Maybe you’ve been toying with the idea of creating your own performance opportunity. But maybe the idea scares you to death. If you need a pep talk, here are 10 solid reasons to go for it.
1. Freedom
As you may have noticed, the opera world has some pretty rigid rules. You shouldn’t sing audition arias outside of your Fach, and even your body type is a factor in the kinds of roles you can compete for. But when you start your own project, you get to pick whatever you’d like to sing. For example, much of Baroque chamber music doesn’t specify Fach, or even gender—you can simply sing whatever sounds best. Or do you want to try out a role you may never do? Why not produce a gender-reversed La bohème? Who’s stopping you? Have a vision, follow it, and your loving fans won’t ask for explanations.
2. Collegiality
Ever wish you could network more, but don’t know where to start? What better way than bringing your peers together to make music? Unless everyone you know has management and engagements booked until 2015, we’re all in the same boat of trying to fill our calendars and advance our careers. Having been taught the importance of professionalism at all levels of our career, most performers welcome almost any opportunity to perform—even if it’s with a small project that doesn’t have the largest budget yet. If you create a good experience for people, your first project together may lead to others.
3. Impatience
Tired of waiting for the phone to ring? Go make it ring yourself. Every audition you take has a slim chance of working out—those are just the numbers. You can sing like an angel and just not look the part. But if you plan a performance, you make a promise to yourself to get it off the ground, and there are no limits to how far you can take it.
4. Motivation
Seeing a project through from start to finish can be habit forming. If the grind of auditions, applications, and performing in other projects leaves you kind of deflated about your artistic advancement, leading your own enterprise can inspire you in other areas of your life. You will suddenly appreciate all the work that goes into even the humblest gig, spurring you to give your all to your performances and auditions. You will learn from the colleagues you work with and grow professionally.
5. Importance
Even at the highest level, singers are the most replaceable element to any production, alas. It is much more difficult and expensive to replace a director, costume designer, or even a member of the production crew than it is to find another really good Mimì. But when you put on your own show, you quickly learn that your role is irreplaceable. You’re the one leading the project, and no one else will take on the responsibilities you’ve laid out for yourself. It can be nice to feel needed, and not like an interchangeable part of someone else’s vision.
6. Music
Did you love those Lieder you did in undergrad but never had a chance to do them again? Well, here’s your chance! Instead of working on arias that you pretty much only sing for auditions, find the music you love and figure out what else would make it a great performance. There is nothing as gratifying as finding a program that excites you and making it a reality. Your love for the music will come through in your performance, and deepen your commitment to other musical experiences, too. Even if you already have a busy performing career, making the time to sing the music you care most about is truly rewarding.
7. Contribution
As musicians, it is our job to be creative. Instead of spending so much of our energy—and money—on auditions, devoting even some of our time to creating opportunities to perform and experience music is fulfilling a role in society that no one else can. In addition, when you start to think of how a musical project can contribute to the cultural life of your community, a beautiful thing happens: you no longer think of other singers as competitors but as collaborators. You are not concerned with winning the next audition but on contributing art to your community. And isn’t that the goal of any performer?
8. Reality Check
The work of a job-seeking singer can be so isolating and artistically unfulfilling, it can be difficult to stay inspired about your craft. Sure, you send out applications and show up for auditions, but maybe your heart is not in it 110 percent. The minute you announce a concert, gather some performers, and go about rounding up an audience, you’ll find yourself giving your all in no time flat. The process can energize you about other aspects of your career, teaching you discipline and helping you find out what is most important to you as a performer.
9. Leadership
You’ve always wanted to be a leading man or lady, so here’s your chance—lead, lady (or man)! As students, we are trained to learn carefully from our teachers and follow their instructions. We may graduate rich in knowledge, but poor in empowerment. It takes guts to create something new, and it’s a risk to put your name behind it. But, then again, embarking on any kind of career in singing is risky and takes lots of courage. Creating a performance opportunity—even if it’s a solo recital—involves bringing many people together for a shared artistic experience. As the person who brought all those people together, they will look to you for leadership. Nothing teaches you how to lead faster than when you know other people are counting you. It’s a good skill to have, and you learn it best on the job.
10. Joy
Take the rush you get from performing and times it by 10. You not only get to perform, but you make it possible for other people to perform, you are responsible for a whole evening of art, and you are adding to the chances to experience music in your community. It’s not just another gig, but your very own creation. No one else is telling you how to do it, and it can be whatever you want it to be. So go on, give it a try. It just may be your big break.
Share your work
Hopefully these first columns have given you a starting point for thinking about what kind of entrepreneurial project you would like to make happen. Right now, before summer starts, is the perfect time to plan some concerts for the September-May performing season.
Classical Singer wants to hear about your plans. Find Classical Singer on Facebook (www.facebook.com/csmagazine) and share your ideas or photos of your productions, or e-mail me at amandasarahkeil@gmail.com to tell me about your project—and possibly be featured in an upcoming column.
