The young student
Singers begin their singing life at vastly different times. Some start taking voice lessons when they are small children, others in their teens, and some not till late in life. There is not much one can do with a small child of 6 or 7 other than teach them Disney songs and some good habits about breathing and clear tones. Steering them away from taking the chest voice too high is probably the single most helpful thing a teacher can do for a little child taking voice lessons. (I personally think that piano lessons are a much better choice for pre-teens and children.)
But what of singers in their teens who are physically mature young adults? Their vocal mechanism is often fully capable of starting real vocal training. Often by the time a singer is in high school singing has become a full-blown passion. The drama club and chorus are their favorite activities, and they already dream of being a professional singer. They plan to go to college and study voice, or drama. What should these fledgling opera singers and Broadway babies do?
For starters, young singers need to find a voice teacher that will give them a solid foundation on which to build a vocal technique that will serve them faithfully the length of their vocal life. There are many voice teachers around, but finding a good teacher is not so easy. Not only does the teacher have to know the voice intimately and know how to work with teenagers (which is quite different than working with adults), there needs to be some kind of personal connection between the student and teacher. In other words, there needs to be mutual liking and respect on both sides for the teacher and student relationship to work optimally.
Teenagers are at a stage in their life when even small setbacks can mean big drama. Teachers need to be ready for monumental mood swings. It has been my experience that teenagers routinely forget lessons, show up without music and frequently come to lessons too excited or upset to sing due to something that an adult would consider entirely trivial. If their teacher is patient and understanding he or she will listen sympathetically to the tales of elation and woe that make up their student’s lives, and continue to lead them down the path toward good technique (despite the frequent emotional obstacles).
How do you find a good teacher? There are many ways, but a perfect fit is not always easy to achieve. Some teachers advertise that teenagers are their specialty. Most of their students are teens, and they are adept at guiding them through the high school years and into the colleges and conservatories. These teachers have a high rate of student turnover, due to the fact that their students do go on to college as voice majors. It is desirable that a teen study with a teacher who knows something about the colleges and conservatories, because chances are that high school guidance counselors don’t. However, it is more important that the teacher be one that can impart a solid vocal technique.
Parents and teenagers looking for a voice teacher should shop around. It is probably not wise to try one teacher and consider it done. It is my opinion that teachers of voice should also be singers. Ask to see the teacher’s resume. Do they have a degree in voice? They should. If not, have they done a lot of performing? Ask a lot of questions. How long have they been teaching? How many students do they have? Who are some of their students? Ask if you can have the phone numbers of other students for a reference. Ask if you can observe one of their lessons.
Has he or she done solo work? Are they still performing? If so, perhaps it would be a good idea to go and see a performance. Do you like their singing? If you don’t, and you think they are terrible, it is probably a good idea to stop there and look for another teacher.
After you ask a lot of questions and possibly go to hear them sing, have a trial lesson. Every teacher has his or her own way of teaching, but when you finish the lesson, ask yourself the following questions: Does my voice feel good? Do I feel good about myself and my singing? Did I learn something today? Is my first impression of this person good? Did they treat me with respect? Is this teacher clear about what they are trying to teach, and communicating in a way that I understand? Did you answered yes to all these questions? Great! Try another lesson! If you answered no to some of these questions, then you should probably look a little further. It is extremely important to find a teacher that knows the voice and how to teach singing, as well as being supportive, encouraging and inspirational. You will know you have found a good teacher when you feel excited about going to your lesson, eager to learn new repertoire, and you feel that you are improving vocally.
When you think you have found the right teacher, settle into some kind of regular schedule of lessons and practice. You need to have a certain amount of discipline about practicing, and to establish a set of goals for yourself. Here are some sample goals:
I will join a church choir and get a solo.
I will get a solo singing part in the school play.
I will memorize two art songs by such and such a date.
I will enter the regional NATS Competiton (National Association of Teachers of Singing)
I will study with a voice teacher.
I will audition for the school madrigal group.
I will learn a song in a foreign language I don’t know.
While you are still in High School it is a good idea to study some music theory, and to learn some rudimentary piano skills if you don’t already have some. I cannot stress enough how useful piano skills are to a classical singer. Later in life singers who can play the piano (or another instrument) are generally head and shoulders ahead in musicianship than the singers who play no instruments or can barely read music. I personally am grateful that I continued my piano lessons for so long. After graduating from the conservatory I did not have to waitress or take an office job. I played the piano for a living—a much better paying and easier job.
The difference between “musicians” and “singers” is a standing joke among instrumentalists. Singers are often viewed as mere voices, while the instrumentalists must be able to read music and sightread extremely well. Singers sometimes lack these skills, and those singers make the rest of us singers look bad. Don’t be just a singer! Be a singer/ musician. If it is at all possible, take piano lessons. At the very least, try to learn to read music, and develop a few piano skills on your own. If you don’t have a piano at your house, ask your parents if they will buy you an inexpensive keyboard. Go to your local music store and ask the clerk if they can recommend a beginning piano book for you, and teach yourself the basics.
Another thing you can do to get yourself ready for your career is to listen to the great singers and to study the music they perform. If there is an Opera Company or choral society in your area, see if you can usher for performances. Chances are that you can, and if you do you will be able to see the performances for free.
