blunt. Rob Marshall had 0:05:22.596 --> 0:05:25.116 asked me to audition for other musicals he was doing, 0:05:25.116 --> 0:05:26.876 and I'd always said no because I was just frozen 0:05:26.916 --> 0:05:30.236 with fear about the thought. He eventually called my agent. 0:05:30.316 --> 0:05:32.796 He said, she's coming in. I know she can sing, 0:05:33.796 --> 0:05:36.716 She's perfect for this role. I really want her. Tell 0:05:36.756 --> 0:05:38.556 her to come and I have to hear everyone sing. 0:05:38.716 --> 0:05:41.516 What was the song? It was Moments in the Woods. 0:05:41.596 --> 0:05:44.236 It was her big song. This is ridiculous. What am 0:05:44.236 --> 0:05:47.836 I doing here? I'm in the wrong story. Into the 0:05:47.876 --> 0:05:50.196 Woods was the hit Broadway show that was then being 0:05:50.236 --> 0:05:53.836 turned into a movie. Emily Blunt had no idea if 0:05:53.836 --> 0:05:56.196 she could do the role, but she had a phone 0:05:56.276 --> 0:05:59.836 number for Eric Vitro. Eric told her what he tells 0:05:59.876 --> 0:06:02.476 everybody who calls, come to my house for the first 0:06:02.556 --> 0:06:10.956 lesson and we'll see. I mean, Eric's how is always spotless, 0:06:11.036 --> 0:06:14.836 it always smells heavenly, and he's sort of this weird 0:06:15.556 --> 0:06:19.276 juxtaposition of someone who's incredibly sort of refined and elegant, 0:06:19.276 --> 0:06:21.836 and then he wears sort of like rocker jewelry, like 0:06:22.636 --> 0:06:25.716 real thick chains, and sort of he's sort of an 0:06:25.756 --> 0:06:28.316 interesting image when you look at him. He's usually got 0:06:28.356 --> 0:06:31.276 a fabulous shirt on. And I remember thinking how cool 0:06:31.396 --> 0:06:35.516 this guy was and how how effortless he was sort 0:06:35.516 --> 0:06:38.036 of be around. So I went into his kitchen walk 0:06:38.116 --> 0:06:41.476 me through the first like fifteen minutes. We went into 0:06:42.156 --> 0:06:45.996 his music room and he I think we did some 0:06:46.036 --> 0:06:49.356 really embarrassing scales or something something that I was just 0:06:49.436 --> 0:06:56.036 horrified by the idea of. And I felt embarrassed having 0:06:56.036 --> 0:06:58.716 to do all of these strange mouth exercises, like he 0:06:58.796 --> 0:07:02.876 makes you do things like ni like stuff like that. 0:07:02.916 --> 0:07:05.236 Though You're like, how horrifying if someone were to see 0:07:05.316 --> 0:07:07.396 me do this in your life? Had you had that 0:07:07.476 --> 0:07:12.116 experience before it? Anybody ever, any kind of nothing, nothing, 0:07:12.116 --> 0:07:14.716 Because I didn't go to drama school. I wasn't put 0:07:14.716 --> 0:07:17.036 through the ring or of doing sort of trust games 0:07:17.196 --> 0:07:20.436 or physical sort of warm ups or anything I've never 0:07:20.756 --> 0:07:24.356 done it and or anything like that. Where did the 0:07:24.516 --> 0:07:28.076 fear and the inhibition come from in you? I don't know. 0:07:28.796 --> 0:07:33.076 Is it English? Maybe? Maybe it's like if you aren't 0:07:33.116 --> 0:07:35.636 the very best, that you're supposed to just kind of hide. 0:07:36.476 --> 0:07:39.356 Even if you are the very best, you're supposed to hide. 0:07:39.876 --> 0:07:42.676 You're not supposed to enthuse about your own talents where 0:07:42.716 --> 0:07:46.676 I'm from, you know, or try too hard. No, you can't, 0:07:46.836 --> 0:07:50.236 you can't. So even having a voice coach, that's almost 0:07:50.276 --> 0:07:53.076 like trying too hard. Well, that's interesting to me. Was 0:07:53.116 --> 0:07:56.076 there a little part of you that resisted that in 0:07:56.156 --> 0:07:59.676 any way? No? I feel like I desperately needed it. 0:07:59.836 --> 0:08:03.956 I mean I really really needed it. Emily Blunt got 