What to Do about music education

Last time I provided information about the reality music schools are facing. Simply put, university tuitions have risen dramatically in part because so many students can afford to attend higher education due to easy money in the way of student loans and grants. Demand is greater than the supply allowing the supplier to boost prices. But what goes up may come down hard on the students. 

As usually happens legislators will feel another pinch and pull back on easy student loans, putting a cap on the amount of subsidies a student can receive. When that happens, the number of available students with money will shrink and universities will scramble to find ways to get students – including lowering tuition. Budgets will contract and some schools will close.

So… what must universities, students, singers and vocal teachers do?

Here are some very abbreviated courses of action each much take:

Universities                       Become more relevant by teaching singers not only great techniques but practical ways singers can get jobs. Start thinking like most university departments do – placement in jobs makes a university become attractive to consumers (students) so they can justify what they’re paying for their education. Julliard has a great program like this at Snow College in Utah as well as other locations. I mention Snow because it is a small school stuck in the middle of nowhere (Ephriam, Utah – you can’t get there from here).

Students                            Demand your music school include a healthy dose of marketing, advertising and business classes related directly to helping singers and musicians become professional (paid) musicians. And if they don’t, go sign up for the classes on your own. It’s your future.

Singers                                If you’re making money singing, go to your favorite music school and volunteer to advise musical students. If you’re not making money singing, read books on this subject, and get professional advice. You’ve paid too much to leave singing as a hobby. Your talent is too great to hide under a bushel. Many singing jobs are available right now if you know how to find them. I’ll plug my book, Marketing Singers, but Carol Kirkpatrick, Cindy Sadler and many other singing/marketing experts can be found in Classical Singer magazine’s resources.

Vocal Teachers                 Become more relevant by including help to your serious vocal students on how they can find auditions, competitions and schools that teach singers to be professionals. Share with singers practical ways they can find jobs. There are plenty of resources at Classical Singer magazine to help you with all of these matters.  

As universities and singers pay attention to the market place, they will become more relevant and find ways to share their great talent performing wonderful music with the paying public. People will pay for quality.

Straight Talk About University Vocal Education and 

What It Is NOT!

On a blog called Music School Central, they posted an article, Why Music Schools Will Go Out of Business If Music Education Is Not Improved by  Bill Zuckerman

I don’t know who the author is nor anything about this organization, and I don’t care. Too many people only read something when it “comes from a credible source.” I care more about the credibility of the ideas, and his ideas are spot on.

Simply put, if music schools don’t start teaching students HOW they will earn back the $200,000 or so they’ll spend on their education, the school deserves to go out of business.
Right now nearly everyone can either get a grant or student loan and it is assumed this benefit is a right. Not so. Music schools operate budgets based upon students getting loans to continue paying tuitions. Mark Cuban, a successful entrepreneur (one of the investors on the hit ABC show Shark Tank) stated that with colleges and student loan debt: 

It’s inevitable at some point there will be a cap on student loan guarantees. And when that happens you’re going to see a repeat of what we saw in the housing market: when easy credit for buying or flipping a house disappeared we saw a collapse in the price housing, and we’re going to see that same collapse in the price of student tuition, and that’s going to lead to colleges going out of business.


Art for art’s sake is a tough sell, even to wealthy donors in the best of times. With the Obama economy making the worst recovery from a recession, those easy donors are scarce. Instead, music students must be taught ways to earn money from their music – a distasteful thought to some.

The author’s summary is: “If there is a remedy at all for college music institutions to survive, it is this: by teaching students real skills for monetary success in music, students will have at least a fighting chance at paying for their education and student loans, thus reducing the incentive of the federal government to create a cap on lending money that would force colleges to dramatically reduce their tuitions and then go out of business.”


Here are some other quotes from the article worth considering:

“(Music schools must) make music marketing and business classes a Requirement…the ability to market your talents effectively will have you stand out above the competition. It is often said that your success as a musician has less to do with your abilities and more with how people perceive you – the only way to promote your image properly is if you understand marketing and if you perform frequently…you do have to understand how your audience perceives you in and out of the concert hall.”

“Having a fantastic website that you can effectively use for marketing and getting gigs will most certainly be of incredible benefit to your career.”

“… basic music business knowledge – like understanding royalty rights, mechanical licenses, negotiating, work-for-hire agreements, copyright, and the universal studio & performance fees associated with the Musician’s Union – would only benefit the careers of people who wish to make their business music!”

“Whether it is in (singing,) arranging, studio music, … or just simply understanding how to successfully get performance gigs outside of the orchestra hall, it is critical that musicians start being taught the skills of becoming a paid musician.”

