You know who you are. You’re reading this article in your hard copy of Classical Singer. You use your cell phone to make phone calls. You usually skip over this column.
Not this month, friends. This month, the Tech-Savvy Singer is for you. If you record your voice lessons on a cassette tape recorder and “just don’t get” Twitter, this month’s column is going to help you. Not only will we get you up to speed on what you need to know, but we’ll also help you weed through what you don’t.
The Basics
Cell phone. Necessary? YES!
If you don’t have a cell phone, you are inconveniencing everyone you know. Cell phones help you meet up with people, tell people when you’re running late, find out from them when they’re running late, call for directions when you’re lost—and they let people get a hold of you when you’re outside the house. If you never, ever plan to leave the house, you can stick with a landline. If you ever venture out of doors, get a cell phone, already.
If you live in a decent-sized city, venture into any major cell phone provider’s store and explain your situation. (If you live in a more rural area, you should do some research on which providers have the best reception where you live.) There are options for very simple phones—even ones with bigger buttons for older users who have a hard time reading small print. Get a friend to help you enter numbers in your phone book and practice texting with you. Texting is so common now that many people will just assume you have a cell phone with a text plan and act accordingly. It’s best to be prepared.
Computer/Internet/E-mail. Necessary? For heaven’s sake, yes!
How are you even living right now? I’m not even going to explain this one.
The Hardware
Smartphone: Necessary? I’m going to go with yes.
A lot of people use e-mail as their primary mode of communication, and you don’t want to miss a last-minute audition or client. Some people even use Facebook messaging as a regular means of communication (which I personally find annoying), but it’s good to have access when you’re out and about. Finally, if you travel for auditions or gigs, GPS maps, foreign language dictionaries, and currency conversions are indispensible.
With that in mind, you might consider going into the cell phone store mentioned above and investing in an iPhone, Droid, or BlackBerry, with a data plan and a texting plan. It’ll take some getting used to, but for some people they can be easier to use than a regular cell phone, especially if you are used to using computers.
If you choose not to get a smartphone, at least make sure your basic cell phone does e-mailing and texts, and make sure those are included in your plan if you intend to use them more than once or twice a month.
Kindle. Necessary? No, but nice to have.
If you like reading enough to usually carry a book around with you, a Kindle is lighter and can hold many books. It’s great for trips, where carrying multiple books would be an inconvenience. With airline baggage fees breaking the bank, a Kindle or Nook can practically pay for itself after a couple flights. Plus, you can download books instantly, so you don’t have to waste gas driving to the bookstore or wait for your Amazon order to ship.
iPad. Necessary? Not for the luddite.
If you travel and like to bring your laptop with you, an iPad can be a lightweight alternative. It’s also a good alternative to a Kindle if you want to read books but also have a device that’s more multifunctional. But for most technophobes, an iPad or other tablet shouldn’t be a high priority.
Digital recording device. Necessary? Yep.
The tape recorder works fine as long as you are recording only for yourself and don’t need a high-quality recording. But you can’t share it with anyone. Nobody owns a cassette player anymore. It’s way more of a drama than it’s worth trying to transfer the recording to a sharable file or a CD. And don’t even bring up mini-disk recorders. They were over before they started.
Get yourself an Edirol or a Zoom (see “The Tech-Savvy Singer: Edirol R-09 vs. Zoom H4 Throwdown” from the December 2009 issue). They’re not that hard to use, and you can put the files on your computer really easily (no really, I mean it). Basically, you want a device that records mp3 and/or wav files. You’ll end up dropping in the realm of $200, but you can do less if you’re not concerned about quality (which you’re probably not if you’re using a tape player). Now please bury that old thing, unless you’re using it to make ironic mix tapes.
The Internet
Facebook. Necessary? Yes!
As with cell phones, if you’re not on Facebook, you’re inconveniencing nearly everyone you know. For many people, Facebook is the primary tool to invite people to their gigs and parties, make announcements, ask for help or information, and generally stay in touch with their social circles. If you’re not on board, you’re going to be way out of the loop on everything that doesn’t happen in person.
Twitter. Necessary? No.
Twitter is for people who are so into social media that Facebook doesn’t cut it. It’s good if you’re trying to promote a brand or service, and more tech-savvy singers can use it to network and promote their gigs. But if that’s not you, don’t stress over it.
LinkedIn. Necessary? No.
Not for musicians. LinkedIn is more for businessy-type people, not so much for artists. Our community is pretty small, and we are hired through auditions and recommendations, not through an artistic director perusing résumés on a business networking site. It’s not a bad thing to have, but it’s not that helpful.
Website. Necessary? Not necessarily.
A website is definitely a good thing to have, as a place to store all information that would go into an audition package: video clips, sound clips, résumé, etc. But they require a relatively high comfort level with computers to set up. You could pay someone to do it for you, but will you update it? Probably not, and an out-of-date website is not cute.
Plenty of singers, coaches, and teachers get by just fine without their own website. As long as you have somewhere online to store your sound clips (see “The Tech-Savvy Singer: Four Sites to Host Your Music Online” in the January 2010 issue), you should be fine. As an alternative to a labor-intensive website, Classical Singer offers simple websites for singers where you can upload everything you need. Visit www.classicalsinger.com/sites.
MySpace: Necessary? Not so much.
Although I’ve touted in previous columns that MySpace is still relevant on some levels, its importance is in a state of perpetual decline. I’m glad I have a MySpace page, and it gets the job done for certain needs. But if you don’t already love social media (I obviously do), don’t bother with it.
Tips for the Technophobe
Don’t be intimidated. The companies that make these products want you to have an easy time with them. There are people working round the clock to try to make their instructions clear and their products intuitive. It’s like walking into an audition and reminding yourself that the audition panel wants you to do well.
Take the time to get to know the technology you’re using. Please don’t get frustrated and give up if you have to fumble around a bit. Try to use the different features. Work your way through the instruction manual. See how other people are using it. Play. Why do you think kids are such naturals at technology? Because they’re playing! Don’t be afraid of destroying your gadget. Rather, remind yourself: it’s better to break it on the first day, when it’s still under warranty!
Have a friend walk you through your new tool. And not a friend who does tech support for a living—we don’t want them to feel like they’re at work! Just somebody who has been using the technology for awhile. Make sure they actually show you how to do things and let you practice each technique a few times, and not just do it for you.
Search YouTube for tutorials and troubleshooting. Independent users often post help videos that can be more direct and to the point than trying to use the company’s documentation.
Learning technology is like learning foreign languages. When you learn one, you get better at learning the others. Technologies share qualities among themselves. If you are comfortable using a computer, you’ll take to smart phones easily, because a lot of the interface is structured similarly. So this will get easier as you go.