0:08:04.076 --> 0:08:07.076 Eric Vitro's coaching for the next few years, and it 0:08:07.196 --> 0:08:12.076 had magical effects. I mean she became Mary Poppins. Do 0:08:12.276 --> 0:08:19.316 you ever lie awake at night just between the dark 0:08:20.036 --> 0:08:26.316 and the morning light? Such? My problem is obviously not 0:08:26.356 --> 0:08:30.196 the same as Emily Blunt's. I have no hidden talents 0:08:30.356 --> 0:08:33.596 and no one suspects that I do. I don't secretly 0:08:33.636 --> 0:08:37.236 hope to audition for Rob Marshall's next musical. On the 0:08:37.316 --> 0:08:41.476 other hand, well, I'd better come clean here. My problem 0:08:41.516 --> 0:08:45.916 with my voice isn't practical, it's spiritual. A long time ago, 0:08:46.036 --> 0:08:48.356 I basically decided that the last thing I should ever 0:08:48.436 --> 0:08:51.876 do is sing. Standing in Eric Vitro's house, I thought 0:08:51.916 --> 0:08:53.916 how nice it might be to walk through the world 0:08:53.956 --> 0:08:57.396 without being unsettled by the national anthem or terrified by 0:08:57.476 --> 0:08:59.796 karaoke night. As you're gonna put the straw in the bottle, 0:08:59.876 --> 0:09:03.476 you're gonna hum into the straw, which means air is 0:09:03.516 --> 0:09:05.276 going to be coming through the straw and it's gonna 0:09:05.276 --> 0:09:16.836 blow bubbles right into the water. Yes, now go, Yeah, 0:09:16.876 --> 0:09:22.556 that's it. You want to send that Eric through the straw? Yeah, 0:09:22.636 --> 0:09:27.036 sometimes out it's funny you feel like around my belly body, Yeah, exactly, 0:09:27.076 --> 0:09:30.916 that's what I want. The first lesson at Eric's house 0:09:31.036 --> 0:09:33.036 was just so that he could see if there was 0:09:33.076 --> 0:09:37.036 any point in having a second lesson over the phone. 0:09:37.076 --> 0:09:40.076 He said, I could come over, but then it also 0:09:40.236 --> 0:09:43.556 might be a great waste of time. Now, by the way, 0:09:43.636 --> 0:09:47.156 I am the most positive, optimistic and supportive people you 0:09:47.196 --> 0:09:50.716 will ever meet. I really am supported with my students. However, 0:09:51.196 --> 0:09:54.396 I really think that whole phrase you can be anyone 0:09:54.436 --> 0:09:57.076 you want and achieve anything you put your mind to. 0:09:57.596 --> 0:10:01.796 I think it should be followed by within reason, because 0:10:02.436 --> 0:10:04.076 you know, that would be like me saying, all right, 0:10:04.076 --> 0:10:06.316 I'm gonna quit teaching and I'm going to become the 0:10:06.396 --> 0:10:11.276 greatest basketball player ever. Well, at my age, with my 0:10:11.516 --> 0:10:14.836 hype and my body type, I don't think that's gonna happen. 0:10:14.996 --> 0:10:17.556 I mean that would And if someone said you can 0:10:17.676 --> 0:10:19.956 do it, Eric, you can put it in and you 0:10:20.036 --> 0:10:23.116 put your mind to, they would be steering me down 0:10:23.156 --> 0:10:26.276 the wrong road, right, It would be ridiculous. I was 0:10:26.316 --> 0:10:30.156 waiting to hear how this story applied to me. Then 0:10:30.156 --> 0:10:33.756 he told me about the famous actor, the actor who's 0:10:33.796 --> 0:10:37.356 picture never quite made it onto the wall behind Eric's piano. 0:10:37.596 --> 0:10:39.396 He made a movie and made a big splash, and 0:10:39.556 --> 0:10:42.236 everybody wanted to hear him. You know, everyone's like, ooh, 0:10:42.436 --> 0:10:45.076 this guy's us. That's a good looking and a good actor. 