“We need to throw out old-world ways of teaching and embrace new ideas to make sure tomorrow’s musicians are well-paid professionals.”

*****

I agree if singing is your professional calling, not a side light or hobby. It’s what I’ve been preaching to singers since 2000 when my niece told me her student loans from San Francisco Conservatory exceeded $100k but she had never been taught how to get singing jobs. When Classical Singer magazine asked me to educate singers in marketing I jumped on the soap box and have been teaching singers how to create perpetual job machines for their careers ever since. Too many singers are like the body of the atheist in the funeral parlor – all dressed up and no place to go.

Some Straight Talk About Performing

Contrary to the stiff and dull recitals at the university that I keep getting invited to where it is deathly quiet between numbers, where the artists are so tight, a real performance is a joy to attend. Next time you hold a recital, loosen it up and start practicing performing.

Let me take a bit of a curve and discuss recitals with grand kids. They are always fun just because they are my grandkids. But that didn’t stop me from trying to make them even more fun recently. I tried to get my eight year old granddaughter, Holly, to loosen things up at her Christmas recital. She was going to play Feliz Navidad on the piano. I told her she ought to go up to the piano, turn to the audience and say, “Thanks for coming. I’m now going to play Feliz Navidad on the piano and tonight I’m going to play it in Spanish!” I told her she should then sit down, begin playing crazy notes, stop, turn the music around and say, “Sorry, it was upside down.” (That’s an old Victor Borge stunt.) Then play it straight. That’s a bit much to ask of an eight year old, even a brilliantly delightful one like Holly, but, of an 18 year old I would challenge him or her to start learning to throw some curve-balls into the performance… enough so your professor squirms.

And now for a segue that sort of works… after spending considerable time with talented professional singers I’ve come to a conclusion: great, successful singers come in two suits… 1) the opera stage performers and 2) the circuit performers. That was circuit, not circus although it might seem that way.

1. The Stage Performer. The path to the opera stage is fairly well chronicled but certainly not easy. Start early with voice lessons, sing in high school and college productions, take more lessons, practice, take on small gigs, sing where ever, get into a Young Artist Program, participate in community productions, borrow money to survive including $100k in student loans, get sponsors for pay to sing summer programs for great role experience, enter competitions and audition, audition, audition hoping for a break. Odds are 100,000 to one you’ll make it at best to such a degree that you’ll pay off the student loans.

2. The Circuit Performer. The path for this is much the same but diverges at the audition, audition, audition stage. At some point the singer says, “that’s enough! No more cattle calls!” At this point the Circuit Performer begins to seriously examine alternatives to the stage. It’s often a gut wrenching ripping away of a profound childhood dream. Sometimes it feels like a sell-out. But once reality sets in and the desire to sing trumps the opera theater, the singer looks around to see who will pay the singer to sing.

Something magical begins to happen. In my book, Marketing Singers, I list 50 venues where singers can perform and get paid. They are all around us and they pay well. But elaborating on those venues will be left for another article.

What really intrigues me about these circuit performers is the unique performing skill – that what they do when they are NOT singing on stage is even more important than when they’re singing. Let me say that again another way. Anyone can sing. Many sing well. Some sing great. In all of this I’m assuming you are an accomplished singer – you can work a number and knock it out of the hall. But that’s not enough on stage.

Once the song is finished, the real performing begins. Now comes the personality; the embracing of the audience and the reciprocation back to the singer. Fans are made in the moments between the numbers.

The entrance is important, but not that big of a deal. You’ve got to come on and sing that first song. It better be big and memorable and get the juices flowing – yours and the audiences. But now comes the moment of truth. After the applause you can quickly sing another number, which is fine, but make it short because you’ve got to get to the break in the music. The real performance now begins. Relating to the audience. Endearing yourself. Being funny. Making them smile. Making them comfortable, at home and knowing you own the stage and theater or hall. You’re in control and they love you. From here on out, how you handle the breaks between the songs is even more important than the songs. Remember, I’m assuming you’re talented and can sing.

You watch the masters be they Bryn Terfel, Deborah Voight, Elvis, Alfie Boe, Gladys Knight, Donnie and Marie, Celine Dion, and Carol Vaness. And they all know and master the art of the break. They love their audience and the audience loves them back because they talk to them between songs. It’s planned. It’s rehearsed. It’s studied. It’s an essential part of the performance. Not too much. Not too heavy. Not too light. Just right.

The master of doing this was Victor Borge who was an excellent pianist but found greater fulfillment in making the piano and classical music very approachable to regular folks. And that brings us full circle to my granddaughter Holly and what I was trying to talk her into doing.

