How can I have such a title?  Well, I actually believe it to be true.  I recently wrote a blog about competition and how it you need to ignore them, and I still believe that.  Please read the old post if your interest : What to do about your singing competition?

What I am referring to is sharing the limelight with another singer who is similar to you in a  small group such as a school, church, or community etc…  it is not ideal.

Here’s an example, being that I myself am an opera singer and voice teacher when I meet people I usually get one of two reactions:

1. Wow, I never met someone who sings opera that is so cool how did you get into that…., or I’ve been looking for (know someone who is) a voice teacher. or reaction number

2.  Oh yeah, we have an opera singer at our church, temple, school – she’s awesome, maybe you know her… or

Cool there is a great voice teacher that all the students go to you should see their recitals, amazing…

The ideal reaction obviously is always #2.  The number one reaction (while manageable) means that your  novelty has all ready been spoken for and you are stepping on someone else’s turf.  Which means your opportunities there are all ready being named for someone else.  So for you to go after them, is a bit of a war.

A further example is that I recently moved to a new location.  The schools around here all seem to be connected to previously established teachers.  The congregations have their soloists, and my new friends have their own piano and voice teachers.  I am not letting that shoot me down nor am I pushing to get in professionally with this new crowd.

There is always some where else. I went and found an exclusive gated community and represented myself there to their recreational class schedule.  They immediately accepted me and gave me the freedom to create my own class schedule due to my experience and product line.

I was lucky.  This community had an acting teacher, and a commercial teacher, but just happened to NOT YET have their own voice teacher.  So suddenly I will be the novelty in that community.  I skipped over the area I moved to not wanting to impose or deal with the competition and found my own TURF but a couple miles away.

Becoming the community voice teacher will place me as the GO TO for private vocal students there.  Which is exactly what I was looking for WITHOUT stepping on other teachers or having to push myself in.

Overtime naturally I am sure that I will develop a reputation and be sought out in my own community, but rather then deal with the uphill battle of “convincing people that I Too am worth checking out“, I found my OWN place to be “special”.

This is kind of an odd post, but I am always trying to bring you the honest word for this singing business. If you keep auditioning for a particular theater that all ready has a star in your fach (voice type), then go audition one town over.  This goes for any type of singer.  You need to be as original to the people around you as possible.

If you try and join an improv group that has a funny curly haired chubby Jewish girl, and you to fit that description, your chances are probably shot- the role has been filled, as good as you may be.  Go audition for the theater 10 minutes away that doesn’t have a girl like you instead.

Now certain towns have more opportunities than others.  You need to be where the opportunities are of course, I am not telling everyone to move out to remote areas just to be the only one of your kind.   I am talking about something more specific- your personal community.  It is something for you to think about.  It could be the difference in getting called for roles rather than having to audition for them.

Ariella Vaccarino

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written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of  Voice Lessons To Go(singing lessons on CD) and author of  Vocalize!

Want a professional opinion of how you sound?  Sign up for my Vocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my feedback right away.

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We as singers will ALL encounter people that do NOT like us in our business.  Even worse we will ALL encounter bad people in our singing business who will try to sabotage our careers; tell us the wrong call times, spread nasty rumors to directors about us, give us the worst songs to sing, the latest time slots for auditions, say mean things to us before we have to perform or even worse- during performing(I have a horrible story for that one which I’ll tell in a bit).

This point of this blog is this:

We will ALL encounter people who do NOT like us in our business, bad people even.

(Did she just say that again?)- Yes, I did.  I want it to sink in.  As soon as you accept it as a part of your singing career the easier it will be for you NOT to allow these people to cripple you emotionally when they cross your path.

They are probably unhappy people who feel threatened by what you have going on.  So take it as a compliment.  If you are threatening them with your talent, you must be good.

There is not too much for me to say here.  It is just a warning or reminder about the people you will be encountering along your path.  Try and divorce yourself from the drama of it.  Let them be the drama, you be the professional.

As for the story regarding having bad people say bad things to me WHILE performing.  I was in a show years ago, and one of the characters did not like me because I was offended by the graphic statements he  used to say all the time in rehearsal and had told him, (I was 16 doing the rest of the cast was much older).  Perhaps I was a bit to righteous at that age, but I thought it was ok to stand up for yourself, as long as you were polite about it.

Anyway, he went from loving me, to HATING me (amazing how some people can turn so fast like that).  He decided in a very immature way to remind me regularly how much her HATED me.  We had a table scene in our show where we would all sit and eat and sing our respective lines and then freeze.  While frozen he would quietly say AWEFUL things to me while looking at me every night.  Then he would continue his lines to the audience then freeze and say terrible things to me again while staring at me with a smile.  It was unbelievably awful as I think of it now.   The whole show for me was extremely difficult because of him.  Once he decided not to like me, he made sure to tell everyone bad things about me.  -A nice cozy warm loving experience it WAS NOT for me.

The sad truth is, I lost it one night back stage after all the abuse.  I screamed that I hated him on the top of my lungs and kicked him with all my might in his butt like a psycho.  My shoes were very soft china doll shoes and as a result, I BROKE MY TOE!!!!  Right there in between acts.  I never let on to anyone fear my pride- the pain was insane.  I continued the run with a broken toe still being verbally abused every show.