0:10:45.396 --> 0:10:47.516 So he was getting a million offers, and one was 0:10:47.516 --> 0:10:49.796 a Broadway musical and they said, here's the deal, of 0:10:49.876 --> 0:10:54.356 the producers will pay for unlimited voice lessons. They just 0:10:54.476 --> 0:10:57.476 want you to prepare him for this. They trust you. 0:10:57.476 --> 0:10:59.996 You know, money's no object. How often do you really 0:11:00.036 --> 0:11:02.956 hear that? You know, money's not you. So I was like, oh, 0:11:03.076 --> 0:11:06.276 this sounds like a great gig. That was until he 0:11:06.356 --> 0:11:08.836 got here. And when I met him, he was actually 0:11:09.156 --> 0:11:11.196 very nice, So that was ices on the cape. Oh, 0:11:11.276 --> 0:11:13.396 a great guy and just seemed fun to talk to. 0:11:14.436 --> 0:11:20.276 Then he started singing, Oh my, I was like, ah, 0:11:20.276 --> 0:11:22.596 it was a terrible and it's worse than what I 0:11:22.636 --> 0:11:25.996 just did. As he's telling me this story, I'm wondering 0:11:27.116 --> 0:11:29.276 what else is he trying to tell me? But here's 0:11:29.276 --> 0:11:31.756 the thing. You know, what are the qualities that you 0:11:31.796 --> 0:11:34.476 really need to possess to, you know, to be a 0:11:34.556 --> 0:11:37.196 successful artist and to have a long career. One of 0:11:37.196 --> 0:11:39.636 them is some kind of self awareness of who you 0:11:39.676 --> 0:11:43.596 are and what you should be doing. I kept waiting 0:11:43.596 --> 0:11:46.916 for him to elaborate. He didn't, But at the end 0:11:46.916 --> 0:11:49.076 of the session, Eric looked at his schedule and asked 0:11:49.076 --> 0:11:52.076 when I wanted to do the next lesson and whether 0:11:52.116 --> 0:11:55.596 it should be at his house or over FaceTime. So 0:11:55.636 --> 0:11:58.316 I had myself a coach and a new way to 0:11:58.396 --> 0:12:17.916 deal with what was a complicated problem. Who you got trouble, 0:12:18.036 --> 0:12:20.396 my friend? Right here, I say, trouble right here in 0:12:20.476 --> 0:12:23.796 River City White, Sure, I'm a billiard glare certainly. The 0:12:23.916 --> 0:12:26.796 Music Man was a musical turned into a hit movie 0:12:26.836 --> 0:12:30.276 in nineteen sixty two. There are actually plans right now 0:12:30.276 --> 0:12:33.516 to revive it on Broadway, and you can see why. 0:12:33.636 --> 0:12:37.156 It's both from another era and totally of the moment. 0:12:37.756 --> 0:12:40.756 It tells the story of a con man played in 0:12:40.796 --> 0:12:44.436 the movie by Robert Preston. He rolls into a small 0:12:44.476 --> 0:12:47.556 town in Iowa and sells musical instruments to parents by 0:12:47.596 --> 0:12:50.996 persuading them that their kids are prodigies. He promises to 0:12:50.996 --> 0:12:54.076 teach them how to play, only he doesn't know a 0:12:54.276 --> 0:12:57.836 thing about music. The only person in town he doesn't 0:12:57.876 --> 0:13:02.116 fool is marrying the librarian played by Shirley Jones. She's 0:13:02.116 --> 0:13:05.036 a prim and proper beauty who teaches piano and sees 0:13:05.076 --> 0:13:08.756 through the Khan. But the music Man persuades her that 0:13:08.836 --> 0:13:11.596 he has this magical system. Oh, I now have a 0:13:11.636 --> 0:13:14.556 revolutionary new method called a think system. Well, you don't 0:13:14.596 --> 0:13:17.196 bother with notes. The music Man has found a new 0:13:17.196 --> 0:13:20.116 and better way to coach, not how to sing or 0:13:20.156 --> 0:13:23.316 how to play, how to get yourself into a state 0:13:23.316 --> 0:13:26.916 of mind in which all you want to do is 0:13:26.956 --> 0:13:31.436 sing and play. Oddly, this musical had exactly the opposite 0:13:31.436 --> 0:13:37.556 effect on me. A single song, did it? I tell 0:13:37.556 --> 0:13:39.436 you my phobia, I tell where it comes from it 0:13:39.916 --> 0:13:43.516 and it's that the latter Rose song. Oh, I couldn't 0:13:43.516 --> 0:13:45.636 figure out from your text what you were lucky about. 