This question has become so mixed with so many things that it is hard to answer without sounding ambiguous. But, I will try my best to do so.
Singers can take on many roles simultaneously. They can be the face of the band, teacher, performer, composer, or a combination of all. They can do everything or just focus on one thing at a time. The options are unlimited.
The idea isn’t so much as to what singers do, it’s when they stop becoming one and why would they even choose to do more than one thing?
Singers in Bands
This aspect of being a singer is one of the most well-known and talked about aspects among others. The favorite singers we admire are from a band. They perform and represent their art through a band.
And why wouldn’t they? Why take the load on yourself and make yourself bear that much weight? Let a guy who loves playing guitar play the guitar with all his might and let the girl from church handle the keys.
It also takes a huge amount of skill to be with so many people and make sure everyone stays in line and remembers to play their part. If you’re leading them, you either have to do it carefully or you might end up with a band that fights too much.
They’re essentially here with respect to your vision. If you’re up to the task, then you ought to have a plan, if you’re not leading the band, you’re still going to be the face of it. I suggest you understand the social dynamics a band has and make sure that working in a team is your strong suit.
Remember, the bigger the band, the more socially dynamic it’ll be.
Singers on Social Media
With the global pandemic hitting right on us, social media has become a blessing in disguise to every amateur artist. With restrictions on large live audiences, virtual platforms like YouTube and Instagram have played an immense role in paving a new way for artists to get known.
With everyone with decent phones in their pockets, it’s easy to go live with a single click and allow people to listen to what you have to say or in our case, sing. This also applies if you’re in the works to release a single or have to promote a possible venue you might be playing.
It is also the currency of every artist. Social media is here to stay and we should be looking more and more towards it to fulfill our everyday music outreach missions. There is no running away or denying it.
Also, you can just put videos of yourself on YouTube and pave a career that way as well.
Singers as Teachers
Every art at every stage of learning becomes possible because of teachers who took the decision of sharing their experiences for benefitting other aspiring people out there who know less than them.
Singers too, choose this line of the path to continue their journey at times. Not just that, I encourage people to teach other people to sing. It not only enforces what you already know but allows you to do something good for someone else. Even if it’s for a short while in your life, give it a shot.
Whether it’s on a college level or an online course, teaching is definitely something that is not just lucrative but also highly engaging. You can build a community around your teaching method, although, not for everyone. Teaching is surely one of the options that a few singers opt for.
We’re All Performing
As performers. singers get to interact with large audiences and experience the satisfaction of their work being resonated with the audience, most singers choose this path to deliver their art of singing.
But, all forms mentioned above are different ways to perform. No longer do you have to go to another city to perform, you can go live with your prepared set, and boom, a digital audience is there for you.
Making decent YouTube videos is an art in itself and something I myself am not great at it. The market for this is obviously there. However, the competition is too high. But, that doesn’t change the fact that making videos is just another form of performance.
This brings me to say this…
Dynamic Environments
As a singer, we need to do all of the things above. You use your singing chops to get everything done in different scenarios.
It’s not like changing cars. It’s changing gears. It’s the same car (you being the car), but, you will sometimes drive in the city and sometimes you’ll drive on the freeway. Sometimes to get somewhere, you’ll be in city streets, and along the journey, you might hit the freeway.
You must adapt not to the changing of times, like the rise of social media but also to what makes sense to your current situation and also of course, to your passions.
If you find your fire in performing for other people then you should focus primarily on that. I say primarily because you can’t neglect the other aspects of a holistic singing career.
In simpler words, don’t miss out on $100 if you don’t ‘teach’, do it. Don’t miss out on possible networking just because you don’t feel like ‘posting’ on social media. You have to and you must be dynamic.
Why? Because your environment isn’t steady and neither can you be.
A Course for You to Sing Better
I have written extensively on why everyone should have an online course in their library. You can read it here.
But for everything related to which course you can buy and which one is the best out there, I have made this page specifically for it.
Whatever you end up doing I hope you read a lot and enjoy doing so!
All the best!