Singer Spotlight: Stephen Carroll
https://www.stephencarrolltenor.com/
Tell us a little about yourself! Where are you from? What is your educational and musical background?
I'm from Scotch Plains, NJ. I went to University of Delaware and got a bachelor's in music education and performance with a minor in church music (mostly so I could learn to play the organ). From there, I went to University of North Texas and got a master's in voice, and then finished my school saga with an Artist Diploma in opera from CCM in Cincinnati.
What is one thing you wish you had known as a young singer and why?
I wish I had known just how important it is to understand your body. People always told me I needed to connect more with my body, but I didn’t understand how. Nothing I ever did in the way of active support seemed to affect my voice at all. My posture was terrible and was something instructors harped on for most of my life, but I never felt I was able to stand the way they wanted me to without feeling really tense. In my schooling and through programs, I’ve had a good amount of Alexander Technique and beginner level yoga. They always felt good, but I wasn’t able to translate any of it over to my singing. I do believe both Alexander Technique and yoga are great things for singers to pursue, but I don’t think I delved deep enough into either to really feel an appreciable difference. I started going to the gym when I was an apprentice at Central City in the summer of 2012, and I would say it’s only been in the last year that I’ve begun to understand how the muscles in my body interact and how that affects my singing. It’s helped me tremendously. Now, I’ve seen a bunch of singers who were completely ripped develop vocal issues that seemed to come from being overly tense all the time, and there are also tons of absolutely amazing singers who never go to the gym. All I can say is that, personally, an understanding of my own musculature has been really good for me, and it’s taken almost a decade to feel like I’ve made some headway.
Tell us about an obstacle you have faced during your career and how you overcame it.
I was pretty privileged to be a tenor and have relative success as a young singer. I think my biggest obstacle is what I'm currently facing, which is what to do with myself and how to pay for life now that I have a really significant break before my next gig. Outside of a concert here and there, I have nothing on the books for a year. I've never "hit it big" with a huge payout from a gig, but I've had relatively consistent work since I got out of school, so I've been able to survive and save a small amount. I'm now facing my money simply running out within the next year, or immediately if I run into something like a big medical expense or my car breaking. By a stroke of luck, I just got reconnected with a job I can do from home, working limited hours for a company in Philadelphia. I figure all I can do is try to sing every day and go to the gym to take care of my body until something comes up from an audition or, more likely in this career, some random person who has a friend’s brother who knew me from a gig I did when I was fourteen.
What is one role or piece you could perform over and over and never get tired of?
Anything Benjamin Britten. I could never get tired of singing Winter Words. Also, I think it might weigh on the psyche a bit, but I don’t think I’d get tired of singing Quint in The Turn of the Screw. Britten’s music seems endlessly giving to the artist who is learning and performing it.
If you could only give one piece of advice to a young singer, what would it be?
Singing should never physically hurt. It was about three months ago that, for the first time, I experienced singing without a sensation of tension in my throat. I went through three degree programs and freelanced for a few years with my throat doing the work. I honestly don’t know how I didn’t injure myself. I just didn’t know any better. I always thought of my vocal health as something that was depleted throughout the day each time I sang. I made my warmups as short as possible so I could be “fresh.” I just had so much extraneous tension and didn’t know. So for a young singer, my advice is: if it hurts to sing, you need to find a way to make it not so. It won’t come overnight, but there does exist a world in which your throat is not doing the work, and you need to find it as soon as you can. There are a lot of good teachers out there, but they all work well for different people, and someone out there can help you get to that place.
Is there anything you spent too much time stressing over that didn't end up being a big deal?
I got really caught up in the drama of my undergrad, and I was constantly disappointed that I didn’t get cast as the lead in shows. Of course, I’d have LOVED to sing Albert in Albert Herring, but in the end, it was probably for the best because I really wasn’t singing that well, and it was important to learn that for each person who buys what you’re selling, there are many who won’t.
Where can we catch you performing next?
I actually have a reading of Sam in Street Scene with Modern Opera in their Potluck Opera series at 244 Studios NYC on the 24th. It’s a very casual, great environment, and you can come eat and drink and hear some fantastic music. Unfortunately, my next opera after that hasn’t been announced yet, but it’ll be happening in fall 2020 in Boston.
