Dear Erda:
I’ve been married for five years but never auditioned under my married name. Now I have new headshots with my new name on them. Should I send out a postcard of some kind to the people I’ve auditioned for over the last few years, and use this as an excuse to get myself in front of them? Or, since none of these people ever hired me, should I just not do anything?
I always felt good about my auditions, so I imagine that auditors liked me, just not enough. Or maybe they didn’t, and here’s my chance to be new. I do have a much more dramatic look to match my much more dramatic voice and repertoire.
Also, I haven’t done any auditions since June 2003. I took a year off to let my spirit recover from all the rejection, and just take lessons. Turned out to be a good move, since I gained so much ground. I would appreciate your opinion. —Linda Barbieri
Dear Linda:
The choice of a professional name is an important one. It is not only a reflection of who you are as a human being, but also a part of your “brand”—the overall package you present and the image attached to that package.
To take a very famous example: Martha Stewart is much more than a lady from Connecticut who bakes a fabulous sacher torte and whose garden always looks nice. The cake-decorator-turned-domestic-diva, successful CEO, and media magnate is a multi-million-dollar brand whose business is as much about her personality as it is about her products. Everything about her—from her blonde bob, to her no-nonsense manicure, to her carefully chosen neutral-toned clothing—reinforces what she’s selling: homey but wealthy elegance and taste, domestic perfection, a lifestyle many women would like to achieve for themselves and their families.
Even her name supports this image. “Martha Stewart” is a good, solid, respectable name. It’s not fancy. It’s not glamorous. It’s her real name, but it has become a critical part of her brand—and your name is a critical part of your brand. That’s why it’s so important for you to choose a name you like, a name you are comfortable with and that reflects who you are. It’s a very personal choice, and there isn’t really a right or wrong, only what’s right for you.
But it’s important to make a choice you can live with for the rest of your professional life. Many people are getting married later in life, when their careers are well established, and choosing to keep the names they were born with for the very reason that they are already known by that name. (Sometimes women will then use their married name socially, if they have chosen to take their husband’s name.) Often, people whose careers outlast their marriages choose to keep their married name, because that’s how they became known. (Remember that great scene in the What’s Love Got to Do With It, the biographical Tina Turner movie, during the divorce proceedings with Ike, when Tina said she didn’t want anything from him “except my name”?)
Consistency is the important thing. Changing a professional name is complicated and confusing. A name change can make it difficult to find you, and the very last thing any artist wants to be is unavailable.
In your case, it seems that your career was not very far along when you got married. It also seems that you have already made the choice to use your married name professionally. Now you are ready to begin auditioning again.
I would do just what you suggested, except that instead of sending a postcard, I would send a cover letter along with your materials. The cover letter should re-introduce you: “Hello, my name is Linda Barbieri. I sang for you a few years ago as Linda Smith but have since married and changed my name.”
It doesn’t sound like you had any audition disasters or bad feedback, so I wouldn’t worry about concealing, or ignoring, your former “identity.” Enough time has passed that if you made a good impression the first time around, your auditioners will be interested to hear the progress you’ve made, and if you made a poor one, they may be willing to give you a second chance, especially since you’ve made big changes in your repertoire, technique, and look.
The bigger question here is what to do about the gap in your résumé. You are right that people will wonder why you’re really just getting started and why there’s a gap, and you have to be prepared to both show it in the best
possible light on your résumé and also explain it, if asked.
In our correspondence [note to readers: Linda and I exchanged a few e-mails on these topics], you said that you hadn’t done anything over the last several years, and then told me about several things you did do. I urge you not to discount this experience, even if you think it’s not very important. The biggest mistake emerging artists and late starters make with their résumés is to downplay the experience they do have as “not enough.” If you are applying for the right auditions, and you have highlighted the right experience on your résumé, you do have “enough.” Everybody has to start somewhere.
I suggest you start by making a list of everything you’ve performed since you stopped auditioning, even if you think it’s stupid or irrelevant. Then sit down and figure out how to say it on your résumé so that it shows you do have some experience, and you have been doing some singing since the last round of auditions, even if none of it was big time. Also, during the time you took off to get your voice together, did you learn any new roles? Be sure to list those on your résumé as “Roles in Repertoire.” If you didn’t learn any, start doing so now and list them as “Roles in Preparation.”
Never, ever lie or exaggerate on a résumé. The singing world is a small one, and these types of untruths are very easy to spot. But do place yourself in the best possible light. Put the experience that is most relevant to the work for which you’re applying at the top of your résumé.
For example, if you are auditioning for opera, make sure the first category on your résumé is a list of all the opera roles you’ve done. If you don’t have a lot of experience, list everything you do have. Show that you’re ready to take on a bigger project.
Then make sure that the auditions you’re applying for are appropriate to your level of experience. For example, let’s say you did a bunch of opera excerpts in school and in some training programs, and one or two small roles. It’s reasonable to think you might get a very small company—let’s say an E-budget or below house—to consider you for a comprimario, or maybe even a leading role. You might get a very small role, such as a chorus bit or one-liner, in a bigger regional house.
These may not sound very exciting, but this is where you start. This is what you build on. And you build brick on brick on brick, until you have your own beautiful opera house.
Good luck!
Cindy
