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Insights from Boston Singers Resource
Welcome to the BSR Blog!
The BSR Blog will feature career tips, advice, news items, articles and essays about classical singing in the Greater Boston area. For more information and links, please go to the BSR website: www.BostonSingersResource.org. We look forward to hearing from you -...
Resumes, Emails, and Websites, Oh My
Question: "While I do understand that what makes a good resume is a rather subjective judgment, I’d love to have access to some concrete tips and/or examples of resumes that really work in a singer’s favor.” Angela: The resume issue comes up all the time and frankly...
A Few More Helpful Resume Tips
After looking at binders full of singers over the last month, I wanted to add a few more tips on resume design: Your name, contact information and voice type should be huge and clear across the top of the resume. Try to avoid underlining, tiny fonts, or other...
Audition Rep!
Question: How do you pick good audition rep? Angela: First, sing what you sing best! But if you already have that down and you want to be more strategic about your audition repertoire, the one comment I hear pretty often from auditors is that they want singers to...
Auditions: What Not to Wear
Question: Help. What are we supposed to wear for auditions? Angela: This is a complicated topic. Advice about what to wear and what not to wear can get super-confusing because the guidelines frequently contradict each other, and it can be hard not to take a lot of the...
A Backstage Tip
Here's a good tip for anyone just starting out in the business: Always thank your Stage Manager! Stage Managers work incredibly hard and are rarely thanked as much as they deserve. They are, in fact, criminally underappreciated. They don't get the applause or the...
A Special Guest Post by Elaine Crane!
All, if you haven't met Elaine Crane of Greater Worcester Opera, then may I be the first to introduce you to the nicest person in the world: Elaine Crane has had a varied career as performer, actress, founder and executive producer of a local 501 (c) 3 opera company,...
YAPPITY YAP
Question: I am really enjoying your blog, and had a request. Do you think you guys could write an entry on YAP programs for recent grads. There just seems to be so much, and a lot of it is really out of my league, or like $5000. So it would be nice to hear your...
Success…
A number of singers I know - fine singers...in fact, excellent singers - think of themselves as having failed in opera, or indeed in professional singing as a whole, because they're not working full-time in the field. This has been really bothering me, and I wanted to...
Links to Posts on Resumes, Rep, and Audition Outfits
Happy New Year, Everyone! Just to make them easier to find, here are the posts on resumes, audition repertoire and audition outfits, if you want some ideas to roll around in your heads while you're making plans. Feel free to send questions in to the blog if there's...
On Rejection
So you didn't get that gig you really wanted. You worked really hard to prepare and now there won't be another chance to sing for them again until next year and AARGH. There are limited opportunities, there are so many gatekeepers, it's practically impossible to get...
On Cancelling
Wouldn't it be great if on our first day at conservatory we were handed a how-to guide for singers, something like a Miss Manners etiquette book for the music industry? Yes! That would be amazing! If only that were the case! And yet? It is not. Cue sad trombone. So my...
Ready for My Close-Up, Mr. DeMille
Video clips! Singers, you now need video clips. And if you've been slow to upgrade your phone to the 5S or whatever your non-Apple version of "the latest and greatest" is, then wait ye no longer because wow, as professional tools those things are seriously handy. But...
A Quick Tip on Social Media
Something I'm hearing pretty frequently these days from fellow company directors and organizers is that due to our powerful social media tools, we can have a pretty fair idea of what singers are actually doing when they've declined or cancelled something. The...
The Art of the Decline
Singers can't take every opportunity that comes along. Well, we can certainly try- but we shouldn't, because sanity. And of course we can't take offers for multiple gigs on the same day or pro bono opportunities we can't afford or roles that aren't interesting, and if...
A Few More Audition Tips
All, as we begin the screaming descent into audition season, here are a few more takeaways from recent auditing experiences for your consideration. Happy Singing! Audition Outfits All you gorgeous ladies, consider avoiding miniskirts when auditioning for panels who...
Singing While Sick
So we're all sick this year, right? I mean, I've been coughing since October, and I know I'm not the only one because I see you all on Facebook posting about the same damn thing. Plus at rehearsal and gigs we're all up to our ears in Kleenex. Which brings me to...
The Almost Most Important Thing
We're taught in conservatory that the most important thing in our field is the voice. Well, yes, that's true. However! It runs a close tie with what I'd like to call The Almost Most Important Thing: SHOES. Hahaha no just kidding: it's COMMUNICATION SKILLS. You...
Getting Real: The Correlating Career
All, I'm so pleased to present this guest post by the amazing Dana Lynne Varga (whom you might know as Dana Schnitzer, but she recently got married and now has a sexy new last name, so congrats to the Vargas!). Dana, who has a jaw-dropping professional bio that...
