Josh Groban, a Maze of Demons, and Social Media
Rehearsal Notes, July 30th Edition
Welcome to Rehearsal Notes, a 5-part weekly publication highlighting the things that have inspired me and the lessons I’ve learned on and off-stage. Each Rehearsal Notes edition has a singing or career tip for you to try out during your week - find it in the Voice Note section. I hope it brings you joy and actionable tools for your own creativity!
What I’m Watching
This interview on the Zach Sang Show with Josh Groban is honestly life-affirming.
Full disclosure, I begged my mom to go see Josh Groban in concert when I was 12 and had a massive crush on him. But now, as a professional musician -especially after performing Svetlana in Chess (this is your sign to go listen to Groban’s recording of Chess) - I’ve come to absolutely adore and respect his why.
I recently did an anonymous AMA over on IG and someone asked the question: do opera singers need to be famous? My answer was no - maybe someone can be famous within the industry, but the industry is so small, and outside of it, people don’t know or really care about this tiny opera world. But people do care about singing.
This interview got me thinking about classical crossover and opera - and whether we’re sort of not playing as big of a game as we could be in the classical music world, because so many of us roll our eyes when we hear about Andrea Bocelli or Josh Groban. But why? We could be learning tons from them.
“The maze of demons I have to go through in order to feel like I should make any noise at all has been there since I was 18 years old.”
What’s Itching My Brain:
For this week’s Q&A, I decided to do a round of anonymous messages. I think this is a format I’ll keep — because while there were some entertainingly spicy responses, there was also a lot of honesty. In the opera world, and the creative industry in general, there are a lot of things we’re hesitant to say or ask out loud.
This question came up and has really got me thinking about social media:
I’m actually more curious what you think! So drop a comment or respond with how you deal with this question.
For me? I tend to do things on a schedule. If you analyze my content, you’ll see it’s posted pretty intentionally — and my biggest hack is batch creating and scheduling things ahead of time.
Probably one of the biggest lie we tell ourselves is that creating a social media presence as an artist happens by chance. Do you honestly think I accidentally write you this newsletter every wednesday? No! I do it because I’ve fallen in love with y’all! It can be organic and authentic and still be planned ahead and intentional.
In fact, I’ve come around to the opinion that if you’re just posting whatever about your life with no real plan or intention — then that content is about you. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that!
But if you’re planning ahead, posting with intention, and working toward a goal — then you’re building something for other people.
That’s a pretty big distinction, especially when so many artists have to fight against accusations of being “inauthentic” the moment they start navigating how to build an online presence.
Drop a comment below what you think about this topic- I’m thinking of doing a series on social media and audience building for arists- what do you think?
If you’re more interested in this topic check out these deeper-dives or The 5$ Instagram Guide for Classical Musicians
Voice Notes
I honestly cannot believe it’s almost August! For many of us, we are preparing to start another opera season or head back into preparations for the fall semester and impending audition season. If you want a 1 month pick me up for your vocal technique- or just motivation to get yourself back in great vocal shape- why not use August to start The 30 Day Vocal Exercise Challenge?
In one month you can change your relationship with your vocal technique and the practice room. Find the 30 Day Vocal Exercise Challenge HERE.
Performances & Schedule
My CURRENT schedule (eating popcorn and studying by a POOL)
September 5th- La Traviata as Violetta- Daegu Opera House, South Korea
September 6th- Gala Concert with pianist Giuseppe Barile- Daegu Opera House, South Korea
September 27th- A Night at the Opera Konzert with the Badisches Staatstheater
October 4th- Premiere of Rameau’s Les Borèades in the role of Sèmire
As always- if you’re in the audience- WRITE ME :)
