Date sent: Sun, 9 Jan 2000 20:50:05 EST
Subject: Re: creating....In A house, At A Church, In A car, In Your Yard...
To: vocalist
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

fionat-at-interchange.ubc.ca writes:

<< You could also try holding a recital in a very large house, if you know
anyone who would lend out their living room. >>

Hi everyone,
I had to respond to this because Fiona's suggestions are all things I've
actually done.
After I recieved my B.A. in music ed and was bitten by the opera bug after
singing in several productions... and a few months later gave birth to my
first daughter, I still had dreams of being an "opera singer" but was out of
college and a new mom and in a small Eastern Washington town. What did I do?

I performed recitals! My first was while I was about 7 months pregnant in
the home of the accompianist, a nice large victorian style place with a
"parlour" that could seat about 30 people. It was a duo recital with a
baritone who also wanted more chances to sing, and also we could pull a
larger audience between us.

Next we moved to a even smaller town when my daughter was about 9 months old.
But luckily there were 2 good accompianists who worked at the elementary
school as teachers and were thrilled to be able to play Debussy, Faure',
Schumann and Schubert and so on with a vocalist! This time I used the church
that I was attending regularly. The town was SO small that the minister was
thrilled just to have the place in use, and I think I didn't even pay
anything.

After my daughter turned a year old I auditioned and got to sing soprano lead
parts in the annual Gilbert and Sullivan show, but had to drive 60 miles one
way to do it. At last we moved to the Seattle area, where again I did
several self produced recitals, but by then, also I was working at a church
as a choir director and soloist. I did have to rent a church one time and
collected donations at the door. Another soprano and I, also put on a
"house" recital as part of a church prosperity project. There is always a
way to get to do something if you allow your mind to imagine the
possibilities. One recital I did as a church fund raiser, I engaged a woman
who was far more out going than I am, and gave her a "percentage" if she
could sell "x" number of tickets. I did it as a combined thing, again, with
the accompianist, who also played solo classical pieces he really had no
venue to play, otherwise, and we rented a concert size Yamaha grand that was
delivered to the church just for the recital. It actually wasn't that much,
considering we used ticket sales to pay for it.. and we sold out the house!
(well, 200 seats, I think). It was so much fun. No, there were no agents
there, nobody from Seattle Opera or the Symphony, just friends and church
people, but I got to sing art song I love to an appreciative audience, and
isn't that what really counts?

I don't think you'd want to try my next idea.. I kind of went crazy trying to
find venues without actually banging at doors of clubs.. but I decided I
wanted to sing jazz in a place where there was no alcohol or smoke. Like a
church but without the sermon.. just the jazz. So I created a non profit
organization! I wasn't the only one who benefited, obviously, we ended up
having a jam session that many high school youth that were very talented
would come to each week. We hired the best of Seattle jazz trios, quartets,
quintets, and they could play what they wanted to an adoring group, once a
week on Saturday nights. We rented a Masonic Hall and eventually even gave
out small cash scholarships on an annual basis. But.. for ME.. I got to be
featured once every other month, sometimes monthly.. plus I would jam in the
jam session if there was room on the schedule. It's not so easy to start or
run a non profit and to be honest I went into a huge hole financially and had
to shut it down rather abruptly after 4 years. But... you see.. you CAN find
a way to perform if it seems other avenues are being shut off to you.

Now I'm so busy with my current church job and my studio where I teach
private lessons to the average person... . I'm going the assisted living
center route for a place for my students to sing. And it's nice. The place
I've found has a beautiful 6 ft. grand piano and a very lovely atmosphere.
Who knows what the next brilliant idea will be for myself! I'll let you know
if something different happens! Good luck to all of you dreamers and
schemers.
Deanna
Edgewood, Washington
"On Puyallup's Beautiful North Hill"