I was never hired by that organization again because of him.

All very unfair.  He was a complete jerk, (talented though).

But you know what?  There really should be no surprise.  I encountered people like him over and over again throughout my career.  They are always out there.  Just be strong, remove yourself from all of the drama.  Be a professional.

Make friends outside of your career so that you have people to talk to.  Don’t be surprised by the bad people, be prepared for them!

Now heads up, and sing well!

Ariella Vaccarino

Thank you for subscribing to my blogs!  I am working hard to bring you great content and free singing advice.  Please take a moment to spread the words via the social book marking links below to help me build my readership.  Thank you!

written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of  Voice Lessons To Go(singing lessons on CD) and author of  Vocalize!

Want a professional opinion of how you sound?  Sign up for myVocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my feedback right away.

Check out my instructional videos on my YOUTUBE Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/voicelessonstogo

Listen to my Weekly Podcasts on Itunes:

My Itunes Podcast

Friend me on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/voicelessonstogo

Follow me on twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/voicelessons2go (I love a good retweet!)

As I say for my business (Voice Lessons To GO) as well as for my singing, there is no use thinking about your competition. What is the point?  You really never know what it is that is going to make a judge, casting agent, or directer pick you out of an audition “line up” for the part. So don’t sweat it.

The gorgeous woman who just sang before you like a Siren may have reminded the judge of an ex-girlfriend he didn’t like.

– or-

You might be amazing but the moment they see you they know you won’t be a match for the short tenor they have to play your husband.

Because I am not only a singer/voice teacher but I am also a business woman, I may have a bit of a different perspective on all of this.  I can use my CDs as an example.  So many people have asked me – “Aren’t you worried about your competition?,  or  ”Aren’t there other voice lesson CDs out there?”  My answer has always been: “So what, there are millions of people out there, I’ll just keep doing my best at what I am doing.  There is room enough for everybody.  Everyone can have their niche.”

I don’t spend my time looking at or considering the competition.  I need to be strong enough to stand on my own as a business woman no matter how many others are around me.  I’m not sure which helped me more the entrepreneurial woman to my musician or the musician to my entrepreneurial self.  But the combo together has helped me to see the world a bit differently.  I also think I view opportunities a bit out of the box.

If I didn’t think like that, there probably would be no Voice Lessons To Go.  You might be thinking, I thought this blog was about the competition, why is she talking about herself? That is my whole point.  The competition doesn’t matter.  You are what matters. Put the energy into evolving yourself instead of thinking about the others.

Think on a grander scale as a singer beyond your single auditions.  You need to know who you are, be confident, work on being and bringing out your best, and then marketing yourself.

The competition will there no matter what- trust me.  People will like you over them and them over you no matter what. That is the business.  There are no guarantees.  But it sure will help you get that part a lot more often if you are fully realized as a singer.

Click here to view a past blog post that will give you 10 ideas to work on when becoming a complete singer: http://voicelessonstogo.com/blog/so-my-voice-isnt-fabulous-can-i-have-success-as-a-singer (don’t worry about the title, the information is what you need).

What you do need to concentrate on is how YOU can be the best singer you can be.  Work on all the areas that make you a great artist and performer. Develop the whole you and the whole package.  Then walk into your auditions with pride knowing that you are a complete performer.  If they sign you or cast you- awesome.  That is ideal but no matter the competition unless you are amazing yourself, none of it matters anyway.  Don’t sweat the competition, sweat what you can do do be your best instead.

Happy evolving!  Sing well!

Ariella Vaccarino

written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons To Go(singing lessons on CD) and author of Vocalize!

***Want a professional opinion of how you sound?  Sign up for myVocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my feedback right away.***

Thank you for subscribing to my blogs!  I am working hard to bring you great content and free singing advice.  Please take a moment to spread the words via the social book marking links below to help me build my readership.  Thank you!

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So you can sing, you love to sing, perform, be on stage and you have talent.  Now what?  What type of music should you be singing?  What is your range?  If you are facing these questions for the first time, they can be tough ones that you may have to live with once you make them so really think them out.

As much as I would like to think that everyone can sing everything: pop, country, rock, opera, jazz etc….  I don’t.  I believe that we are all probably suited for specific styles more than others.  But, sometimes there is a clear choice that has to be made at a young age concerning what direction you are going to take your voice and that can be difficult.

I’ll give you my own story for example.  I was a girl with the biggest voice of the group from the youngest age you can imagine.  I have been told that when I was at a birthday party at age 5 and all the kids were singing Happy Birthday (myself included), all the parents just stared at me because of how much my voice was different and developed compared to the other kids.

I had an “adult” voice at a very young age.  And by adult I mean full vibrato and mature sounding.  But you couldn’t tell at age 5 that I was suited for Opera.  I could sing everything well throughout my childhood that was on the radio, (I remember a mean “Stop in the Name of Love” I used to do for anyone who would listen). I had a great belt voice as well (not that I understood what it was).

