Determining a voice category
All the way through my singing career, many audience members, friends, family, etc. seem to want to know "what I am," meaning what my voice type is. Most people are familiar with the the voice categories soprano and alto from singing in choir at some point and wonder which one of these categories fits my voice. I normally just say I'm a mezzo-soprano, a middle-voiced female singer.
However, a much more complicated system exists for describing a singer's range, vocal quality and character that is known in Germany as the "Fach" system. Fach means subject or category in German, so it sounds pretty straightforward. But the problem with this system is that virtually no-one's voice fits exclusively into one of these categories (nor should it, if you ask me). Here's an example of how this system often compartmentalizes a middle-voiced singer:
a) coloratura mezzo-soprano (voice with a light quality, good top notes, ability to sing long, florid lines, often a smaller voice)
b) lyric mezzo-soprano (voice with a warm quality, ability to sing lyric and legato phrases, often a good catch-all category for lighter repertoire that goes both high and low)
c) dramatic mezzo-soprano (voice with a dark quality, ability to sing with good strength in the lower part of the voice, normally given heavier repertoire)
Problems can arise with this system for a few reasons. First and foremost, people often misinterpret these sub-categories as range delineators, claiming that a coloratura can sing much higher than a dramatic. Well, all singers, no matter what thier classification, need to have a very solid technique all the way through their voice and be able to sing very high and low. Any dramatic mezzo should be able to sing a high C and any coloratura should be able to sing a low F. Second, people often associate these sub-categories with body type, build, and looks. A good example of a dramatic mezzo-soprano is Carmen (well, the US interpretation of Carmen, anyway). Most people want Carmen to be a dark-haired, curvy beauty who reeks of sensuality. So, if a singer walks into an audition as a tall, lanky blonde, this labeling misinterpretation may hurt her.
Finally, the system is problematic because some opera companies like their singers to be ONLY a lyric mezzzo or ONLY a dramatic mezzo. If they come to an audition with repertoire spanning all three sub-categories, it may confuse the casting agents as to what "real" voice type the singer has.
For my auditions I have decided to include repertoire from all three categories. Since it is highly likely that I will be most successful auditioning at a smaller opera house, chances are they will need a versatile singer to cover any "mezzo" role that comes along. I am hoping that my variety of arias, styles, and characters will show that even though I'm not pigeon-holing myself into one category, that I will still be a good addition to a company.
The cost of auditioning
I have started to hear back from agencies in Germany and Austria about my request for an audition. One agency told me that they heard new singers every Monday and I just needed to call to make an appointment. The other agency said that they only accepted materials by FAX or snail mail, so I should send them hard copies of my headshot and resume.
It seems like a fair request, but it's just one more thing to pay for on the road to being a professional singer. For those of you who have made international telephone calls, you know that they are not cheap. And to have professional headshots copied and mailed to another country is also fairly expensive. Not to mention the cost of the photo shoot in the first place. And while I'm on the subject, voice lessons, vocal coachings, masterclasses, competitions, scores and costumes all along the way through school cost a pretty penny.
Here is a basic breakdown of the expenses for my audition tour this fall:
Plane ticket to Germany (normally about $800)
Rent in Germany (about $400/mo.)
Transportation in Germany ($1400 Eurail pass + bus)
Food ($150/mo.)
Phone and Internet ($50/mo.)
Accompanist fees (normally $20/audition)
Plus, I have to keep paying to live back in Seattle:
Rent and utilities in Seattle ($550/mo.)
Student loan payment ($150/mo.)
Sometimes I'm curious about why there is such an economic divide between people who actively participate in the classical music scene and those who don't. Now I'm not so surprised. Any naturally-talented singer with a free afternoon can sign up to audition for American Idol or sing for a karaoke contest with the chance of winning cash and/or noteriety. For a classical singer, we (meaning mostly parents or, in some cases, patrons) pay and pay and pay to be trained and given the opportunity just to get onstage. If you're poor and your parents can't pay for expensive private voice lessons and all the application and processing fees it costs to sing in festivals, summer programs, masterclasses, etc., you're pretty much out of luck. I feel really lucky that I've been able to work and save and get a LOT of assistance from my parents over the years, but it's sad that this economic divide keeps pushing opera farther and farther away from anyone who can't afford to keep shelling out money.
