Vocalist.org archive


From:  Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...>
Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...>
Date:  Wed Aug 1, 2001  5:24 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Need advice on unpaid gigs...


My one hard, fast rule is: Never set hard, fast rules.

That said, my "squishy" rule is: Never sing in a chorus - whether unpaid
or paid. It doesn't conform with my technical, artistic, or career
ambitions. That said, I do occasionally break my rule when it comes to
substituting as a section leader in a church choir on occasion.
Otherwise, though, I have not seen any evidence that singing in the chorus
of anything will move me ahead in my career as a soloist. Once or twice
I've auditioned for companies about which it was rumoured that one had to
"do one's time" in the chorus to ever get hired for a solo role. The
number of times I or one of my colleagues as been the exception to that
rumoured wisdom is large enough to make me question its accuracy.

On the other hand, if there were a show I really wanted to do with a
company I really wanted to work with and in a chorus that had really good
music and a lot of potential for "stage business", and also it paid really
well - well, I might make an exception to my "rule". It's a case by case
basis thing, as all rules that don't directly involve serious ethical
questions probably should be.

KM
............................
NEIL SHICOFF pages
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html

My Own Website
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ Singers are often so fired up after a +
+ a performance, they want sex instantly. +
+ - Jilly Cooper, SCORE! +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


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