Don’t just limit yourself to just vocal music, though. Try to experience all kinds of music—symphonic, chamber music, oratorio and recitals. The more music you are exposed to the greater your understanding and appreciation of all the forms of music will be. Do you find yourself attracted to a particular composer? Go to the library and take out some CD’s of his (or her) music. Even if it is not vocal music, your appreciation of the music for it’s own sake will benefit you in many ways. Find out what kind of music speaks the loudest to you. Do you love elegant baroque chamber works? Ask your teacher to find some Handel or Bach arias for you to work on. Have you become fond of the rich orchestrations of the Romantic composers? There is a plethora of vocal music written by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Mendelsohnn, and many others that may inspire you.
Are you taking a foreign language in school? Great! Learn some pieces in that language. Your teacher will probably have you singing in Italian before too long, but if you are taking another language like German, French or Spanish, ask your teacher for some appropriate pieces in the language you study as well. Try to translate the piece line by line, and know what each and every of the text means. When you sing it, try to interpret the song expressively so that you are not just singing incomprehensible syllables.
The next step
Suppose you have been taking voice lessons, making progress, and have met some of your outlined goals. But you still have another year till you go to college, and you are eager to have some visible gage of your improvement. What do you do?
If there is a small, local opera company in your area, you would probably be more than welcome as a chorus member. Small companies almost always have difficulty finding good choristers. Find out when they are holding auditions what they would like to hear. If your teacher thinks you are ready, ask him to help you prepare for it. Being in an opera chorus the first time is a great experience for a young singers. You will learn many new things: how to memorize a lot of music, how to work with other singers, how to take direction, how to move on stage. If you are very attentive you will also have learned the music to an entire opera, and watched older more advanced singers doing what you dream of doing someday.
Some operas even have roles for kids built right in! The role of Amahl in Amahl and the Night Visitors by Menotti is one. And there are three spirits in The Magic Flute, a shepherd in Tosca, pageboys in other operas. If you aren’t chosen to sing, you could be a supernumerary (which is a walk on non-speaking/non singing part). Being involved in any aspect of a staged production can be a valuable experience for a fledgling opera singer, even if it is just helping move the sets around.
There are also some training programs available to talented school age singers, like the Interlochen Arts Camp and the Bel Canto Northwest Vocal Institute. These are much like summer camps for singers. Here in the Bay Area there is an organization called the “Peninsula Teen Opera”. It is not just in the summer, but runs during the year. There may be a similar organization in your area. To find out how to locate such organizations, check the Resource list at the end of the chapter.
Another way to gage your improvement is to enter a singing competition. Later in your career you will probably be entering a lot of them. There are only a few around at the High School level, but entering them is a good way to get your feet wet for later. In the New York there is the NYSSMA festival, in which musicians of all sorts compete for letter grades (A+, A, A-, B+ etc). The highest scoring students then go to the All State Music Festival. This is a big honor for students! Check and see if such a competition exists in your district.
There are other competitions, like the Rosa Ponselle “All Marylanders” Competition, the 5 Towns Music and Art Competition in Long Island, and the NATS competition. NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) has chapters all across the United States. The local chapter near you may sponsor a yearly or bi-yearly competition. Call your local NATS president to find out when the next competition will be held. (See the Resource list at the end of the chapter)
Finally…
By now you have been taking voice lessons for one, two or maybe even three years. You have made good progress and you have decided to go to college to get a degree in voice so you can become a famous singer and sing at the Met. That’s all there is to it, right? Well, not exactly…
You may have a few hurdles to overcome before it is a done deal. What do your parents think of singing as a career choice? Are they understanding, encouraging and supportive? Are they resigned and silent? Or worse, do they oppose your decision vehemently and want you to become a doctor? Whatever you decide to do with your life is in the end up to you, but it is always desirable to have your parent’s blessing. Keep your parents involved in your college decisions. Whether or not they approve of your choice of career paths try to give them as much information as possible to help them understand what you hope to do.
Parents may not understand that deciding to become a professional singer is not quite the same as having an affinity for computers and therefore deciding to be a computer major in College. Singing is a passion, and if it is your passion you already know it. You dream of being on the stage performing for adoring crowds. You are caught up in the glamour of the costumes, lights and makeup, but most of all; you want to sing for yourself. You want to sing because you must sing.
And your parents will probably say something like; you don’t have to stop singing just because you are a lawyer.
Parents instinctively know something that we ourselves probably don’t know when we are 17 or 18 years old. They know that it is extremely difficult to make a good living as a professional singer, and that only a few people in the world are successful at it. The rest of the singers, professional and otherwise, have a pretty tough time.
I had an extraordinarily talented student when I taught at the National Cathedral School. Her name was Ashleigh Rabbitt, and she was a coloratura soprano. After studying with me for a couple of years, she decided she wanted to be a professional opera singer. Her parents were mollified and could not understand this at all. Ashleigh might as well have told them she wanted to study to become a Martian for all the sense it made to them. We all had a meeting in the guidance counselor’s office so that I could explain to her parents what Ashleigh’s life would be like if she went to school to be an opera singer.
