5 answers
Nevaeh
Student
Emmett, Idaho
4
Questions
Asked
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What advice would you give to a teen author and musician?
So, I am an author with published writing, and I have gotten amazing scores on singing. I want to make a small career out of my music hobby, and I currently am writing a book. So, authors or musicians, what should I do?
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5 answers
Carolyn Fields
Technical Writer
3
Answers
Bruce, South Dakota
Updated
Carolyn’s Answer
I'm both a published author and a musician. I started with a stable full-time job while working on my music and writing on the side. Eventually, I left my regular job to focus more on my creative passions.
If you're looking to expand your music career, think about the kinds of paid opportunities you want. You could teach music lessons, perform at weddings and parties, join a band, or sell your own music. Setting up a website or YouTube channel to showcase your talent can also help.
You can continue writing alongside your music. The key is to find gigs that pay, as many people might want your services for free.
If you're looking to expand your music career, think about the kinds of paid opportunities you want. You could teach music lessons, perform at weddings and parties, join a band, or sell your own music. Setting up a website or YouTube channel to showcase your talent can also help.
You can continue writing alongside your music. The key is to find gigs that pay, as many people might want your services for free.
Michelle M.
Actress
3276
Answers
Updated
Michelle’s Answer
Hello, Nevaeh !
I am not a writer or a musician, but I think I can orientate you about a performing career as you seem to be interested in a "small" singing career. Am I right ? Also, I'm not sure if you're a singer AND a musician as you stated it differently in your question.
Since you are 16 years old right now, it's best to know that there are no "small careers" as a Singer. You can probably sing at school shows and events for free and even community events. You're not going to put yourself out there professionally yet because you need to take care of high school and when you go to college, which you've stated you'll be doing in one of your other posts, you can Major in Music and get your Bachelors Degree.
During the time in college, some free or paid gigs may come your way. But remember, there really isn't a "small" career for music. It takes a lot of time and experience for a while. You either commit to it all the way or not. Doing the academic path, you can learn exactly how to do it once in a while if that's what you want to do. Learn the career professionally while you are in college, around a lot of music people and try not to script your career just yet. Be open to taking it a step at a time and be receptive to letting opportunities give you the experience to make decisions about this career. It's never helpful to design the way you want a career to be no matter what career it is.
Unfortunately, Emmett, Idaho is a small town and you are going to have to decide if you want to explore professional singing instruction if there are any teachers in your area. You would have to involve yourself in music/singing every day. You also need a great deal of life experience for a real career as a Singer and only you can journey down the roads that will show you what the career is all about.
My advice is to keep writing, aim for good grades in school, take any singing activity they offer at your high school, attend college as a music major where you will learn about how you specifically, based on your circumstances, can have a career as a singer. It doesn't happen overnight and if you give it time, you will meet important people and gain beneficial knowledge of how to start a professional career.
I am not a writer or a musician, but I think I can orientate you about a performing career as you seem to be interested in a "small" singing career. Am I right ? Also, I'm not sure if you're a singer AND a musician as you stated it differently in your question.
Since you are 16 years old right now, it's best to know that there are no "small careers" as a Singer. You can probably sing at school shows and events for free and even community events. You're not going to put yourself out there professionally yet because you need to take care of high school and when you go to college, which you've stated you'll be doing in one of your other posts, you can Major in Music and get your Bachelors Degree.
During the time in college, some free or paid gigs may come your way. But remember, there really isn't a "small" career for music. It takes a lot of time and experience for a while. You either commit to it all the way or not. Doing the academic path, you can learn exactly how to do it once in a while if that's what you want to do. Learn the career professionally while you are in college, around a lot of music people and try not to script your career just yet. Be open to taking it a step at a time and be receptive to letting opportunities give you the experience to make decisions about this career. It's never helpful to design the way you want a career to be no matter what career it is.
Unfortunately, Emmett, Idaho is a small town and you are going to have to decide if you want to explore professional singing instruction if there are any teachers in your area. You would have to involve yourself in music/singing every day. You also need a great deal of life experience for a real career as a Singer and only you can journey down the roads that will show you what the career is all about.
