Re: Choral singing vs. solo. Big ol' rant!!
Hello List,
WARNING! This is pretty long.
I recently signed back up for Vocalist after a couple of years absence and it looks like I made it just in time to catch a thread that pertains to me completely! So here's my view on things....
Like many singers, I have had to struggle with this dilemma of whether or not to sing in choirs or stick to working on solo rep. exclusively. My first musical experiences growing up and through school were with choirs and I learned a lot but I always wanted to be a solo singer. I was always encouraged also by my voice teachers to only sing solo rep. and get out of choir because it wasn't "healthy" singing or for "good" singers. It's amazing now to me that there is such a bad stigma attatched to chorus work (opera or other).
In my case, choosing an opera chorus job was one of the best things I have done for my career. I was fortunate enough to have gotten opera leads in college and I won a couple contests before my husband and I moved to Germany to pursue our careers. Once here I got some small roles here and there and did concerts as well as musical theater, but in order to do this I had to constantly push myself to the edge and be away from my husband a lot. This is what finally decided things for me. In this time I grew to know myself well and realized that while I had some success, I really wasn't happy. The lifestyle just didn't suit my personality. So, when I heard there was an opening in the choir at the theater where my husband worked, I decided that this would probably be a good option for me. I was lucky enough to get the job (I say that because it is NOT easy to get a soprano chorus job here!) and proceeded to prepare myself to take a "back seat" to the soloists on stage. Low and behold, what I discovered was that there were a number of singers in this chorus who were just like me!! Very talented musicians who for one reason or another just didn't want to do the soloist thing. Yes, it was hard at first to have to stand on stage and listen to some of the leads and think, I could do that better, but I also was really happy that I could perform regularly and get paid a decent salary at the same time.
I have a soprano friend who was agast that I could stoop to actually singing in a chorus, like somehow it's such a terrible thing and I posed these questions to her, as I will now pose to some other vocalists out there who think the same thing....
How often do you actually perform? Of those performances, how many have you gotten paid for? How many hours a week do you work at your "regular" job? How many contacts do you have in the musical field? How much money do you put out on promoting your solo career? At what point will you feel like you're truly successful as a singer? Will it be when you're at the Met or singing a small role at a festival?
Now, maybe some of you out there have a master plan about your career (or are already doing quite well as soloists and that's great), but I can tell you, this soprano did not. It was not that she wasn't a good singer or totally socially backwards, it's just that she had this mentality that somehow if she just practised really hard and auditioned, that she would eventually get a job and after that she would have "made" it, she would be a professional singer. In the meantime she was sitting around at home and hardly knew anyone who was a musician, let alone could help her find a singing gig. Her philosophy was, if I can't sing solo, then I'd rather not sing at all. So basically she wasn't ANY kind of singer. She wasn't sharing her talents with anyone except for her voice teacher and she wasn't learning about making music with other professionals or the ins and outs of the music business from experienced people who could help her. I found that very sad. For me, there is really no other option but to be a professional musician, any way I can. I have had to work at offices just to make money and I was completely unhappy the whole time!!!! Now, I still sometimes can't believe that I actually get paid to sing on stage! Another added benefit to my job is that I have gotten a bunch of private solo concerts from contacts at the theater and I regularly get supporting roles in opera/operetta/musicals and even plays at the theater.
My whole point to this long rant is that I don't think it's fair for some people to expect that all singers should want to put "all their eggs in one basket". I think the best advice one can give is to really be honest with yourself and find a situation that works right for you. Don't feel like you have to do things one way because others say that's how it should be. Try to be open to trying different things, you may be surprised!
That's all for now!
Thanks,
Mary
|