I told them that Ashleigh would not be the best singer in college like she had been in High School. She would have some frustrating competition, but it would not phase her, and would encourage her to excel and improve. She would have some academic classes if she went to a conservatory, but most of her studies would be music. If she went to a University she would probably have a better academic base. Then I explained what her life as a college graduate would be. It was then that they started to look green.
I said that there were no ready-made jobs for new graduates with degrees in voice. In fact, after spending all that money on college for four years she probably would not be ready for much of anything yet. She would have to continue her studies in voice and stagecraft for years to come. She could go immediately to her masters program, or work after she graduated college. If she worked she would probably be waitressing or temping. She would need flexibility in order to go to auditions whenever they were announced, and wherever. She might be lucky enough to get into an apprenticeship program. The program might or might not pay anything, and she might even have to pay to be in it. So she would load up her car and drive to some opera company somewhere for a few weeks or a few months. There she would gain experience, get coaching, feel like an artist on her way, and then get back in her car and go home—to waitressing and temping again. This phase might last several years. Over time, as her experience, confidence and vocal ability increased she would start to land small roles with opera companies, and start getting paid to sing.
I could see that her parents were growing more and more concerned. I had made it sound as if a singing career was one continuous learning experience that did not pay at all, or very little. But Asheleigh was smiling dreamily, as if she was bewitched. This was just what she wanted, and it all sounded wonderful to her. Finally her mother turned to her and said, “Is this really what you want?” and Ashleigh said it was, more than anything. Her mom was quiet for a moment, and then she shrugged and said, “Well, there it is then. We just wanted to make sure you knew what you were getting into. So what do we do here?”
Ashleigh and her parents chose Indiana University, which has a wonderful vocal program, but is also strong academically. Her parents were glad that she wasn’t going to a conservatory, and Ashleigh was happy because the voice program is one of the finest in the country. (She did very well there.)
I am going to make a sweeping generalization that I believe to be true: Most parents and guidance councilors know nothing about the classical singing career, and are of no use whatever in guiding a high school student interested in a career in Opera or classical music. People who are not interested in opera have only heard of the Met and assume any other company must be small potatoes. Practically everyone has heard of Julliard, but not everyone has heard of Mannes, Boston Conservatory, Peabody Conservatory or the Manhattan School of Music. There is a whole world of music schools out there unknown to guidance councilors and parents!
A student interested in going to college for voice must do a lot of careful research. Not only are there a wide variety of colleges, universities and conservatories to choose from; you also need to go where there is a good teacher for you. (Back to choosing a teacher again…) This time it is even more difficult to pick a teacher, because chances are that teacher is in another city rather far away from you.
Don’t despair. Ask your teacher for recommendations. Look through the college catalogue and see if your teacher recognizes any of the voice teachers there. Try to find out as much as possible about different teachers while you try to decide which school to go to.
Once at College, if you don’t like the teacher you end up with, you can change voice teachers. It isn’t the end of the world, though in certain cases it can be a little dicey. (See the next chapter for more info on that)
For distressed parents
So your son wants to go to college and study voice and become an opera singer, of all things… You know nothing about opera, and fervently wish he wanted to become a banker or a doctor instead. How will he earn a living? You’ve heard about the lifestyle of artists until they get their “big break” and it isn’t a glamorous prospect. All of your instincts tell you that you should encourage your son to take a more general education at a university or college. But he is resisting. He has auditioned for Manhattan School of Music and gotten in with a scholarship and that is where he wants to go. You want to be a supportive parent, but this is one hard pill to swallow. What should you do? Put your foot down and refuse to pay for him to go to Manhattan School of Music? Demand that he go to a regular college and study something more useful?
Parents of prospective college students everywhere have arguments and differences of opinion about which school to attend. Parents rightly feel that if they are paying huge sums of money for their kids to go to college that they should have some input in the process. This is probably true, but they also need to get the facts first and not just dismiss out of hand their child’s desires. After all, it is their life and not yours we are talking about. What you decide to do now could affect your child’s life forever and consequently your relationship with him for the rest of your lives.
Deciding to have a career in singing should be a thoughtful process both for the parents and child. True, there are few people actually making a lot of money singing classical music. Also true that most singers do not make much money at all, and have to supplement their income with other jobs. But there is a trade-off here. Most singers are people who would not be happy sitting at a desk for 8 or 9 hours a day and the variety of work can be interesting and fun. I have a lot of different jobs: I sing, play the piano, teach voice lessons, manage a singer’s agency and write. I have a flexible schedule and I can arrange my hours any way I want. Singers are artists, and artist’s schedules and rhythms differ from the rest of the world. The trade-off is this: though there is often less money than a full time job would bring in, there is a lot more free and creative time available, and an unstructured schedule. (Artists know what to do with unstructured schedules—regular people don’t usually and the idea of it kind of freaks them out.)
Even if your son or daughter does not ultimately make a lot of money singing, he or she will still find a way to have a useful and creative life. And if the challenges of the singing career are ultimately not rewarding, your child will certainly rethink his life path and start something new.
I strongly feel that artists (who are square pegs) should not be forced into round holes. Whether they make a lot of money or not, they must perform, or create, or just do their chosen art form. If you have to sing, you have to sing. And if you want to be the best you can possibly be there will be a lot of years of study involved. Singers study for their art longer than a doctor would study to become an MD. But the journey can definitely be a rewarding trip. It just isn’t your trip.
