Tag Archives: reading list

Dec 30 2013
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New beginnings.

I’m a sucker for fresh starts.

As 2014 dials down, I find myself thinking about resolutions… and I’m eschewing the usual, predictable ones.

I’ve been reading a lot about systems; focusing on them rather than the elusive goals that you hope they’ll lead to, using them to help your willpower. (Here and here.) As a process person, that shift of focus might be the key for me to get some interesting stuff done in 2014.

(As a friend used to say, “Deny yourself nothing in a dream.”)

Sending you wishes for a wonderful, interesting, prosperous 2014. Let’s do this, shall we?

 

 

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Dec 14 2013
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Road Map.

Road Map.

This article has been making the rounds lately – it’s a step-by-step walk-through of how to have an operatic career. Training, YAPS, small roles, larger roles. It’s a good, comprehensive article, and while I don’t agree with everything 100%, there’s a lot of truth and helpful advice here.

The fall audition season is almost over for most singers and companies. Do you have something lined up? Did you have a successful (artistically) and/or unsuccessful (employment) season?

If you don’t have a gig, what are your next steps? I’d propose three:

1. Strengthen. Ask for feedback. Address your weaknesses and take care of them, for realz.

2. Reflect. Why do you want this career? What are the specific things about it that you love? (For me, it was the collaborative and improvisatory aspects of the rehearsal room.) What things are difficult, and why? (For me, tying my sense of self so strongly to other people’s opinions – I am much more confident now that I’m not singing.)

3. Explore. If you only know of two different tracks towards a career in the arts (teaching and performing being the two most prevalent), explore what else is out there. Ask for informational interviews with folks whose jobs you want. Ask a metric ton of questions. Gather as much info as you can – it will help you make the decision on your own terms.

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Dec 12 2013
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Reading List: The Diversified Career

Reading List: The Diversified Career

If you had asked me when I was 20-something, trying to cobble a living with 5 different jobs and a widely variable schedule, whether I wanted a conventional job or a freelance career, I would’ve certainly pointed towards the steady employment.

But now, well, the prospect of working on projects that I like, and caring less about where the paycheck comes from (caveat: as long as the paycheck is, in fact, coming) is a very attractive thing.

Seems that it is, also, a thing. It’s called having a diversified career, and it’s statistically the new normal. Redefining “success” in an individual manner – that can only be a good thing, as I see it.

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