Learning about handling money is the biggest missing link in an opera performer’s education. Learning to market yourself is second.
Every aspiring opera singer knows that the road to success is a rocky one. The competition is fierce and the skills required to compete are many and varied. There are languages to learn, vocal techniques to perfect, movement and acting to study, repertoire to master… the list seems neverending. Then come the auditions—hundreds of hungry and talented people vying for the same role. Only one will win, the one who has it all. It’s no surprise, then, that more and more singers are turning to advanced degrees in the hope that academia can give them the boost they need to rise up out of the crowd and grab their star.
But graduate programs are a heavy investment in time and money: Two years of full-time study can set one back $20,000 to $50,000 or more, and there’s no guarantee at the end that you’ll be any closer to the dream than when you went in.
Therein lies the predicament for many young vocalists as they complete undergraduate school and face a new stage of their journey. They know where they want to go but not the best way to get there. Their decision is complicated by many factors: a desire to jump in and start building performance credits; insecurities about their readiness; fear of incurring significant debt; and conflicting advice from experts and professionals in the very field they aspire to conquer.
Renowned mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, who attended Oberlin College and received an Artists Diploma from the prestigious New England Conservatory, understands this dilemma all too well. While she holds her education dear, she also believes strongly that an advanced degree is not a prerequisite to success.
“I don’t think it’s necessary at all,” she says. “In fact, well-known colleagues of mine don’t even have a high school diploma. The main thing you must do when starting out is to surround yourself with music and music people. And network so that you know of all the opportunities that are open to you. If you sing well, consistently well, that will be recognized.”
Ask almost anyone working onstage or behind-the-scenes in the opera world today if a grad degree is necessary to succeed and most, like Graves, will give an unequivocal “no.”
Richard Pearlman, Director, Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, has strong feelings about the place of institutional education in a young singer’s development. “After undergraduate studies, most singers are simply not vocally mature enough to get jobs in opera,” he says. “What are they supposed to do? Given our American system of staying in school perpetually, and outside pressures to keep moving forward, often grad school is the answer. But I have my doubts as to whether it’s the best use of their time and money. I see it as a very expensive holding pattern.”
As one who recruits talent for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s prestigious young artists program, Pearlman is concerned chiefly with voice, performance and what he refers to as “the X factor,” a special charisma that makes some singers stand out from the rest. “I have never failed to hire someone because they didn’t have a grad degree, nor have I ever hired someone specifically because they did,” he says. “It simply does not matter, although I admit it can be helpful to certain students.”
One of Pearlman’s associates at Lyric, Roger Pines, who also sits as a judge for Met auditions, feels that grad school may be too sheltering. “Often when I hear an unfinished voice and I see that they have a Master’s, I am stunned. I have to wonder what they were doing in school all of that time. On the other hand, we have seen some extraordinary singers come out of universities such as Northwestern and DePaul.”
Pearlman, who previously served as Director of the Eastman School of Music’s Opera Theatre, admits to having a great distrust for academia when it comes to the arts. Among the problems he lists are the uneven quality of instruction, the use of overworked grad students as cheap labor for universities, insufficient performance opportunities and a high student-to-teacher ratio. “In the program I run now, I have a maximum of 12 people and that’s a handful,” he says. “At Eastman, I had up to 44 students at one time. You cannot possibly give them all the attention they deserve. In terms of having a significant impact on their development, it did not happen nearly enough.”
Pines, Pearlman and others in the business of judging talent have seen too many singers emerge from respectable graduate programs totally unprepared for real world performance. Such academic programs, they insist, can only work if they simulate as closely as possible what it’s like to be involved in professional opera. Young singers have to develop stage presence and confidence along with their voices.
Carole Everett, professional mezzo-soprano and author of The Performing Art Major’s College Guide: Dance, Drama, Music (Simon Schuster/Arco), supports this claim. In her opinion, the most critical aspects of graduate programs for singers are good voice instruction and ample performance opportunities. Among the institutions that fit this bill are the Academy of Vocal Arts, Curtis Institute of Music, Indiana University, Bloomington, Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and University of Southern California. Despite her endorsement of certain academic programs, Everett also believes that a disciplined singer can take voice lessons, coaching, sight-reading classes, diction classes, an audition class, and arrange for recitals and performances, all outside of a graduate program. “I call this the ‘a la carte’ approach to advanced studies and advocate it for certain singers,” she says. “There are benefits of doing things this way for voice students who find a conservatory environment to be too judgmental, confining, competitive and expensive.”
The idea of winging it without the structure of a graduate program may be daunting. But creating a custom program outside of academia is an excellent alternative for those who are focused and have the organizational skills to manage their own development. Doing so entails a good deal of footwork to find a voice teacher you work well with, and to arrange instruction in languages, acting and movement. And, of course, one needs to audition. Opera choruses, musical theater companies, church choirs and even university productions can all provide great opportunities—the main thing is to perform and get experience in a variety of roles and styles.
Going the “home schooling” route may be cheaper and more targeted than most graduate programs, but it is not easy. It requires discipline and you will probably have to get a job outside of the opera world to pay the bills while you pursue your goal. Many big names in opera today spent their early years working menial jobs to make ends meet. Denyce Graves was one of them—she worked three jobs while putting herself through school, including a graveyard shift.
Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzman advises: “Don’t be afraid to take a non-opera job to pay bills so you can audition. I shake my head at the singers I’ve heard say with pride, ‘I haven’t had a real job in years,’ yet they’re selling their furniture on the streets and having their friends bail them out on a regular basis. If you manage your cash and part-time work well, you can have time to audition and not be totally fried.”
One area that both Graves and Guzman cite as seriously lacking in the education of opera singers is business. They learned the hard way about the importance of understanding finance and marketing once your career begins to take off. In Guzman’s opinion “the only thing an aspiring singer should go into debt for is business school so they can learn how to get out of debt once they finish. Learning about handling money is the biggest missing link in an opera performer’s education. Learning to market oneself is second.”
“You have to think about shaping and designing your career,” says Graves. “Artists are not prepared for this, particularly in the beginning. When you first start to get paid, it’s all so seductive—you’re excited that someone is asking you to sing. Then there are huge holes in your calendar and you have to learn how to gauge finances, get insurance, and market yourself so that you build a fan base and get the kinds of roles you want.”
While opera professionals generally agree that a singer can make it to the top without the sheltering aegis of grad school, they also support the notion that continuing beyond the Bachelor’s is definitely beneficial to some. “Obviously, staying in school gives singers the opportunity, in a controlled musical environment, to work on and perfect their technique and be surrounded by a variety of repertoire,” says Graves. “It’s a luxury to be able to go to concerts, work on your instrument, learn about history and develop yourself as a musician. It can be a great place to grow and develop.”
Washington Opera’s Chorus Master, Steve Gathman, feels there are good reasons to stay in school. “It’s a practical way to go for a lot of young singers because they’re not yet experienced or marketable enough. It gives their voices a chance to mature and they can work with a teacher longer. And if they have a scholarship, there’s really no good reason not to finish grad school.” Still, Gathman admits that when he auditions singers, he doesn’t care one way or another about education. It’s their ability to do the job that determines his choice.
Looking at the issue another way, having a graduate degree could also provide a safety net for singers who don’t happen to make it on the stage. A Master’s can provide entry into teaching or a variety of behind-the-scenes administrative positions. Elizabeth Whatmoor, who has a Master’s in Music with an emphasis on vocal performance from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, used her degree to land a position as Education Program Manager for the Washington Opera. And Debra Lazenby—a trained singer and a Peabody alumna—took her academic experience and turned it into a career in the arts management field. Today she is the Assistant Director of Alumni Relations at the Peabody Institute. “Organization, communications skills, people skills—they all transferred incredibly into a business environment,” says Lazenby. “I didn’t even know that I was acquiring those skills at the time.”
That time in a singer’s life between undergraduate studies and the next step forward is a crossroads. The decision as to which way to turn is not always easy. Whether that turn is toward graduate school or “a la carte” training should depend entirely on the individual’s unique personality and circumstances. Some will be quite ready to throw themselves into the world and others will need more structure. One may want to follow a teacher and another may be ready to enter a young artists program.
“Everyone has to find his own path,” says Graves. “You really have to know yourself. All of our lives we are taught to listen to others—teachers, coaches, parents—and not to our own instincts. Trust your instincts about what’s right for you and you will make the right decision.”
PROS:
“It’s in a singer’s best interest to become as knowledgeable as possible. Grad school gives them the chance. It’s a luxury to be able to practice, get to know your voice and body, and be in a musical environment. That is your foundation as a singer and it’s so important.”
—Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano
“Whether or not a singer might actually want the extra degree, the “networking” that goes on in a graduate school environment—with other singers, instrumentalists and composers—is helpful and inspirational. They also profit by the exposure to repertoire, and the ease of taking required courses instead of thinking it all through on their own.”
—Carole Everett, co-founder, Spoleto Arts Symposia
“A big part of what I observed in academia was peer learning—young people learning from each other. If you have a high level of student, this can be a big advantage.”
—Richard Pearlman, Director, Lyric Opera Center for American Artists
“For some people it’s important to have a safe and nurturing environment to grow in. It gives them a chance to learn and perform roles in a performance space that doesn’t tax the voice. It’s much more difficult outside where you would have to pay lots of different coaches and teachers, without the benefit of assistantships, loans and scholarships.”
—Debra Lazenby, Assistant Director of Alumni Relations, Peabody Institute
CONS:
“No! No! No! No! Do not go into debt for anything, be it grad school or voice lessons. The single biggest pressure on a singer’s life is how to pay the rent. One of the worst things in the world is to feel the pressure of owing money, be it on a credit card, to your parents, or to some institution that hounds you. It makes you walk into an audition with ‘I really need this job’ written all over you.”
—Suzanna Guzman, mezzo-soprano
“Most of those I knew in graduate school did not make it and they’re great singers, as good as anything I’ve heard on stage. Grad school didn’t really prepare them, and I don’t think it’s the fault of the University. I went to Southwestern Oklahoma State University, and there were not a lot of performing opportunities in the community.”
—Elizabeth Whatmoor, Education Program Manager, Washington Opera
“People can use grad school as a nest that they don’t get out of until later in life, when it may be too late. You have to get to a point where you can be competitive. The person who has a realistic assessment of his or her abilities will know when it’s time to move on.”
—Roger Pines, Editorial Dramaturge, Lyric Opera of Chicago
“In many academic situations there are excellent voice teachers. And there are also terrible and destructive voice teachers. If you get stuck with one of the latter it can be ruinous. Certain things can be very well-taught—basic musical skills.”
—Richard Pearlman, Director, Lyric Opera Center for American Artists
