Serendipity occurs when seemingly unconnected events collide and create special significance. Recently, I read Adria Firestone’s moving article, “The Singer’s Addiction” (Sept. ’08) about choosing to leave the stage. I was struck by the importance of the dialogue she is starting for singers. The same issue included an equally important article by Lisa Houston, “What Size Pond Are You Swimming In?” encouraging singers to pay attention to the truth of their own career dreams. These are issues we should all address, probably on a regular basis.
It has always been a pet peeve of mine that options for singing careers are so rarely presented to young singers. Our training often gives us the impression that it’s a big solo opera career or nothing, the impression that if you don’t have that, you’re not a success. Our training rarely mentions the artistic satisfaction you can find singing in a major opera chorus, or establishing a successful voice studio, or cobbling together a performance career of recitals, church soloist work, and an assortment of interesting, creative endeavors.
This “all or nothing” attitude can be quite damaging to the psyche. What happens to those for whom the big opera solo career isn’t a great fit? What happens to those who want it desperately, but for whom it is unattainable, or those who have sung professionally for many years but now want or need something else? Does a singing career offer no middle ground that can also fit into the perception of success? Instead of discouraging or denigrating other types of careers, shouldn’t we be educating our young singers, as well as our retiring singers, about options?
Shortly after reading those two thought-provoking articles, I received a question from a young woman who is attracted to singing but isn’t sure she should pursue it as a career. This was quickly followed by an inspiring letter from a singer who has chosen life in a smaller pond but has found a way to bring opera to her community and to perform it there. Serendipity in action! Below is the young singer’s story. We’ll hear about Alexina Jones and the opera company she started in a separate article.
Dear Erda,
I recently was introduced into the world of opera singing—I have sung throughout my life, but mainly with musical theatre types of songs and performances. I was in the chorus of a zarzuela this past year and then sang in a Spanish diction workshop funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. After the show, a well-known teacher came up to me and told me that I was in the wrong field and that I should try to begin to study to sing professionally.
My question is this—how do I go about seeing if I have the talent to sing professionally? How do I develop the skills and guts? I am working on my master’s in a non-music field this year and have the opportunity to live in either San Diego or Atlanta. Which city would give me more opportunities to work on my skills while finishing my education? It is something that I have never considered possible, and I would love to give it a try!
Thank you,
Aspiring Singer
Dear Aspiring,
As you probably know, your question has no easy answer—and of course, no guarantees. So much depends on your own priorities and resources. You need to do some research about the career. I would suggest that you start by:
• Reading singer bulletin boards, such as the Classical Singer Forums, (www.classicalsinger.com), the New Forum for Classical Singers (www.nfcs.net), and Bravuravox (www.bravuravox.com).
• Reading industry publications, such as Classical Singer magazine and the various publications from Opera America (such as their Perspectives series).
• Attending the Classical Singer Convention in May and workshops Opera America holds throughout the year.
• Attending workshops on the business of singing, such as my Business of Singing series.
• Reading websites such as the Resources Page on my
www.thebusinessofsinging.com site—which includes lots of free articles—and on Laura Claycomb’s site, where she has advice for young singers (www.lauraclaycomb.com)
• You might want to order a copy of my book, The Student Singer’s Starter Kit, which will give you an idea of some of the education you’ll need, how to find a good teacher, etc. It is geared towards students entering university and conservatory but will still have information relevant to you. Another must-read is Joan Dornemann’s classic, Complete Preparation: A Guide to Auditioning for the Opera.
• Attend as many performances as you can and familiarize yourself with the up and coming singers.
These resources will get you started and help you decide whether this is a lifestyle and career you want to pursue.
I would also suggest that you find a good teacher and begin serious studies. Generally, most entry level opportunities are geared towards young singers (in their 20s) and the older you get, the harder it is to get a career started, unless you have a more dramatic type of voice, which typically takes longer to develop. As someone who is something of a late starter, you will need to get your vocal technique together relatively quickly. You will need to start getting performance experience. You need to study French, Italian, and German diction (and the languages, if you can) and be able to sing credibly in each of them. You need to hone your acting skills.
You can do all of these things a la carte as you finish your degree. In other words, you don’t need to go back to school and get a degree in music. Language classes are available almost anywhere. Acting classes may be a little harder but you should be able to find something in either Atlanta or San Diego. Both cities have major opera companies and thus some good coaches and teachers. Try calling the opera companies for recommendations, or check with your local chapter of NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing).
The most teachers, coaches, audition, and performance opportunities are collected in the New York area (and the East Coast in general). The Bay Area (San Francisco) also has quite a number of small companies. It’s more important for you to have access to those places, however, once you are in the stage of trying to get your career off the ground. While you are learning the basics, the most important thing is to have a really good teacher who can teach you how to sing well; a good coach who can work with you on language, style, and repertoire; and appropriate performance opportunities. You can find those things in lots of places. Whether you can find the ones that are right for you in Atlanta or San Diego, I can’t say. You’ll have to do some research.
While you are beginning to educate yourself about the real business of singing and deciding if you’d like to be part of it—and while you’re working with a good teacher, seeing how quickly you can get your technique in good working order and finding out what your core repertoire should be, you should also try to do some performances. When your teacher thinks you’re ready, you can audition for some training programs (also called pay-to-sings—you pay for the privilege of training and performances). These could be a great way to get your feet wet in the business, a great way to see how you fit in and whether you want to put in the time, effort, and resources to go professional.
These programs often run in the summer (less frequently in the fall or winter) but the applications are often due in the fall. For instance, if you wanted to look into doing one next summer you should be researching and applying for auditions right now. A great place to research the programs is in Classical Singer magazine, where a lot of them advertise, in CS’s online Summer Program Directory (www.classicalsinger.com) and also YAP Tracker (www.yaptracker.com), an online subscription audition service. (YAP stands for Young Artist Program.) YAPs are professional apprenticeships, coveted opportunities that can help you start your career.
These resources are just a place to start. The path to a solo career is exciting, rewarding, challenging, and often lonely. Successful soloists spend a great deal of time traveling, training their voices, learning new repertoire, perfecting their language skills, and always, always scrambling for that next audition or job. You will need reserves of strength, determination, perseverance, money, connections, and luck.
Is it worth it for you? Only you can decide that. But while you’re educating yourself about the career, be sure to take a look at other possibilities. The fact is that most professional singers do a variety of jobs—music related and not—for a living. Some sing opera full time, but many sing just a few operas a year, and teach, conduct church choirs, do voiceover work for commercials, film, and video games, sing in a professional chorus, stage their own concerts and recitals, hold day jobs unrelated to music, or any combination of the above. Many, many singers find ways to incorporate singing into their lives without making it a full-time endeavor.
I’m not discouraging you from going after the big career, if that is what you are drawn to, but realize that you have options. It isn’t an all-or-nothing proposal.
Good luck, and enjoy exploring!
—Cindy
