In your opinion, how successful have you been in achieving your goals, based on your university/conservatory training?
My degrees in music allowed me to teach voice on the university level, which has been very gratifying for me for the past 30-plus years. My teaching has always supplemented my performance income, except for the five years I sang professionally in the New York City area. Without it, I doubt I could have continued to work professionally as a singer.
—Patricia Deckert, Chicago, Ill.
I believe my success has more to do with confidence than training. The conservatory offered the most basic elements of music and performance. After the education, success comes with diligence and common sense.
—Name Withheld, Chicago, Ill.
I think I would have benefited more from pursuing a different major first or concurrently. Not every singer is going to go straight from conservatory to paying opera jobs. In the meantime, singers need to be able to support themselves and their singing. I spent so much time after graduating trying to gain office skills so I could get a low-paying office job.
There are professions that are much higher paying and more flexible. Nurses … can work part-time or per diem (on a “temp” basis) and make comparable to a full-time “admin” assistant salary, but [with] more time to study and practice. Computers are another field [where] as a private consultant you can set your own hours and make a much better hourly rate. —Alina Zucker-Aronoff
I do not feel as though my college experience prepared me accurately for graduate programs. I don’t feel that the work I did with my voice teacher gave me a good singing foundation. My technique is shaky and not complete. My work in other areas, acting, stage readiness, dancing, has all been above satisfactory.
—Holly Wengenroth
I’d be inclined to say that I’m relatively successful in spite of my bachelor’s degree. I was [an undergrad] for six years, two of which were with a renowned voice wrecker. When I got to graduate school, I pretty much had to start all the way over from the beginning.
As a young, light lyric baritone, being assigned “Di Provenza” and “Avant de quitter” set me back a good couple of years. My master’s undid a lot of backwards vocal technique, [and] I’m actually ahead of where I could be reasonably expected [to be]. I’m steadily employed in Young Artist Programs. Making the jump out into regular main-stage work, even as a comprimario, is proving somewhat difficult, however. —Tom Irwin, Nashville, Tenn.
Have you had to settle for less?
Only in that I am teaching part time. However, that allows me more time for my private studio and to perform … so in the end I am much happier than if I had accepted a full-time position (or been performing full time). —Linda Noble Brown, San Rafael, Calif.
During my undergraduate training, yes—I had to attend a state school due to financial restraints. However, I picked a school with a great music-education reputation [and a] decent voice program, because I knew I would get a very well-rounded education. I did—it meant I was a very smart musician who needed work on my voice. —Name Withheld
The day my instrument disappears is when I’ll have to settle for less. Until then, my goals will never be put aside. —Name Withheld, Chicago, Ill.
“Settling for less” is a misnomer, in my opinion. I think it’s more of a question of maximizing the opportunities at hand. I know plenty of better-trained people who haven’t learned to aggressively attack their opportunities, and they slip by the wayside as a result. —Tom Irwin, Nashville, Tenn.
Did you have to pursue additional education because your education was lacking in any particular area?
I got my DMA because most universities are looking for it in addition to performing careers, if possible. —Helen Tintes, Los Angeles, Calif.
Absolutely. I did plenty of extra training, but this was all of a practical nature: apprenticeships, singing in many operas, learning languages more expertly so that I could converse in several (Italian and German). I [attended] arts festivals and apprenticeships. —Carole Blum, Glendale, Calif.
After I finished [my undergrad], I went on to get a master’s. I am sure I was like everyone else—buying more time to get more training. I decided to go to a good music school, but I didn’t have a really good teacher. They had offered me a lot of scholarship and two major roles.
I felt worse about my singing and the teacher I had than ever when I graduated. I sought out a [new teacher], an older woman, still singing (beautifully) [with] a lot of experience, but no drama attached to her teaching. After singing for her, she said these words—words especially difficult for a singer to hear who has just spent about $50,000 on an advanced degree, “Well, you have a beautiful voice, but we have a lot of work to do.”
I felt the earth cave in at that moment. Somehow, though, I pulled enough strength together to start over. About eight years, a daughter, and a divorce later, I felt I knew how to sing. —Elizabeth Stuart, Cleveland, Ohio
Did your training prepare you, if you have had to switch original career plans?
I think I have always been flexible in my career goals. Doesn’t every performer have to be? Your goals develop as your voice and your personal life develop and change. The one thing a singer can’t have is any sense of security in their career! —Linda Noble Brown, San Rafael, Calif.
I never had a career plan. I always thought they were too stifling. To quote John Lennon, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” I try to live with what life offers and then spice it up a little by challenging myself. —Name Withheld, Chicago, Ill.