All of it connects the songs together and creates a masterful performance that leaves the audience believing that they’ve seen a once in a lifetime performance – letting us believe she’s never said those words to any audience and gotten that response before. It’s personal. That’s performance magic.

Getting More Out of Summer Programs Then Even They Know

Some call them “Pay to Sing” programs. That’s just cynical and useless banter. Yes, they charge money. So do universities. But if you shop Summer Programs and study them you’ll get plenty of value for the money and even more if you’ll follow some simple tips. And no one is paying me to say this – I don’t work for any of them although I’ve been a guest speaker at many universities and summer programs.

First, let me tell you why I think these programs can be terrific. Most of these programs are simply summer schools of universities or programs created by university professors who believe that having a place for students to sing in Italy, France, Austria, Germany, and various places in the USA will give singers an intensive singing experience. Without exception the ones I’ve attended are staffed by professors of noted universities, professional singers and accomplished opera personnel. Typically they know the stage and performing arts world. They are driven to get their clients – you-- a chance to perform a real opera stage role because that is how the notoriety of their programs spread.

They know their programs are expensive because airlines, accommodations, and facilities in these exotic locales aren’t cheap. But these locations are selected not for their romantic settings but because the area has a history of local citizens who love opera and look forward to the program’s many performances each summer. That’s why the summer programs can boast of opportunities for you to perform.

So relax on the price. No one is going to get rich off you. Most of the programs are lucky to break even and require sponsors to help cover the costs that your tuition doesn’t cover.

Let’s get to the meat of how you make the program work for you.

1.      Get sponsors yourself. You need a fan base and that fan base will gladly help you defray the costs of the summer program. Let them know that you have the honor to have been selected to perform in Graz, Austria, or Amalfi, Italy, or the Poconos in New York or wherever. Why? Because getting into most of these programs requires an audition. You’ve got to be good enough and ready to step on their stages. For that you need support. Hold a concert at your parent’s home, or the home of a friend. Don’t’ charge them to come, but let them know this is an evaluation concert where you want their feedback. Give them a feedback form. At the bottom of the form will be a place where they can state if they’d like to be a sponsor. If you would like a sample form I’ve created that has worked for other singers, just email me at mark@mjstoddard.com and I’ll send it to you. Most singers who hold Evaluation Concerts correctly get enough funds to significantly defray the costs of the summer program. And they start developing their fan base.

2.        Select the summer program that fits your area of music best. Most have excellent websites and archives that can show you past programs and what they’ve done.

3.      Research the background of the coaches and teachers. Know them thoroughly. Don’t hesitate to call them before going and get their thoughts on any preparations you need to make. Let them know your excitement and appreciation. Follow through with their suggestions. If they tell you to read a book before coming, do so. It’s easy to spot a phony. I’ve had students ask for advice and when I’ve asked them later if they followed it they had forgotten I’d even given it. Tough to be in a summer program in close proximity with professors who know you’re a phony.

4.      Consider that when you get to the summer program that this is a sprint and a marathon combined. Eat healthy, get plenty of sleep and appropriate vocal rest… but outside of that, work your tail off. You might be in an exotic locale, but your first job is to get training and to sing great. If you’ve taken people’s money in sponsorship (including parents), you owe it to them to take advantage of every class, every tutorial, every coaching session, lesson and opportunity. And you owe it to yourself. I’ve watched students fritter away their summer programs like it was a fraternity or sorority fun house on spring break. I’ve had classes I’ve taught half full and the reason given, from a disgusted director was, “some students came to party.”

 I’ve also judged competitions where it was clear participants were deadly serious about this experience and were becoming masters of voice. By the time the program is finished you should be exhilarated and exhausted. There’s time to sleep on the plane flying home.

5.      Pigeon hole coaches, teachers, professors, guest speakers. Set up private meetings. Ask a million questions in class or in private meetings. Probe. Question. Wonder. Get everything you can out of everyone you meet.  Everyone is there for you.

6.      Get the name and email of everyone you meet. Put them in your House List. If you don’t know what a House List is, we’ll discuss that another time, but briefly it’s a listing of everyone you know, their contact information, and how you met and when.

7.      Have cards printed up with your contact information AND your picture. Hand them out to everyone. If you’ve been reading my blogs you should already be doing this. This is your business. You are the business that needs promoting.

Summer programs are another chance to learn and, more importantly, perform. And the key to a singing career is to perform anywhere, anytime and always – at least once a week. Break a leg.

