WEBVTT - Broken Record Presents: Aim Higher 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:22.716 Pushkin on Broken Record. We've interviewed some amazing singers, Alicia Keys, 0:00:22.956 --> 0:00:28.036 Brandy Carlyle, Ozzy Osbourne. There's something really magical about a 0:00:28.116 --> 0:00:31.076 great voice, but even the best of them need a 0:00:31.156 --> 0:00:36.036 coach sometimes. That's where Eric Vetro comes in. He's worked 0:00:36.036 --> 0:00:41.116 with Ariana Grande, John Legend, Pink Seawan Mendez. He taught 0:00:41.116 --> 0:00:43.836 Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling to sing for Lala land 0:00:44.476 --> 0:00:48.116 Renee Zellwegger for Judy. But could Eric help. Michael Lewis, 0:00:48.756 --> 0:00:51.876 the author of books like The Blindside and Moneyball, has 0:00:51.956 --> 0:00:55.276 long had a phobia about his voice. He knew he 0:00:55.316 --> 0:00:58.676 needed a coach, but was afraid to get one until now. 0:00:59.796 --> 0:01:02.436 Michael just wrapped the latest season of his podcast Against 0:01:02.476 --> 0:01:05.396 the Rules, and it focused on coaches in all walks 0:01:05.436 --> 0:01:08.596 of life, how good coaches can have huge effects, and 0:01:08.676 --> 0:01:11.236 how people who get the best coaches aren't always the 0:01:11.236 --> 0:01:15.076 people who need them most. Can Michael Lewis learn to sing, 0:01:15.716 --> 0:01:19.316 like really sing? You're about to find out. We hope 0:01:19.356 --> 0:01:21.796 you'll enjoy this episode and then listen to others from 0:01:21.836 --> 0:01:27.236 Against the Rules Season two. Take a deep breath and 0:01:27.316 --> 0:01:34.076 go so you're creating those little accents from down here. Yep, 0:01:35.836 --> 0:01:40.236 that's it one more time. This is the last episode 0:01:40.236 --> 0:01:42.556 of the show, and I think I've got my takeaways. 0:01:43.196 --> 0:01:46.796 One takeaway is that good coaches can have huge effects, 0:01:46.836 --> 0:01:49.476 and so it really matters who gets them. Another is 0:01:49.516 --> 0:01:52.076 that the people who get the best coaches aren't always 0:01:52.076 --> 0:02:01.636 the people who need them the most. The people who 0:02:01.676 --> 0:02:04.196 most need a coach are people in a position of weakness. 0:02:04.916 --> 0:02:08.436 Of course, coaches can make the strong stronger, but the 0:02:08.556 --> 0:02:11.916 real magic happens when a coach attacks a seemingly hopeless 0:02:11.956 --> 0:02:28.356 situation like this one. That's it, you do have? Oh. 0:02:28.396 --> 0:02:31.796 My strategy has always been to hide my weaknesses, but 0:02:31.876 --> 0:02:46.196 it's hard to hide this one my voice. I'm Michael Lewis, 0:02:46.356 --> 0:02:50.116 and this is against the rules. This season has been 0:02:50.196 --> 0:02:54.116 all about the rise of coaches. For this final episode, 0:02:54.876 --> 0:03:15.156 I'm hiring myself a coach. It happens every time I 0:03:15.196 --> 0:03:18.276 publish a book. I'll be three days into a speaking 0:03:18.316 --> 0:03:23.076 tour and poof, I won't be able to speak. Last season, 0:03:23.116 --> 0:03:25.076 the producers of this show tried to get me to 0:03:25.116 --> 0:03:28.556 record two episodes in a day, only to find that 0:03:28.636 --> 0:03:31.156 I was incapable of getting so many words out of 0:03:31.196 --> 0:03:34.596 my mouth without my voice going. It's kind of funny 0:03:34.676 --> 0:03:36.956 because my wife and children often say that I never 0:03:36.996 --> 0:03:39.116 shut up, and I sort of wish that it could 0:03:39.156 --> 0:03:42.236 be true. So take a deep, silent breath in and 0:03:42.396 --> 0:03:59.996 hiss one. Two, he'd been strong, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, twelve. 0:04:00.276 --> 0:04:04.436 All right for maybe a man in his nineties with epizema. 