Whistle While You Wait (Part I): How Not to Waste Your Summer Vacation
"The singing will never be done." - Everyone Sang by Siegfried Sassoon
It is somehow the first of June and the school year is over. You’ve moved back home for some much needed rest before beginning the summer job that seems like Your Dream Job Lite. You welcome the reprieve from a full schedule of rehearsals, performances, and classes, but know that you can’t really take a break from your voice (or instrument). You schedule a few lessons with your private teacher via Zoom, sign up for a few solos for your church gig, and print out a few new pieces of music that will sit on your music stand until the day before next semester.
You know that next year welcomes new possibilities and opportunities, but that’s a few months away. You can’t apply for Your Real Dream Job because you don’t yet have a degree in hand, you don’t know what role you should be learning for the fall production, and you haven’t settled on repertoire for your next recital… so what do you do?
The answer is simple: you do something.
The gaps between semesters are a minuscule taste of what life will be like after your degree program. Although there is a plan for the near future, the present should not be wasted. This is the time to explore opportunities and prepare to move forward. Here are a few suggestions:
Secure performance opportunities. There are many avenues to perform, even when you are in the middle of a degree program. You may want to research young artist programs, school and university camps, community theatre performances, or summer choirs in your area.
Work on your portfolio. The end of the academic year is prime time for performances, including recitals, concerts, and juries. Take the time afterward to edit your new recordings and post them to YouTube or include them on your website. This may also include going through your recent achievements and scholarships and updating or creating a CV/resume.
Explore new repertoire. If your private teacher hasn’t given you specific assignments, take time to explore repertoire for the coming year and beyond. Make notes of what you may want to visit with your teacher, what may work well for a recital or audition, and what you may want to add to the list for the future.
Make connections. You do not have to be at school to make connections. Reach out to music faculty in your area and arrange to meet with them to pick their brains about their careers. You may also want to attend performances and conferences in order to make personal connections before reaching out online.
Reconnect. As you move through school, activities and coursework take you to different places. If there are faculty members, conductors, directors, or performers you have lost touch with, don’t be afraid to reach out and ask to discuss their current projects or offer to be a part of what is coming up.
Just keep singing. You don’t have to be singing high Cs in operatic arias seven days a week to be making progress. Find some new warm-ups that you enjoy and then sing the last song you heard on TikTok. You make music because it brings you joy. It is easy to lose sight of that within a degree program.
Before you know it, you will be moving back into your dorm or apartment and heading to class, wishing you had a starting point on your CV as jobs open up for the next year. If you take a few moments each day or once a week to think about your music, it will add up exponentially and the rewards will be more than worthwhile.
Thank you for reading Part I of Whistle While You Wait (Part I): How Not to Waste Your Summer Vacation. Check back for Part II: Vacation vs. Post Graduation.