BSR Audition Tips
For all you gorgeous singers prepping for BSR Auditions next month, here are some tips distilled from my previous posts and some new thoughts to help you focus your efforts. I've audited loooots of BSR auditions and listened to the comments auditors make afterwards,...
BSR Audition Tips: Coda
It occurred to me after the last round of BSR auditions (great job, everyone!) that there are a couple more suggestions to put out there for your audition prep consideration: You're in the audition from the second you walk into the lobby of the audition space to the...
Communication Pro Tip
I organize a lot of performances for a number of organizations. A lot. Some of the readers of this blog (hi readers! *waves*) may already know that I'm constantly communicating with awesome singers and pianists, arranging programs, asking about schedules and...
Who To Know: Another Pro Tip
Guys, here's another important pro tip for your consideration on managing the singing business: get to know your Boards. Sometimes singers only think about meeting and greeting other artists associated with a performing organization - like singers, conductors, and...
The Business of Singing: Contracts!
Sweet readers, we all know that singing requires us to be our own managers, accountants, and PR representatives, but since our business courses in conservatory totaled 0 (trust me, I counted them twice), we all have to learn our hard business skills on the fly. So...
BSR Workshop on Sunday, February 7th, 2016: Auditions!
Boston Singers' Resource is thrilled to announce the first BSR Workshop: Auditions! Hosted by Dana Varga, Phil Lauriat, Elaine Crane, and Angela Jajko, join us for an interactive session combining panel discussion and demonstration, master class coaching, and Q&A....
The Unprepared Singer
All, I'm thrilled to present a new guest post by the talented Dana Lynne Varga. Thank you, Dana, and Happy Reading! -Angela The Unprepared Singer You look great! But can you sing? Young singers are constantly bombarded with conflicting information about appropriate...
Don’t Take It Personally! Part One: Rejection Letters
It's hard to be a working singer. Really, really hard. We have crazy schedules, we run on empty a lot because the business breaks us financially and emotionally, and we need *NEED* positive feedback regularly so we know we're doing well. But we have to jump through...
Don’t Take It Personally! Part Two: Why You Got Rejected
In Part One of Don't Take It Personally!, I talked about rejection letters and some of the reasons why you didn't get one (read it here). Of course, no one *wants* to get one of those, but sometimes we take it the wrong way when all we get is silence instead. But this...
How to Attract That Special Someone: 8 Ways for Small Opera Companies to Attract Quality Singers
Hi Readers! This blog regularly features career tips and perspective on the business for working singers, but wait- what about advice for the people on the other side of the table? Aren't there best practices and suggestions for the organizers and producers who make...
8 Important Tips for Navigating the Singing Business!
Don't you love a good numbered list of important things on the internet? Who doesn't! So here's the BSR Blog's very first numbered list of 8 Important Tips for Navigating the Singing Business. These are things I've either learned the hard way, seen people learn the...
8 Back to School Tips from BSR
Hi Readers! It's that time of year, that wonderful time when the shelves are stripped bare at Target: it's back to school! So BSR's esteemed Executive Director Margaret Felice, an accomplished singer, writer and teacher, has assembled this great list of tips for...
Failure and Resilience
So we're all reeling from the election results, right? I mean, alcohol sales in blue states must have tripled last week. People are posting all over social media about fear, sadness, activism and change, and Trump's success has us all focused on the looming doom of...
What to Wear to Auditions: Answers to Three FAQs!
Skip the "Audition Uniform"! It's all the rage in auditioning these days. Social media posts are proudly proclaiming a break from jewel-tone wrap dresses in a picture parade of prints, slacks, jumpsuits, muumuus, and tuxedos. Well, not so much the last two, because,...
Lord, Give Me Strength: How to Deal With a Challenging Gig
So that gig you accepted has turned out to be, shall we say, challenging. In business, they like to call these situations "opportunities", because let's keep it positive, people! But in the arts, we calls 'em like we sees 'em: trainwrecks. So what do you do when you...
The No-Show No-No
Business etiquette is hugely important in the singing business, but it's unfortunately one of those things that people seem to learn the hard way after they've already breached the social niceties. I mean, if no one has ever shown you how to handle yourself in a...
The Importance of Self-Care
Hi Readers! I'm beyond pleased to share with you this most excellent guest post by singer and psychotherapist Lyndie Laramore. She and I started talking the other day about being overbooked (the ground state of any dual career working singer, amirite), and the...
From Desk to Stage: Transitioning Well From Day Job to Rehearsal and Performance
Hi Readers! I'm convinced that the greatest resource we have in the singing business is each other, because the vast and ever-growing network of generous colleagues who share their hard-won knowledge every chance they get gives us all a hand up the ladder. Today the...
How to Make More Money in the Arts: Ask!
