Correlating Careers

There was some buzz in the opera world recently. Andrew Potter, a 43-year-old bass, announced that he is leaving the performance industry. In an article for OperaWire, Potter described that, despite having performed on significant national stages and despite his voice being “at its peak,” it is simply too difficult to make a living in this business. “The math has never worked,” he says. The costs are too high (“Inflation has tripled the cost of everything a singer must buy—flights, coachings, lessons, health insurance, housing in the cities where opera lives.”) and the pay is too low (“I sang at the Metropolitan Opera and came home with nothing.”). 

It's no surprise that performance careers are difficult to build and maintain. And it's no surprise that the work can be sporadic, often with gaps between gigs. But it was surprising for a lot of people in the industry to learn that, even when the gigs are plentiful, it's still hard to make a living.

One way to offset the financial shortfalls is with a correlating career. A phrase coined by "career coach for musicians" Dana Lynne Varga, a correlating career is not a side hustle, a fallback, or a plan B. Instead, it's “a career that runs alongside your singing career, which is ideally both lucrative and personally fulfilling.” Theatre artists are familiar with the idea of having multiple streams of income. Especially right out of college, a lot of actors look for "survival jobs" by waiting tables, nannying, or working as a bartender. But a correlating career is something more than that. It is an actual secondary career, rather than just a temporary job. It is work that you enjoy in a field you're invested in that provides financial stability and career fulfillment.

In an upcoming article I wrote for the Journal of Singing, I discuss several examples of people in the arts who have correlating careers. Opera singer Matthew Swensen has a clothing business. Dramatic soprano Lise Lindstrom worked for years as a production assistant for an investment bank alongside singing major roles on stage. D. Brian Lee performs and runs a voice studio while working a full-time job in information technology.

All of these people have greater financial security today because of their correlating careers. They also have a way to put their time and talents to use that is different from their work in the arts. In most cases, they admit that they actually come to their art with greater focus and energy because they have had time to engage in other activities instead of being engaged in their creative field 100% of the time.

Most of us have heard the familiar advice/warning about pursuing careers in the performing arts: “If you can see yourself doing anything else, do that.” Varga has her own take: “If you can see yourself doing anything else, do that too.”

What career path(s) would you pursue if you weren't a theatre major? Is there a way for you to work toward a career in that area at the same time you're working toward a career in theatre? Not only can it help pay the bills, but it might even help you bring greater energy, focus, and passion to the theatre.

How has your practice been going this week?

Now go practice.

Continuing Education

In the last blog, I talked about how the prevalence of voice-related information online has made it difficult to know which "influencers" are reliable and which may be intentionally deceptive just to get more followers. Clicks and views don't necessarily mean that what is being posted is worthwhile. I also suggested looking for "peer-reviewed" sources, which essentially means that the information was vetted by other professionals before it was given the green light to be brought to a wider audience. 

I was fortunate to have participated in a major peer-reviewed conference over the last weekend right here in our backyard. The Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA) holds an annual symposium, which in recent years has been hosted in Houston, Mexico City, Seattle, Toronto, and Minneapolis, among other cities. But this year, the board of directors voted to hold the event in Salt Lake City. The symposium brings together voice professionals from the performing arts and the medical field to present interdisciplinary research, workshops, and panel discussions. 

The "American" part of PAVA meant that the symposium drew people from Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Washington, DC, Wisconsin, and various parts of Canada. But the "Pan" part (a prefix meaning "all," "whole," or "universal") meant that there were also people in attendance from Australia, Germany, India, Italy, Norway, Poland, and Sweden—right here in little ol' SLC! 

As a hybrid conference (with both in-person and virtual components), there were also online attendees from many of the places listed above in addition to Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, as well as Costa Rica, Iran, England, Mexico, and Spain. 

So, for those keeping track, that makes 39 states (plus Washington, D.C.) and 14 different countries. Not a bad turnout. 

In order to present at this symposium, you have to decide which category to submit for: Research Presentation, Pedagogy Talk, Panel Discussion, Workshop, Micro-Workshop, Research Poster, or Pedagogy Poster. Then you have to submit an application (abstract) that has specific parameters for how you should describe your work. Those abstracts then go to a committee of professionals in the field with varied areas of expertise who decide whether to accept your proposal, reject your proposal, or conditionally accept your proposal pending certain changes or adjustments. This doesn't absolutely rule out any questionable ideas getting through (there are charlatans in every field), but it significantly increases the likelihood that what gets presented will be of quality since it has gone through multiple checks before receiving the thumbs up. 

Now, compare that to your average TikToker. All they have to do to share their content is post it. And if it's flashy enough, or cleverly presented, it can reach a pretty wide audience pretty quickly. That doesn't mean what is being shared won't be substantive or useful—there is lots of information that is technically unvetted that is still of quality. But, once again, good media literacy should cause us to be a bit skeptical if someone online is making wide-sweeping claims without having gone through any real process of quality assurance. 

That being said, check out these post-PAVA Symposium hot takes here and here. You might see some familiar faces. 

Now that we're heading into the second half of the semester, check in again on the goals you set back in August. Are you on track? Have you been consistent in your practicing? What adjustments can you make to make your practicing more effective? 

Now go practice.