Friday 2 March 2012

My story, part 1.,


One of my fairly new followers asked me recently if I had ever written a post about the journey which got me to this little cottage in the North. Of course the blog has been an online journal of that journey over the last 10 or so months, so there is no real individual post about it, so I thought that, despite the possibility of boring you all, I would say a little more about me and how I end up here. Sorry if it is a bit long and rambling, but I won’t be at all offended if you get bored and can’t be bothered to read on much! It is a long post, so I have decided to split it over a few days. First part is a little bit more about me and what I do.

As some of you may know if you’ve read enough of my comments, I have the rather unusual job of being an opera singer. I am, by no means, famous in this field of work, but I am moderately successful, which means basically that I have never had to do anything else to earn my money (except a brief stint as a personal shopper for Tesco when money was tight a few years ago) and that I have only had to accept decent solo parts rather than going into a chorus (which surprisingly pays better than solo work, but which gives less satisfaction). I come from a musical family (mother is a piano teacher, sister is an opera singer) and it was inevitable that I would do music in one form or another, so I got a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music when I was 18 (20 years ago) to study piano and soon swapped to first study singing because my voice was ok. When I graduated with a first, I got regular work singing small roles with opera companies and eventually moved onto bigger roles. It may surprise you to learn that an opera singer really doesn’t earn very much (unless you are Kiri te Kanawa). Our time is paid for by performance and the months of rehearsals are done for as little as £300. Yes, that is £300 a month working Monday to Saturday! We are supposed to make up for that when we start the performances. I say supposed to. I have never earned more than £17,000 gross in one year and that was a good year.



The thing about my job is, is that I come in contact with enormous amounts of serious wealth and enormous amounts of waste. At first it was exciting to be at after performance ‘do’s’ that had cost thousands, to be involved in enormously expensive productions. But soon reality takes over and you begin to realise that money should not be wasted like this. To give an example, a few years ago there was a production of an opera that had 2 fully automated animals in it (don’t ask). A big cow and a big horse. Each one had moving mouth, eyes, eyelids tails and feet. And each one cost in the region of £25,000. On the dress rehearsal, the director decided he didn’t like the horse and it was scrapped. Yes, I mean chucked out and never used in a single performance. In the bin. That sort of thing makes me sick (and goes towards the reason why opera tickets are so expensive). Anyway I digress (told you it may be rambling)

The wealth of people who don’t have a clue how ‘real’ people live became a bit sickening to me, although it was a long and slow waking up process. At first I was as guilty as the next person for wanting more, wanting to emulate the lifestyle and spending more than I had, getting myself in debts. But something was changing in my life and in my attitude towards money. Maybe I was growing up or maybe I was just becoming the person I was meant to be.


Will post part 2 tomorrow.

21 comments:

  1. Wow, what a fascinating post. Thank you for sharing that. First, I'm so jealous of your singing and musical talent. That's a gift that we are born with (unfortunately, I wasn't blessed with that gift, but it doesn't stop me, ha). Anyway, how rewarding to do what you love. And you are so right in everything you said. I see waste all around me as well and it is very eyeopening. You are who you are meant to be! Can't wait for part 2!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think that this is one of your most interesting posts to date.... flesh on the bones so to speak......
    bloody hell makes me feel rather boring though!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cool - can't wait to read more...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looking forward to part 2! Completely NOT boring by the way.

    ReplyDelete
  5. How interesting :) I'm looking forward to reading more.

    BTW...beautiful pictures yesterday of the countryside :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I shall look forward to the next installment. Thanks for sharing.
    Love from Mum
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. That was fascinating to read. Let`s have some more tomorrow, then.

    ReplyDelete
  8. very interesting - i wait for part two!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Very interesting. Now VERDI is my favourite, have you ever appeared in one of his operas?

    Sft x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've done Rigoletto, Traviata and Falstaff.

      Delete
  10. That is amazing, an opera singer, I am dead impressed. I met Lesley Garrett once, she bought a salt and pepper set off me at a Christmas Fair, in her home town of Epworth. Maybe you have met her. Look forward to the next bit :o)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. my singing teacher was the same as Lesley's so I did meet her once or twice. I hope she paid well for the salt and pepper.

      Delete
  11. Oh wow, what an amazing job! Bloody hell though, I thought I was paid badly - £300 a month is surely below minimum wage considering the hours involved!

    It is amazing how much is wasted in businesses!

    Thank you for posting this. I look forward to the next installment!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well fortunately it is not always £300 a month, it can go from the sublime to the ridiculous!

      Delete
  12. Thank you for your comments everyone, will post part 2 tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Have been reading your blog for some time but comments never go through; here's hoping this is the exception. I am in suspense for Part 2!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I recently took off the stupid word verification thing, so maybe that is the reason you had trouble posting. Now that it is gone perhaps you will be able to. Thanks for reading!

      Delete
  14. I love opera, it's the one bummer of my frugality that I can no longer justify £40 each for a theatre ticket - I love La Traviata, Rigoletto, Cosi fan tutte and remember taking school children to see Carmen and they were on their feet and whistling and cheering at the end and it was incredible as it made some of them cry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The prices are ridiculous and to be honest you are lucky if you can get a seat for a little as £40 these days. I can't afford to go either but I am lucky enough to get occasional freebies.

      Delete