Making Life Podcast Making Life Podcast

Debra Cowan has been a professional singer for nearly thirty years.


Website (sign up for her email list!): https://debracowan.com/
YouTube (help her get to 100 subscribers, please!): youtube.com/debcowan56
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DebraCowanMusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DebraCowanMusic
Instagram: https://instagram.com/DebraCowanMusic



In this episode, we discuss:

-How Deb got her start as a professional recording artist

-Making the change from part-time to full-time professional singer

-From math teacher to singer - "leave of absence" that becomes permanent

-How great changes can come from necessity in hard times

-The importance of feedback from mentors for our confidence in making big moves

-Starting with "floor spots" in the folk world

-Festivals = get the most bang out of your appearances because the most people / fellow musicians are there

-Doing The Work - people don't just flock to you because you're awesome, you need to hustle and get out there

-Deb went to every open mic within 100 miles of her home when she moved to New England! 4-5 a week

-Different performance modes work with different audiences

-Cross-cultural contact and people appreciating your interest / being the novelty

-Performance visas

-Recording in a studio - you get feedback about what to work on, so you get better

-Self production vs working with a producer

-Working with a sound engineer

-Getting professionals to listen and provide feedback

-Both folk musicians and punk rock kids learn by the seat of their pants.

-Music theory knowledge, how and when songs and harmonies are written, etc

-Having Paul McCartney's go-to drummer Dave Mattacks produce Deb's record

-Just ask - the worst they can say is "no" - and if they do, you go on to plan B

-A tool that makes your work/life easier? The Internet! No more $1,000 phone bills or photocopied flyers!

-Being at the cutting edge of technological change

-The internet is crowded now - noise to signal ratio struggles

-Who is your competition? The Xbox, not my fellow musicians!

-Promotion tips: Put together graphics - learn some visual program - Deb uses Apple Pages, Heather uses mostly Photoshop

-Just because you book it doesn't mean people are coming. "We want people to come, don't we?" "There is that." So you have to (self) promote to make it happen.

-Provide the venue with the tools they need to promote the gig, have an agreement with them that they'll also do the work

-Don't make people (the venue, promoter, etc) do more work for you - make it easy for them and they'll have you back

-EPK - Electronic Press / Promotional Kit

-Communicate about how things are going with venues

-Your own website is important! You own it *and* it is your best billboard. Hire someone to make it if you don't know how to make it beautiful yourself.

-Deb's favorite thing about being a professional singer: It's The People.

After an accidental podcast hiatus brought on by work and technical difficulties, Making Life hosts Heather and Cate are back for a second installment of chats with others who create for a living, and what it's like to try.  As in the very beginning, they decided to kick things off by talking with each other.

A CORRECTION: In the episode, Cate mistakenly says that the John C. Campbell Folk School was founded by John C. Campbell. Thanks to further research, she's since learned that though the school bears John's name, it was founded by Olive Dame Campbell. Olive named the school after her spouse, and the dining hall there now bears her name. Apologies for the misspeak!

In this episode, we discuss:

-End-of-year paperwork (and the epiphanies/reminders it offers about what we do and how it's going)
-Cate's new favorite reframing of why non-creative streams of income are great, thanks to BIG MAGIC by Elizabeth Gilbert of EAT PRAY LOVE fame
-Simulation patient acting, or a new-to-Cate way of combining helping people and performing
-Promotional modeling, how to go to conventions for free, and how Heather is doing it now
-Job board keywords to find more of the kinds of gigs you want
-Why you should make a resume, even when your field doesn't require one
-The "word magic" Heather found to make credit card sales and tip navigation at henna events WAY better
-How Heather's "Just go for it!" motto led to Cate's upcoming traditional Appalachian ballad apprenticeship at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina
-Heather's grant from 2021 (thank you Rhode Island!), and her advice for the really simple, necessary thing that will help you get grants of your own.
-What we've learned (so far!) from making MLP.  Thank you to all of our guests, and to all of you listening, for helping make it the wonderful thing it is!


...and more.

