Arts & Culture

Making A Voice Through Singing and Marketing
By Sara B. Allison

Making music is a way of life in Los Angeles for many talented singers and musicians. Molly Summer, a singer and performer herself, has been helping female singers develop their voices for the last seven years in her class, Vocal Coaching & Marketing for Your Professional Career. In addition to teaching the craft of singing and helping her students find their voice, Molly also goes the extra step to h

elp her students learn to market themselves in a career as a professional singer.
Valley Scene Magazine sat down to talk to Molly about her career and the class she teaches.

VS: When did you know singing was what you wanted to do?

MS: I was 8. I was lucky because my dad was a musical theater singer. So that's what we did. We were backstage with him all the time. I started doing Community Theater when I was a little kid and I got my first equity show at 13.

VS: What have been the highlights of your career as a singer?

MS: I worked with Steve Allen when I was 16. He cast me in his musical. It was one of the last projects he did before he passed away and it was just a wonderful thing. I would say that was a really big thing for me b/c it was kind of the start of my career as an adult. Instead of just playing the kid role.

Most recently working with Creative Horizons, it's the group of composers that I work with. They're affiliated with ASCAP and they've just been so inspiring and wonderful to work with. I'm really excited about the projects.

VS: Tell me the basics of how the class works and why you started it.

I started teaching this class 7 years ago. And I started it because the problem that I had with a lot of conservatories and universities is that you sing songs. You work on the songs, the voice, the acting, everything and then nobody ever tells you how you actually get an audition or get an agent.

What my class is is basically first of all a vocal boot camp for singers to expand their range, get them vocally prepared for everything and also promote good vocal health. We do a lot of musicianship, like they learn a new song every week and they have to learn it in 10 minutes and sing it. They hate it, but it really improves memory and it makes you prepared to memorize the music really fast & bring yourself to it.

The other side of it is the marketing side. For beginning singers, sometimes they don't know what kind of singer they are, or where to go and that can lead to years of going up the wrong ladder and then having to start all over again. We work on what they need for their marketing like their pictures, what should be on their resume, their cover letters. What is going to best suit them to get them ready for success? How to work with an agent or a manager. How to find one. And when you get one, how you continue yourself working. I love singers and I just want to see them succeed and it's a shame when they don't.

VS: What kinds of people come to your class?

MS: About 90% of the people I work with are going to be professional singers if they're not already. Most of the time it's people that are really dedicated to their careers and being really good at it-not just getting famous, but so they have longevity. I want them to have a career past 20 years old.

VS: What is one of your favorite things about teaching your class?

MS: I can't imagine what life would be like without being able to sing. And when someone is able to find that it's like, it's the best feeling in the world. To me, teaching somebody to do that is better than anything that could happen in my own career.

Molly Summer teaches "Vocal Coaching & Marketing for Your Professional Career" on Saturdays from 12 - 2pm at the Lankershim Arts Center at 5108 Lankershim Blvd in North Hollywood. For more information, please visit: www.myspace.com/VocalCoachingandMarketing