Try to think about your child’s abilities and temperament. . If your son the math wiz suddenly comes home from school one day and announces that he wants to be a voice major in college (having never before sung a note) you should probably worry. But if he has won every conceivable vocal prize at school and seem to eat, sleep and breathe music and singing, maybe he will be one of the lucky few singers who actually make it. Telling him no will only strengthen his resolve. If he wants to sing more than anything in the world, he will find a way no matter what you say. Your future relationship with your child is the most important consideration here, so try to be understanding and supportive, even if you don’t really understand.
________________________________________________________________________
For Distressed Students:
Your parents are unhappy about your decision to make a career in the arts, and you feel as if it is none of their business what you do with the rest of your life, dammit. If your parents are going to be forking over the entire bill for four years of college you would be being pretty selfish not to at least put yourself in their shoes and wonder why they are digging in their heels. Your parents want you to be able to support yourself when you graduate.
And, by the way, it is not all that easy to support yourself when you are twenty-two and newly graduated with a degree in singing. You should probably ask yourself a lot of questions before you launch headlong into a career in the arts. Even if you are devoted to your singing with all of your soul, are you sure you have what it takes for this career? What it takes is a fine voice, excellent musicianship, stamina, ambition, marketability and most of all, real talent. Even if you yourself are convinced that you possess all of those qualities, it might be a good idea to sit down with your voice teacher and have a frank discussion about whether or not you really have what it takes. It might also be a good idea to have a lesson or a coaching with a different teacher or coach, and ask him for the same honest assessment of your potential. The answers may not be what you want to hear. The advice you get might even be wrong! Either way, it will make you think very hard about what you should do.
There are so many singers in the world. So many excellent singers who are not singing anywhere and wish they were. Are you going to be able to either rise beyond that level, or be able to cope with the knowledge that you will very likely someday be one of them?
Your parents perhaps keep using the phrase “something to fall back on”. They mean that they want you to take some other classes in college that will make you more marketable, or to develop some skill with which you will be able to earn money after you graduate. This is not a bad idea at all. In fact, the more versatile you are the better off you will be after you graduate. For example, if you also play the piano well and keep it up during college, you may be able to earn extra money accompanying for singers or ballet classes or auditions. The money will certainly be better than what you could get selling shirts at Macy’s. Or if you minor in college in computers, you may be able to find a way to join your music and computer skills somehow, and earn money doing something in music, while you wait for your career to take off.
Whatever you do, get as much information about your ability and potential for this career as you can. It is a very difficult, but very rewarding career. This path is not for everyone, and finding out it is not for you before you invest 4 years of your time (and your parent’s money) can save you a lot of heartache later.
Resource list:
National Association of Teacher’s of Singing (NATS)
Publications
Opera America
Classical Singer magazine
List of operas and concert works that high school students should be familiar with:
If you really want to get a head start on your career in classical music, listen, listen listen! Go to the library and borrow CD’s, attend as many concerts and operas as you can. Get a feel for the different eras and styles of music, and know the sound of the world’s great classics. The more you listen, the better tuned your ears will become. Here is a short list of very famous music to get started with—but don’t limit yourself to the ones listed here. Be adventurous and try more challenging music like that of Alban Berg and Schoenburg, or American composers less well known like Alan Hovannes, or Lou Harrison. All of the pieces on this list are extremely accessible:
Opera
La Boheme and Madame Butterfly by Puccini
The Barber of Seville by Rossini
La Traviata and Rigoletto by Verdi
Don Giovanni, Marriage of Figaro and the Magic Flute by Mozart
Carmen by Bizet
Faust by Gounod
The Flying Dutchman, Tannheuser and Lohengrin by Wagner
Pagliacci by Leoncavallo
Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss
Oratorio
The Messiah by Handel
The Creation by Hayden
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
The Mozart Requiem
Elijah by Mendelsohn
The Brahms Requiem
The Bach Magnificat
Orchestral Works
The Symphonies of Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Mahler
Sheherazade by Rimsky Korsakoff
The Planets by Gustave Holst
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart
The Brandenburg Concerti by Bach
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Dukas
The Rite of Spring, Petrushka and the Firebird Suite by Stravinsky
Symphony Fantastique by Berlioz
La Mer by Debussey
Tone poems of Richard Strauss (Ein Heldenleben, Till Euilenspiegel’s Merry Pranks,
Also Sprach Zarathustra)
Waltzes of Johann Strauss (Blue Danube, Tales from Vienna Woods, Emperor Waltz)
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto’s #2 and #3
The Piano Concerto in A minor by Edvard Grieg
The Peer Gynt Suite by Edvard Grieg
Hungarian Rhapsody by Liszt
New World Symphony by Dvorak
Water Music by Handel
Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, The Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copeland
Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber
Bolero by Ravel
Carmen Fantasy by Bizet
Violin Concerto’s by Beethoven and Franc
The Hayden Trumpet Concerto
Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto
Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin
Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgski
The Nutcracker by Tchaikofsky
Concert and Chamber Works
Sonatas by Beethoven:
Singers begin their singing life at vastly different times. Some start taking voice lessons when they are small children, others in their teens, and some not till late in life. There is not much one can do with a small child of 6 or 7 other than teach them Disney songs and some good habits about breathing and clear tones. Steering them away from taking the chest voice too high is probably the single most helpful thing a teacher can do for a little child taking voice lessons. (I personally think that piano lessons are a much better choice for pre-teens and children.)
