Fundraise like a ProAs we head closer to spring, it’s about time young professionals begin to receive their acceptances to young artist programs, opera workshops, and schools. After the initial excitement begins to settle, it’s not uncommon to go into sticker shock. Whether it be fees for a $3,000 month-long pay-to-sing or for a $50,000 a year conservatory, the fees are a tough pill to swallow. If you find yourself in a place where scholarships and grants are not enough to cover the costs and you can’t afford the remainder of the cost yourself, you don’t necessarily have to let go of that dream opportunity. Fundraising can be your answer!
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Happy New Year! Wow. 2018 is already four days old. This is the time of year when all the news agencies are predicting what will be big in the next months. People are getting ready to purchase their new gym memberships or finally join that food delivery program they see advertised. If you are like most people, you are also thinking over your past year and working out your resolutions.
Also, if you are like most people, you may find that you didn’t reach your resolution goals from last New Year’s Eve. OR you might not even remember which goals you set last year! So, how can you make this year different? How can you set and reach your goals successfully? Let me introduce you to something I learned from a teacher WAY back in high school. Smart goals are the new resolutions. Susan is hitting the ground running with her auditions! In week three of her audition tour, she has already made connections with and taken lessons with two German coaches. It’s not all frolics and roses. To be a professional singer takes true grit. Sometimes, all you need is a good conversation with your dad and some good German chocolate to remind yourself to get back on the horse. Read on to see what she has learned about the audition process and herself through these lessons.
GVAI just finished our 2nd annual summer opera program in Seattle, WA! Congratulations to all the singers, teachers, volunteers and supporters (especially Uli Lengenberg with Uli's famous sausage at Pike Market in Seattle)! It was a success with growth and learning all around. Our summer opera program is a two week program geared towards young artists who plan to pursue advanced schooling or opera careers in Germany, or artists who want to improve their singing in German. This year, our participants put on two performances of Mozart’s Magic Flute with German dialogues, as well as two recitals of German repertoire… all in just two weeks! Yes, it is indeed a very intense program. Aside from making lifelong friends and exploring the great, unique city of Seattle, what can you expect to take away from this experience? Well, I can’t really put that into a short, concise answer, so here’s a blog about all the wonderful lessons to be learned from 2 weeks at GVAI!
If you are planning on travelling to Germany for an extended period of time (i.e. for grad school and fest contract auditions), you probably know that you must be somewhat proficient in German! This can be daunting if you are attempting to learn German yourself without the help of a school program. Have no fear! It is not impossible! Nor is it expensive! Here are a bunch of ways to teach yourself German without taking an expensive university course.
Hello all,
as a lot of you know, last week I flew from Seattle to Chicago to represent GVAI at the Classical Singer Music Convention. I want to thank all of you who came to our booth, invited me to their auditions, and of course, those who came to my class A Singer's Career in Germany and German Diction. I had lots of fun working with you on the challenges in vowels on Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” and your German already sounded so much better at the end of the class! The quiz about the opera business in Germany was fun, too! Congratulations to Gwen Paker who won the free online German diction voice coaching by having the most correct answers for the quiz questions! How wonderful it was to meet two singers from last year’s GVAI Summer Opera Program and to learn how they are growing their career. The competition and convention was really worth the trip. If you are a singer, you must also be a business person! You are the face of your company! You are your entire company and without you, your company would not exist! For today’s blog, you will learn some of the best networking practices as a singer AND as a business person. Our next blog post will focus more on singing with an interview with a true Queen of the Night, the wonderful Greek Soprano Christina Poulitsi (Stay tuned!), but for now, let’s get down to business.
If you’ve ever gone to a competition, convention or event, it can be scary to try to talk with groups of people you have never met. Furthermore, if you are there to network and make connections, the stakes can be that much higher, making you that much more nervous. Here are a few best practices to make sure you maximize your networking experience. I am sure many of you already signed up for the CS singer music convention in Chicago over Memorial day weekend. Maybe some of you won the regional auditions and will compete at the convention in the finals, or you will take the chance to learn from experts in your field in some of the 100+ convention classes. It will be an exciting event that will propel you forward in your career. To prepare you best for the convention or any event that you will attend in the future, learn from Anikka’s blog today. Here it is:
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Personalized diction, voice & performance training, singing lessons online or in person
Most blog posts from June 2017 - June 2018 were written by GVAI's blogger Anikka Abbott who has just started her journalism studies. We already miss her. Learn more about her here or connect with her on Facebook.
Meet ChristineHello, I am Christine, the director of GVAI, a passionate singer, German diction, voice and performance coach. I love music, singing and dancing. Life is an exciting journey and I invite you to walk with me.... |