My advice is to keep writing, aim for good grades in school, take any singing activity they offer at your high school, attend college as a music major where you will learn about how you specifically, based on your circumstances, can have a career as a singer. It doesn't happen overnight and if you give it time, you will meet important people and gain beneficial knowledge of how to start a professional career.
Dorothy Coleman-Pincus
Owner of Music Production Company and Yoga Practic
1
Answer
Los Angeles, California
Updated
Dorothy’s Answer
Hi Nevaeh,
Congrats to you, writing and singing are two of my superpower go tools throughout my life and the fact this is your goals to write and to sing is incredible.
I started as a child prodigy and did some incredible things in the music business. The best advice I can give from personal experience is keep growing your gifts. Practice makes permanent. Get involved in school creative outlets and as much as you can sign up to local platforms to practice you vocals and if you play an instrument like guitar you can play, sing and write.
Word of Mouth is always a great way to get your name out there.
Social platforms (discuss that with your parents first)
Start a club at your school
Church was how I started out, I was five years old when I did my first solo in the church and it really help develop my skill and working with others
Never stop, keep doing what you love and I know that you are already on the right track!
Congrats to you, writing and singing are two of my superpower go tools throughout my life and the fact this is your goals to write and to sing is incredible.
I started as a child prodigy and did some incredible things in the music business. The best advice I can give from personal experience is keep growing your gifts. Practice makes permanent. Get involved in school creative outlets and as much as you can sign up to local platforms to practice you vocals and if you play an instrument like guitar you can play, sing and write.
Word of Mouth is always a great way to get your name out there.
Social platforms (discuss that with your parents first)
Start a club at your school
Church was how I started out, I was five years old when I did my first solo in the church and it really help develop my skill and working with others
Never stop, keep doing what you love and I know that you are already on the right track!
Thank you! I'll make sure to grow my gifts as much as I can!
Nevaeh
John Graham
Music Producer
80
Answers
Bremerton, Washington
Updated
John’s Answer
Hi Nevaeh !
This is a pretty wide open question, but perhaps you are wondering if you should focus on either a writing career or a music career?
Well I'm happy to say it doesn't need to be either one or the other - you can do both. But if you want to prioritize then what you need to ask yourself is if one gives you so much pure joy that you can't imagine yourself not doing it.
The thing about writing is that you get better with experience in two ways:
First, the more you write - hopefully the better you get. Word choices, syntax, grammar, getting points across, or if you're writing fiction - the better you get with action and characterization.
Second, the older you get - the more life experience you have to draw from. They say that everyone has at least one book in them, an autobiographical one. But if you're wanting to make writing a career - then you have choices to make about what style of writing you prefer. Will it be nonfiction or fiction? Will it be research writing? Editing? News journalism? Inspirational self-help? Human interest? Short stories? Novels? Poetry? Songwriting (lyrics)? If you choose fiction writing, what genres would you be interested in? Here's a link with around 50 genres: https://www.scribophile.com/academy/types-of-fiction-the-ultimate-guide-with-50-subgenres-and-examples . Here's another link with 114 subgenres: https://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/genredefinitions Agatha Christie may be the best selling fiction writer of all time and is believed to have sold over 2 billion copies, with 750 million in English alone. But one thing about her was she did a LOT of research. Her main desire was to tell great stories and to entertain, but in doing so she made sure that she got her facts straight. For example, she used poison in many of her novels and knew so much about the different kinds, the plants and chemistry used in making them, where those plants came from, you name it. So if research is interesting to you, that's a plus.
With respect to music, and in particular singing, it's great that you apparently have a gift. You could potentially combine writing and singing together through being a singer / songwriter. If you want to learn the craft, I would recommend the books and videos by Robin Frederick. Here's a link to her website: https://robinfrederick.com/ , and you can find her books on Amazon pretty affordably, especially on Kindle. Here's her Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thesongcoach .
