Many times I have heard from friends, family members and colleagues that I shouldn't take my singing so personally. This comment usually comes right about the time when I am upset about something that someone said or wrote about a performance or audition that I sang. Now, I know that criticism in itself is merely an expression of what a person thinks, which is an extension of that person's tastes and biases, and therefore is not any sort of final decision as to the quality of my singing or my artistry. However, I find it odd that we, as singers, are asked to do seemingly contradictory things when it comes to our profession. On one hand, we are asked to make our singing such a part of ourselves (in terms of giving the audience pieces of our own personal experiences served up in the form of musical dramatizations of operas and songs) and then, on the other hand, when someone criticizes our singing, we are supposed to be able to brush it off easily without a second thought...