But what of singers in their teens who are physically mature young adults? Their vocal mechanism is often fully capable of starting real vocal training. Often by the time a singer is in high school singing has become a full-blown passion. The drama club and chorus are their favorite activities, and they already dream of being a professional singer. They plan to go to college and study voice, or drama. What should these fledgling opera singers and Broadway babies do?
For starters, young singers need to find a voice teacher that will give them a solid foundation on which to build a vocal technique that will serve them faithfully the length of their vocal life. There are many voice teachers around, but finding a good teacher is not so easy. Not only does the teacher have to know the voice intimately and know how to work with teenagers (which is quite different than working with adults), there needs to be some kind of personal connection between the student and teacher. In other words, there needs to be mutual liking and respect on both sides for the teacher and student relationship to work optimally.
Teenagers are at a stage in their life when even small setbacks can mean big drama. Teachers need to be ready for monumental mood swings. It has been my experience that teenagers routinely forget lessons, show up without music and frequently come to lessons too excited or upset to sing due to something that an adult would consider entirely trivial. If their teacher is patient and understanding he or she will listen sympathetically to the tales of elation and woe that make up their student’s lives, and continue to lead them down the path toward good technique (despite the frequent emotional obstacles).
How do you find a good teacher? There are many ways, but a perfect fit is not always easy to achieve. Some teachers advertise that teenagers are their specialty. Most of their students are teens, and they are adept at guiding them through the high school years and into the colleges and conservatories. These teachers have a high rate of student turnover, due to the fact that their students do go on to college as voice majors. It is desirable that a teen study with a teacher who knows something about the colleges and conservatories, because chances are that high school guidance counselors don’t. However, it is more important that the teacher be one that can impart a solid vocal technique.
Parents and teenagers looking for a voice teacher should shop around. It is probably not wise to try one teacher and consider it done. It is my opinion that teachers of voice should also be singers. Ask to see the teacher’s resume. Do they have a degree in voice? They should. If not, have they done a lot of performing? Ask a lot of questions. How long have they been teaching? How many students do they have? Who are some of their students? Ask if you can have the phone numbers of other students for a reference. Ask if you can observe one of their lessons.
Has he or she done solo work? Are they still performing? If so, perhaps it would be a good idea to go and see a performance. Do you like their singing? If you don’t, and you think they are terrible, it is probably a good idea to stop there and look for another teacher.
After you ask a lot of questions and possibly go to hear them sing, have a trial lesson. Every teacher has his or her own way of teaching, but when you finish the lesson, ask yourself the following questions: Does my voice feel good? Do I feel good about myself and my singing? Did I learn something today? Is my first impression of this person good? Did they treat me with respect? Is this teacher clear about what they are trying to teach, and communicating in a way that I understand? Did you answered yes to all these questions? Great! Try another lesson! If you answered no to some of these questions, then you should probably look a little further. It is extremely important to find a teacher that knows the voice and how to teach singing, as well as being supportive, encouraging and inspirational. You will know you have found a good teacher when you feel excited about going to your lesson, eager to learn new repertoire, and you feel that you are improving vocally.
When you think you have found the right teacher, settle into some kind of regular schedule of lessons and practice. You need to have a certain amount of discipline about practicing, and to establish a set of goals for yourself. Here are some sample goals:
I will join a church choir and get a solo.
I will get a solo singing part in the school play.
I will memorize two art songs by such and such a date.
I will enter the regional NATS Competiton (National Association of Teachers of Singing)
I will study with a voice teacher.
I will audition for the school madrigal group.
I will learn a song in a foreign language I don’t know.
While you are still in High School it is a good idea to study some music theory, and to learn some rudimentary piano skills if you don’t already have some. I cannot stress enough how useful piano skills are to a classical singer. Later in life singers who can play the piano (or another instrument) are generally head and shoulders ahead in musicianship than the singers who play no instruments or can barely read music. I personally am grateful that I continued my piano lessons for so long. After graduating from the conservatory I did not have to waitress or take an office job. I played the piano for a living—a much better paying and easier job.
The difference between “musicians” and “singers” is a standing joke among instrumentalists. Singers are often viewed as mere voices, while the instrumentalists must be able to read music and sightread extremely well. Singers sometimes lack these skills, and those singers make the rest of us singers look bad. Don’t be just a singer! Be a singer/ musician. If it is at all possible, take piano lessons. At the very least, try to learn to read music, and develop a few piano skills on your own. If you don’t have a piano at your house, ask your parents if they will buy you an inexpensive keyboard. Go to your local music store and ask the clerk if they can recommend a beginning piano book for you, and teach yourself the basics.
Another thing you can do to get yourself ready for your career is to listen to the great singers and to study the music they perform. If there is an Opera Company or choral society in your area, see if you can usher for performances. Chances are that you can, and if you do you will be able to see the performances for free.