“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” Abraham Lincoln

I received a letter from Kristen with some great questions about universities and marketing with singers. Thought you might like to read her questions and my responses.

KRISTEN: I am curious though – why do you think universities cannot give singers “the latest marketing trends, or the marketing mindset”? 

The university sets up programs for specific reasons and the vocal program is no different. Vocal programs are there first to help singers learn theory, improve their techniques, find their faux, gain performance experience and learn the art of singing. The teachers in American universities have gained a well-deserved worldwide reputation for their skills in their teaching pedagogy. They are very exacting and demanding and produce wonderful singers.

But asking a voice teacher to help a vocal student learn to market would be like an advertising professor trying to teach a student to sing. It isn't their thing.

KRISTEN: It seems that students are shelling out thousands of dollars to receive an education to help them have a career, and marketing (as you say here) is a large part of that. Shouldn’t it be the duty of higher education to give students the tools they need to market their trade? 

YES, universities ought to provide vocal students a pathway to income. Their students are shelling out huge sums and they are too often like the atheist in the funeral parlor, all dressed up with no place to go. Because this is the arts and humanities, they can get away with this. People make up all kinds of excuses and call it philosophical differences. In other words they become quite snobbish when discussing this subject and they shouldn't be. The university and the vocal program have a fiduciary responsibility to provide a practical marketing education to their artistic students.

To be quite harsh, it borders on fraud what they're doing; to have a student leave the university with $100k in student loans with no real knowledge of how to use their voice to pay it off. Imagine the success of an accounting program that didn’t provide a practical way for their graduates to get jobs. Imagine if 10,000 graduated each year and there were less than 1,500 job available. How long with those departments last?

A number of universities have had me come and provide a half day or full day lecture on the subject and that helps. There are plenty more resources like me that they should employ, but the real answer is to provide classes similar to what little Snow College of Ephriam, Utah is doing in cooperation with Julliard of NYC. Here is an excerpt from their catalogue:

Welcome to the Horne School of Music at Snow College...This new degree is unique in the State of Utah because of its emphasis on music industry and entrepreneurship..

They teach their students how to make money with their music and make no apologies for doing it. It is a reasoned and artistic approach to providing a student with what is essential.

KRISTEN:  Furthermore, many university and conservatory teachers had lucrative performance careers themselves, so wouldn’t they know and be able to convey how the achieved that? Perhaps times have changed and the business portion of the field is different. At the very least, however, the educational system can change the idea that making money from singing is somehow “crass” by not avoiding the subject.

Most of the vocal professors I’ve met are not only personable and professional in their approaches and want the best for their students, but, they have some excellent practical knowledge to share because, as you’ve said, they’ve been out there earning money with their voice. Many still have singing jobs. I see the problem they face thusly:

1.   Their time is limited. Their first task is to teach voice and that consumes them. They can pass on some marketing along the way, but voice must come first.

2.   Teaching marketing is a skill. It requires its own lesson plan to convey the skills. Tips aren’t enough. Students need a business plan and the ability to execute it.

3.   Many of the professors were able to go the route of getting stage jobs during or soon after school and have been working in theater or opera companies ever since. Those business skills need to be passed on but they may not empathize with the student who needs to find many singing jobs before they get their break. Getting those jobs requires more marketing skills than the professor may have experienced.

Classical Singer has been doing a good job trying to “Mind the Gap” between university training and a solid, long term stage career. More of that is needed. The universities need to step forward and cooperate with the marketing departments of their schools to create a special class similar the ones Snow College created with Julliard.

Students are the clients and should demand their university provide such an education.

Thank you again for your questions. I always prefer to write a blog in response to questions.

Why Winners Win

Many books have been published on the many studies on the lives of successful people. Let me boil it down for you in “Why Winners Win.”

First, the Myths.

1. Money, Family, Luck, Race. These things are neither a plus nor a minus. Romney, Churchill, Obama and Kennedy had money, family or family connections, luck, etc. Those without them or the perception in common parlance have been wildly successful like Gates, Justice Thomas, Carnegie and on and on.

2.Education. Madame CJ Walker had a minimal education and became the first American of African descent to be a millionaire and loved to say, “I’d rather be able to say ‘Ah is rich than I am poor.” She also said, “It’s not so much what you know that will hurt you but what you know that just ain’t so.” Having degrees can mess you up success wise. Too often it confuses you with what matters and gets you thinking you actually know something. Many worship degrees and forget about learning and wisdom. My father correctly told me when I left for college, “don’t let college interfere with your learning.”

