Saint Francis de Sales: "Do not lose courage."

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them - every day begin the task anew.

—Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Roman Catholic saint

I find it all too easy to lose courage as a singer. I’m naturally impatient, and as a singer with vocal weakness progress for me is especially slow. I constantly have to remind myself that as long as I’m working, I will improve.

This sounds cliched, but it’s true. It’s about the journey, not the destination. Living in the moment, not regretting the past or obsessing about the future.

Helen Keller: "Life is ... a daring adventure."

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

—Helen Keller (1880-1968), author, lecturer, activist

Dual careers: Musicians making a living onstage and off

The Los Angeles Times recently ran an article on musicians who have double careers. Rather than focusing on struggling day-jobbers, the article features musicians who are equally successful in two areas.

The author, Blair Tindall, knows her subject well. She’s a former professional oboist turned reporter and author of the book Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music.

A Mind Racing with Ideas

She writes:

[M]usicians … often excel equally in two discrete worlds, their pursuits complementing each other. For example, mathematics and proportion learned through musical form may plug directly into another field, such as architecture or computing. Other musicians find more abstract uses for their musical training, citing the competitive nature of performing, the discipline of practicing and flexibility learned from irregular scheduling as among their professional assets.

I can definitely identify with one of the musicians she quotes, violinist/photographer Barbra Porter, who states:

I think many musicians have multiple talents. A musician’s mind is often racing with ideas, yet you’re expected to just sit there without wiggling during a performance.

As a full-time public relations professional and part-time voice student, I often find myself thinking about singing while at the office. (As my coworkers can attest, I often hum quietly to myself while I work.) I am often distracted by daydreams of projects - like this blog - that combine my musical training and PR experience.

Taking the Pressure Off

For many musicians, having two careers allows them to earn a stable living while pursuing musical gigs they really want. TheLA Times article is full of stories about people who chose to pursue new career opportunities, while continuing to perform as full- or part-time musicians. Their reasons - lifestyle, injury, financial instability in the music industry, etc. - are as varied as their career paths, which include:

• Cellist/computer engineer
• Cellist/non-profit executive
• Cellist/real estate agent
• Hornist/web designer
• Violinist/attorney
• Violinist/celebrity photographer
• Violinist/marriage and family therapist

Career Structure

Adria FirestoneI think a lot about how to structure a career in and outside of the arts as I consider my own choices. For me, PR is much more than a way to pay for voice lessons. It does pay the bills nicely, but it also fulfills my love for communication in its many forms, especially writing, photography, design, and presentation. Besides, I know I could never handle a full-time career as a performer. My interests are too varied, and I simply lack the physical and emotional stamina the lifestyle requires.

These thoughts have continued since I picked up the latest issue of Classical Singer. The magazine has recently published a series of articles by Adria Firestone, a retired opera singer who now works as a life coach. She writes vividly of the burnout and disappointment she experienced before leaving opera. Reading Adria’s story and the article in the LA Times makes me wonder how many others, like me, would be better served by balancing music-making with other work.

Inspiration from William Shakespeare

Our doubts are traitors

And make us lose the good we oft might win

By fearing to attempt.

- William Shakespeare 

(Lucio, Act I, scene iv, Measure for Measure, c. 1603)

"The Song of the Lark," a classic novel about artistic growth

Willa Cather’s novel The Song of the Lark is a book I return to every few years.  The somewhat autobiographical story follows the life of a fictional opera singer, Thea Kronborg, as she develops her musical and interpretive gifts.  

Thea is not an entirely lovable character, but I deeply identify with her passion, ambition, and – most of all – her fierce struggle to protect and nurture her talent.

Throughout the work, Cather brings up questions about what it means to be an artist and how the process of becoming one affects the artist herself and those around her. And singers will appreciate her accurate descriptions of the intense work it takes to train the voice.

I also enjoyed the depiction of musical training in 19th-century America. No symphony orchestras on the prairie? Only one decent voice teacher in the Midwest? How far we’ve come since then!

If you aren’t familiar with Cather’s work, I highly recommend them. She is best known for My Antonia, O Pioneers, and her volumes of short stories.

The themes of friendship, perseverance, and the joys of music run throughout Cather’s works. She expresses a love for all things cultural and artistic - in a world where such things were hard to find. (The book’s title is taken from the name of an 1884 painting by Jules Bréton, pictured above.) And her language is beautifully descriptive, especially when she writes about the land - the vast, untamed American Midwest - often both a metaphor and a character in its own right.