Don’t just limit yourself to just vocal music, though. Try to experience all kinds of music—symphonic, chamber music, oratorio and recitals. The more music you are exposed to the greater your understanding and appreciation of all the forms of music will be. Do you find yourself attracted to a particular composer? Go to the library and take out some CD’s of his (or her) music. Even if it is not vocal music, your appreciation of the music for it’s own sake will benefit you in many ways. Find out what kind of music speaks the loudest to you. Do you love elegant baroque chamber works? Ask your teacher to find some Handel or Bach arias for you to work on. Have you become fond of the rich orchestrations of the Romantic composers? There is a plethora of vocal music written by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Mendelsohnn, and many others that may inspire you.
Are you taking a foreign language in school? Great! Learn some pieces in that language. Your teacher will probably have you singing in Italian before too long, but if you are taking another language like German, French or Spanish, ask your teacher for some appropriate pieces in the language you study as well. Try to translate the piece line by line, and know what each and every of the text means. When you sing it, try to interpret the song expressively so that you are not just singing incomprehensible syllables.
The next step
Suppose you have been taking voice lessons, making progress, and have met some of your outlined goals. But you still have another year till you go to college, and you are eager to have some visible gage of your improvement. What do you do?
If there is a small, local opera company in your area, you would probably be more than welcome as a chorus member. Small companies almost always have difficulty finding good choristers. Find out when they are holding auditions what they would like to hear. If your teacher thinks you are ready, ask him to help you prepare for it. Being in an opera chorus the first time is a great experience for a young singers. You will learn many new things: how to memorize a lot of music, how to work with other singers, how to take direction, how to move on stage. If you are very attentive you will also have learned the music to an entire opera, and watched older more advanced singers doing what you dream of doing someday.
Some operas even have roles for kids built right in! The role of Amahl in Amahl and the Night Visitors by Menotti is one. And there are three spirits in The Magic Flute, a shepherd in Tosca, pageboys in other operas. If you aren’t chosen to sing, you could be a supernumerary (which is a walk on non-speaking/non singing part). Being involved in any aspect of a staged production can be a valuable experience for a fledgling opera singer, even if it is just helping move the sets around.
There are also some training programs available to talented school age singers, like the Interlochen Arts Camp and the Bel Canto Northwest Vocal Institute. These are much like summer camps for singers. Here in the Bay Area there is an organization called the “Peninsula Teen Opera”. It is not just in the summer, but runs during the year. There may be a similar organization in your area. To find out how to locate such organizations, check the Resource list at the end of the chapter.
Another way to gage your improvement is to enter a singing competition. Later in your career you will probably be entering a lot of them. There are only a few around at the High School level, but entering them is a good way to get your feet wet for later. In the New York there is the NYSSMA festival, in which musicians of all sorts compete for letter grades (A+, A, A-, B+ etc). The highest scoring students then go to the All State Music Festival. This is a big honor for students! Check and see if such a competition exists in your district.
There are other competitions, like the Rosa Ponselle “All Marylanders” Competition, the 5 Towns Music and Art Competition in Long Island, and the NATS competition. NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) has chapters all across the United States. The local chapter near you may sponsor a yearly or bi-yearly competition. Call your local NATS president to find out when the next competition will be held. (See the Resource list at the end of the chapter)
Finally…
By now you have been taking voice lessons for one, two or maybe even three years. You have made good progress and you have decided to go to college to get a degree in voice so you can become a famous singer and sing at the Met. That’s all there is to it, right? Well, not exactly…
You may have a few hurdles to overcome before it is a done deal. What do your parents think of singing as a career choice? Are they understanding, encouraging and supportive? Are they resigned and silent? Or worse, do they oppose your decision vehemently and want you to become a doctor? Whatever you decide to do with your life is in the end up to you, but it is always desirable to have your parent’s blessing. Keep your parents involved in your college decisions. Whether or not they approve of your choice of career paths try to give them as much information as possible to help them understand what you hope to do.
Parents may not understand that deciding to become a professional singer is not quite the same as having an affinity for computers and therefore deciding to be a computer major in College. Singing is a passion, and if it is your passion you already know it. You dream of being on the stage performing for adoring crowds. You are caught up in the glamour of the costumes, lights and makeup, but most of all; you want to sing for yourself. You want to sing because you must sing.
And your parents will probably say something like; you don’t have to stop singing just because you are a lawyer.
Parents instinctively know something that we ourselves probably don’t know when we are 17 or 18 years old. They know that it is extremely difficult to make a good living as a professional singer, and that only a few people in the world are successful at it. The rest of the singers, professional and otherwise, have a pretty tough time.
I had an extraordinarily talented student when I taught at the National Cathedral School. Her name was Ashleigh Rabbitt, and she was a coloratura soprano. After studying with me for a couple of years, she decided she wanted to be a professional opera singer. Her parents were mollified and could not understand this at all. Ashleigh might as well have told them she wanted to study to become a Martian for all the sense it made to them. We all had a meeting in the guidance counselor’s office so that I could explain to her parents what Ashleigh’s life would be like if she went to school to be an opera singer.