If you're enjoy Making Life Podcast, please subscribe and leave a review for the podcast on your favorite podcast listening platform, and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Learn more about Heather and her work at www.hennabyheather.com or across social media @HennaByHeather.
Learn more about Cate and her work at www.cate-clifford.com, on Facebook & Instagram @CateCliffordMusic, on Bandcamp at Cate Clifford, or Twitter @catecliffordmus.

Jeromy Foberg is the captain of the Rhode Island Pirates and Privateers, a historical reenactment group that has an official letter of marque from the state of Rhode Island. He also worked as a chanteyman aboard the 18th century tall ship The Formidable. In addition to these nautical endeavors, he is also a maker of accessories, costuming, and cocktails.

find Jeromy on:

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/freneticferret
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freneticferret
Facebook - public: https://www.facebook.com/FreneticFerret
Facebook - personal: https://www.facebook.com/jeromy.foberg

In this episode, we discuss:


How Jeromy came to be a historical pirate reenactor and chanteyman
The value of just enjoying doing something and seeing where it may go
The Rhode Island Pirates and Privateers have an official Letter of Marque from the state of Rhode Island! So they aren't technically pirates - they are state-sanctioned, honest-to-goodness privateers!
Auditioning for Renaissance faires
How one becomes a chanteyman on a tall ship
Sharing resources and creating new ones helps us grow and also become known for what it is we do
Literally learning the ropes
Historical reenacting, Renn Faires, and the like are SO influential in the lives of those they touch - especially little kids
First person reenacting, third person reenacting, historical interpretation, experimental archaeology, etc
Presenting different levels of information / nerdery depending on our audiences
The crazy distances we commit to traveling regularly to pursue amazing opportunities
The questions people ask reenactors, man.
The Maker community - its culture, its DIY and scavenger connections, and its breadth
Physical notebooks - you need one. Or maybe you need to take audio notes. Or at least put your notebook app on your phone's home screen.
Being in high school drama club / musicals
Paracord bracelets
Why Frenetic Ferret?
Ska music, black and white checkerboard, and the two-tone movement
The ongoing question of to what degree we make our passion our way of earning a living, and what it takes (/would take) to make it so
Viable does not equal enjoyable, and successful does not mean money-making.
VAN FULL OF PIRATES - the Billy Bowlegs Pirate Invasion and Downtown Party (may we say Pirate Festival???) of Fort Walton Beach, FL
Press releases are so valuable.
Cate suggests a fairly obscure book of pirate songs to Jeromy and Heather gets it off the shelf and hands it to them without missing a beat - The New Book of Pirate Songs by Stuart M. Frank.
Making new connections and meeting new friends through doing (and recording podcasts about) what we love is The Best.

Jules Pieperl is a non-binary, NYC-based costumer for Broadway and Off-Broadway theatre as well as film and TV.  They have worked on Mean Girls, To Kill A Mockingbird and Carousel on Broadway, at New York Theater Workshop and National Queer Theater Off-Broadway, and on John Oliver, among others.

find Jules on:

Instagram: http://instagram.com/julespeiperl/
Website: Jules Peiperl

In this episode, we discuss:

-The differences between costuming for a Broadway show, versus a talk show
-Giant angel wings, squirrel puppets and more of Jules' creations
-Coming out as non-binary at work
-Unions
-Volunteering versus getting paid for your work, and the relationship that has to gratitude and how excited you're "allowed" to be about the job
-Being jaded versus being visibly glad to be there, and how that impacts being taken seriously
-How a chance encounter in Central Park started Jules on their career path
-Queerness in the theatre industry, and representation of queer/LGBT+ folx onstage
-What Jules needs everyone to understand about steaming clothes
-NYC, Times Square, and the benchmarks native NYers give for what makes you "a real New Yorker" -- and how much you should pay attention to that kind of thing
-The paperwork costumers deal with, and Jules' tip for how to cut back on it
-and more! 

