Yes, there will be bad people, plus a sort of funny story.

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

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

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