0:13:45.676 --> 0:13:49.076 So here's what happened. When I was in the third 0:13:49.156 --> 0:13:52.196 and fourth and fifth grade, I had the leads in 0:13:52.196 --> 0:13:55.236 the school players, and it was just I think it 0:13:55.276 --> 0:13:58.356 was more willingness to get on stage and sing, but 0:13:58.476 --> 0:14:01.756 I had them. And in fifth grade they cast me 0:14:01.916 --> 0:14:04.676 in the leading and without telling me that I was 0:14:04.676 --> 0:14:08.716 supposed to marry on stage a little girl, and there 0:14:08.796 --> 0:14:15.516 was this It was this awful sequence of events. Childhood 0:14:15.596 --> 0:14:19.196 is a fun house mirror. Everything in it gets distorted. 0:14:20.236 --> 0:14:22.756 I know a woman who became a meteorologist because a 0:14:22.796 --> 0:14:25.076 storm dropped a tree onto her house when she was 0:14:25.116 --> 0:14:28.516 ten years old. That tree kicked a little pebble off 0:14:28.516 --> 0:14:30.756 the top of a hill in her mind and started 0:14:30.796 --> 0:14:34.196 an avalanche. That kind of thing happened inside my head. 0:14:34.996 --> 0:14:38.076 Only my tree was a song called Light a Rose, 0:14:40.236 --> 0:14:49.516 Light a Rose, I'm home again, Rose, dude, get the side. 0:14:50.116 --> 0:14:52.636 Our fifth grade class was going to stage a version 0:14:52.676 --> 0:14:56.276 of the music Man. I thought I'd been duped into 0:14:56.316 --> 0:14:59.756 singing the musical's one love song to a girl in 0:14:59.796 --> 0:15:04.876 front of basically the entire world. But then these extremely 0:15:04.916 --> 0:15:08.756 ancient teachers told me who the girl was, the new girl. 0:15:10.876 --> 0:15:14.236 She had a birth effect, no fingers on her hands 0:15:14.316 --> 0:15:18.436 or toes on her feet. She was also wildly bizarrely aggressive, 0:15:18.916 --> 0:15:22.796 grabbing it boys, pitching fits. I knew I was meant 0:15:22.796 --> 0:15:26.676 to be kind to her, and I tried. A ten 0:15:26.756 --> 0:15:28.716 year old boy with a better character than mine would 0:15:28.756 --> 0:15:32.116 have just gone along with the whole thing, but I didn't. 0:15:33.116 --> 0:15:36.236 I told them that I wouldn't do the song, and 0:15:36.356 --> 0:15:39.356 instead of telling me that I couldn't sing, they wound 0:15:39.436 --> 0:15:41.916 up telling that poor little girl she couldn't have the 0:15:42.036 --> 0:15:46.836 role in the play. The teachers had exposed a weakness 0:15:46.836 --> 0:15:49.716 in my character. Of course, when I was ten, I 0:15:49.716 --> 0:15:51.756 wouldn't have put it that way, or anyway at all. 0:15:52.676 --> 0:15:56.516 I just suddenly had this ugly new feeling a combination 0:15:56.556 --> 0:16:02.036 of anger and self loathing. There and then I refused 0:16:02.316 --> 0:16:05.956 ever again to sing in school plays. I told the 0:16:06.036 --> 0:16:09.076 music teacher I would never again meet her after school. 0:16:10.076 --> 0:16:15.036 It's funny how phobias start. It was a short skip 0:16:15.156 --> 0:16:18.876 from refusing to sing to feeling that I shouldn't sing 0:16:19.956 --> 0:16:25.956 to almost being afraid to sing. I know it's a 0:16:26.076 --> 0:16:29.316 very strange story and it's got no happy ending to it, 0:16:29.836 --> 0:16:32.276 but I'm done telling that story to my new coach. 0:16:32.876 --> 0:16:37.676 He has an idea. So it's possible that my voice 0:16:37.716 --> 0:16:39.516 is so bad that you're not gonna be able to 0:16:39.516 --> 0:16:42.396 do anything at all. So let's see how it goes. 0:16:42.836 --> 0:16:48.476 I think conquering that song that gave you such anxiety 0:16:48.796 --> 0:16:52.596 would be fun, would be buzzing conquer, you know. So 0:16:52.836 --> 0:16:54.676 what I want to do is I want to have 0:16:54.836 --> 0:16:59.236 you sing the melody, but instead of on the words, 0:16:59.276 --> 0:17:16.516 you're going to do