I did switch to the idea of focusing more on a teaching career, and my education has helped me with this. —Name Withheld
I wanted to become a performer but realized somewhat late that my voice wasn’t big enough and that certain parts of the opera world emphasized bigness over sensitivity. So I became a vocal pedagogue, and now teach based on sensitivity and the school of hard knocks. —Donald Callen Freed, Alpine, Texas
How did your training help or hinder you in pursuing a financially stable career after school?
There is no such thing as a financially stable career in music. Be prepared. —Marc Innes, Palmetto, Fla.
It only helped. Nothing I learned hindered me in any way—but you can’t begin to have learned everything you need to in the four or five years you have in college. A lot is learned through workshops and performing outside of the academic arena. —Name Withheld, Brooklyn, N.Y.
The vocal pedagogy training I’ve received has been helpful in teaching privately, but since when is an emerging opera singer financially stable? —Kimberly Monzon
A degree (any degree) shows creditors that you are success-driven. This benefited my first mortgage application. Also, having a graduate degree—any graduate degree—looks as good to non-music employers as to music employers. —Shari Pachinger
I was hindered by my lack of understanding of the real world of singing and the vagaries of performing for a living. The student loan debts were also daunting. —Linda Faye Miller
As a graduate of a prestigious music conservatory, I find my colleagues and I have to struggle, working part time, gigging, teaching, and basically juggling too many things to barely make music work financially.
Most conservatories don’t have job placement services. They have offices that have job and gig listings, but don’t expend serious time and money getting orchestras, teaching services, and arts nonprofits to come and recruit their students.
All in all, I’m glad I have my conservatory degree. But I’m not very sure that the rest of the world cares. —Sara, Los Angeles, Calif.
I couldn’t be financially stable on music and teaching alone, and I know no conservatory people who are having much in the way of luxuries in their lives. —Christina Puntoni, Andover, Mass.
Although I went to Juilliard at the start of my vocal training, I learned how to sing after I left school. However, Juilliard provided me with life-changing performing opportunities. I am sure that Westminster Choir College, where I teach voice, would not have considered me, even for an adjunct position, without my master’s degree. I would say that Juilliard certainly has had a great effect on my career. —Julian Rodescu, Philadelphia, Penn.
Making a living solely as a singer has not been possible. No degree program that I’m aware of will come right out and tell you that you’d better have marketable skills outside of singing in order to make a living. … I think it’s more a question of having a good game plan together, and realistic expectations of what the career will bring financially. —Tom Irwin, Nashville, Tenn.
In your opinion, do you feel that music school is necessary for having a career as a singer?
University degrees are most valuable if the student gets good opportunities to perform while there. Creative students can start their own opportunities when they are limited at their school of choice. I have watched theater students begin their own storefront companies, and grad students start their own opera performances. This should be encouraged by the schools, letting students know of all the performance venues where they can audition. There are many, but it takes some enterprise to find them. —Patricia Deckert, Chicago, Ill.
An advanced degree in voice may be helpful, but more important is your willingness to be flexible in your pursuit of career plans. Further, unless you live in a metropolitan area, singing opportunities may be limited, and opportunities may exist in your willingness to be creative.
—Donald Callen Freed, Alpine, Texas
I don’t think you have to go to a conservatory, but a music degree makes sense. … Where else can you get language classes, coaching, voice lessons, rep classes, and an all-around general education, all at the same time and place?
—Name Withheld, Brooklyn, N.Y.
The academic setting does not focus on the most important areas. There is not enough acting training, not enough experience singing in various ensembles, and no preparation for the business aspects. —Linda Faye Miller
In my entire career as a performer, I have never heard the auditioners ask for any degree in music—that is, for performers. As far as study is concerned, the more you know, the better chance you have in the business, and maybe in life! —Marjorie Gordon, Boca Raton, Fla.
If I had to do it over again, I think I would have postponed the master’s degree and tried to learn more on my own through voice lessons, and gone to many more auditions to pursue my career.—Name Withheld
I did feel that I had an up on the average person who did not go to music school. You learn about discipline and working with an ensemble, and of course, expand your knowledge of music.
It’s funny, when I sing for the audition, no one asks, “What was your major in college?” or “What was your grade in aural skills?” They want to know, “Can you sing, can you act, and can you be professional.”
For those majoring in music, be sure you have another marketable skill, so that you can eat, and sing on the side, until you are able to support yourself with performing full time. —Kamaran M., Chicago, Ill.