3. Work Experience. Many have lots of years on the job but in truth have a few months of job experience and years of repetition. Changing jobs used to be seen as a bad thing but that has changed. Five years on a job is longevity. Time to move on and grow.

So why do Winners Win?

1.      Confidence Born From Accomplishments. That differs from the nonsense we see so much of kids getting awards for showing up. Kids need to lose and learn what that means. Failing doesn’t mean failure, just a set back and a chance to grow. Singers are some of the best at failing because they know there is only one person who gets that particular role. If that wasn’t you, it’s on to the next audition. We learn and grow, perform and grow.

2. Knowing Luck Matters. Being in the Right Place at the Right Time. Timing is Everything. All of this comes through persistence but we have to have the patience to allow these things to happen. We can’t guarantee success. We can only be worthy of it. We can only be prepared so that when our time comes we’re ready.

3.      Never stop learning and love the process. Never stop having faith in life and never stop loving this process and the people we meet along the way.

4.      Smiling with Eternal Optimism. Tomorrow will be another worthwhile day because you will make it that way with the people you love and who love you. Those family and friends matter most and how you treat them and how you decide life is going to be will make everything the winning combination.

 Winners win because they know what winning is.

What to do when a love-affair is over?

People will do anything to save a marriage except love each other. To save a romance there is a clear solution – do the things you did that sparked the romance. Just ask Clyde if he wants to take Shirley to the dance. “Naw, she already married me.” For many men the last dance they ever dance is at their wedding. The conquest has been made.

Such is the case with business. In romance we called the overt acts of patronage, dating. In business we call it marketing.

So when a business – any business of any type – finds clients are no longer responding the business has a couple of choices:

1. Be satisfied with where you are and trim your budget accordingly, awaiting a better day. It’s kind of a bunker mentality. Hunkering down and weathering the storm. That presupposes your competitors are doing the same. But, if they’re busy inventing and getting creative in how they attract new clients, when you finally awaken from your stupor, they’re so far ahead of you in creating business that you are now the dinosaur.

2. Close the business. Maybe you’re in the wrong profession, wrong business or have lost your desire or edge. Then time to close it down and try something else. Nothing wrong with that if you’ve lost the fire in your belly for this adventure. And if you’re a buggy whip maker and Henry Ford just drove by in his Model T then you can either find a sucker to buy your company or figure out a new market for buggy whips or sell off the assets and close it down.

3. Redeploy your assets. Do things better. Be smarter in how you attract customers and keep them. If you still have the passion, get going, but get going different from what you’re doing. If your advertising hasn’t been working, don’t do more of the same non-productive ads, try a new approach. It is a common sin in business for businesses under siege to hunker down and cut, and the first thing they cut is the sales and marketing force. Does that make any sense? Yes, if you are working in the “1. Be Satisfied” category. When business slows down NOW is the time to ramp up the marketing and advertising. Now is the time to get smart about it. Now is the time to try cost effective ads that attract customers.

One might ask, “Maybe it’s not my ad, maybe it is the magazine or other medium that I’ve been advertising.” Maybe. Examine the magazine for how they’ve been doing. For one magazine I consult with, Classical Singer, advertisers sometimes stop advertising because they’re not getting results. 

On many occasions I’ve had a chance to discuss the person’s advertising with them and it is very clear why they’re getting few results. Their advertising fails to address the needs of their customers or presents it in such a way as to make the reading of their ad not worth the time.

Here is one tell-tale sign of an ad that has little chance of working:

The ad is all about the advertiser and not the customer. Remember, your business must be about “them”, not “you.” Check out your headline. Does it say something like:

Manhattan School of Art complete with the neat logo and picture of the director

We have the best school of art in the world. Our teachers are prestigious and wonderful.

That ad is all about Manhattan and nothing about the customer. It says nothing about what is in it for the customer; nothing about how the product will make the life of the customer any better.

Change that one element and you’ll begin to notice a difference. 80% of the ads in Classical Singer make this mistake. Many are beautiful to look: a vision for the eyes but a famine for the soul.

People are inwardly begging to be led but they care about themselves, not you. No one cares who you are or what your product is, only what it will do for them. If you don’t OVERTLY and immediately address that, you have little chance of getting business.

To put some spark into your love affair with your customer, start talking about what they need and want. Your logo means nothing. Branding is not your problem. Bury the logo at the bottom. Put dramatic ways that will help your customer at the top. Once they get excited about how their life can be enhanced, they’ll dig deep to find out who can help them.

Don’t stop advertising in a magazine where other people are getting great results. Instead, follow some expert advice and start creating advertisements that speak to your customer, not to the art department.