Impulse vs Emotion

At the moment, I'm lucky enough to be doing a Meisner acting course with the Impulse Theatre Company. Yes, I know...an opera singer doing acting lessons?! Can this really be? Well, all I can say, is this is a new age of singing.

Anyway, we had a talk, recently, about the difference between an impulsive actor vs. an emotional actor. I'd much rather be the former than the later, as emotions can get me really stuck in myself and my own gunk. It's not that being an impulsive actor has no emotions, but I find it much easier to leave them at the end of the exercise or song or performance. I mean, I don't carry it off the stage with me or, as has been a problem at times, I've had the experience where I've been having a lot of emotion, but those listening haven't had the same experience.

My last concert was very different. I just went with 'the impulses' and it went really well. There were no wrongs or rights there was just the moment - the impulse - Fantastic! So opera singers - act!

Part-time rant!

Ack, I know I’m not alone in the cash flow problems of working in the performing arts. Even after so many years in the industry I’m still working on ‘nipping this in the butt’. I’ve worked, honed and polished my skills and talents, but struggle to get the business side of things.

The latest thing is for me to really sort out the ‘cash flow’ problem. I’m no longer relying on family or partner. So I’m hunting for that ‘part-time’ job. The term makes me shake in my boots, as I’ve been here before. I never wanted to go back to this, but the current economic climate means I need to make some money some way to keep the performing career going. Actually I’m so suited to such an economic climate, as I’ve been living this way my whole performing life, so what’s the big deal!

So what can I do differently this time, so I don’t have the same experiences as before? I ask myself, again! What I’ve come up with so far is as follows:

- Temping, restaurant, teaching or what?

The one I’m going for is ‘what’. As I’ve tried most of the above and either don’t feel its right for me or just don’t like it – life’s too short! The perfect job would be part-time, flexible, and pays well – hm – am I asking too much? Teaching does offer this, but to be frank, I’m really tired of people who just don’t turn up or expect to learn all there is to know about singing in one lesson.

I was talking to my friend, about this cash flow problem; he has an accounting back ground, and said to him, “I’ve applied to work for the Christmas Postal sorting. It would be a short-term contract, but I wasn’t sure if they only offered full time hours” (I’ve since found out part-time is fine). His reaction was, why can’t I do full time? Boy the amount of times I’ve run into this one, does no one out there truly understand that working in the arts is a full time job! Even when ya work from home! What’s up with the world, I’m not a lazy bum sitting at home; in fact, I tend to be a work-a-holic. It’s got me into trouble many times, as it’s not wise to work ‘the other’ job full time and do the artistic career without running out of steam at some point. It’s a clear reminder to me that if someone close to me can’t see that I’m not able to do it all, then how is the potential ‘part-time’ job going to be sympathetic? Ho, Hum.

Oh the woes, still I’m hopeful to earn some money making sure those Christmas cards find you safe and warm at home.

If there’s anyone out there whose mastered this balance or has ideas of that ‘perfect part-time, well paid, and flexible’ job, I’d love to hear from ya!

Dx

The Audition

As I was walking to my audition, today, the themed music for the Death Star from the 'Star Wars' kicked into my head with a bit of 'Spamalot' glitch thrown in for comic relief.

Why is an audition so scary? In my head I can run through all the logic in the world, but all I could think of was the Death Star music, like I was going to be executed! How nuts is that? No one is going to kill me in front of a firing squad. Yet the fear is real. Why is singing such a scary business? Well the 'No's' out weigh the 'yes' by odds I hate to think of on the rejection scale, that could have something to do with it. I look at all my fellow hopefuls, who are getting younger, than me, by the minute, and I wonder, what's it all about? I hear the nerves cracking in my fellow auditionees; I've seen and experienced the tears of disappointment and all this for the strangest job interview I've ever heard of.

How often in normal jobs, do people walk into a room, say 'Hello', sing and say 'Good-bye'. That's it! No 'how do you do's?' or 'how was your trip to the audition?'. At least actors get to speak a monologue. We singers have to sing it, look natural and sound fantastic on the first time through.

I'm not sure why I'm even questioning my fear? That part of the 'job interview' is the only part which seems normal. At least my Death Star had some comic relief which helped bring a smile to my face as I made my way through the building....and the firing squad, no I mean the audition panel - the ones I keep being told are on my side, even though they are on the other side of the room facing me....hm?!, seemed nice enough, especially the hunky looking director in the middle.

So how can I round this up, well, I think my fear is perfectly normal and the situation isn't. Thank God, I have a great sense of humour to add the 'Spamalot' kick to my Death Star music.