0:04:04.476 --> 0:04:07.676 I would say that was pretty good, but I'm not 0:04:07.676 --> 0:04:10.596 going to allow me with you. You must build that us. 0:04:11.956 --> 0:04:16.076 So his name is Eric Vitro. We're in his house 0:04:16.116 --> 0:04:18.676 in la If you were there, you could see that 0:04:18.836 --> 0:04:21.996 Eric isn't just any old voice coach. His walls are 0:04:22.036 --> 0:04:25.396 decorated with frame records that went platinum and thank you 0:04:25.476 --> 0:04:29.076 notes from the singers who recorded them. I'm standing in 0:04:29.116 --> 0:04:32.356 front of his piano. Behind it is a wall that's 0:04:32.396 --> 0:04:35.516 more like a mural. The entire thing is filled with 0:04:35.516 --> 0:04:38.756 snapshots of this coach, with the world's most famous people, 0:04:39.956 --> 0:04:42.556 hundreds of them, lots of beautiful people taking on the 0:04:42.716 --> 0:04:46.436 very spot where I'm standing. These are all suits. Yeah, 0:04:46.516 --> 0:04:49.516 Cuba Gooding. Yeah do you know Cuba. I don't know him, 0:04:49.236 --> 0:04:52.596 but I didn't know he sang anything. Yeah, he's done 0:04:52.676 --> 0:04:56.916 Chicago Summertide or London and on Broadway one of the 0:04:57.676 --> 0:05:03.436 nicest ariana Grande John Legend, Pink Sean Mendez, And they 0:05:03.476 --> 0:05:06.556 look not just happy to be here, they look grateful, 0:05:07.236 --> 0:05:09.436 especially the actors who came to him to learn how 0:05:09.476 --> 0:05:11.916 to sing in a Broadway musical or a Hollywood movie. 0:05:12.796 --> 0:05:16.356 Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling for La La land Renee 0:05:16.436 --> 0:05:21.156 Zellweger for Judy, Natalie Portman for Everything. The Wall is 0:05:21.156 --> 0:05:24.756 an Awards show speech waiting to happen, will Ferrell say, oh, 0:05:24.756 --> 0:05:27.796 wouldn't he sing it? He dos? I worked on the 0:05:27.836 --> 0:05:30.276 movie with the Stuck Brothers where he's saying at the end, 0:05:30.596 --> 0:05:33.796 all right, all culminates with him singing time to say 0:05:33.956 --> 0:05:36.156 by I can't believe I have the balls to call 0:05:36.196 --> 0:05:39.196 you up and ask you to do this. I really can't. 0:05:39.636 --> 0:05:41.716 On a whim, I'd call the agent who turns my 0:05:41.756 --> 0:05:44.676 books into movies and asked him, who's the coach for 0:05:44.756 --> 0:05:48.236 actors who need to fix their voices? Say actors who 0:05:48.276 --> 0:05:52.076 don't normally sing but suddenly need to the answer came 0:05:52.116 --> 0:05:57.396 back immediately, Eric Vetro, Hollywood agents all know just how 0:05:57.516 --> 0:06:08.236 vulnerable their clients feel. I was petrified I didn't like 0:06:08.396 --> 0:06:10.796 singing in front of people. I always loved singing, but 0:06:10.996 --> 0:06:14.156 privately in my car, in the shower. My own husband 0:06:14.156 --> 0:06:17.196 had never heard me sing. Even stars need help to shine. 0:06:17.796 --> 0:06:20.276 The brightest have a sixth sense of where to find 0:06:20.316 --> 0:06:26.036 that help, like this actress Emily Blunt. Rob Marshall had 0:06:26.076 --> 0:06:28.556 asked me to audition for other musicals he was doing, 0:06:28.596 --> 0:06:30.356 and I'd always said no because I was just frozen 0:06:30.396 --> 0:06:33.716 with fear about the thought. He eventually called my agent. 0:06:33.756 --> 0:06:36.276 He said, she's coming in. I know she can sing, 0:06:37.276 --> 0:06:40.196 She's perfect for this role. I really want her. Tell 0:06:40.236 --> 0:06:42.036 her to come and I have to hear everyone sing. 0:06:42.196 --> 0:06:45.036 What was the song? It was Moments in the Woods. 