What it means to sing for an agency
I just sent out 11 e-mails to 11 agencies across Germany and Austria requesting an audition this fall. If the plane ticket wasn't official enough, these e-mails are a huge reality check--I am really doing this! My headshot and resume accompanied a heavily-scripted e-mail (my voice teacher and his wife huddled around the computer with me a couple weeks ago to compose a message template) and are now waiting in someone's inbox, just begging to be read.
In Germany and Austria an agency serves a little bit of a different function than in the U.S., so let me explain. When I head off to Europe and sing for these agencies, I am hoping to be picked up by as many agencies as possible as one of their artists. This doesn't necessarily mean they become my management (it's obviously not an exclusive thing if I want lots of agencies working for me.) The next step in the process involves going out for auditions at individual opera houses that the agencies work with. This means that the agency is acting on the opera house's behalf as a buffer/intermediary/pre-screener/middleman/etc. They are also acting on my behalf because they wouldn't send me to a house that isn't looking for someone with my vocal range and abilities. So, if the opera house likes me and signs me to a contract, it would (hopefully) mean that I would have steady work for the next year or two. That means I wouldn't need an agent helping me find more work for the time being. So the opera house then pays the agency a 4% commission from their budget and I pay the agency a 4% commission from my contract, and then we're pretty much done.
Whew! My voice teacher told me that if I play my cards right, I could be singing 4-5 days a week to find work, which is a pretty big load considering how nerve-wracking the audition process can be.
But now all I can do is wait. And practice.
The logistics of an audition
It can take years to prepare for an audition, but the event itself normally lasts under 10 minutes. The enormous preparation is so those few minutes make as great of an impact as possible. As I prepare for my auditions in Germany, here are some things I've put on my to-do list that don't actually have anything to do with my voice:
1. Find an appropriate audition outfit.
This outfit has to say many things to the casting directors. It has to be professional but not too stuffy. It has to show my figure without being racy. It has to be memorable without being gaudy. And, most importantly, it has to be wrinkle-free so I can take it in my bag on the train from city to city. I'll probably end up with a dark-colored ankle-length dress in a wrinkle-free fabric, pearls, nice pumps and neutral nylons. As far as hair and make-up, I have to make myself as beautiful and feminine as possible so the directors could easily see me as a girl character, as opposed to pigeon-holing me into a trouser role category due to my height and build. That means curled hair that is kept mostly down and light stage makeup with bright eyes and lips.
2. Get my accompanist notebook ready.
The scariest parts of the audition process isn't the pressure of singing for important directors, it's those first few moments before your entrance when you hear your accompanist for the very first time. Most professional accompanists should be able to play all the most common operatic audition repertoire in their sleep and follow the singer to let her be as expressive as possible. But I've been through enough auditions to know that this kind of accompanist is not always the one sitting at the piano in your audition. In order to make this short-lived collaboration the most effective, I have to prepare a clearly-marked notebook for my pianist. It should tell my accompanist the general tempo at the beginning, my cuts or large tempo changes should be marked, and since I don't know the nationality of my pianist, this should all be written in in English and German. Finally, the notebook itself needs to be clearly organized by each aria so they aren't shuffling around when the casting agents ask for a specific aria. Clarity and organization is the key.
3. Do a character analysis for each aria.
Singing is a very technical business, but all of the little details it takes to be a good performer should never show in an audition. In order to sing effortlessly in any language, I need to prepare a subtext and a back story for each aria. That means doing (or finding) a literal translation of the aria, researching the opera it comes from, and getting to know my character and the logistics pertaining to the specific aria. But probably the most fun (and hardest work) of this process is making the character my own. Sometimes in school when you have to prepare a recital there isn't always time to "live" with the characters enough to give your most effective performance. Balancing singing with school, work, studying, homework, and a social life makes it difficult to do more than memorize the song and make sure your technique and diction are good. But I have over three months to get inside the head of 6 characters and really figure out who they are. Although this exploration doesn't have a lot to do with vocal technique, it makes the music
music.