If you'd prefer singing on its own, then I recommend you take every opportunity to make it happen. School choir, madrigals, glee club, musicals. Local singing contests. Put yourself out there on the freelance sites like SoundBetter, AirGigs, and Fiverr with some examples of your voice. You could start a home studio setup like Lanie Gardner did with a cover of "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac - Here's her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@whoislanie and here's that video that got her started... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1LhC1zGouc
So hopefully this has stimulated some ideas for you. Whatever you do, I know you'll be great!
Good luck on your journey! Best wishes, John
This is a pretty wide open question, but perhaps you are wondering if you should focus on either a writing career or a music career?
Well I'm happy to say it doesn't need to be either one or the other - you can do both. But if you want to prioritize then what you need to ask yourself is if one gives you so much pure joy that you can't imagine yourself not doing it.
The thing about writing is that you get better with experience in two ways:
First, the more you write - hopefully the better you get. Word choices, syntax, grammar, getting points across, or if you're writing fiction - the better you get with action and characterization.
Second, the older you get - the more life experience you have to draw from. They say that everyone has at least one book in them, an autobiographical one. But if you're wanting to make writing a career - then you have choices to make about what style of writing you prefer. Will it be nonfiction or fiction? Will it be research writing? Editing? News journalism? Inspirational self-help? Human interest? Short stories? Novels? Poetry? Songwriting (lyrics)? If you choose fiction writing, what genres would you be interested in? Here's a link with around 50 genres: https://www.scribophile.com/academy/types-of-fiction-the-ultimate-guide-with-50-subgenres-and-examples . Here's another link with 114 subgenres: https://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/genredefinitions Agatha Christie may be the best selling fiction writer of all time and is believed to have sold over 2 billion copies, with 750 million in English alone. But one thing about her was she did a LOT of research. Her main desire was to tell great stories and to entertain, but in doing so she made sure that she got her facts straight. For example, she used poison in many of her novels and knew so much about the different kinds, the plants and chemistry used in making them, where those plants came from, you name it. So if research is interesting to you, that's a plus.
With respect to music, and in particular singing, it's great that you apparently have a gift. You could potentially combine writing and singing together through being a singer / songwriter. If you want to learn the craft, I would recommend the books and videos by Robin Frederick. Here's a link to her website: https://robinfrederick.com/ , and you can find her books on Amazon pretty affordably, especially on Kindle. Here's her Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thesongcoach .
If you'd prefer singing on its own, then I recommend you take every opportunity to make it happen. School choir, madrigals, glee club, musicals. Local singing contests. Put yourself out there on the freelance sites like SoundBetter, AirGigs, and Fiverr with some examples of your voice. You could start a home studio setup like Lanie Gardner did with a cover of "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac - Here's her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@whoislanie and here's that video that got her started... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1LhC1zGouc
So hopefully this has stimulated some ideas for you. Whatever you do, I know you'll be great!
Good luck on your journey! Best wishes, John
Thank you! The links will help immensely, and I can't wait to check them out!
Nevaeh
Deepraj Choudhury
Musician
3
Answers
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Updated
Deepraj’s Answer
When it comes to singing the best way to go about is networking with other musicians. Maybe look for places like clubs or pubs in and around your city that host open mics/jam sessions and start participating there.
Also social media has a lot of power. Try starting a page with you singing small snippets of your originals/covers.
I think there's something great about being a good writer and singer. It gives you the potential to be a great songwriter. So maybe try considering writing your own songs, maybe that will open great avenues for you. But first, you should ask yourself what you REALLY want to do, that question can only be answered by you, no one else.
Lastly if things seem to not be working out then don't give up, it is only just the beginning! 😄
Also social media has a lot of power. Try starting a page with you singing small snippets of your originals/covers.
I think there's something great about being a good writer and singer. It gives you the potential to be a great songwriter. So maybe try considering writing your own songs, maybe that will open great avenues for you. But first, you should ask yourself what you REALLY want to do, that question can only be answered by you, no one else.
Lastly if things seem to not be working out then don't give up, it is only just the beginning! 😄