0:06:45.076 --> 0:06:47.716 It was her big song. This is ridiculous. What am 0:06:47.716 --> 0:06:51.316 I doing here? I'm in the wrong story. Into the 0:06:51.356 --> 0:06:53.676 Woods was the hit Broadway show that was then being 0:06:53.716 --> 0:06:57.316 turned into a movie. Emily Blunt had no idea if 0:06:57.316 --> 0:06:59.676 she could do the role, but she had a phone 0:06:59.716 --> 0:07:03.316 number for Eric Vitro. Eric told her what he tells 0:07:03.356 --> 0:07:06.356 everybody who calls. Come to my house for the first lesson, 0:07:06.796 --> 0:07:14.436 and we'll see. I mean, Eric's house is always spotless, 0:07:14.516 --> 0:07:18.316 it always smells heavenly and He's sort of this weird 0:07:19.036 --> 0:07:22.716 juxtaposition of someone who's incredibly sort of refined and elegant, 0:07:22.756 --> 0:07:25.316 and then he wears sort of like rocker jewelry, like 0:07:26.156 --> 0:07:29.196 real thick chains, and sort of he's sort of an 0:07:29.236 --> 0:07:31.796 interesting image when you look at him. He's usually got 0:07:31.796 --> 0:07:34.756 a fabulous shirt on. And I remember thinking how cool 0:07:34.876 --> 0:07:38.756 this guy was and how how effortless he was to 0:07:38.796 --> 0:07:40.996 sort of be around. So I went into his kitchen, 0:07:41.276 --> 0:07:44.356 walked me through the first like fifteen minutes. We went 0:07:44.516 --> 0:07:49.316 into his music room and he I think we did 0:07:49.316 --> 0:07:52.716 some really embarrassing scales or something, something that I was 0:07:52.756 --> 0:07:57.276 just horrified by the idea of. And I felt embarrassed 0:07:57.316 --> 0:08:01.956 at having to do all of these strange mouth exercises, 0:08:01.996 --> 0:08:05.956 Like he makes you do things like NNI like stuff 0:08:05.956 --> 0:08:08.396 like that that you're like, how horrifying if someone were 0:08:08.436 --> 0:08:10.476 to see me do this in your life? Had you 0:08:10.556 --> 0:08:13.836 had that experience before anybody ever taught you any kind 0:08:13.836 --> 0:08:17.316 of nothing? Nothing? Because I didn't go to drama school, 0:08:17.436 --> 0:08:19.596 I wasn't put through the ring or of doing sort 0:08:19.596 --> 0:08:23.276 of trust games or physical sort of warm ups or anything. 0:08:23.316 --> 0:08:27.556 I've never done it and or anything like that. Where 0:08:27.596 --> 0:08:30.156 did the fear and the inhibition come from in you. 0:08:30.916 --> 0:08:35.796 I don't know, is it English? Maybe? Maybe it's like 0:08:35.916 --> 0:08:38.316 if you aren't the very best, that you're supposed to 0:08:38.316 --> 0:08:41.236 just kind of hide. Even if you are the very best, 0:08:41.276 --> 0:08:45.036 you're supposed to hide. You're not supposed to enthuse about 0:08:45.036 --> 0:08:48.116 your own talents where I'm from, you know, or try 0:08:48.236 --> 0:08:52.436 too hard. No, you can't, you can't. So even having 0:08:52.476 --> 0:08:55.316 a voice coach, that's almost like trying too hard. Well, 0:08:55.356 --> 0:08:57.436 that's interesting to me. Was there a little part of 0:08:57.476 --> 0:09:01.796 you that resisted that in any way? No? I feel 0:09:01.796 --> 0:09:05.156 like I desperately needed it. I mean I really really 0:09:05.196 --> 0:09:08.916 needed it. Emily Blunt got Eric Vitro's coaching for the 0:09:08.916 --> 0:09:12.836 next few years, and it had magical effects. I mean 0:09:13.236 --> 0:09:19.036 she became Mary Poppins. Do you ever lie awake at 0:09:19.276 --> 0:09:27.236 night just between the dock and the moring light? Such? 0:09:28.276 --> 0:09:31.116 My problem is obviously not the same as Emily Blunt's. 0:09:32.196 --> 0:09:34.876 I have no hidden talents, and no one suspects that 0:09:34.956 --> 0:09:38.436 I do. I don't secretly hope to audition for Rob 0:09:38.476 --> 0:09:42.916 Marshall's next musical. On the other hand, well, I'd better 0:09:42.916 --> 0:09:46.396 come clean here. My problem with my voice isn't practical 0:09:46.476 --> 0:09:50.716 it's spiritual. A long time ago, I basically decided that 0:09:50.716 --> 0:09:53.996 the last thing I should ever do is sing. Standing 0:09:53.996 --> 0:09:56.156 in Eric Vitro's house, I thought how nice it might 0:09:56.196 --> 0:09:58.596 be to walk through the world without being unsettled by 0:09:58.596 --> 0:10:02.036 the national anthem or terrified by karaoke night. As you're 0:10:02.036 --> 0:10:04.116 gonna put the straw in the bottle, you're gonna hum 0:10:04.796 --> 0:10:07.316 into the straw, which means air is going to be 