Anna Petrie rises early, throws her life into a carry-on bag, says goodbye to her husband, Phil, and heads for the subway. The 28-year-old has a long day’s work ahead of her as an administrative assistant at a legal executive search firm in Manhattan. Within a given week, she’ll work anywhere between 27-40 hours with this job, other odd jobs, and freelance administrative work from home—all so she can make ends meet while funding her first love, singing.
It doesn’t come easy for the mezzo-soprano, who struggles to find the balance between her work and home life and her singing life—a life filled with lessons, coachings, practice, auditions, workshops, applications for Young Artist Programs, rehearsals, performances, and study at the end of a long work day.
“Depending upon the week, I am able to dedicate anywhere from 12 to 20 hours to singing and singing-related commitments,” Petrie says. “There never seems to be enough time to complete all the items on the list of to-dos. There might be 4-6 hours of work that needs to get done when I may have only a 1- or 2-hour time slot to complete it in. Getting to the end of a goal is a challenge when I can’t devote my whole time and energy to studying or practice.
“Additionally, it’s a challenge to go to work for 8 or 9 hours a day, devoting my energy to office work before I am allowed to devote time to music and study,” she laments. “When I have to work a 9-hour work day, and then have to come home and put together dinner, lunch for the next day, run the normal household errands, and then carry my life with me in a bag, I limit the amount of time that I can devote to music even when I’m away from my day job. And, after working the bulk of my day at the office, I have a lot less energy to devote to the music studies necessary.”
The tune is a familiar one for countless budding vocalists in pursuit of steady singing careers—emerging professionals caught between a primary source of income and making music a livelihood.
Singers who are able to dedicate more time to singing often find themselves working a plethora of odd jobs to supplement income, while others might take on entirely separate careers, creating more of a challenge to find the time and opportunities to commit to their artistic growth.
The sacrifices are great for singers like Petrie, who have struggled with finding not only time but also energy to maintain such a rigorous goal, doubled with a full-time profession.
But Petrie recently found herself on a precipice.
No longer wanting to put music on hold, she took a leap of faith in July, uprooting from her day job to participate in Opera New Jersey’s Studio Artist summer program.
“It used to be that I would mostly sacrifice singing for my job because I was accustomed to a particular kind of schedule or amount of income,” Petrie says. “At one point, I was working three part-time jobs and my restaurant job turned into a full-time job whenever anyone was out ill or on vacation. I was getting home from work too exhausted to work on music. I knew that I had to make a change so that my music was not always being sacrificed. I had to re-evaluate what I needed and what I was just used to so that I could cut back in order to create more time for music.
“I knew when I accepted the invitation to join the program that taking a summer off from my job might mean not having a job when I returned,” Petrie adds. “It was time to make the jump and sacrifice the job for a greater opportunity to grow, learn, and study. It was a scary choice but one that I know [will] open me to making more and more of these leaps in creating more space for my singing. It’s a daily decision and not an easy one, but one that I’m rewarded for making by the progress in my music.”
Petrie has learned to create a schedule for herself which allows her to keep her goals in perspective without getting overwhelmed, as well as a work space and music space to separate her work from her singing. She also dedicates 15-30 minutes each morning to studying music.
“When I do this, it’s there with me throughout the day, even if I’m at the office and doing work,” Petrie said. “On a subconscious level, it’s still with me, informing me the next time I am able to study it.”
Petrie also follows the advice of her voice teacher, Lenora Eve.
“Break down your goal into small, manageable steps so that you can keep the larger goal in mind, but are given the chance to accomplish the smaller steps that this larger goal encompasses,” Petrie says. “With this in mind, I’m able to accomplish more quickly the larger goal at hand because my eyes are always on the next step, which is right in front of me, instead of being distracted by how much I have to do to get through to the larger goal.”
Boston-based baritone Rob Woodin found himself at a similar crossroads several years ago upon completing his master’s degree in vocal performance, completing a Young Artist Program with Opera New Jersey, and singing as a chorister and comprimario with Minnesota Opera.