it on wah wah wah. And 0:17:16.636 --> 0:17:19.676 I have known a lot of singing teachers, and some 0:17:19.716 --> 0:17:22.836 of them are just playing nuts. I talked to a 0:17:22.836 --> 0:17:27.156 lot of Eric's students. This is Bette Midler, another famous 0:17:27.156 --> 0:17:29.076 singer on Eric's wall. And there are a lot of 0:17:29.116 --> 0:17:32.116 quacks too. So you have to be very careful because 0:17:32.156 --> 0:17:34.716 you could be led down the garden path by people 0:17:34.756 --> 0:17:37.556 who say that this is the way to do it. 0:17:38.036 --> 0:17:40.276 When Bett found Eric, she was in a funk. It 0:17:40.396 --> 0:17:42.676 was two thousand and eight. She was about to open 0:17:42.716 --> 0:17:45.956 a new show in Vegas, at Caesar's Palace. The dry 0:17:45.996 --> 0:17:48.276 air was getting to her. But it wasn't just the air. 0:17:49.036 --> 0:17:53.876 Something wasn't quite right. She felt more than usually vulnerable. 0:17:55.036 --> 0:17:58.916 Her backup singers were called the Harlettes. One of the 0:17:58.956 --> 0:18:02.236 Harletts told her about Eric, so Bett called him up. 0:18:02.596 --> 0:18:06.396 He started coming to Vegas to help me, and he 0:18:06.436 --> 0:18:08.876 would come once a week or so and we would 0:18:08.916 --> 0:18:10.796 warm up, or he would call me on the phone. 0:18:10.796 --> 0:18:12.316 We would warm up on the phone, and he gave 0:18:12.316 --> 0:18:13.996 me the taps to warm up with it. And I 0:18:14.076 --> 0:18:17.396 was religious about it. She didn't just get through the 0:18:17.436 --> 0:18:22.436 show's run. She went two years without missing a single performance. 0:18:22.956 --> 0:18:25.636 The staff at Caesar's Palace told her that that had 0:18:25.676 --> 0:18:28.596 never happened, so they invented an award to give her. 0:18:29.196 --> 0:18:32.796 It's still Bette Midler's favorite award, and it's sort of 0:18:32.916 --> 0:18:36.076 changed her ideas about the value of a coach. There 0:18:36.076 --> 0:18:39.796 are some songs when I can hear him in my head, 0:18:40.476 --> 0:18:43.356 I can hear his voice, I can hear certain things 0:18:43.356 --> 0:18:47.596 that he said in my head. And if I can 0:18:48.636 --> 0:18:52.996 keep myself from dismissing it, if I can believe it, 0:18:53.596 --> 0:18:56.356 I just thank God for him every day. First of all, 0:18:56.356 --> 0:18:59.756 He's a sunbeam in the world. And I do think 0:18:59.796 --> 0:19:03.756 that a coach has to be You can't have someone 0:19:03.756 --> 0:19:06.436 who's going to be abusive. Yeah, they have. They have 0:19:06.556 --> 0:19:09.596 to You have to know they care about you. Yes, yes, 0:19:09.996 --> 0:19:14.876 you have to trust them. And trust is absolutely imperative. 0:19:14.956 --> 0:19:18.116 If you don't trust your coach, you're not gonna make 0:19:18.116 --> 0:19:35.956 it ready to take deep breath. Okay, Nope, but that's okay. 0:19:36.116 --> 0:19:40.476 That's why you're here to improve. So yes, we're not listening. 0:19:40.996 --> 0:19:43.476 We're not listening to a friend who was standing in 0:19:43.476 --> 0:19:46.716 our guest copie and he heard me practicing. He I 0:19:46.836 --> 0:19:49.236 came a piece that I thought that was the garbage truck. 0:19:49.556 --> 0:19:53.556 No he didn't. It wasn't just the odd house guest. 