A freelance writer for the likes of ABC News, the New York Times, and Salon.com, Michelle Goodman is also the author of The Anti 9-to-5 Guide and My So-Called Freelance Life. While geared towards women, these two alternative career books are full of advice for both genders—and isn’t an alternative career exactly what each singer strives toward?
Yet Michelle doesn’t want you to get rich quick and then retire on an island. She understands that there are many who want a nontraditional career but also do what they love—and support themselves from it. Her books have soul beneath a smart and funny exterior.
Goodman offers creative stimulation alongside practical advice for “thinking outside of the cube,” which includes time budgeting, the business plan, networking, and those crucial first steps. Classical Singer recently spoke with Goodman on these topics, especially as they apply to those who want to think inside the concert hall.
In your books, you champion the idea of being anal about time and a stickler for scheduling. Why is this so huge for a singer’s—or any freelancer’s—career?
Blocking off your time is huge. To get your career started—and to keep it going—you’ve got to do a whole bunch of different things: you’ve got to do the research, you’ve got to do the marketing, you’ve got to work on your craft, and you’ve got to meet people in the industry (for starters). Being really structured about all of this—marking off chunks of time, doing the hardest thing when you’re at your freshest, etc.—is always important.
Just to know, for example, that for the next two hours you’re going to work on your website or for the next hour you’re going to work on a specific aria—whatever is realistic—instead of saying to yourself, “I have four hours to work on my professional career,” is huge.
In the latter case, it’s really easy to sit down and say, “I’m going to check my Facebook for five minutes” or “I’m going to network on Twitter for a little while,” and then before you know it, the first hour’s gone and you’ve got nothing. Networking, doing research online—for me those are the things that I do when I’m tired and less fresh since, for some of us, they’re the most fun. You should save it as a reward after you’ve done the hard stuff you normally put off, whether it’s studying French or practicing a role.
I don’t know if this happens with singers, but it sure happens with writers where you say you want to be a writer, you know you want to be a writer; but sometimes, when it comes down to it, you don’t want to write.
But don’t some good things come out of this so-called procrastination?
No matter what your best intentions are, when you have two important things to do, you’d rather do the thing that’s easier. Studying a really difficult score may take a backseat to sending out some e-mails to potential mentors, conductors, or other industry bigwigs, but you’d be amazed at what can often come out of the easier thing—what can come out of procrastination. It’s a good trick too, to think, “I don’t want to practice right now; I’m going to do two hours of this other stuff,” when that other stuff needed to get done.
How can singers structure their time in the most effective way?
Lists and time slots help your mindset. Say you choose next month to work on your professional side and set aside four hours every Saturday to do so. You’re never going to do it. You may get in an hour here and there, but you’ll probably just as easily get sidetracked in something else and not get anything done.
But if you give yourself an hour every Saturday to goof around on the Internet with the condition that you first spend an hour doing research on festivals or auditions, or if you say, “Since Tuesdays I work with this coach, I’m going to spend Monday afternoons or Monday evenings studying the music we’re currently working on,” that’s a different story. It’s good to have different days for different areas—business, creative development—especially if you have a set list of tasks for each day.
It seems the business plan (as you describe it in both The Anti 9-to-5 Guide and My So-Called Freelance Life) dovetails nicely with this idea.
It sounds a lot more intimidating than it is, but it doesn’t have to be a 30-page doorstop. That’s the kind of thing you’d want if you’re looking for funding for an opera company. Here you’re just (“just”!) looking to be the next classical idol—without the Fox packaging. You’re working toward and working with your goals, and it’s helpful to write them down.
This can be as simple as you writing “I want to perform in London by 2011,” and then breaking it down into digestible chunks throughout the year.
It helps to plan tangible stuff as you go along. Take this fall—what are you going to work on? The big idea could be getting your work or career set up. September, you’re going to get your website done. October, you’re going to do your headshots and demo. Then in November, you’re really going to get out in the community and go to performances and parties and network and find auditions.
It’s great to do one large plan year to year, but you can do it quarter by quarter or six months by six months. It’s a really helpful way to scale the mountain and it gives you a sense of accountability.
You mention networking, which reminds me of your section in The Anti 9-to-5 Guide on the Elevator Pitch.
That’s another term people choke at. It’s just a really simple 30-second wrap-up of what you do.
