Sharing III – A Hiatus

March 25, 2013.Reading time 5 minutes.

Why am I sharing? I am sure some people think I am mad writing this blog about my Germanic discoveries… That’s fine, but I have sometimes wondered about why I do it too. I do it because I think it’s important to go against the grain of what is seen as ‘normal’. For example, when […]

Sharing II

February 4, 2013.Reading time 11 minutes.

In my previous post, I began what will hopefully be a little series inspired by working professionals, young artists and students around Germany and German-speaking countries. This second post is for those who wish to study abroad (specifically Germany), with a few thoughts that might help. There are some brilliant, highly respected music colleges here […]

Sharing I

January 17, 2013.Reading time 13 minutes.

I was chatting recently to a friend Brynne, currently on an opera studio in northern Europe, and we were discussing the mecca for young opera singers: Germany. She had been in a discussion at the studio where she is training, where almost all of her colleagues, whether they’d sung in the country or not, stated […]

How old am I? (Vocally….)

December 31, 2012.Reading time 8 minutes.

Happy New Year readers!! Enjoy x How often do we get told to wait, that our voice is going to magically mature and grow as we get older? I used to buy into this. I used to think that as long as we keep doing what we’re doing our voice will magically form. I presumed […]

Guilty.

November 11, 2012.Reading time 7 minutes.

Apologies for writing delay… New post. Comments and contributions welcome as ever. I feel bad if I do well. Does anyone else have that? I am not sure if this is a stereotypically British thing or what, but I do feel bad. I have always felt it. I find it very hard to understand, or […]

Paddle your own canoe

September 18, 2012.Reading time 6 minutes.

Back at the beginning of August I spoke at The Singing Entrepreneur forum. It was great, and I keep on referring back to the time there and considering what we were discussing. This next post is where my thoughts have been headed since the huge amount of information we heard went into my head… Particularly […]

Down time. Or not?

August 31, 2012.Reading time 5 minutes.

So here comes the perpetual worry of being a freelancer. Is this my last job? Will I ever work again?! Ok. Perhaps not quite so dramatic as that. But it doesn’t seem uncommon to me, that when you accept a short-term contract (opera or otherwise), there is a moment or two of panic about what […]

WORK ethic

August 20, 2012.Reading time 8 minutes.

Sunday, 19 August 2012 This month has been a bit crazy. Going straight from speaking at The Singing Entrepreneur and Co-Opera in London at the beginning of the month into production rehearsals for Carmen at the Seefestspiele in Berlin has been manic! In the run up to the show we were called almost every day […]

No-Man’s Singing Land

August 20, 2012.Reading time 6 minutes.

Monday, 16 July 2012 Would you like to sing? Opera? Yes. That’s great. Well if you do there are a number of ways you can do that. It’s going to take you about 8-10 years to train. There are no job guarantees at the end. So are you sure you want to do this? Yes. […]

Fach It!!!

August 20, 2012.Reading time 10 minutes.

Thursday, 5 July 2012 Since being in Germany and spending time in Vienna, it has become much more apparent to me that fach is incredibly important here. It is important if you consider you and your voice a product; you have to have a selling point which you can pitch to prospective employers (agents, music […]