I was chatting to a very respected friend and colleague the other day and she said ‘I really feel like I’m going to be a singer’. And I stopped her and said - ‘no - you are a singer’.
How many of us spend our young artist years living in the perpetual state of aspirational student? Always saying ‘I want to be a singer’, or hearing friends and family say ‘they’re going to be a singer’. Let me tell you this, if you earn a decent proportion of your keep doing things that are related to the business of singing - you are a singer.
Why is this important?
I believe that one of the fundamental steps to changing our business is changing the mindset of performers. Only when we stop infantilising ourselves can we start to have expectations from the people who hire us. When we stop feeling like students and start realising we are professionals with skills and responsibilities, we can ask to be treated accordingly. When we look back and realise how far we have come - and how far away we are from those students on their first day of conservatoire - we can begin to respect ourselves, and to command the respect of others.
The idea of hoping, wanting, aspiring, expecting, trying all feeds into the gratitude culture that pervades and poisons our industry. You should be grateful to be being paid at all, even if the expenses you incur on the job leave you out of pocket. You should be grateful to be hired by Mr X because he is famous, even if he treats you badly at work. You should be grateful to get an audition, even if it was organised so last minute that your travel and accommodation fly into triple figures.
I’m not saying there is nothing to be grateful for in this job, but it’s time to delineate what is and isn’t a #blessing. It is a job, that means it should cover your rent and bills and living costs. That means you should have a contract, and be treated with respect in the workplace. It is a freelance job, so it should also leave you with a bit spare for your pension, taxes and rainy day sick fund. And yes, there might always be an actual student who is willing to work under these conditions, but those of us who are no longer students need to stick together and call for fair terms. Because we’re worth it.