Alex Katz is a graphic designer, illustrator, and writer. In addition to being a meticulous and thorough creator of his own fictional world, he also spends time delving into and sharing worlds others have created, such as through his popular and high-level Harry Potter cosplay.

find Alex on:

Instagram: http://instagram.com/alex.r.katz/
Twitch: http://twitch.tv/alex_r_katz

In this episode, we discuss:


The value of having a career-planning conversation that considers what we love to do and how to find a way to make it pay the bills
What it means to be able to "art on command", and how we all have different things we can do on command vs when inspiration strikes
How being independent sometimes means sharing your challenges with others
Longsword and stage combat training - and their impact on other areas of life (fantasy writing and confidence in the face of creepy dudes, respectively)
Building your schedule to allow time and mental energy to do your creative work
How we are 100% convinced Alex is going to have the next hugely successful fantasy series, complete with books, movies, a line of merch, etc etc - just sayin.
Insomnia, worldbuilding, and whether dreaming up scenarios for your characters while taking a scalding hot shower is or or not work
Writer's block: plot devices to use instead of giving up!
How having a very meta chat with friends about one's work can lead to future reflection on how one views war, masculinity, etc.
Favorite writers and The Shrine of (V.E.) Schwab
NaNoWriMo - pantsers vs planners vs plantsers
Harry Potter cosplay, and how Alex will be incorporating trans support (ribbon? bracelet?) into future cosplay, because it's the right thing to do
The joys of spending one's birthday as Harry Potter at Universal Studios, Florida
Intellectual property law, sharing one's artistic process online, and being extremely skeptical of the powers that control all of the distribution of basically everything
How choosing to NOT do the thing that everyone else thinks is the pinnacle, best, most desirable thing in your field might just lead to much more happiness
Procrastination and the power of having lots of projects on the backburner that you can turn to when frustration with your main project requires a bout of it
ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR EVERYTHING, GUYS!
Having to go back to "real" work/life after a a long time of being able to focus almost exclusively on passion projects, and how it's depressing

Connect with Lynn Feingold personally on: Instagram, Facebook

Lynn's projects:
The Folk Song Society of Greater Boston - Website
The Old Howard Troupe - Website, Facebook, YouTube
Virtual Assistant Boston - LinkedIn, Website 

Episode highlights & notes:


Singing historic and bawdy songs at a colonial period tavern
Thinking on your feet and managing a live audience
Getting over stage fright (and performing your way through it!)
"Everything I learned about life, I learned from being a tavern wench"
Branching out from your comfort zone and getting more gigs through networking
Growing up in the 1960's surrounded by music in a musical family
Just how does one go about becoming a tavern wench?
The excitement of finding your people
Our now-recurring theme of how being in the right place at the right time with the right preparation behind you just might work out!
Taking up the banner to keep the things you love alive
Grant writing and the importance of knowing your audience - both the people attending a performance, as well as who is reading the grant proposal
The history of The Old Howard Troupe, the Music Hall group Lynn is a member of and manages
The Folk Song Society of Greater Boston
Pub Sings (shout out to The Skellig, formerly of Waltham, MA!), The Greater Boston Traditional Song group, & NEFFA
Creating a stage persona ... and how awesome Marie Llyod was.
The role of the Music Hall as entertainment in Victorian society ... and the connection to steampunk festivals
Singing as ourselves vs as a character (pssst, "Sovay" rhymes with "day")
Ask yourself: "What have I not done yet that I'd really like to do?"
Musical theater!
A good way to practice a song that you're learning by ear is to record yourself singing them
Make a physical connection to your song. You can pace in your house while you're saying the words to the song in the same meter you'll be singing them in.
Cate really does appreciate her time with Shakespeare and Company! They also taught her to feel lines of a play in her body to help remember them.
Writing things out in longhand can also help with memorization.
Storing things in short term vs long term memory
Managing a group - and creating branding and messaging
It's important to learn to be able to talk about yourself and what you do and how you're good at it!
Entrepreneurial people and organizers often start young - in Lynn's case, she organized a neighborhood yard sale
Making the move from being a corporate employee to self-employed entrepreneur - applying what you love most about your 9-5 job to what you can create for yourself (another recurring theme around here on Making Life Podcast...)
Marvel as Lynn masterfully connects everything and ties it all together at 1:02 - "I can learn anything!"
"What I love about it (singing) is it makes me feel alive."