Aria Ready: The Business of Singing
By Carol Kirkpatrick
Second Edition, 2012, Denver, CO: Bancroft Publications
www.ariaready.net
The second edition of Aria Ready: The Business of Singing by Carol Kirkpatrick is a book that proposes to help singers evaluate their readiness for a professional career and endeavors to help them remedy any deficits they may have. The author sets out a series of questions that, if answered with the utmost honesty, will allow singers to evaluate if they are prepared for the lifestyle and the many sacrifices a professional career track requires. Her target audience is singers who are working on degrees in vocal performance or have recently received them because, as she notes, the transition from university to workplace is a daunting one.
Kirkpatrick writes that the only help she got at this stage of her artistic life was from other artists she met when she was beginning to perform professionally. She never really had any preparation for the transition from aspiring artist to working singer, and for that reason she felt it was important for her to share the information that she had to learn while already onstage. In her book she proposes to give those who truly desire a singing career an idea of what it takes and how best to achieve it.
At age 23, Kirkpatrick won the San Francisco Opera Auditions right after graduating from the University of Arizona and immediately received her first contract with the San Francisco Opera. She recalls getting on-the-job training and some degree of mentoring from singers like Renata Tebaldi, Franco Corelli, Richard Tucker, Ettore Bastianini, Régine Crespin, Leontyne Price, Alfredo Kraus, and Reri Grist, as well as from the wonderful conductors and stage directors with whom she worked.
Needless to say, she was exhausted from keeping up with everything that she had to learn because it was all presented to her at the same time. Rehearsals were held in the language of the opera, not English, so she had to try to decipher oral stage directions that were given in a foreign language. She says she was usually scared out of her mind.
With coachings in the morning, rehearsals in the afternoon, and performances at night, Kirkpatrick had precious little time for her requisite voice lessons with her teacher, baritone Robert Weede. He told her that if she wanted to learn how to sing, she should teach. And so she taught throughout her singing career. As a teacher, the most asked questions—then and now—revolved around how to handle both the personal and business aspects of having a singing career. This was the inspiration for her book.
In her introduction, she notes that there are three essential aspects of the business of singing that the emerging singer must understand. “You must know what the game is, what the rules are and, most importantly, you must know how the game is actually played,” she writes. Thus she talks a great deal about learning music, auditioning, and performing. Most importantly, however, she sets all of that up as part of a multi-choice business plan that can be personalized to fit the mindset of any singer.
Before even contemplating a singing career, the young artist should be aware of what will be required. Kirkpatrick explains these requirements, all of which she gleaned through her long and successful singing career. For instance, many young artists are apt to feel insecure because their engagements are often few and far between. “Are you prepared to have another job that will pay the rent when singing doesn’t?” Kirkpatrick asks of aspiring singers.
Her book guides newly minted singers on their first dive into the waters of the profession. She offers guidance on how to avoid the sharks while hunting for treasure in opera’s cavernous reaches. She starts by asking young prospective singers to become aware of themselves, their talents, and their goals. Aria Ready can be used as a workbook to encourage users to become self-aware and objectively evaluate their abilities.
The book is organized logically with all of the main subjects listed in the table of contents so that readers can refer easily to specific topics. Part I discusses the basics of preparing to perform, including a discussion on finding the right teacher for your voice and abilities. She tells you how to use your practice time efficiently. She gives you worthwhile tips on how to learn your music, its words, and their English meanings in the least possible time. You may get a whole term to learn one hour of music in college, but you have to be much quicker as a performer. She discusses methods of working with an accompanist and with a coach. Another important aspect of opera which she deals with is making your character become a real person in the eyes of the audience. At the end of the chapter she gives you ideas on how to get the experience you need in order to become a confident performer on stage.
In Part II, Kirkpatrick begins to help emerging singers cover the personal aspects needed to create an authentic personal brand and gain the needed networking and communication skills. The main value of this section is that it helps singers break down the mental barriers that can keep them from success. Her tools outlined in the section “Keeping on Your Own Path” can help singers maintain their equilibrium as artists when rejected or when they feel they may be moving away from their desired goals. Since opera is a team sport, her discussion of rapport skills is particularly important to the budding singer.
Part III, “The Business Model,” shows singers how to set up a business plan and sell their art as a product. Most importantly, it outlines how a business is actually run. Many well educated musicians have little knowledge of business activity or business models from the inside. Singers have often worked as servers, teachers, models, actors, and singers. Thus they may not know the inner workings or the executive structure of a for-profit company. Kirkpatrick notes that opera companies do quite well in the non-profit world, but singers have to earn the rent money.
Ever the teacher, Kirkpatrick gives her readers exercises so that they can put her most important ideas into practice and make them their own. She asks the reader to set a goal and write down the overall strategy along with the detailed tactics that will lead to achieving the desired outcome. She puts forward a business model in which the singer will be the office manager, the business manager, the public relations manager, and the financial officer, as well as the client.
Kirkpatrick not only writes her own thoughts on these important subjects, she also includes sidebars with cogent comments from authors ranging from Mohandas Gandhi to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, from Wayne Gretzky to Oscar Wilde, and from Vincent van Gogh to Mark Cuban. She even has quotations from Napoleon Bonaparte, Thomas Edison, Gabriel García Márquez, and Marilyn Monroe. On every page there are words of wisdom that pertain to the material covered.
The appendices include an extensive reading list of books dealing with the problems that come up in other professions as well as in music. It lists works that deal with the mind and creativity as well as with singing, learning languages, acting, auditioning, performing, marketing, and even singing in Europe.
In the appendices, Kirkpatrick also includes an outline for an audition journal. She shows you what a good résumé looks like, how a short biography should read, and an example of a model cover letter. Other charts and models have to do with marking music, organizing your goals, and creating your character when you have a role to perform.
This book is very valuable for emerging singers. Even high school students who are considering pursuing a degree in vocal performance should read it. It can help all considering and pursuing a career as a professional singer to make enlightened decisions on matters of great importance.