0:10:07.316 --> 0:10:09.836 coming through the straw and it's gonna blow bubbles right 0:10:09.876 --> 0:10:20.676 into the water. Yes, now, go mm yeah, that's it. 0:10:20.756 --> 0:10:25.996 You want to send that Eric through the straw. Yeah. 0:10:26.116 --> 0:10:28.636 Sometimes it's funny you how you feel it deep in, 0:10:28.756 --> 0:10:31.156 like around my belly body. Yeah, exactly, that's what I want. 0:10:32.996 --> 0:10:34.956 The first lesson at Eric's house was just so that 0:10:35.076 --> 0:10:37.756 he could see if there was any point in having 0:10:37.756 --> 0:10:41.196 a second lesson over the phone. He said, I could 0:10:41.196 --> 0:10:44.476 come over, but then it also might be a great 0:10:44.476 --> 0:10:47.516 waste of time. Now, by the way, I am the 0:10:47.596 --> 0:10:51.396 most positive, optimistic and supportive people you will ever meet. 0:10:51.476 --> 0:10:55.196 I really am supported with my students. However, I really 0:10:55.236 --> 0:10:58.236 think that whole phrase you can be anyone you want 0:10:58.276 --> 0:11:01.396 and achieve anything you put your mind to. I think 0:11:01.396 --> 0:11:06.196 it should be followed by within reason, because you know, 0:11:06.236 --> 0:11:07.916 that would be like me saying, all right, I'm gonna 0:11:07.996 --> 0:11:11.036 quit teaching and I'm going to become the greatest basketball 0:11:11.076 --> 0:11:15.436 player ever. Well, at my age, with my hype and 0:11:15.596 --> 0:11:18.596 my body type, I don't think that's gonna happpen. I 0:11:18.596 --> 0:11:21.836 mean that would And if someone said you can do it, Eric, 0:11:22.396 --> 0:11:24.036 you can put do anything you put your mind to, 0:11:24.596 --> 0:11:27.716 they would be steering me down the wrong road, right, 0:11:27.796 --> 0:11:30.676 It would be ridiculous. I was waiting to hear how 0:11:30.716 --> 0:11:34.476 this story applied to me. Then he told me about 0:11:34.476 --> 0:11:38.756 the famous actor, the actor who's picture never quite made 0:11:38.796 --> 0:11:41.596 it onto the wall behind Eric's piano. He made a 0:11:41.596 --> 0:11:43.916 movie and made a big splash when everybody wanted to 0:11:44.076 --> 0:11:46.676 pire him. You know, everyone's like, ooh, this guy's hots. 0:11:46.716 --> 0:11:49.196 That seemed good looking and a good actor. So he 0:11:49.236 --> 0:11:51.516 was getting a million offers and one was a Broadway 0:11:51.596 --> 0:11:54.116 musical and they said, here's the deal, of the producers 0:11:54.796 --> 0:11:58.316 will pay for unlimited voice lessons. They just want you 0:11:58.356 --> 0:12:01.236 to prepare him for this. They trust you. You know, 0:12:01.676 --> 0:12:03.916 money's no object. How often do you really hear that? 0:12:03.956 --> 0:12:06.396 You know, money's no obje So I was like, oh, 0:12:06.556 --> 0:12:09.756 this sounds like a great gig. That was until he 0:12:09.836 --> 0:12:12.396 got here. And when I met him, he was actually 0:12:12.556 --> 0:12:14.676 very nice. So that was ice on the cape. Oh, 0:12:14.876 --> 0:12:18.196 great guy and just seemed fun to talk to. Then 0:12:18.276 --> 0:12:24.556 he started singing, Oh. I was like, ah, it was terrible, 0:12:25.116 --> 0:12:28.116 as worse than what I just didn't. As he's telling 0:12:28.156 --> 0:12:31.516 me this story, I'm wondering what else is he trying 0:12:31.556 --> 0:12:33.956 to tell me? But here's the thing. You know, what 0:12:34.116 --> 0:12:36.356 are the qualities that you really need to possess to, 0:12:36.916 --> 0:12:39.356 you know, to be a successful artist and to have 0:12:39.396 --> 0:12:41.716 a long career. One of them is some kind of 0:12:41.756 --> 0:12:44.876 self awareness of who you are and what you should 0:12:44.876 --> 0:12:49.276 be doing. I kept waiting for him to elaborate. He didn't, 0:12:49.836 --> 0:12:51.676 But at the end of the session, Eric looked at 0:12:51.676 --> 0:12:53.396 his schedule and asked when I wanted to do the 0:12:53.476 --> 0:12:56.596 next lesson and whether it should be at his house 0:12:56.676 --> 0:13:01.116 or over FaceTime. So I had myself a coach and 0:13:01.236 --> 0:13:09.636 a new way to deal with what was a complicated problem. 