0:19:54.116 --> 0:19:57.436 It was the Amazon delivery lady, the guys on the 0:19:57.476 --> 0:20:02.316 recycling truck, the neighbors. Anyone who came within about thirty 0:20:02.396 --> 0:20:06.676 yards of me singing assumed a worried expression. One day, 0:20:06.716 --> 0:20:08.676 I looked at my office window to see a deer 0:20:09.196 --> 0:20:13.476 staring back at me with a look of concern. Then 0:20:13.516 --> 0:20:17.836 there's my children. In happy families, children don't want their 0:20:17.836 --> 0:20:20.756 parents to change. They really don't want to see them 0:20:20.796 --> 0:20:24.276 trying to change. One day, my thirteen year old son 0:20:24.356 --> 0:20:27.676 Walker wandered in with his skateboard under his arm. He 0:20:27.796 --> 0:20:31.076 grabbed a tape recorder and supplied a running commentary just 0:20:31.156 --> 0:20:33.956 out of my earshot, and then I just walked down 0:20:34.036 --> 0:20:48.916 unless my dad going, and he's just run. Okay, it's 0:20:48.916 --> 0:20:54.716 going to be a next Michael Jackson. Somebody wants to 0:20:54.716 --> 0:20:59.956 steal kids. It's hard at the same time to be 0:21:00.036 --> 0:21:03.036 both a comic character in the minds of everyone around 0:21:03.116 --> 0:21:07.716 you and also a slayer of childhood demons. But something 0:21:07.756 --> 0:21:09.996 about this coach made me want to keep on going, 0:21:10.436 --> 0:21:12.956 just to see where he might lead. So you figure 0:21:12.956 --> 0:21:15.316 out what they have, You expanded the best, the best 0:21:15.316 --> 0:21:18.436 you can try to work, and then you worked all 0:21:18.436 --> 0:21:21.836 about funny out who you are. Isn't that life in general? 0:21:21.956 --> 0:21:24.796 But it's it's really true. But it's and I think 0:21:24.796 --> 0:21:27.956 it's the key to life, you know, and finding, you know, 0:21:27.996 --> 0:21:30.436 that combination of what you do best and what you 0:21:30.516 --> 0:21:32.996 love the most, right, what you enjoy the most, because 0:21:33.036 --> 0:21:34.876 that's what you're going to want to practice right. If 0:21:34.916 --> 0:21:37.036 you're doing a style of music that you don't like, 0:21:37.436 --> 0:21:39.516 you're not going to want to practice it right. So 0:21:39.556 --> 0:21:42.596 it becomes meaningless, like like they'll tell me, oh, so 0:21:42.716 --> 0:21:44.316 and so tried to get me to blank blink, Like 0:21:44.676 --> 0:21:46.636 I go, that's not what you want to do. Then 0:21:46.996 --> 0:21:49.756 you're you're really trying to fit up a square pain 0:21:49.836 --> 0:21:52.876 around the whole. Right, you've got to have some kind 0:21:52.916 --> 0:21:57.196 of love or passion for it, right has to. This 0:21:57.476 --> 0:22:00.596 entire season has been mainly about the effects that coaches have. 0:22:01.476 --> 0:22:03.996 We haven't talked much about why they do what they do. 0:22:04.996 --> 0:22:07.476 There's lots of reasons someone might decide their passion is 0:22:07.516 --> 0:22:11.316 to sing, but passion for helping others learn to sing. 0:22:11.636 --> 0:22:16.876 It's hard to explain sometimes, but you know, you feel 0:22:16.916 --> 0:22:20.636 like you are getting as much as you are giving, 0:22:20.796 --> 0:22:24.076 like to see the improvement, to see people get excited. 0:22:24.156 --> 0:22:27.756 All of that it comes back at you like a rush, 0:22:27.796 --> 0:22:32.076 like a rush of adrenaline. Really is what it is. 0:22:32.316 --> 0:22:34.716 Or to see someone complimented, or if you read a 0:22:34.716 --> 0:22:38.076 good review. I would never say, oh, I take credit 0:22:38.156 --> 0:22:40.716 for that. I don't feel that, but I know I 0:22:40.756 --> 0:22:42.556 had something to do with it. I was a part 0:22:42.596 --> 0:22:45.196 of it, and that just and it makes me so 0:22:45.276 --> 0:22:49.556 happy for that person. One day I asked Eric how 0:22:49.596 --> 0:22:53.036 he became a coach with a completely straight face. He 0:22:53.076 --> 0:22:55.396 said that it had all started in the fifth grade. 