We were lucky to catch up with Jean Christian Barry recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jean Christian, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Everyone’s learning process is quite unique, but I do believe passion has been a significant factor in my ability to learn anything. When I see an activity that I can tell I would enjoy, I find the focus to take in as much information as possible about that activity. Sometimes I wasn’t focused on learning the things expected of me, but I was often willing to do whatever it took to get time with my passions. I am a performer because I love singing. I have not ever been, nor will I likely ever be, the best singer; but my time spent examining the act and effect of singing has led to enough understanding that I have a unique perspective and taste which is what I market as an artist. This learning has come in three forms: taught, practice, and observation.

I have spent hours observing performers I love, and hours watching performers that I wasn’t moved by. I watch several performers’ interpretation of the same song both to understand the song better, and to understand what choices/traits feel effective or ineffective to me. At most live performances I am trying to imagine how the performer feels at any given moment, and what tactics (mental and physical) they are using to get through the performance.

I also spend a lot of time singing. Around the house I spend a lot of time just trying things vocally; sometimes showing off for myself, and sometimes trying something that feels too challenging to try and up my overall skill level. I also try singing songs I’ve written, in order to practice deciding how words should sound for myself instead of recreating another’s performance.

I have had so many teachers in so many contexts. For most of my childhood I had choir teachers, and in college I got my first voice teacher and vocal coach, then I got voice lessons at various studios in NC and NYC. When I was younger I viewed only the official ‘teacher’ as my teacher, but my perspective has expanded as I’ve gotten more experience. I now consider every performer I’ve worked with that impressed me in any way a teacher of sorts. I believe I have been incredibly lucky in being surrounded by talented and disciplined people since childhood.

My primary obstacles have been an educational system that didn’t understand my way of learning. I’m a neurodivergent black queer person, and it’s difficult to have the confidence to push yourself in environments designed to make you feel wrong about your natural way of existing. Would that schools were better designed for learning, instead of child conditioning and social stratification. I have a wealth of gratitude for the educators that really prepare their students to the best of their ability.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a storyteller by compulsion. I have always gotten extremely invested in the stories I’m interested, to the point that I often can’t hear much while reading.

I am currently working as a principal understudy in the Broadway Production of ‘How To Dance In Ohio’. The majority of my career thus far has been singing, dancing, and acting in musicals and plays. I also enjoy writing poetry, and music. I do believe there are a few plays in my heart that haven’t been written past a few scenes/outlines, but I consider that a part of my artistic vocation as well.

By legacy, I combine two very powerful styles of Black storytelling. I’m the child of a Senegalese man, and an African-American woman raised surrounded by HBCUs and Black American Churches. My favorite stories and songs are the ones where a bunch of people come together for spiritual and ethical goals. I think there are many illusory divisions between communities that can be dissolved by art and allegory and I love participating in that work.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When we attend schools, we often are being trained in smaller groups. Invariably these groups are smaller in scale than the professional world. I craved chances to perform throughout high school and college, and I got my share. My take away, from these highly competitive environments, was that there is definitely a “best” I should be striving for. I learned to view my peers as competitors for scarce opportunity.

When you are no longer in that small pool of colleagues, and no longer being judged/compared by the same small group of faculty, it is startling how feasible it is to find/create performance opportunities. It was a waste of time for me to try to out-do the next person. I found that auditions are often gatherings of people similar to myself. The people in the holding/rehearsal rooms are potential collaborators, friends, and inspirations.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think the best thing people can do to support itself by supporting creativity, is be objective and back the things you care about. Try hard not to like things because you believe you should, examine your response to things and determine your tastes for yourself. When you find something you genuinely connect with, don’t dismiss it as if it will continue to exist without support. Tell that person their hair looks great, buy a copy of the song that became the focal point of your spotify playlist, wear colors that people will side-eye.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jeanchristianbarry.com
• Instagram: @jean__christian
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jean-christian-barry-978a38134?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@jeanchristianbarry7306?si=FiAidoZYUk6j_LNM
• Other: TikTok: @jean__christian

Image Credits
Andy Henderson Daniel Rader