0:13:20.756 --> 0:13:23.436 You got trouble, my friend, right here, I say, trouble 0:13:23.516 --> 0:13:26.076 right here in River City White. Sure, I'm a Billiard glare. Certainly. 0:13:27.236 --> 0:13:29.836 The Music Man was a musical turned into a hit 0:13:29.956 --> 0:13:33.516 movie in nineteen sixty two. There are actually plans right 0:13:33.556 --> 0:13:36.356 now to revive it on Broadway, and you can see why. 0:13:37.116 --> 0:13:40.636 It's both from another era and totally of the moment. 0:13:41.236 --> 0:13:44.236 It tells the story of a con man played in 0:13:44.276 --> 0:13:47.916 the movie by Robert Preston. He rolls into a small 0:13:47.956 --> 0:13:51.036 town in Iowa and sells musical instruments to parents by 0:13:51.076 --> 0:13:54.476 persuading them that their kids are prodigies. He promises to 0:13:54.476 --> 0:13:57.556 teach them how to play, only he doesn't know a 0:13:57.756 --> 0:14:01.316 thing about music. The only person in town he doesn't 0:14:01.356 --> 0:14:05.596 fool is marrying the librarian played by Shirley Jones. She's 0:14:05.596 --> 0:14:08.516 a prim and proper beauty who teaches piano and sees 0:14:08.516 --> 0:14:12.276 through the con but the music man persuades her that 0:14:12.356 --> 0:14:15.076 he has this magical system. Oh, I now have a 0:14:15.116 --> 0:14:18.036 revolutionary new method called the think system. Well, you don't 0:14:18.076 --> 0:14:20.636 bother with notes. The music man has found a new 0:14:20.676 --> 0:14:23.596 and better way to coach, not how to sing or 0:14:23.636 --> 0:14:26.796 how to play, how to get yourself into a state 0:14:26.796 --> 0:14:30.396 of mind in which all you want to do is 0:14:30.436 --> 0:14:34.916 sing and play. Oddly, this musical had exactly the opposite 0:14:34.916 --> 0:14:40.996 effect on me. A single song, did it? I tell 0:14:41.036 --> 0:14:42.916 you my phobia. I tell where it comes from it 0:14:43.356 --> 0:14:46.956 and it's that the latter Rose song. Oh, I couldn't 0:14:46.996 --> 0:14:49.076 figure out from your text what you were talking about. 0:14:49.156 --> 0:14:52.556 So here's what happened. When I was in the third 0:14:52.636 --> 0:14:55.676 and fourth and fifth grade, I had the leads in 0:14:55.676 --> 0:14:58.716 the school players, and it was just I think it 0:14:58.756 --> 0:15:01.836 was more willingness to get on stage and sing. But 0:15:01.956 --> 0:15:05.236 I had them, and in fifth grade they cast me 0:15:05.396 --> 0:15:08.116 in the leading and without telling me that I was 0:15:08.156 --> 0:15:12.436 supposed to marry a little girl, and it was this 0:15:13.276 --> 0:15:20.396 awful sequence of events. Childhood is a fun house mirror. 0:15:20.836 --> 0:15:24.636 Everything in it gets distorted. I know a woman who 0:15:24.636 --> 0:15:27.636 became a meteorologist because a storm dropped a tree onto 0:15:27.676 --> 0:15:30.716 her house when she was ten years old. That tree 0:15:30.876 --> 0:15:32.756 kicked a little pebble off the top of a hill 0:15:32.796 --> 0:15:36.316 in her mind and started an avalanche. That kind of 0:15:36.316 --> 0:15:39.396 thing happened inside my head, only my tree was a 0:15:39.476 --> 0:15:48.596 song called Light a Rose, Light a Rose, I'm home again, Rose, Dude, 0:15:49.356 --> 0:15:55.156 get the side. Our fifth grade class was going to 0:15:55.276 --> 0:15:58.836 stage a version of the music Man. I thought I'd 0:15:58.876 --> 0:16:01.676 been duped into singing the musical's one love song to 0:16:01.756 --> 0:16:06.876 a girl in front of basically the entire world. But 0:16:06.996 --> 0:16:10.636 then these extremely ancient teas told me who the girl was, 0:16:11.596 --> 0:16:17.156 the new girl. She had a birth effect, no fingers 0:16:17.156 --> 0:16:19.556 on her hands or toes on her feet. She was 0:16:19.596 --> 0:16:25.356 