Expert: Cindy Sadler - 4/15/2007

Question
I am currently finishing up my senior year of high school and want to pursue a career in opera. I take voice lessons and have been the lead in my school musical, Brigadoon. I am a high soprano. I live in Kansas City, KS. I don't know where to start or how to pursue this dream. In collage, I plan on studying music but what can I do now?

Answer
Hi Heather,

Well, as it happens I have written a book just for young singers like you, which tells you how to find a good school and a good teacher, and what you should be getting from your education. This is the very vital first step to a career. Singing is an enormously expensive career, and if you don't learn to sing with a solid vocal technique, you will not have a career. The book is called The Student Singer's Starter Kit, and you can find it on my website at www.thebusinessofsinging.com. You can read some sample pages there.

What you can do right now is research teachers and schools you think you might want to go to. This is a very, very important step --- you don't want to just go off to a school and hope you get a good teacher. It doesn't work that way. You should look for the teacher first. You can continue to study voice at home and prepare repertoire for college auditions. If you haven't taken piano lessons or begun to learn any foreign languages (I suggest starting with Italian) you can start that now. I also suggest you familiarize yourself with publications like Classical Singer Magazine, the Opera America Career Guide for Singers, Musical America Directory, etc., and websites like www.bravuravox.com, www.classicalsinger.com, and www.nfcs.net, all of which offer singer forums and a lot of information. I also have a huge free resources website at www.thebusinessofsinging.com.

Classical Singer is hosting a convention in San Francisco over Memorial Day, including a College Fair. You might want to go to that to get some great information and inspiration.

Good luck!

Cindy
www.cindy-sadler.com
www.thebusinessofsinging.com