“I was working a 6 a.m.-2 p.m. morning shift at a hotel,” Woodin said. “Then I would grab lunch and teach voice from 4-9 p.m., then head to rehearsals or performances. So my day was packed. It was horrible and difficult to find practice time. But you have to afford to sing. It’s hard work. Lessons and coachings are expensive. And then, you get into $80 scores for operas.”
Three years later, Woodin appears to be walking his tightrope with grace, supplementing his income in the midst of auditioning and performing by teaching voice at three different Boston-area music academies. He uses breaks in his teaching schedule for his own practice. Woodin also holds down a job as a cantor and soloist for a renowned Boston-area church known for bringing in orchestras for larger works, such as Fauré’s Requiem. And through his experience working with smaller professional companies and orchestras and building his repertoire and résumé, Woodin is frequently called upon to sing through a network of classical connections he has made in Boston and throughout the East Coast.
“The balance for me comes from evaluating what I need and want and knowing how to say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to certain offers,” Woodin says. “Sometimes, you really can’t afford to do a role for free or little pay, as much as you want to. But if it’s something you need in order to grow and network as an artist or something you would really like on your résumé, you have to weigh whether or not it is worth the risk. You’re at the mercy of whatever company is hiring you as you claw your way up the opera totem pole. So it’s up to you to deliver the whole package—not just good technique, but a polished performance.”
Woodin is currently prepping for his first Count in Le nozze di Figaro with Boston Opera Collaborative, a small company owned and maintained by young, working singers.
“If you’re able to live in a bigger or centrally located city where there are a lot of opportunities and activities for you to be a part of, it helps,” Woodin says. “The cost of living might be higher, but the performance opportunities are greater.”
So how do singers maintain this delicate balancing act of work and music?
“There are as many ways to build a singing career as there are singers,” says Vernon Hartman, a leading baritone for two decades at the Metropolitan Opera, founder and president of Impresario Productions, LLC and co-founder of the Professional Advantage, a study abroad training program in Italy designed for grooming singers caught between the work world and a professional singing career. “There is no tried-and-true road map. Hard work and talent are the necessary ingredients to becoming a performer. How you get there is up to you.”
“A singing career is difficult to maintain,” Hartman adds. “If you have a 3- to 5-year window where you are working all the time, that’s pretty good. If you work 20-30 years, that’s considered the pinnacle just below stardom.”
Hartman expresses the utmost respect for working singers, crediting them with a more established world view and a unique perspective on life.
“I often will give precedence to singers that come from another background just because they are more interesting,” he says. “They bring a completely different life perspective and world view than the basic program or trust fund baby. I love talking with these singers. In my experience dealing with individuals with singing as their only avocation, these are the kind of singers that tend to be more self-absorbed and have a narrow worldview. Once they start talking about what kinds of teas they drink and their phlegm, I tune them out. Now, singers who have to work hard just to afford a coaching, I guarantee, aren’t going to waste that coaching,” he asserts.
“I also love singers who are working in an entirely different profession who just happen to find out that they are good,” Hartman adds. “I know singers who are writers, singers who were once athletes . . . they bring so much more to the table than just their musical training. One of the best singers I know sings all over the world, has a wife and two kids—and when he’s not singing, he works in the business world.”
Hartman says the key is not saying “no” to performing just because the job says “no.”
He and his wife, soprano Amy Johnson—whom Hartman credits as a once classic case of a working singer—were each faced with working odd jobs to make ends meet before their singing careers took off.
“You can’t look for excuses not to perform,” he warns. “You have to look for opportunities and look into every possibility you can. Even in the smallest opportunities, you can learn something. Of course, it helps to be in a profession that allows you to take time away when you need to. But it’s a case-by-case basis. It has to be important to you.”
And, as for knowing when you, as a singer, can kiss the day job goodbye?
“When you have enough singing work [so that] you can afford to quit,” Hartman says. “You’ll know. A singing career chooses you. You can’t beat talent.”