BSR welcomes Boston-area singer and pianist Eileen Huang as a guest today. She shares some encouraging advice on how to make more money in the arts. Thanks Eileen! We’d all like to earn more money, but asking for a raise or negotiating your fee in an endangered arts...
A Singer’s Walk through Boston
This post is adapted from a piece written by Executive Director Margaret Felice for Classical Singer Magazine's May 2018 issue before their Boston convention. We hope that singers visiting Boston for the convention - or anytime - will have a chance to see our...
3 tips on Hustle: how hard work can advance your career!
At the 2018 Classical Singer Convention BSR hosted a workshop on hustle, featuring James Dargan and Hailey Fuqua. They both shared their advice on how to work hard and smart, and how to have a busy performing career. Thanks to attendee Sarah Rogers who wrote up this...
Why I wear tiki dresses to auditions
Soprano and BSR board member Stephanie Mann is featured today writing about bringing personal style into the audition room. You can learn more about Stephanie and all of our members at bostonsingersresource.org When I was in Grad School, we were taught that there was...
4 benefits to having a church job
The last few weeks on BostonSingersResource.org we have seen a lot of posts for section leaders and soloists at area churches. Since many of these gigs start in September, now is the time to consider if you are interested in one of these positions. Our Executive...
Beyond Pedagogy: When vocal technique is no longer enough
We asked longtime BSR collaborator Sarah Whitten to share some insight on the physicality of singing. Sarah is a specialist in how our bodies affect our singing, and we are so grateful she shared this guest post! Every singer has sticky spots - those places where...
Three ways to promote your work with BSR
Our new website is finally here – and you can use it to promote your work right away! Read on for three of the most exciting features for singers. Post your concert on our Vocal Music Calendar This totally free service is open to anyone with a login. Provide a few...
Learning Music: A Beginner’s Guide
Hi all! Sophie Urquhart here, your Communications Assistant for BSR. Like other members of the BSR administrative team, I’m also a singer, albeit a young one, and today I want to use this platform to discuss the very important topic of how to learn music efficiently....
Singing with Chronic Health Challenges
BSR welcomes guest author and soprano Kim Lamoureux to share her experiences battling a chronic health condition as a singer. It all started with heartburn. It was a muggy spring day, and I was on my way to a dance competition in my role as vocal coach for the musical...
Finding Your Career Niche: One Singer’s Path
What does a career in music look like? That’s a question that young singers (and accomplished ones!) are often asked, usually with a tone of disbelief that such a thing is possible. Not only is a career in music possible, these careers take an exciting variety of...
A Guide to Choosing the Right Graduate School
When it comes to choosing which graduate programs to apply to, it's hard to find a solid place to start. With all the big-name schools you’ve heard plenty about, what your teachers and mentors have suggested, and what your friends recommend, it can be hard to sort all...
Five tips for singers this audition season by Katrina Holden-Buckley
We can always count on singer and writer Katrina Holden-Buckley to give us a humorous and light-hearted take on the life of a singer. We are grateful for her contribution to our blog this month! - Ed. Get out your jewel-toned wrap dresses, modest heels, and black...
Bridging the Pit: Advice for opera singers from director Kirsten Z Cairns
Everyone wants to have a good time in the rehearsal room! We’re all there to work hard, have fun, be inspired, and create something wonderful. We all know, however, that it can be really daunting, showing up on day one with a new team of castmates and crew! Singers...
The Artivist in Action: a singer’s guide to speaking out by James Dargan
"An artist's job is to speak to the times." Nina Simone Dear fellow singers, As we see hatred and fear unleashed in our country and abroad, it is easy to feel hopeless, or angry, or even perhaps superior, but despite all the time we spend making our voices impossible...
A Guide to Teaching Online Lessons
Thanks to singer and teacher Ellen Allen for sharing her best practices for teaching online lessons! - ed. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has naturally been a lot of discussion about the impact of social distancing on the career of the free-lance artist...
What they’re up to: how four local professional singers are using their downtime
We asked four local professional singers how they have been filling their days with the arts world - and the rest of the world - on pause. We are so grateful to Sandra Piques Eddy, Barbara Quintiliani, Matthew DiBattista and Ron Williams for sharing their experience...
The Cultural Exchange of Opera: Discussion with composer Emily Koh
The Cultural Exchange of Opera: Discussion with composer Emily Koh by Sarah Rogers, BSR blog contributor If you caught Opera America’s “Good News Friday” livestream in late July, you may have already heard of Emily Koh. She is a Singaporean composer,...
Tired of Silent Night? 3 Non-Traditional Songs for the Holidays
by Kristen Buabin, DEI Associate for BSR Are you tired of singing the same traditional carols year after year? Here are three non-traditional carols to add to your list! La nana, balada al Niño Jesús (A La Nanita Nana) Performed by Colombian-American Soprano Victoria...