If someone comes up to you and asks, “What kind of singing do you do?” you can say, “I’m a soprano specializing in baroque roles, I’ve sung such-and-such a part, and am currently auditioning for such-and-such companies.” Briefly talk about the experience you’ve had doing that type of performance. If you’re in school, say what school you’re in and whom you study with. It should be a really tidy, wrapped-up summary of what you do, not a long, rambling . . . thing.
And keep it matter of fact. You don’t need to be apologetic or feel like you’re bragging. It’s what you do. It’s like answering the question, “What are you doing this weekend?” It’s the same thing with the Elevator Pitch: “I’m a classical singer and this is what I perform, this is what I have performed, and this is what I’m looking to perform.”
So many people feel like they have to apologize, especially in a career like the performing arts. It’s a dream career, yet so many people say something like “When are you going to get a real career? Ha, ha, ha.” And you shouldn’t feel like you have to apologize for what you do, though you might feel the need to.
On the other end of the spectrum, for many, speaking about themselves makes them feel as though they’re coming off as artificial or cocky. How can they avoid that pratfall?
Practice your pitch on a few friends, people not in your field, and see what they think. They’ll say to you, “Hey, you sound apologetic here,” or “That’s a little cocky.”
It’s not bragging if you have a major accomplishment, and you should tell people about that because that’s what you’re doing. But you’re not necessarily going to go up to everyone at a party and say, “Hey! I’m such-and-such and I’m performing at Lincoln Center next week!”
There’s this weird thing in the arts when someone likes to challenge you when they meet you. With me as a writer, it’s “Oh! Anything I’ve read recently?” and that’s when you can whip it out! You can say, “Actually, I’m singing Carmen at New York City Opera this season” or “I just got back from doing a concert in Paris.” There are instances where it’s okay to pull it out.
But if you’re worried about bragging and you’re just listing off what you’ve recently worked on or what you’re doing, I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s your job—and it’s just as much your job to network as it is your job to sing.
You almost can think of your Elevator Pitch as the short-end version of your Playbill or program bio.
That’s a really good way of putting it. Those bios run too long [for the 30-second format], but you can think of your Elevator Pitch as your Playbill bio without the marketing stuff—just the facts.Or shorten your bio to the greatest hits: “I’ve sung Mimì for a few companies and have performed at San Francisco Opera a lot over the past few years.”
For those singers with the talent but not the experience on paper or in a pitch, how can they creatively and successfully get a foot in the door?
You don’t want to give people the advice that they should be making photocopies and getting coffee, but what about working some other aspects of the company? The business and fundraising end? Instead of waitressing, that could be your day job. You’re going to meet more people in your dream career fetching coffee for the entire artistic department than you are going to be slinging coffee for maybe one or two opera people.
And you could get a high-profile volunteer spot for a fundraising event, which would give you the chance and permission to talk to people in a company you’d want to sing for. You don’t want to say, “Can I give you my demo?” but you can get some really good information from them.
Being centered and focused on what you want is good, but also having multiple interests will help get you in. And you’re learning more about opera, more about music, than just singing. You have to work on your craft, but you need to know how to manage the business end, and it helps to know how the business runs.
Though the tide is changing, many singers are afraid to be pigeonholed into administration without crossing over.
Put on a show yourself. Make your own performance opportunities. Ask two colleagues—preferably two friends a little bit ahead of you career-wise—if they want to set something up with you. It doesn’t even have to be all opera or classical music.
One of the biggest barriers of going to the opera for me when I was in my 20s was the price, and there was a singles mixer done by San Francisco Opera where we got really cheap tickets for a series of four operas. You wouldn’t do something like that through a large opera company, but you could do a grassroots thing, a sort of “opera for the masses.” Get some other performers looking for exposure together and do it at a club or a café. Create an extra element of performance. Be creative—it doesn’t have to be straightforward. Your local alt-weekly would write about it.
Ask your friends what they’d want to see or what would interest them in classical music. I’m into it, I think it’s great, but the price tag is tough. I’d totally go to an alternative venue where people were in jeans and could see a variety of performers, including classical singers. There are a lot of creative people in the arts who are willing to take chances. Get the media’s attention—and that gets the attention of the people looking for talent.
For more tips and insight from Goodman, check out The Anti 9-to-5 Guide and My So-Called Freelance Life, both currently available from Seal Press. You can also get more info and read her columns and posts at www.anti9to5guide.com.