also wildly bizarrely aggressive, grabbing it boys, pitching fits. I 0:16:25.476 --> 0:16:27.956 knew I was meant to be kind to her, and 0:16:28.076 --> 0:16:31.196 I tried. A ten year old boy with a better 0:16:31.276 --> 0:16:33.276 character than mine would have just gone along with the 0:16:33.316 --> 0:16:37.356 whole thing, but I didn't. I told them that I 0:16:37.356 --> 0:16:40.876 wouldn't do the song, and instead of telling me that 0:16:40.996 --> 0:16:44.156 I couldn't sing, they wound up telling that poor little 0:16:44.196 --> 0:16:48.436 girl she couldn't have the role in the play. The 0:16:48.516 --> 0:16:52.436 teachers had exposed a weakness in my character. Of course, 0:16:52.436 --> 0:16:54.076 when I was ten, I wouldn't have put it that 0:16:54.116 --> 0:16:57.236 way or anyway at all. I just suddenly had this 0:16:57.436 --> 0:17:02.316 ugly new feeling a combination of anger and self loathing. 0:17:03.956 --> 0:17:07.076 There and then I refused ever again to sing in 0:17:07.116 --> 0:17:10.996 school plays. I told the music teacher I would never 0:17:11.116 --> 0:17:15.516 again meet her after school. It's funny how phobias start. 0:17:17.316 --> 0:17:20.596 It was a short skip from refusing to sing to 0:17:20.796 --> 0:17:26.236 feeling that I shouldn't sing to almost being afraid to sing. 0:17:28.836 --> 0:17:31.436 I know, it's a very strange story, and it's got 0:17:31.476 --> 0:17:34.596 no happy ending to it. But I'm done telling that 0:17:34.636 --> 0:17:38.036 story to my new coach. He has an idea. So 0:17:38.436 --> 0:17:42.356 it's possible that my voice is so bad that you're 0:17:42.396 --> 0:17:44.436 not gonna be able to do anything at all. Well, 0:17:44.996 --> 0:17:48.436 so let's see how it goes. I think conquering that 0:17:48.636 --> 0:17:53.316 song that gave you such anxiety would be fun, would 0:17:53.436 --> 0:17:57.076 be buzzing conquering, you know. So what I want to 0:17:57.116 --> 0:18:00.316 do is I want to have you sing the melody, 0:18:00.956 --> 0:18:03.236 but instead of on the words, you're going to do 0:18:03.276 --> 0:18:21.156 it on wah wah wah. And I have known a 0:18:21.156 --> 0:18:23.836 lot of singing teachers, and some of them are just 0:18:24.036 --> 0:18:27.396 playing nuts. I talked to a lot of Eric's students. 0:18:28.236 --> 0:18:31.756 This is Bette Midler, another famous singer on Eric's wall. 0:18:31.956 --> 0:18:33.996 And there are a lot of quacks too. So you 0:18:34.076 --> 0:18:36.196 have to be very careful because you could be led 0:18:36.236 --> 0:18:40.116 down the garden path by people who say that this 0:18:40.196 --> 0:18:42.516 is the way to do it. When Bett found Eric, 0:18:42.556 --> 0:18:44.956 she was in a funk. It was two thousand and eight. 0:18:45.276 --> 0:18:47.276 She was about to open a new show in Vegas 0:18:47.396 --> 0:18:50.516 at Caesar's Palace. The dry air was getting to her, 0:18:50.556 --> 0:18:54.236 but it wasn't just the air. Something wasn't quite right. 0:18:55.276 --> 0:18:59.756 She felt more than usually vulnerable. Her backup singers were 0:18:59.756 --> 0:19:03.916 called the Harlettes. One of the harlettes told her about Eric, 0:19:04.596 --> 0:19:07.836 so Bett called him up. He started coming to Vegas 0:19:07.956 --> 0:19:10.876 to help me, and he would come once a week 0:19:10.956 --> 0:19:13.436 or so and we would warm up, or he would 0:19:13.476 --> 0:19:15.116 call me on the phone. We would warm up on 0:19:15.156 --> 0:19:16.756 the phone, and he gave me the taps to warm 0:19:16.796 --> 0:19:19.516 up with it. And I was religious about it. She 0:19:19.556 --> 0:19:23.276 didn't just get through the show's run. She went two 0:19:23.396 --> 0:19:27.636 years without missing a single performance. The staff at Caesar's 0:19:27.676 --> 0:19:30.596 Palace told her that that had never happened, so they 0:19:30.636 --> 0:19:33.836 invented an award to give her. It's still Bette Midler's 0:19:33.876 --> 0:19:37.956 favorite award, and it's