Approaching Extended Vocal Techniques with Agency & Cultural Awareness
by Felicia Chen and Rose Hegele, co-authors and vocalists One of the defining characteristics of new music, and a musician who specializes in new works, is the utilization of extended techniques. Now the debate unfolds: What is extended technique? What is new music?...
Sing for the Ancestors: Generations Connecting through Music-Making
“Sing so the ancestors can hear you...” My mother always shares this mantra before I walk on stage. I remember receiving a text message of it before my first performance with Boston Lyric Opera and hearing her murmur it to me as encouragement before my undergraduate...
As the World Opens Up: Holistic Wellness for Singers in a Post-COVID Era
by Ellen Allen As the World Opens Up: Holistic Wellness for Singers in a Post-COVID Era After a long year of isolation, anxiety, and stress, the singing community is now faced with the prospect of performing live again. Some of us are doing cartwheels of excitement...
A statement from BSR on Juneteenth
Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, marking the date that the emancipation of enslaved people was announced in Galveston, Texas in 1865. This was more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and actual emancipation was delayed...
Rainbow Capitalism in Art – a guest post by Joshua Scheid
“Queer artsy type, open to a variety of connections.” That’s my current profile text on a certain “social media” app. “Queer artist” is often how I choose to introduce myself, both in and out of artistic contexts. But why do I go out of my way to identify myself as a...
Trans/Non-Binary Equity in Music: A guest post from Jenny Citarelli
In the past decade, there has been much-needed discussion and progress around Trans/Non-binary representation and portrayal in media. A growing number of creators and consumer activists prioritize not only faithful and affirming depictions of Trans/Non-binary stories,...
Latinx Representation in Opera
Latinx Representation in Opera The title itself is misleading, shadowed by the simplicity of four words for a topic that gets either underrepresented, misrepresented, or just missed altogether. I want to do an exercise, bare with me, I want you to think of Latinx...
An Interview with the podcasters from: The Holistic Voice by Julimar Alarcon
Interview with Austin Vitaliano & Jordan Reynolds Conducted on October 15th with the podcasters from The Holistic Voice: Navigating your life as a Vocalist Austin Vitaliano and Jordan Reynolds met during their master’s program at The New England Conservatory of...
Fair Pay in New England’s Houses of Worship by Shannon Rose McAuliffe
Getting my first church gig was a pretty big deal for me, and I suspect that a lot of my peers and colleagues felt the same way. For so many of us, it's the first time that our work as musicians is validated through real-life cash-money compensation. Being engaged in...
What is BSR’s new program all about?
Shannon Rose McAuliffe & Ashley Victoria Jones Talking about music is scary. Explaining why it matters (and why WE matter) means having to convince non-believers that there's merit to this thing that we love so deeply. My first real attempt at doing this arose...
BSR’s Newest Program is for Everyone! by Jessica Bloch
Dear BSR Members and non-Members alike, I hope you’ll join me for BSR's first-ever "No-Stress Studio" meet up! It is the perfect opportunity to practice performing in front of supportive colleagues, get in touch with the Boston music community, and have fun singing in...
Thoughts on ‘An Emerald Necklace of Song’ by James Dargan
12 'natural' green spaces. 9 parks. Around 7 miles of places to breathe. When I came to Boston for college, I faced a period of abrupt adjustment. Through all my struggles with the weather and public transportation, the walkability of the city was a comfort, as were...
Creating Songs for Community by Bea Goodwin
Claire McCahan, mezzo-soprano and Brendon Shapiro, piano perform 'she conjures' by Lisa Neher and Bea Goodwin from FUSE: Collaborations in Song In my moments of creative frustration—the block, the late nights, the millionth outline draft with a lousy resolution— I...
From Stage to Street: BSR joins Boston Opera Alliance to Celebrate Pride
It’s been a few weeks since BSR joined other organizations in the Boston Opera Alliance to march in the Boston Pride for the People Parade. Participants were given rainbow-hued pins that read “Every Voice Matters.” Mine has been affixed to the strap of my crossbody...
Common Vocal Health Myths by Caroline Murrah
As a voice-specialized speech pathologist and former professional actor, I’ve encountered my fair share of vocal health myths. In today’s digital age, social media platforms are filled with vocal health information. While there is some fantastic content out there, it...
Chacun à son goût: Do Your Thing, Bring Your Bling (A Ballad for BSR’s Open Auditions) by Shannon Rose McAuliffe
Gentle readers, I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that most of us aren’t thrilled about doing auditions. If you love them, I’d earnestly love to understand why– maybe there’s something to be learned there! Otherwise, for the rest of us mere mortals, it’s a bit...
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