Barbara reveals that singers, like top executives, face intense pressure but rarely receive the same coaching or support. She and Mary Elizabeth call out the myth that artists must suffer to succeed, urging performers instead to embrace balance, clarity, and self-defined success.
Have you ever walked off stage frustrated because the magic wasn’t there—wondering what happened and why you couldn’t perform with greater ease and flow? Following is a short description of the four levels of consciousness through which your performances can feel like four completely different realities.
One thing singers need to know is how to communicate, and not just with our beautiful singing. Learn more about professional email correspondence in this article.
One new book published by Routledge explores valued vocal traditions, and the other makes the case for change.
Follow your heart, and don’t give up. We believe you will be led up, down, and around the perfect path for you. Work hard and you can achieve anything. We see it happening for you! Yes, it is time for you to SHINE!
Every good mezzo has probably sung Mozart’s “Smanie implacabilli” or “Voi che sapete” to work on legato and style or to satisfy that Mozart aria requirement for an audition. Below are eight arias that are sure to liven up any mezzos’ audition package.
New Opera is the new norm. American Opera singers are not only expected to have mastered the standard repertoire, but also the skills to learn operas being composed today. But even now, the American operatic musical language is expanding and with it, the expectation of singers to arrive at workshops, first rehearsals, or even a coaching, with a solid understanding of the musical, vocal, and dramatic landscape.
In today's modern Western world many of us seem to have lost touch with that aesthetic, insightful part of ourselves, our "gut level" or heart feeling when it comes to the world of music and performing. We have become a brain culture; we tend to live inside our heads.
The holidays always seem to arrive in a swirl of emotions, especially for artists. Amid the twinkling lights, gingerbread, and laughter-filled meals, often comes whispering aches of what comes next?
Barbara Massury, an executive coach and consultant, and internationally acclaimed soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams team up to tackle your questions about career development, stress management, and work/life balance.
When you are a pianist playing auditions, it's a day of sight-reading. Singers with high hopes and jangling nerves parade through the door, put a well-thumbed binder in front of you, point to a (hopefully) well-marked spot on the page, give you an approximate tempo, and then step to the front of the room to be judged.
With limited time to grab and hold the attention of a Young Artist Program screening panel, you cannot spend too much time adjusting and tailoring your résumé. It’s just a sheet of paper, yet there are so many pertinent details that it can be overwhelming to sort through them all. Kathleen Farrar Buccleugh shares feedback and advice from actual Young Artist Program administrators.
