How do I go about pursuing my dream

P

pscheurman

New member
I'm totally sorry if this is just absolutely the wrong forum for this post.

I am SUPER in love with a cappella music! I want to be in a group like Home Free or Pentatonix. It is what I want to spend my life doing. I used to think that I could wait to pursue this until I graduated college. I now realize there is no point in waiting. I really want to meet other singers who love this style of music as much as I do. I don't even really care where they live, I was thinking we could rehearse on skype and record our parts there for like a year or two, then if we mesh and gel, and we sound good, we all meet up somewhere and move there to pursue it full time.

How do I go about doing this! I'm 18 now and this is my dream. I want everything you can tell me! Know where I can meet people, either in person or online that love to sing? Great! I'm all ears! Do you want to try out my idea for a group? Welcome aboard! Know what kind of mic I should use to record and is there a difference between that one and the mic I would use to talk on skype?

Give me every little bit of info you can please. This is my passion, I want it desperately.

Thank you <3
 
Last edited:
Yes, this is the wrong place to post this - its a forum for people who do home recording.
Forget the idea of doing this over Skype/internet.
Look for singing groups in your area (you didn't tell us where you are). You're going to college? Chances are there are groups there - find them!
Audition. Get experience singing with others. In an acapella group its very important to learn dynamics - when to sing soft and loud in relation to the others singing, this is done by practice practice practice, no microphones, no enhancements, no autotuning.
 
I know there are groups at college and I'm in one, but there is a problem. Nobody in these groups actually wants to make it a career. I have little interest in working with people who won't drop everything to pursue it wholeheartedly. I have a lot ooof experience, I have been in multiple choirs and A Cappella groups, I've been coached vocally by a Broadway professional. I know how to sing in an a cappella group. It is not like it's a new experience, I want serious passionate people who want to go out and make this a career. The reason that I don't care about location and want the skype idea is because almost nobody wants to do A Cappella. Mainly, because everyone wants to be the star. I have never in my lifetime met one person who wants to sing A Cappella music their whole life and yes I have looked.
 
Like MJB said, you came to the wrong forum. Once you find your group, come back and we can help you learn how to record them at home.
 
pscheurman said:
I know there are groups at college and I'm in one, but there is a problem. Nobody in these groups actually wants to make it a career. I have little interest in working with people who won't drop everything to pursue it wholeheartedly. I have a lot ooof experience, I have been in multiple choirs and A Cappella groups, I've been coached vocally by a Broadway professional. I know how to sing in an a cappella group. It is not like it's a new experience, I want serious passionate people who want to go out and make this a career. The reason that I don't care about location and want the skype idea is because almost nobody wants to do A Cappella. Mainly, because everyone wants to be the star. I have never in my lifetime met one person who wants to sing A Cappella music their whole life and yes I have looked.
Click to expand...

I have met many people in area acapella bands here - none of them do it as a career, its for the enjoyment and fun, and if they can make a little extra money once in a while, even better - but many shows are charitable.

Are you attending a music/arts school? That would be the only college where the students are actively pursuing a career in music.
 
pscheurman said:
Nobody in these groups actually wants to make it a career. I have little interest in working with people who won't drop everything to pursue it wholeheartedly.
Click to expand...
You don't ask for much ! :D
pscheurman said:
almost nobody wants to do A Cappella.
Click to expand...
A cappella is and has long been {since the first instruments were made} a minority sport that very few people want to spend their whole lives listening to. It's such a specialist area. You'll find a cappella parts of the odd song {I've done them in songs I've recorded} and I've even done one song a cappella but in my entire record collection that runs to thousands and thousands of songs spanning 400 years, I've not got more than 6 a cappella songs {I can only think of four}.
That's why
pscheurman said:
almost nobody wants to do A Cappella.
Click to expand...
It's a bit like free jazz. Enterprising in small doses but hard to sustain even over three songs, let alone an album.
pscheurman said:
I have never in my lifetime met one person who wants to sing A Cappella music their whole life and yes I have looked.
Click to expand...
Can you blame them ? Even artists that absolutely love what they're doing get to points when they want just want to do something else with their life. To do any one thing your whole life is actually pretty rare.
But in saying that, you never know who might be looking in here so it wasn't a bad idea to try and see if there was a chance of a link.
I wish you well and I hope you not only find people that share your passion, but that you'll also one day find an audience for what you're able to come up with.
Be prepared to walk up icy hills though. But do it determinedly. And above all, enjoy. :thumbs up:
 
So you want a bunch of other people to pursue you while you pursue your dream... hmm, can't imagine why you're having problems with that.