sort of changed her ideas about 0:19:37.996 --> 0:19:40.876 the value of a coach. There are some songs when 0:19:40.916 --> 0:19:44.476 I can hear him in my head, I can hear 0:19:44.556 --> 0:19:47.516 his voice, I can hear certain things that he said 0:19:48.316 --> 0:19:53.356 in my head, and if I can keep myself from 0:19:53.796 --> 0:19:57.956 dismissing it, if I can believe it, I just thank 0:19:57.996 --> 0:20:00.556 God for him every day. First of all, he's a 0:20:00.636 --> 0:20:03.516 sunbeam in the world. And I do think that a 0:20:03.596 --> 0:20:07.596 coach has to be you can't have someone who's going 0:20:07.636 --> 0:20:10.476 to be abusive. They have they have to You have 0:20:10.516 --> 0:20:13.756 to know they care about you. Yes, yes, you have 0:20:13.836 --> 0:20:18.636 to trust them. And trust is absolutely imperative. If you 0:20:18.676 --> 0:20:22.476 don't trust your coach, you're not gonna make it. Ready 0:20:22.516 --> 0:20:39.796 to take a deep breath. Okay, Nope, that's okay. That's 0:20:39.836 --> 0:20:43.796 why you're here to improve. So, yes, we're not listening. 0:20:44.476 --> 0:20:46.916 We're not listening to A friend who was standing in 0:20:46.956 --> 0:20:50.196 our guest copage and he heard me practicing. He I 0:20:50.316 --> 0:20:53.116 came a piece that I thought that was the garbage truck. No, 0:20:53.316 --> 0:20:57.036 he did not. It wasn't just the odd house guest. 0:20:57.596 --> 0:21:00.916 It was the Amazon delivery lady, the guys on the 0:21:00.956 --> 0:21:05.796 recycling truck, the neighbors. Anyone who came within about thirty 0:21:05.876 --> 0:21:10.156 yards of me singing assumed a worried expression. One day, 0:21:10.196 --> 0:21:12.196 I looked out my office window to see a deer 0:21:12.596 --> 0:21:16.956 staring back at me with a look of concern. Then 0:21:16.996 --> 0:21:21.316 there's my children. In happy families, children don't want their 0:21:21.316 --> 0:21:24.236 parents to change. They really don't want to see them 0:21:24.276 --> 0:21:27.756 trying to change. One day, my thirteen year old son, 0:21:27.836 --> 0:21:31.156 Walker wandered in with his skateboard under his arm. He 0:21:31.236 --> 0:21:34.556 grabbed a tape recorder and supplied a running commentary just 0:21:34.636 --> 0:21:37.436 out of my earshot, and then I just walked down 0:21:37.516 --> 0:21:52.396 unless my dad going, and he's just run. Okay, it's 0:21:52.436 --> 0:21:58.236 going to be a nice Michael Jackson. Somebody wants to 0:21:58.236 --> 0:22:03.436 deal kids. It's hard at the same time to be 0:22:03.516 --> 0:22:06.556 both a comic character in the minds of everyone around 0:22:06.596 --> 0:22:11.196 you and also a slayer of childhood demons. But something 0:22:11.236 --> 0:22:13.476 about this coach made me want to keep on going, 0:22:13.916 --> 0:22:16.436 just to see where he might lead. So you figure 0:22:16.436 --> 0:22:19.316 out what they have, you expanded the best best you 0:22:18.916 --> 0:22:21.916 can try to work and then you were it's all 0:22:21.916 --> 0:22:25.316 about funny out who you are. Isn't that life in general? 0:22:25.436 --> 0:22:28.276 But it's it's really true. But it's and I think 0:22:28.276 --> 0:22:31.436 it's the key to life, you know, and finding you know, 0:22:31.476 --> 0:22:33.916 that combination of what you do best and what you 0:22:33.996 --> 0:22:36.476 love the most, right, what you enjoy the most, because 0:22:36.516 --> 0:22:38.596 that's what you're going to want to practice. If you're 0:22:38.636 --> 0:22:41.076 doing a style of music that you don't like, you're 0:22:41.116 --> 0:22:43.116 not going to want to practice it right, So it 0:22:43.276 --> 0:22:46.276 becomes meaningless, like like they'll tell me, oh so and 0:22:46.316 --> 0:22:48.396 so tried to get me to blank blink, like I go, 0:22:48.676 --> 0:22:51.076 that's not what you want to do. Then you're you're 0:22:51.116 --> 0:22:54.076 really trying to fit up a square pain around the whole. Right, 0:22:54.516 --> 0:22:57.396 you've got to have some kind of love or passion 0:22:57.516 --> 0:23:02.236 for it, right has This entire season has been mainly 0:23:02.236 --> 0:23:05.836 about the effects that coaches have. We haven't talked much 0:23:05.836 --> 0:23:08.916 about why they do what they do. There's lots of 0:23:09.356 --> 0:23:12.636 someone might decide their passion is to sing, but a 0:23:12.676 --> 0:23:15.716 passion for helping others learn to sing. It's hard to 0:23:15.756 --> 0:23:21.516 explain sometimes, but you know, you feel like you are 0:23:21.596 --> 0:23:25.396 getting as much as you are giving, like to see 0:23:25.436 --> 0:23:28.236 the improvement, to see people get excited. All of that. 0:23:28.836 --> 0:23:31.556 It comes back at you like a rush, like a 0:23:33.556 --> 0:23:36.036 rush of adrenaline. Really is what it is. Or to 0:23:36.076 --> 0:23:38.956 see someone complimented, or if you read a good review. 0:23:39.676 --> 0:23:41.996 I would never say, oh, I take credit for that. 0:23:42.196 --> 0:23:44.796 I don't feel that, but I know I had something 0:23:44.836 --> 0:23:46.356 to do with it. I was a part of it, 0:23:46.596 --> 0:23:49.236 and that just and it makes me so happy for 0:23:49.276 --> 0:23:53.556 that person. One day I asked Eric how he became 0:23:53.596 --> 0:23:56.876 a coach with a completely straight face. He said that 0:23:56.916 --> 0:24:00.556 it had all started in the fifth grade. This show 0:24:00.596 --> 0:24:02.516 can't seem to move on from the fifth grade, but 0:24:02.916 --> 0:24:05.276 such as life. By the time he got to the 0:24:05.316 --> 0:24:08.916 fifth grade, Eric loved music but didn't get much encouragement 0:24:09.276 --> 0:24:13.556 his parents. Then his class stage a musical, just as 0:24:13.596 --> 0:24:17.156 mine had. The most popular boy in aris class wanted 0:24:17.236 --> 0:24:20.036 to play the lead, but he didn't know how to sing. 0:24:23.596 --> 0:24:25.916 He knew because I was playing the piano in the morning, 0:24:26.996 --> 0:24:29.276 you know, for the kids to sing the star Spangled Banner, 0:24:29.316 --> 0:24:33.876 America the Beautiful, And he said, I want to audition. 0:24:33.996 --> 0:24:36.156 And meanwhile, by the way, we're talking at like a 0:24:36.236 --> 0:24:39.236 ten minute skit. It wasn't a big thing. But to us, 0:24:39.396 --> 0:24:42.236 you know, when you're that age and you're in a school, 0:24:42.276 --> 0:24:44.996 you're surrounded by people who really matter to you, all 0:24:44.996 --> 0:24:48.556 those classmates, and there's so many hierarchies and levels and 0:24:48.676 --> 0:24:52.716 all of that going on. So he was popular, he 0:24:52.756 --> 0:24:55.596 was athletic, he was, you know, all the positive things 0:24:55.596 --> 0:24:58.716 you could be for boy in the fifth grade, and 0:24:58.996 --> 0:25:02.276 or I guess in any grade really, And so he said, 0:25:02.396 --> 0:25:05.236 can you teach me this song? And I said sure. 0:25:05.476 --> 0:25:10.276 So we walked home. My house was probably twenty five 0:25:10.276 --> 0:25:13.276 minutes from the school. He walked home with me, and 0:25:13.716 --> 0:25:15.716 I sat at the piano and I taught him the 0:25:15.716 --> 0:25:18.636 song and we went over and over and over it. 0:25:19.636 --> 0:25:24.276 That bonded us forever. You know what. We didn't sit 0:25:24.276 --> 0:25:27.516 at the same table and lunch whatever, but whenever I 0:25:27.516 --> 0:25:30.836 would see him from that time on until graduating high school, 0:25:31.156 --> 0:25:33.396 we were walking down the hall, He'd give me that nod, 0:25:33.476 --> 0:25:35.596 I'd give him that nod. Like we had that bond. 0:25:35.996 --> 0:25:38.676 It was amazing. It was a really special thing we 0:25:38.756 --> 0:25:41.876 had between us. And so Eric just started to help 0:25:41.916 --> 0:25:44.716 other kids who needed to sing. He didn't really think 0:25:44.756 --> 0:25:47.236 of it as a job until one day when he 0:25:47.276 --> 0:25:51.236