A popular morning radio show recently featured a psychic as a regular guest. Listeners jammed the phone lines, hoping for a chance to ask the psychic a question. The questions usually revolved around love and family: “Is the girl I’m dating the one?” “Will I get married, and when?” “Will I have a baby?” “Am I having a girl or a boy?”
Often the questions involved the caller’s career: “Should I stay at my current job?” “Will I get the promotion I’ve applied for?”
I always listened with skeptical intrigue to the psychic’s answers, wondering if she could possibly divine these callers’ futures. How could these people have such faith in someone they’d never met and were merely talking to on the phone, I often wondered.
A recent call, however, made me suddenly sympathetic. A young man called into the show looking for answers about his future. He explained to the psychic that he had a successful day job as an engineer, but his real passion was writing music, something he pursued in his spare time. He wanted to know if he should continue to work on his music career, or give it up altogether.
This songwriter was looking for something many musicians seek—assurance that he would succeed and perhaps some recommendation or magic key for getting there. He was even willing to ask a woman who knew nothing about him, his talents, or his abilities. In the uncertain singing world, how many of us wouldn’t like to peer into a crystal ball and see our futures?
I recently picked up Angela Beeching’s book, Beyond Talent, reviewed in the November 2006 issue of CS. (Beeching joins many other amazing presenters at this year’s Classical Singer Convention. Don’t miss it!) Beeching describes what she calls a “Portfolio Career”— piecing together a host of music-related jobs that make up a profitable career. Her book opens your eyes, not only to the difficult odds musicians face along the typical career path, but more importantly, to the variety of atypical career options available to musicians.
Musical theatre, for example, in addition to or in lieu of classical singing, is a portion of many classically trained singers’ portfolio careers. If you can cross over from classical genres to more popular styles, your employment options broaden but is crossing over settling for less or compromising somehow?
Lisa Houston discusses this question in “Inspirazione!” this month. She proposes that delving into other musical genres can broaden both your employment opportunities and your musical perspective. Exploring Broadway, pop, and jazz can help you more fully connect to your vocal, dramatic, and expressive abilities, enhancing in turn your work as a classical artist.
Lisa Popeil, an award winning and classically trained vocal coach, has spent her life exploring the possibilities of the human voice. Marka Knight shares how watching Lisa work is like watching 10 singers in one because of the things Lisa can do with her voice. Lisa discusses how she helps other singers discover the possibilities of their own instruments.
In this issue we also highlight two classically trained singers, Lisa Vroman and Brent Barrett, who made the decision to cross over years ago and have since enjoyed successful Broadway careers. Both share their advice for classically trained singers thinking about delving into musical theatre. Interestingly, both separately offered the very same suggestion: get acting lessons, another skill that would enhance your work in the classical realm.
Most every American knows about the hit TV show American Idol, but few realize that the show’s vocal coach, Debra Byrd, has roots in classical singing. She encourages many American Idol singers to get classical training. In this month’s interview, find out, in turn, what advice Debra has for the already classically trained singer crossing over into more popular genres.
In response to that young man’s question on the radio, the psychic told him that he should continue to pursue his dream, that it would take about five years, and that he needed to think about exploring some new territory. He should expand from alternative music to country music and work with other musicians as much as possible. In short, he needed to persevere, broaden his horizons, and network.
Maybe a crystal ball isn’t needed after all.
