We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tara Sampson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

So this is going to be one of those, “worst boss ever, but I’m grateful for the experience stories.” After being a professional singer and actor for a few years, I wanted to branch out into music direction. There was a local theatre I had worked with as an actor a couple of times, and the director had cast me in the past; I considered him a friend. He happened to mention at a cast dinner that he was struggling to find a music director for his upcoming production. I thought it was fate, so I threw my hat in the ring. A couple of weeks later he said he found a “more experienced” music director, but he’d be happy to offer me assistant music director. I thought it would be the perfect way to test out the job and make sure it was something I enjoyed and felt capable of, not to mention a great learning opportunity.

Not a week into music rehearsals, every single actor was begging me for extra help. I approached the music director and was told not to worry, “they’re professionals, they’ll figure it out.” It became very clear, very quickly that this music director did not know how to work with singers, only instrumentalists. He also did not seem to understand what falls under the umbrella of the job. One of the more experienced actors pulled me aside after a music rehearsal that I led, to tell me I was the best music director he had ever had.

After a couple of weeks, I voiced my concerns to the director. He spoke with the music director and then told me, “Oh he says you can go ahead and teach the cast the music.” Well, that is the music director’s job, not the assistant’s. I asked to be credited as co-music director, since I would be doing part of the job. Week after week I was given more and more responsibility, yet no guarantee of a pay raise or of credit. Finally, I was able to snag the credit of Vocal Director, but not without being put in some extremely uncomfortable situations by the director. A director who constantly belittled me, acted as though he were doing me a favor by letting me work for him, acted shocked every time I asked for credit and pay for my work, and yet simultaneously expected me to scaffold the music director.

At the designer run (the first full run of the show that all of the producers and designers watch), I was told in front of everyone that the music director “didn’t feel like coming in” so I had to conduct the show. I had never even been given the score, so I had to sightread the entire show and conduct it without a single moment of preparation (and I crushed it, by the way). The final straw was when I stood up for the cast and was asked to leave rehearsal by a director in a tantrum, like a child. I said I would go but I would not be coming back.

That is the first and only time I have ever quit a job on the spot. I learned that not only was I more than capable of music directing, but I was never going to let someone bully me, belittle me, and undervalue my work again. I learned that no one can tell me I’m not capable or not good enough, and that no one is “doing me a favor” by hiring me; I am qualified, I am talented, and I am worthy.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have been singing my entire life. I joined a youth choir when I was eight years old and I haven’t stopped singing since. In the sixth grade, all students had to pick choir, band, or orchestra and, naturally, I chose choir. The choir director also happened to be the music director of the musicals, so I auditioned for Oklahoma! the musical. I was cast in the ensemble and was immediately hooked on theatre. I did every show I could in and out of school, eventually deciding to major in musical theatre at the University of Miami. I earned my BFA in 2016, graduating Magna Cum Laude with Honors. Upon graduation, my husband and I moved to California and I began my career as a professional singer and actor. To make ends meet, I tried out different “regular” jobs (Front Desk Agent at a hotel, bank teller, etc.), none of which stuck. Finally, I got a job teaching voice at School of Rock and I was set! The pay wasn’t great and I didn’t love the methodology of corporate, so I opened my own private studio, Tara Sampson Voice Studio.

I teach private, one-on-one voice lessons, music theory, music analysis, audition preparation, public speaking, and any combination thereof. I have worked with students who have hit plateaus with their vocal training, who sing as a hobby, who are professional singers, who are beginner adults, beginner children, and everyone in between. My primary focus is musical theatre, but I also teach pop, rock, and indie/folk styles. Additionally, I work with vocal injuries and people with degenerative disorders, like Parkinson’s disease. I am immensely proud of my work with Parkinson’s patients. I have a student whose speech sounds completely typical now, and when she started her strength/control of her vocal folds was almost non-existent. She has told me time and again that her singing work has changed her life; she can now go out with friends and talk on the phone – every day activities that she had been unable to participate in for the past two years. Her success has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life.

Music is an outlet – it helps us work through pain, share our joy, healthily express anger and regret, and so much more. Telling stories is a part of humanity, and we do this through song every day. I teach people how to do this more effectively and how to use their voices sustainably. Many professionals come to me because they find their voices getting tired in the middle of performances – I teach technique that will improve the strength of their vocal production and increase their stamina. In this way, we keep the voice safe and healthy, while still sounding phenomenal.

Through my voice teaching, I have found a love for healing voices. This inspired me to obtain my master’s degree. I am currently pursuing a master of science in communication disorders from Emerson College to become a clinically certified speech-language pathologist, specializing in voice disorders. In the future, I plan to continue my work as a private voice teacher, educating singers and other professional voice users on sustainable vocal habits, while also working clinically as a speech-language pathologist, helping people heal and regain their voices.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

The biggest thing society can do to support artists and creatives is to respect them and the value they bring to society. Most people got through the early stages of quarantine by watching tv, reading books, listening to music, etc. None of those things would exist without artists and creative people. Despite this fact, the same artists who created all of the sanity-saving content, were belittled and dismissed; told to “get a real job” or find a more “stable” career. I cannot tell you how many times I have had “friends” ask me to sing at events for free or to coach their children for half-price, as though because I love my job it somehow makes my time worth less. It’s as though society only thinks of work as something to dread, not something to be both valuable and enjoyable. I love my job, but that does not mean that I should not be compensated for my time and expertise. I have spent over twenty years mastering voice to be able to learn a set and perform it well – that is of value. Society, please stop asking your artist friends to work for free. Pay them their full rate and spread the word about them. People should love what they do AND be able to live from it.

Historically, society has placed the most value on jobs which are “serious,” like finance, medicine, engineering, and so on. These jobs are vital and impressive, but so is art. Instead of discouraging children from being acrobats, sculptors, singers, drummers, painters, etc. society needs to foster these just as much as math and science. There is competition and struggle in any field, but that struggle is so much easier to handle when it is something you truly love to do. The world is more than math and science. To quote Demetri Martin, “Earth without art, is just eh.”

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Healthcare within the arts is a complicated, knotted web, to say the least. Many professional voice users like actors and singers must perform a certain number of union hours to maintain union (and healthcare) status. When one of these people gets a vocal injury, they cannot work for risk of further injury. Unfortunately, this means they then lose access to the healthcare which would allow them to get back to work. Many often “push through” and perform with their injury, making a small problem worse. After Covid forced myself and many of my singer/actor friends out of the performance space, I saw what losing health coverage did to them. This has driven me for the last couple of years. I want to start a private practice geared specifically toward professional voice users that is as low-cost as possible, so that when this brilliant performers need to heal, they don’t have to sacrifice rent, grocery, or even entertainment funds. Everyone deserves access to adequate healthcare whenever they need or want it. I would like to help make that a reality.

Contact Info:

• Website: tarasampsonvoice.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/tara_sampson_voice_studio
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCnclf82miC6Z-nhXHMQz5g

Image Credits
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