I told them that Ashleigh would not be the best singer in college like she had been in High School. She would have some frustrating competition, but it would not phase her, and would encourage her to excel and improve. She would have some academic classes if she went to a conservatory, but most of her studies would be music. If she went to a University she would probably have a better academic base. Then I explained what her life as a college graduate would be. It was then that they started to look green.
I said that there were no ready-made jobs for new graduates with degrees in voice. In fact, after spending all that money on college for four years she probably would not be ready for much of anything yet. She would have to continue her studies in voice and stagecraft for years to come. She could go immediately to her masters program, or work after she graduated college. If she worked she would probably be waitressing or temping. She would need flexibility in order to go to auditions whenever they were announced, and wherever. She might be lucky enough to get into an apprenticeship program. The program might or might not pay anything, and she might even have to pay to be in it. So she would load up her car and drive to some opera company somewhere for a few weeks or a few months. There she would gain experience, get coaching, feel like an artist on her way, and then get back in her car and go home—to waitressing and temping again. This phase might last several years. Over time, as her experience, confidence and vocal ability increased she would start to land small roles with opera companies, and start getting paid to sing.
I could see that her parents were growing more and more concerned. I had made it sound as if a singing career was one continuous learning experience that did not pay at all, or very little. But Asheleigh was smiling dreamily, as if she was bewitched. This was just what she wanted, and it all sounded wonderful to her. Finally her mother turned to her and said, “Is this really what you want?” and Ashleigh said it was, more than anything. Her mom was quiet for a moment, and then she shrugged and said, “Well, there it is then. We just wanted to make sure you knew what you were getting into. So what do we do here?”
Ashleigh and her parents chose Indiana University, which has a wonderful vocal program, but is also strong academically. Her parents were glad that she wasn’t going to a conservatory, and Ashleigh was happy because the voice program is one of the finest in the country. (She did very well there.)
I am going to make a sweeping generalization that I believe to be true: Most parents and guidance councilors know nothing about the classical singing career, and are of no use whatever in guiding a high school student interested in a career in Opera or classical music. People who are not interested in opera have only heard of the Met and assume any other company must be small potatoes. Practically everyone has heard of Julliard, but not everyone has heard of Mannes, Boston Conservatory, Peabody Conservatory or the Manhattan School of Music. There is a whole world of music schools out there unknown to guidance councilors and parents!
A student interested in going to college for voice must do a lot of careful research. Not only are there a wide variety of colleges, universities and conservatories to choose from; you also need to go where there is a good teacher for you. (Back to choosing a teacher again…) This time it is even more difficult to pick a teacher, because chances are that teacher is in another city rather far away from you.
Don’t despair. Ask your teacher for recommendations. Look through the college catalogue and see if your teacher recognizes any of the voice teachers there. Try to find out as much as possible about different teachers while you try to decide which school to go to.
Once at College, if you don’t like the teacher you end up with, you can change voice teachers. It isn’t the end of the world, though in certain cases it can be a little dicey. (See the next chapter for more info on that)
For distressed parents
So your son wants to go to college and study voice and become an opera singer, of all things… You know nothing about opera, and fervently wish he wanted to become a banker or a doctor instead. How will he earn a living? You’ve heard about the lifestyle of artists until they get their “big break” and it isn’t a glamorous prospect. All of your instincts tell you that you should encourage your son to take a more general education at a university or college. But he is resisting. He has auditioned for Manhattan School of Music and gotten in with a scholarship and that is where he wants to go. You want to be a supportive parent, but this is one hard pill to swallow. What should you do? Put your foot down and refuse to pay for him to go to Manhattan School of Music? Demand that he go to a regular college and study something more useful?
Parents of prospective college students everywhere have arguments and differences of opinion about which school to attend. Parents rightly feel that if they are paying huge sums of money for their kids to go to college that they should have some input in the process. This is probably true, but they also need to get the facts first and not just dismiss out of hand their child’s desires. After all, it is their life and not yours we are talking about. What you decide to do now could affect your child’s life forever and consequently your relationship with him for the rest of your lives.
Deciding to have a career in singing should be a thoughtful process both for the parents and child. True, there are few people actually making a lot of money singing classical music. Also true that most singers do not make much money at all, and have to supplement their income with other jobs. But there is a trade-off here. Most singers are people who would not be happy sitting at a desk for 8 or 9 hours a day and the variety of work can be interesting and fun. I have a lot of different jobs: I sing, play the piano, teach voice lessons, manage a singer’s agency and write. I have a flexible schedule and I can arrange my hours any way I want. Singers are artists, and artist’s schedules and rhythms differ from the rest of the world. The trade-off is this: though there is often less money than a full time job would bring in, there is a lot more free and creative time available, and an unstructured schedule. (Artists know what to do with unstructured schedules—regular people don’t usually and the idea of it kind of freaks them out.)
Even if your son or daughter does not ultimately make a lot of money singing, he or she will still find a way to have a useful and creative life. And if the challenges of the singing career are ultimately not rewarding, your child will certainly rethink his life path and start something new.