A Delicate Balance - Work/Life

Well, this is not an original topic but, it seems to be one I’m always battling. I seem to spend a lot of time working at the administration work of being a singer and a lot less at the actual act of singing! It always seems like everyone else just gets work so easily, so how do they do it? If you are one of those, who the work just keeps rolling in, please let me know your secret. I have got all the usual systems in place – website, an agent, constantly trolling wherever I can for auditions, etc… It’s just never ending and it never seems to take off of its own fruition. To give you any idea, take a look at my diary on my website (www.debbiebridge.com). That will give you an idea of what is actually on the horizon. There are a lot of possibilities, but only a few confirmed events.

So if any of you have any pointers on what I could do to help get more performing work, please get back to me, I’d love to hear from you or if you are struggling like me, I would love to hear your struggles as well!

Speak to ya soon!

Boycott the Sony Radio Awards

There’s all the noise in the press about the Olympics and boycotting because of Tibet, well, there is something right here in the UK which needs to be boycotted and that’s the Sony Radio Awards. I’m saying this because I submitted one of my shows that I produced from the COMMUNITY radio station Radio Reverb, only to find that not one COMMUNITY radio show made it to the finals. In fact, not only are ALL the finalists from commercial radio stations, it’s also a listing of the who’s, who of the BBC and other top COMMERCIAL radio shows.

Naturally I’m not happy that my show didn’t make it to the final listing, but there is no feedback, I don’t even know if they even listened to it, but to find not one lesser known or community based radio show on the listing, just made me feel like this whole thing is a sham. It’s only for the ‘big boys’ of radio and they have taken my £100 entry fee and ran, not to mention the hours I’ve spend putting the entry form together and for what? They don’t even seem to look at community radio. I was told to send a letter explaining the lack of technical ability and it would be taken into consideration. I have no idea whether that was the case, but it doesn’t seem to be, as the results only show that the big commercial radio stations will receive awards because they have the money behind them.

One last beef, is that the list of judges, also reads as a who’s, who of the producers and managers for these radio stations. How are these people going to be unbiased, when the shows and radio stations which are in the finals are, funnily enough, from the same places that these people work.

My suggestions are that the Sony awards, give me back my £100 and consider setting up awards for community radio stations as well. Stop taking money from the little guy and saying they will be treated equally as the commercial shows and then secretly ignoring them and just putting your buddies in the winning positions!

Boycott the Sony Radio Awards; send a message out to the ‘big boys’ of radio that this isn’t right or rename name the Awards the ‘mainly’ BBC COMMERCIAL Sony Radio Awards.

A Singer's Personality - what's that got to do with it?

Well, I've read an article this month in the Singer magazine, Personality traits by Mark Glanville, about how the personality of a singer doesn't always align with their voice type and the problems that can arise from such a situation. In fact, it goes so far as to say, "Many Singers less talented... and less accepting,...though with enough quality to have made a good career, would seem to have fallen by the wayside simply because they have had the misfortune to be gifted with a voice which was out of kilter with their personality."

This really struck a chord for me, forgive the pun, but it wasn't intentional, I've always had a very flexible voice, so it has fitted to a variety of genres, but I can honestly say, they have not all 'fit like a glove'. I've always been a soprano who has wanted to be a mezzo - fatal. It has caused me to look outside myself to find the identity of my voice, which, really at the end of the day, is not for anyone else to tell me, only I really know the answer to that. I've just been fishing around and boy is that evident in the CV and by what people have said over the years!

This article really made me look at what I've been doing and to take a closer look at myself; at what I am doing and thinking, so I can be more accepting and appreciative of what I do have, so I can then use that to its best potential. So what if I'm not a Handelian, Mozart or Wagnerian soprano, there is a lot that will fit me just fine in-between, such as Puccini and Strauss.

I must admit it hasn't always been easy nor have I always liked what is most suited to me, but the road a head offers me many more opportunities, I just need to be more aware of what I like and what really does work best for me.

The glove that tends to fit me is in the Romantic period with its lushness and beauty, so I look forward to shopping around for just the right colour and size. What glove type are you?

Hyper-extended Soprano

Just recently I went to the doctors in regards to physical ailments I’ve been having with one hip. It seems I have joints which hyper extend or as I know it are double jointed. I’ve heard about this when I was a child and I would see other girls be able to do the splits and I struggled, but it seems you can have hyper mobility, but not necessarily everywhere. In my case, it seems it’s in a lot of places I don’t necessarily notice it except in my fingers. It’s been a great one for making people feel quite ill when I bend them right back…he he!

Anyway, what I didn’t know that there is a lot of problems that come with such lovely tricks. It seems that chronic pain, hyper sensitivity; depression, fatigue, and much more are some of the down sides of such move ability. For me, it’s help me to understand the years of tiredness are a direct result from being in pain a lot of the time.

I would love to hear from other singers to see what they have found to be the benefits are drawbacks for the same sort of problems, especially on how they’ve managed over the years, as opera singers. Also, if you know of any websites that are particularly good at helping out or giving information on such ailments, in particular in relation to singers!

Keep it flexible!