We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Timothy Simon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Timothy below.
Hi Timothy, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I have learned to do sing classically over years of training and experience. If I could go back and give myself advice from when I was a new singer, I would tell myself to focus on finding my own voice. All too often did I both voluntarily and involuntarily try to mimic another singers’ sound. I think a very important skill in classical singing is being open to messing up. Failing and learning from those failures is crucial in the development of young singers. I would say that the obstacle that stood in the way of learning more was the financial aspect. It is difficult (but not impossible) to try to grow and get experience while burdened by secondary jobs and other extenuating circumstances.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Timothy John Simon Jr. although most people usually call me “T.J.” I was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona and moved to LA in the summer of 2023 to obtain my Masters of Music degree at the California State University, Northridge. As a kid I was always interested music, but more in the casual sense. I sang often but the first instrument I ever learned was the guitar. I actually used to want to be a famous guitarist for a band, just like Slash in Guns N’ Roses! I was first introduced to singing classically in my junior year of high school. I joined the advanced high school choir and loved every minute of it. I was told by my teacher that I could pursue a career in music and I decided to take that on!
I applied to the University of Arizona and was accepted. I stayed there all four years and graduated with my Bachelors of Music in Vocal Performance. After that I took 2 years off of school where I performed in the chorus with Arizona Opera in the operas “Carmen” by Georges Bizet and “Cosi Fan Tutte” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Also, in that time, I covered the role of Le Remendado in “Carmen” and sang in the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Handel’s Messiah and Mahler’s 2nd Symphony.
During those 2 years off from school I decided to apply to a number of graduate programs across the states and finally settled on CSUN. Since I have been here, I’ve made many great friends, worked with many amazing colleagues and gotten to experience music in its entirety. Last fall, I performed my first role as Tamino in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” with CSUN Opera as well as a smaller performance in Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors” as Kaspar with Northridge United Methodist Church.
I look forward to the beautiful music and the amazing culture that L.A. offers over the next few years!
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
I think that the best thing that society can do to support artists is just to show up and talk about classical music! Classical music is a dying art that tends to be taken for granted because of the niche that is attributed to it. Most of the time, audiences are intimidated by classical music because “you have to behave, dress and speak a certain way” about it. Classical music is just like any other kind of music in that sense. It is here to be both criticized and enjoyed; much like other genres.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
In my specific experience, I thought that classical music had to be perfect all the time. That is something that I have unlearned (and unfortunately still am unlearning to this day). For the longest time, I listened to other people singing the pieces I was learning and tried to mimic them because I wanted to sound like them. I have learned the hard way when it comes to that because everyone’s voice is different. If you replicate what someone else is doing, that may not be the same thing you need to be doing when you perform that piece. The only way to perform honestly is to see how the music fits into your own voice.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tjsimontenor.wixsite.com/tjsimon
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tjsimontenor/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGXYpmfZsFcF0lcWLa3av2A?app=desktop
Image Credits
Brandon Theotus