It’s a battle out there for jobs–especially singing jobs. With so many qualified and talented singers vying for the same roles, it’s the little things that may stand out the most and get you that gig!
Libby Moyer is the Artistic Director of the new light opera festival CHLOE. She is in charge of auditioning and hiring singers.
She offers some great advice from real working experience.
As the Producer of a new light opera festival this year (CHLOE), one of my tasks is to hire singers. While many candidates are quite professional throughout the process, I have been absolutely appalled at what I’ve seen from others. Every college offering a curriculum in voice performance should also include basic marketing, legal, finance, and business etiquette instruction, but it seems many do not. I feel bad for some of these kids.
One of the missions of CHLOE is to provide paid work for younger singers. We know the market is tough and want to help. CHLOE may be new, and it may well be that we are doing things a little differently from the norm, but I think the suggestions I’ve made below are useful in general application.
****
EMAIL – Many initial contacts will be by email. To make it easy for the potential employer to keep track of you, the subject line should include your name, what voice part you sing, and what role you’re interested in. ex. Jane Singer Soprano Donna Elvira. If I’m trying to find your email, or sort all the sopranos, this makes it much easier to find you. I actually had one applicant put as the subject “Pay???” Now, I know you’re interested in the fee, but this is not a good start. Once I have shown interest in you, it’s perfectly alright to inquire, but that is a totally improper opening.
If there is no contact name given, address the email “Dear Sir or Madam.” If there is a name given, use “Hello Mr./Ms. Moyer.” “Hey Libby” is not appropriate for the first communication and makes you look like an amateur. If we have enough correspondence that I begin to sign my messages just “Libby,” without my last name, then you can address me that way. If you’re not sure, keep using Ms. Better to err on the side of formality.
Tell me what you’re applying for, where you heard about it, and give me in a sentence or two enough relevant info to make me interested. Don’t tell me how great my program is for you. What do I care? All I’m concerned about is whether you are perfect for me. If you have questions (other than pay), ask. Type your phone, website, and email into the body of the message.
MATERIALS – Send me what I’m asking for. In our case, it was a headshot, CV/resume, and links to some samples. You should have a low-res photo for email use. 72 dpi that opens to about 4-5 inches is plenty. If I hire you I’ll ask for a hi-res version, but I don’t need it now. Make sure the photo is professional and recent. (If any of my technical terms confuse you, befriend a geek.)
Send your resume/rep sheet in PDF format. Word is notorious for losing all formatting on opening. What you spent hours perfecting may have columns all over the place when I see it, and look truly awful. Open Office and most later versions of Word allow you to export to PDF in a couple of clicks. If I were a singer, I’d include a small headshot on this sheet, top left next to my name, voice type, phone, email, and website. And yes, include your name. One resume I received had no ID. And be sparing in the abbreviations. You may know what VGB is, but maybe I don’t. Spell it out at least the first time. List most recent work first. Keep it to one page.
The link you give me should be to your website. If you don’t have a website, get one. Today. For only $1.00 a month, you can set up a basic site on GoDaddy. Classical Singer also has a very low-priced program. In this day and age, any enterprise without a website does not look legitimate. Oh, and spell your domain correctly. More than one person misspelled it and I had to Google to find the website. If you’re on YouTube or Facebook, that’s fine, but you still need a website.
Do not attach more than 2 or 3 MB of material to an email without prior ok. One person sent me an 18 MB email! It completely shut down my remote inbox and blocked all incoming messages until I had a chance to remove it.
SAMPLES – Video should be good quality, not taken with a camera phone from the 58th row. Get yourself a decent camcorder (they don’t cost that much) and record every performance so you always have something current. And send me something relevant. If I’m presenting light comic operetta, a sample of you singing very high, very florid baroque music is not going to tell me much. Keep the audio samples brief, and don’t make me sit through a long instrumental intro before you start singing. When I click the button, I expect to hear you within a few seconds. Edit out superfluous beginnings. And samples really don’t need to be more than a minute or two. Honestly, we’ve decided within 15 seconds whether we like you or not.
Do some research and make sure you can actually sing the roles you want to audition for. I had one singer email me after being asked to audition to complain that the notes were too low for her and could she change some! No. Any existing work will have excerpts if not the whole thing on YouTube so you can get an idea of what’s involved. Scores for public domain works can usually be found on imslp.org, or in music libraries. If it’s a new work and you’re unsure – ask.
FOLLOW UP – The old adage, “don’t call us, we’ll call you” is pretty accurate. We acknowledge receipt of every submission. If I haven’t contacted you within a week or two for more info, I’m probably not interested. Emailing me once a week will not improve your chances. With CHLOE, we don’t send the “thank you, we’ve hired someone else” email until we actually have someone under contract, because sometimes a favorite is unavailable and you may need to go back and look for another candidate.
On the other hand, if I do “call you,” for goodness sake return the message! Early on, we asked a bunch of singers for additional material, and not one acknowledged the email. I had to request confirmation of receipt. A simple “thank you, I’ll get right on this and let you know if I have any questions” is sufficient. We know you check your messages a hundred times a day, so lack of response says you’re either not organized or not interested. If you can’t meet a given deadline, let me know when you can. I chased one singer for weeks before deciding it wasn’t worth the bother, no matter how great the voice. We do not want to hire singers who are not enthusiastic about our program.
And hey, if you aren’t interested, that’s perfectly ok, but please say so. If you’re not liking the gig, just say “thank you for your interest, but I’m not available.” That’s all I need to know. Don’t give me personal excuses, don’t keep saying you’ll do the audition when you know you won’t.
If we offer you a contract, let us know you received it and that you’ll respond within the given window. Then do so. If you have questions, don’t understand, or don’t like something in the contract, ask. Please don’t tell me you want to wait and see if any better gigs come along. I already assume you’ve applied for other things. No need to be rude.
Please remember these suggestions are offered in the interest of helping you get work. If we have to choose between two singers, we’ll pick the one who has been most professional and responsive during the audition process, because we’ll anticipate that same behavior when you’re here working for us.
****
Feel free to use if you think it will help someone. We sincerely want capable singers to do well.
Libby Moyer
Artistic Director, CHLOE
libbym@paonline.com