Perhaps you are in the right forum. Learn to record and you can be your own acapella group via multitracking.
 
There are basically 3 paths in being a professional musician.
1) make it big and get rich
2) music teacher (that plays on the side)
3) starving musician that gets old and can't even draw social security because you never paid anything in


It sucks growing up and realizing that one in a million lives the "make it big in music" dream.
Most amazing fantastic musicians and singers end up with a career and play on weekends for fun.
 
jimistone said:
2) music teacher (that plays on the side)
Click to expand...

Since my kid started in band several years ago, I've met so many musicians who became educators. Those who are working in a school system that cares about music are doing pretty well.
 
@grimtraveller

It seems like we may have a misunderstanding, I don't want to be a solo artist that sings with no music. I want to sing in an A Capella group, where we have a soloist (changing with the songs) and other members make music sounds with their mouths. To give an example of this here It is still a niche, I have always loved this genre though. 5 years ago, I wouldn't dream of it, but with the popularity of groups like Pentatonix and Home Free, the success of movies like Pitch Perfect, and A Capella singing competition shows like NBC's The Sing Off, now is the perfect time to get into my favorite genre of music. I agree, just singing alone over no music would be VERY odd.

@Armistice I don't quite get what you mean? Pursue me? I am just looking for other people who love A Capella like I do, I'm calling out to people on every website and forum, if anything, I am pursuing them. Also, thank you for your suggestion, but I want to do it with other people, it is more fun that way.

@Jimistone I get it... I know music is rough. I don't think I'm gonna go out day 1, get signed and get famous, I know it is gonna take work and considerable luck, but if I don't try, then I fail no matter what.

I'm so sorry I came to the wrong forum, however, once I form my group, I will come back. I would love to know more about recording from home, especially since we will be posting songs to youtube.
 
pscheurman said:
@grimtraveller

It seems like we may have a misunderstanding, I don't want to be a solo artist that sings with no music. I want to sing in an A Capella group, where we have a soloist (changing with the songs) and other members make music sounds with their mouths.
Click to expand...
I didn't think you wanted to be a solo artist that sings with no music. You wouldn't be asking to meet like minded souls or say you wanted to "be in a group like....." if that were the case.
However a cappella is done, it's still a very specialist niche and minority sport.
Purely in jest, I suspect Jubal started making instruments way back when because he and his mates got tired of a cappella singing ! :D
pscheurman said:
but if I don't try, then I fail no matter what.
Click to expand...
I agree. In a way, people who have become cynical and jaded by their own defeat in the quest to try something, or those that are simply not interested in where you're headed can be the worst people to ask what you're asking. Paradoxically, they can nonetheless offer kernels of wisdom {even if it comes across nastily} that one would do well to bear in mind.

pscheurman said:
I'm so sorry I came to the wrong forum, however, once I form my group, I will come back.
Click to expand...
Don't be sorry. While we may not have been able to help, you never know, someone that might be may pass through and read this thread.
Besides which, it's cool to have some musically different and challenging diversions in here because we can be in danger of becoming one dimensional in our outlook sometimes.
 
pscheurman said:
other members make music sounds with their mouths
Click to expand...
Many years ago, when I was a young man {.....:yawn:}, I had a friend that tried to turn me onto that kind of thing via artists like Bobby McFerrin. I couldn't stand it, then or now. And those vocal quartets where the guy with the deep voice would go "dum dum dum dum......." ~ they never registered in my sphere of liking.
But I always respected the concept. There are quite a few things that I like conceptually, if not actually {rap, poetry, electronic tone poetry, some avant garde...} and I'm actually working on a song that has as one of it's interludes a small section where the guitars, organ, bass and drum parts will actually be played by mouth sounds. You've heard of air guitarists ? I'm a mouth guitarist !
Once !! :D
 
Chili said:
Since my kid started in band several years ago, I've met so many musicians who became educators. Those who are working in a school system that cares about music are doing pretty well.
Click to expand...

This is very true.
Some people go the route of being educated at a fancy pants classical music school where they learn all the really technical and detailed sides of music. These people will find jobs as instructors, musicians and teachers. I know a person or two that did Masters in fields related to music or do music therapy for a living.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top