0:22:56.676 --> 0:22:58.876 This show can't seem to move on from the fifth grade, 0:22:58.956 --> 0:23:01.716 but such as life. By the time he got to 0:23:01.756 --> 0:23:04.876 the fifth grade, Eric loved music but didn't get much 0:23:04.956 --> 0:23:08.996 encouragement from his parents. Then his class stage of music, 0:23:09.716 --> 0:23:12.636 just as mine had. The most popular boy in aris 0:23:12.676 --> 0:23:16.036 class wanted to play the lead, but he didn't know 0:23:16.076 --> 0:23:21.356 how to sing. He knew because I was playing the 0:23:21.396 --> 0:23:24.556 piano in the morning, you know, for the kids to 0:23:24.596 --> 0:23:28.836 sing the Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, And he said, 0:23:29.516 --> 0:23:31.916 I want to audition. And meanwhile, by the way, we're 0:23:31.956 --> 0:23:34.276 talking at like a ten minute skit. It wasn't a 0:23:34.276 --> 0:23:36.676 big thing. But to us, you know, when you're that 0:23:36.836 --> 0:23:40.036 age and you're in a school, you're surrounded by people 0:23:40.036 --> 0:23:42.956 who really matter to you, all those classmates, and there's 0:23:42.996 --> 0:23:46.436 so many hierarchies and levels and all of that going on. 0:23:47.156 --> 0:23:50.716 So he was popular, he was athletic, he was, you know, 0:23:50.876 --> 0:23:53.836 all the positive things you could be for boy in 0:23:53.876 --> 0:23:56.996 the fifth grade, and or I guess in any grade really, 0:23:57.396 --> 0:24:00.316 And so he said, can you teach me this song? 0:24:00.396 --> 0:24:04.516 And I said sure. So we walked home. My house 0:24:04.716 --> 0:24:08.156 was probably twenty five minutes from the school. He walked 0:24:08.156 --> 0:24:11.596 home with me and I sat at the piano and 0:24:11.596 --> 0:24:14.156 I taught him the song and we went over and 0:24:14.276 --> 0:24:19.836 over and over it. That bonded us forever. You know what. 0:24:20.276 --> 0:24:22.436 We didn't sit at the same table and lunch whatever, 0:24:22.996 --> 0:24:25.596 but whenever I would see him from that time on 0:24:25.676 --> 0:24:28.836 until graduating high school, we were walking down the hall, 0:24:28.876 --> 0:24:30.916 he'd give me that nod, I'd give him that nod, 0:24:30.996 --> 0:24:33.796 like we had that bond. It was amazing. It was 0:24:33.796 --> 0:24:37.156 a really special thing we had between us. And so 0:24:37.276 --> 0:24:39.836 Eric just started to help other kids who needed to sing. 0:24:40.516 --> 0:24:42.476 He didn't really think of it as a job until 0:24:42.556 --> 0:24:46.676 one day when he was in college, a classmate auditioned 0:24:46.716 --> 0:24:49.956 for a Broadway show. She offered to pay Eric to 0:24:49.956 --> 0:24:53.636 help her. After that, he built an entire career on 0:24:53.716 --> 0:24:57.116 word of mouth. People just heard about this guy's rare 0:24:57.156 --> 0:25:00.676 coaching gift and called him up. He never really had 0:25:00.716 --> 0:25:04.196 to market himself or push himself on others. They found him, 0:25:04.596 --> 0:25:07.396 what did it feel like You're gonna yawn? Credible space 0:25:07.436 --> 0:25:19.836 to back your throw all these strange sounds. I spend 0:25:19.876 --> 0:25:22.796 an hour every day making them. I ask him why 0:25:22.836 --> 0:25:25.396 I'm doing them, and he sort of explains but sort 0:25:25.396 --> 0:25:29.076 of doesn't, or rather all of his explanations boiled down 0:25:29.116 --> 0:25:33.076 to a single persuasive sentence. Just follow my lead the 0:25:33.116 --> 0:25:35.236 way everyone else is done, and I'll get you there. 0:25:36.316 --> 0:25:42.196 Practice really truly, bet Middler again, my fellow singer. This 0:25:42.316 --> 0:25:44.516 is ther only piece of advice to me. The more 0:25:44.596 --> 0:25:46.356 you do it, the better you're going to get. There's 0:25:46.356 --> 0:25:50.916 no question. There is absolutely no question you will improve. 0:25:51.476 --> 0:25:53.876 The more you do it, the better you get, and 0:25:53.996 --> 0:25:57.276