So I was always singing because I loved it.  Volunteering to stand up and sing at school, from my elementary days on.  I also would help lead religious services every time I could.  I craved it and couldn’t wait to do it.  I felt most at home when I was singing.  Not just singing by myself, but leading song, and singing for an audience and an event.

So how again, did I pick my genre?  Well, it was kind of faith for me.  My 7th grade choir teacher told my parents I was full of talent and should take voice lessons.  So I did from her.  She happened to have been an Opera Singer trained at Julliard.  (How I happened upon this in my suburban town is really amazing, talk about fate). I could take all her vocalizes up as high as her, and sounded like a young version of her.  And there it was.  I was an Opera singer.

Had my first voice teacher been a Broadway, pop, rock or Jazz artist I may have gone another direction.

Opera worked for me.  I loved it and was good at it.  But there were somethings about opera that were not so satisfying.  First of all no one really knew anything about Opera, or had much interest in it.  That was always hard for me.  There is also an audience connect that you get from being a rock singer on a stage that you can’t achieve in Opera.  Also, as a creative person I was not satisfied.  Since Opera is about singing things perfectly and not writing your own thoughts and emotions into a song.

Outside of that, I loved Opera and was highly respected for pursuing the art form of it since it takes so much education and discipline.- And that “admiration” of my craft, whether people understood it or not, was always fun.

So that was my story.

So what about you?  How do you decide?  Will you have regrets on the decision you make in the future? -Probably some it may never be the perfect decision, but you can try and make the “best” decision.

Some things to consider when choosing your vocal genre:

Try and really listen to your sound and think about what kind of music is exciting to you.   And what kind of music will be exciting to you long term.

The window to “make it” as a pop, rock, or rap singer is specifically for the young while an opera or Jazz artist has more time.

Classical music takes a lot of expensive education.  With no guarantee of success at the end.

Who are you as a singer?

Are you a song writer who has something to say when you pick up your guitar or play the piano.

Do you feel most connected to music when you are singing through something religious?

Do you love to strive for perfection on a classical art form?

Does there need to be acting involved such as Broadway style for you to be satisfied?

Do you like to scream (rock singer).

Get some good opinions from people you trust.  I’d be happy to give you mine through my service Your Vocal Assessment.  Also, you can record yourself singing a few different genres you are considering and listen back.  Does one stand out to you or your family as fitting perfectly.  Are you the next Disney ingenue?

Just some things to think about for you.

Sing well people!- and don’t forget to warm up!

written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons To Go (singing lessons on CD) and author of Vocalize!

Want a professional opinion of how you sound?  Sign up for my Vocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my feedback right away.

Follow me on twitter:http://www.twitter.com/singingvltg

I’ve blogged a lot about vocal health, how to take care of your voice, what to do if you are sick, when not to sing etc…  But then there is a certain reality, sometimes you have to sing anyway, whether your voice is healthy or not and that is what happened to Paige Miles, and due to that unlucky course of events, she has been voted off the show.  Unfortunately, everyone has short term memory in show business.

She started off the show strong with Simon Cowell telling her she had the best voice of the bunch.  Two weeks ago she got laryngitis.  Now just imagine this.  You are there for a chance of a lifetime and you laryngitis.  Under any other point in her life she would have been commanded to vocal rest by a doctor so that her chords could heal and recover properly.  This really takes a couple of weeks with laryngitis.

But, due to the circumstance she had to produce, this was her opportunity and moment, she had to sing. She probably was under doctors care and had some sort of steroid shot to get through her performance, (I’ve had to have that done).  I will tell you from personal experience, that it can get you through an important sing but you don’t get 100% out and it takes much longer to recover your voice long term then it would have without it.

Considering all that, I think she was able to do quite well last week.  But, unfortunately she paid for it with her voice this week.  It was so unstable and off.  Her poor chords sounded pretty fragile and abused.  They were just not “themselves”.

And sadly, she had to be judged anyway- “the show must go on”, as they say.  Everybody just judged her pitchy voice and was forgetting what they were going through.  Very sad for her.  It was just a stroke of bad luck, and sadly that happens in life.  You break your leg before a sports event, get sick on vacation, or laryngitis on American Idol- luck is just luck good or bad.

I just wish they could have given her more credit and have been clearer about why her voice was not producing.  They gave her compassion for her voice when she sang well the week before with the laryngitis, but acted like there was no excuse this week, 1 week later.

People always support you when you do well through a tough period, but sometimes things are tough and you can’t do well.  I am frustrated that they don’t have someone on that panel standing up for the “voice”.  You’ll find that the “people in charge” just want you to sing well, no excuses, not even the excuse of laryngitus. Excuses, to them are problem people- no matter the circumstance, no matter how unfair.

This business is tough and can be pretty ugly sometimes.   Thank God the singing can be so satisfying to balance it out.   Get yourselves a good support team around you of family and friends.  Be strong Paige Miles you are very talented.

written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons To Go (singing lessons on CD) and author of Vocalize!

Are you ready for your next audition?  Sign up for my Vocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my feedback right away.

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