I strongly feel that artists (who are square pegs) should not be forced into round holes. Whether they make a lot of money or not, they must perform, or create, or just do their chosen art form. If you have to sing, you have to sing. And if you want to be the best you can possibly be there will be a lot of years of study involved. Singers study for their art longer than a doctor would study to become an MD. But the journey can definitely be a rewarding trip. It just isn’t your trip.
Try to think about your child’s abilities and temperament. . If your son the math wiz suddenly comes home from school one day and announces that he wants to be a voice major in college (having never before sung a note) you should probably worry. But if he has won every conceivable vocal prize at school and seem to eat, sleep and breathe music and singing, maybe he will be one of the lucky few singers who actually make it. Telling him no will only strengthen his resolve. If he wants to sing more than anything in the world, he will find a way no matter what you say. Your future relationship with your child is the most important consideration here, so try to be understanding and supportive, even if you don’t really understand.
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For Distressed Students:
Your parents are unhappy about your decision to make a career in the arts, and you feel as if it is none of their business what you do with the rest of your life, dammit. If your parents are going to be forking over the entire bill for four years of college you would be being pretty selfish not to at least put yourself in their shoes and wonder why they are digging in their heels. Your parents want you to be able to support yourself when you graduate.
And, by the way, it is not all that easy to support yourself when you are twenty-two and newly graduated with a degree in singing. You should probably ask yourself a lot of questions before you launch headlong into a career in the arts. Even if you are devoted to your singing with all of your soul, are you sure you have what it takes for this career? What it takes is a fine voice, excellent musicianship, stamina, ambition, marketability and most of all, real talent. Even if you yourself are convinced that you possess all of those qualities, it might be a good idea to sit down with your voice teacher and have a frank discussion about whether or not you really have what it takes. It might also be a good idea to have a lesson or a coaching with a different teacher or coach, and ask him for the same honest assessment of your potential. The answers may not be what you want to hear. The advice you get might even be wrong! Either way, it will make you think very hard about what you should do.
There are so many singers in the world. So many excellent singers who are not singing anywhere and wish they were. Are you going to be able to either rise beyond that level, or be able to cope with the knowledge that you will very likely someday be one of them?
Your parents perhaps keep using the phrase “something to fall back on”. They mean that they want you to take some other classes in college that will make you more marketable, or to develop some skill with which you will be able to earn money after you graduate. This is not a bad idea at all. In fact, the more versatile you are the better off you will be after you graduate. For example, if you also play the piano well and keep it up during college, you may be able to earn extra money accompanying for singers or ballet classes or auditions. The money will certainly be better than what you could get selling shirts at Macy’s. Or if you minor in college in computers, you may be able to find a way to join your music and computer skills somehow, and earn money doing something in music, while you wait for your career to take off.
Whatever you do, get as much information about your ability and potential for this career as you can. It is a very difficult, but very rewarding career. This path is not for everyone, and finding out it is not for you before you invest 4 years of your time (and your parent’s money) can save you a lot of heartache later.
Resource list:
National Association of Teacher’s of Singing (NATS)
Publications
Opera America
Classical Singer magazine
List of operas and concert works that high school students should be familiar with:
If you really want to get a head start on your career in classical music, listen, listen listen! Go to the library and borrow CD’s, attend as many concerts and operas as you can. Get a feel for the different eras and styles of music, and know the sound of the world’s great classics. The more you listen, the better tuned your ears will become. Here is a short list of very famous music to get started with—but don’t limit yourself to the ones listed here. Be adventurous and try more challenging music like that of Alban Berg and Schoenburg, or American composers less well known like Alan Hovannes, or Lou Harrison. All of the pieces on this list are extremely accessible:
Opera
La Boheme and Madame Butterfly by Puccini
The Barber of Seville by Rossini
La Traviata and Rigoletto by Verdi
Don Giovanni, Marriage of Figaro and the Magic Flute by Mozart
Carmen by Bizet
Faust by Gounod
The Flying Dutchman, Tannheuser and Lohengrin by Wagner
Pagliacci by Leoncavallo
Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss
Oratorio
The Messiah by Handel
The Creation by Hayden
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
The Mozart Requiem
Elijah by Mendelsohn
The Brahms Requiem
The Bach Magnificat
Orchestral Works
The Symphonies of Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Mahler
Sheherazade by Rimsky Korsakoff
The Planets by Gustave Holst
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart
The Brandenburg Concerti by Bach
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Dukas
The Rite of Spring, Petrushka and the Firebird Suite by Stravinsky
Symphony Fantastique by Berlioz
La Mer by Debussey
Tone poems of Richard Strauss (Ein Heldenleben, Till Euilenspiegel’s Merry Pranks,
Also Sprach Zarathustra)
Waltzes of Johann Strauss (Blue Danube, Tales from Vienna Woods, Emperor Waltz)
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto’s #2 and #3
The Piano Concerto in A minor by Edvard Grieg
The Peer Gynt Suite by Edvard Grieg
Hungarian Rhapsody by Liszt
New World Symphony by Dvorak
Water Music by Handel
Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, The Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copeland
Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber
Bolero by Ravel
Carmen Fantasy by Bizet
Violin Concerto’s by Beethoven and Franc
The Hayden Trumpet Concerto
Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto
Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin
Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgski
The Nutcracker by Tchaikofsky
Concert and Chamber Works
Sonatas by Beethoven: