Well, the last few weeks have robbed me of brain cells. I wrote a little bit here about the struggle I’m having with listening and, well, doing anything else. Posting to resume over Thanksgiving, if not before.
Indirect Routes
Career paths that share a common starting place in the arts.
Sandy: A Metaphor
So, the coincidence of a Frankenstorm blowing through the eastern seaboard smack dab in the middle of the autumn audition season is just too much to pass up.
Sometimes life shakes up the puzzle pieces – forces us to shelter in place, take stock of our supplies. We need to determine what things are truly important and what things are tangential. Pare things down to the essentials – what do you need? Music? Attention? Collaboration? Renown? (Be honest – it’s a simple question, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to answer.)
Hoping that, if you’re trying to make an audition, you can do so safely. (We’ll be traveling – either flying or driving, depending on the post-storm situation – on Wednesday to continue with our own tour.) And if the mountain seems too steep to climb this season? I’m hoping that something new and equally interesting enters your field of view.
Stay safe, friends.
Mistakes, and Recovering with Style.
We all make mistakes, right?
I had a professor in college who used to say “Go ahead and make a mistake…but make it big, and make a different one every time.” Words to live by, even if it’s easier said than done.
There’s a lot of pressure in classical music to not make any mistakes – to reach for perfection. It’s a worthy quest, but not something that’s possible for most of us mere mortals.
When I was teaching, my students would often stop when they made a mistake and want to start over from the beginning. At the best, it delayed building the stamina they’d need to get through a full piece…at worst, it actually routined the mistakes and pauses into their performances. I used to play a specific tune for them at the beginning of the year, and would revisit it periodically during the year when the pressure to be perfect caused paralysis-by-analysis. The tune was a live recording from Berlin, when Ella Fitzgerald and her band were taking a first stab at the hit tune “Mack the Knife.”
(Suffice it to say that she doesn’t so much remember all the words.)
The other takeaway? Is that it is a wonderful testament to being in the moment, for committing, for letting go of perfection and embracing spontaneity.
The Audition Muscle
Writing this from New York City, on the eve of a week’s worth of auditions. If you’re in the biz, you know that the autumn months are a gauntlet of sorts for singers- applications, acceptances, rejections, auditions, offers, contracts. Aside from being one of the weirdest interview processes of which I could conceive, (you have 10 minutes to tell me all about your training, your aspirations, and your artistry…the catch is that you have to tell me using someone else’s words, and most likely do so in a foreign language. But, as a plus, you get to use some pretty killer tunes to make your point.), it’s the basis on which our corner of the art is built. A necessary evil.
We talk about auditioning being a muscle that, when worked out regularly, improves. I don’t believe that anyone really enjoys the experience, but I think that it does become easier with practice. Most things do.
This is also the time of year when people will start to second-guess their career paths. They didn’t get the auditions, or any offers for next summer or next year. The choice is to either dig in more fully, or to look around and investigate other options. Everyone’s timetable is different, as are the the thresholds.
Let me put it one way: after 7+ years of sitting on an audition panel, hearing over 500 singers each year? I can say that 90% of the singers I hear are doing a lot of things right. They’ve done the work; they know the text and subtext of their piece, they have good diction, they sing in tune. (That last one’s a bigger deal breaker than you might think.) There are 5% who end up singing for us who are not ready, in one way or another. And then there are the super-shiny top 5%, who give us an authentic artistic experience when they walk into the audition room. The performances aren’t perfect, but they’re compelling- fundamentals are exceeded, and we get a sense of the singer’s artistic voice.
If you hate auditioning? Before you walk away, do it more often; so that the hate becomes mere dislike, and less epic. If you can’t get there? Well, then you’ve given it a fair shake, and maybe investigating other options is the way to go.
Commit. Ride the wave. (And, when you get to shore? Decide whether you want to go back in, or whether it’s time for an ice cream on the way home. )
Profile Friday Roundup
Greetings from San Francisco! 
As I try to acclimate myself to the west coast (it’s been three days and I’m finally waking up at 5:30am, rather than 4am. Progress!), I hope you’ll skim through the profiles that we’ve featured here over the last few months.
(Listed in order of appearance.)
At the very least, there are some salient points to be taken from each of these journeys. At best – and that’s personally where I think these stories and intentions belong – they’re tales of discernment and courage.
On standby.
Tuesday is Travel Day!
Posting will be light for a while, as I’ll be on the road for our Annual Autumn Audition Extravaganza…over 500 auditions in eight cities across the country over the next four-and-a-half weeks. It’s an exciting and challenging time for us – we’re vetting repertoire choices as we’re listening to singers, trying to find the right mix for our 2013 season.
During this time, I’m always reminded of my own circuitous journey, that brought me to my seat on the other side of the audition table. I’m happy with where I am now, but I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that it was a rough path getting here. I’m hoping to post some reflections, and a little bit of inspiration, during this year’s tour.
This Friday I’ll post a recap of the profiles we’ve seen thus far. And – if you have a story that you’d like to share, or want to nominate someone whose story you’d think would resonate with readers, please email me at indirectroutes@gmail.com.
If you’re auditioning this fall, please know that I am in awe of your courage and that I’m sending you good wishes from my side of the table. And if you’ve decided that this is your last audition season, or that your heart’s not really in it, or that you need to try something else but are too scared? Well, I hope you’ll check back for a little bit of support and some real-life examples.
Follow your passion.
Cal Newport, a Computer Science professor at Georgetown University, wrote a great article for the New York Times about discovering one’s passion, rather than choosing and following one. He talks about having doubts when in graduate school:
Had I subscribed to the “follow our passion” orthodoxy, I probably would have left during those first years, worried that I didn’t feel love for my work every day. But I knew that my sense of fulfillment would grow over time, as I became better at my job. So I worked hard, and, as my competence grew, so did my engagement.
I think we do tend to single-track students into finding their ‘passions’ much too early. Isn’t it lovely to have someone advocate on behalf of fulfilling work, without the pressure of calling it a ‘career’?
Tooting One’s Own Horn
(In my case? Marching mellophone. Who’s with me?)
Kelley Rourke, on behalf of her fantastic colleagues at Opera America, asked me to do a little writing for their magazine. I was flattered to be asked, and used the opportunity to pick the brains of several folks who had interesting career trajectories. If you’re an Opera America member (and if you’re not, join the heck up!), you can read the article on their website. If not, click below to enlarge.
(Here marks my first print byline. What a great feeling!)
Creativity. Excess.
I have a healthy love for the dramatic…for larger-than-life moments, for the smells-and-bells of religious rituals, for intimate secrets. They can play out on stages large and small, in novels and chapbooks and blogs and photos. (I have less patience for real-life drama, as it’s never as tidily contained as in the pages of a book, or of the opera’s three-acts-two-intermission structure.)
My mother was my gateway to this world – a creative English teacher who would read aloud in thirteen differently-pitched-and-accented-voices, and who fostered a love of reading in her kids with the brilliant idea to censor television programs but not books. (I read every Stephen King book he had written up to the late 80’s. To this day I cannot make it the whole way through a suspenseful movie, and duck and cover as soon as those pesky violins begin.) I love a good story, but I love equally a mediocre story told with flair and verve.
(If you tell my mother that the reason I like to hang with artists is because of her, she’ll be equal parts offended and flattered, depending on the day. Make sure you have your exit paths mapped before you talk, is all I’m saying…)
So, the fact that I’ve found myself in a world rife with drama on all levels? (The High-Horse of Artistry! The Heart-Rending Budget Cuts! The Temperamental Diva/Divo! The Entry-Level Wage Slaves!) Not at all surprising, really. And I’m sure that I’m not the only one who has found my way here due to a love of tall tales and a willingness to suspend disbelief.
It’s been a long time since I’ve read Anaïs Nin’s writings, but Maria Popova reminds me that she was a proponent of excess.
Excess. Indeed.
To quote Mae West, another iconic proponent of excess, “Too much of a good thing is wonderful.” Hoping that your Monday is excessively fantastic, dear readers.
Indirect Routes 