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Episode 209: The Evolution of Beth Roars
570 Plays4 years ago
Beth Roars is a vocal coach, performer, podcaster, and YouTube superstar and it's her take on creativity and evolution that inspired this conversation.
Keep the conversation going on social media @CNFPod across them all.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsor
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey CNFers!
00:00:02
Speaker
It's the Creative Nonfiction Podcast and it's sponsored by Scrivener. Scrivener was created by writers for writers. It brings all the tools you need to craft your first draft together in one handy app. Scrivener won't tell you how to write, it simply provides everything you need to start writing and keep writing. I'm using it for casualty of words. My writing podcast for people in a hurry, which I'll eventually turn into an ebook and you can do it all with Scrivener.
00:00:30
Speaker
So whether you plot everything out first or plunge in, write and restructure later, Scrivener works your way.
Celebrity Misconceptions & Guest Introduction
00:00:40
Speaker
I think we have such an idea of celebrity and we have this idea that kind of people are these like perfect people who are on the stage and they start out like this big famous icon, but they never do.
00:00:56
Speaker
They've all worked as bin men or in waitresses or whatever. And they've all been a person like longing to be the person that they are now. And they've all gone through an interesting journey from that point.
00:01:21
Speaker
Well, here we are, CNF'ers. I'm Brendan O'Mara, and this is my podcast. The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, where I speak to badass people about the art and craft of telling true stories. Keep the conversation going and link up to the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at CNFpod. Horns and skulls to those who jump in the mosh pit with me.
00:01:45
Speaker
Today's guest is Beth Roars. Roars isn't her real last name. You'll find that out in the podcast. Despite all my research, I could not find it, so I had to ask her. And that's what intrepid reporters like me do. I'm one of the worst reporters in the world, but I was able to crack that code.
Beth Roars' YouTube Journey
00:02:05
Speaker
She roars, man. She's a singer and performer and vocal coach and a YouTube superstar for her incredible reaction videos. I'll give you one guess as to what band she reacted to. As you're thinking, the band she reacted to that put her on my radar. Okay. All right. Come on. I don't have all day here.
00:02:32
Speaker
Did you say Metallica? Nice, good work. You're correct. Metallica's Nothing Else Matters and also Outlaw Torn from their S&M performance of 1999. That's symphony in Metallica, not, you know, that thing with the whips and the leather.
Brendan's Career Reflections
00:02:53
Speaker
Anyway, I got hooked on all things Beth Roars from that point on, and she agreed to come on the show to talk about her evolution as an artist, giving up on her dreams, taking tiny steps, and dealing with self-doubt. Have you ever dealt with that? I wouldn't know what that's about.
00:03:11
Speaker
As I record this introduction on July 1st, Canada Day as it were, it's my 40th birthday, you know this has been coming. The newsletter just went out on 1st of the month and I kind of riff on this a little bit too. Sign up for that by the way, brendanamara.com. But what I'm struggling with is that it feels time has passed me by somewhat. I know that's ridiculous, I know it sounds ridiculous, especially to those who might be a little older than I.
00:03:40
Speaker
I frequently get into the comparison Olympics, as Meredith May might say, past guest on the show. Not as much as I used to, of course, but sometimes, sometimes. And so many people I admire, so many of the people I celebrate on this show are where I wish I was or was at least on the path to being.
00:04:05
Speaker
That's usually what your 30s are for, right? Greasing the skids so gaining altitude so you really hit your prime in your 40s and 50s.
00:04:16
Speaker
I spent so much of my 30s working menial jobs, not sticking out freelancing several times because I wasn't savvy enough to do journalism and content marking and other stuff.
Lessons from Past Jobs
00:04:28
Speaker
I'd hide behind those day jobs to have something safe and steady. Meanwhile, I would then have no energy or time to put towards anything meaningful.
00:04:38
Speaker
my first and as of yet only book came out nine years ago and i haven't finished one in any meaningful way since you know all this is to say the past is the past and you know as imperfect as it is it's a gift to your present and future self you can learn from it grow out of it or sink deeper into a portal of despair i know many who have done both and i'd like to do the former
00:05:08
Speaker
Anyone who listens to the show knows they fall face first into the dead marches from dead marshes the dead marshes from time to time but the fact is just like Bill Watterson the great cartoonist behind Calvin and Hobbes once said quote
00:05:25
Speaker
It's worth recognizing that there is no such thing as an overnight success. You will do well to cultivate the resources in yourself that bring you happiness outside of success or failure. The truth is, most of us discover where we are headed when we arrive. At that time, we turn around and say, yes, this is obviously where I was going all along. It's a good idea to try to enjoy the scenery on the detours because you'll probably take a few, end quote.
00:05:57
Speaker
Let that sink in. It's easier to stomach probably when you're 20 or 30 rather than 40 or 50 but the fact is I've always been a late bloomer. I was a competent baseball player and I kept working and working and then I was a bit more than competent. I was actually quite good and only because I had a singular undying flame to be great. Sure that ended up being the fuel that burned me out but still.
00:06:23
Speaker
We gotta run the race, we've got in the shoes that fit us. So let's toast to the next phase, CNF-ers.
Beth Roars' Skills and Brand
00:06:31
Speaker
And without further ado, here's my conversation with Beth Roars, Riffa!
00:06:47
Speaker
What's amazing about what you do is just this vast skill set that you've managed to cultivate for yourself. Just with video and audio and of course just your own, your craft which is of course the foundation upon which you've built everything else. I'm amazed at the skill set you've been able to cultivate with your brand.
00:07:10
Speaker
I just feel like I've had to. It's not because I feel like I'm particularly good at any of those things. It's just been necessity. So yeah, whether it's been like making my own website or learning how to operate a camera. I mean, if you look at the early ones, they're not great. So it has definitely improved. It's just learning on the job, I suppose.
00:07:35
Speaker
Yeah, and that's what's really, that's why I leave up all of my old podcasts, which are just the audio is awful. I'm trying to get my footing underneath me as an interviewer, as a host, as someone who is trying to make the other person on the other side of the mic feel comfortable. And I leave it up there because if someone else is starting out and they want to see how
00:07:58
Speaker
how rough it can be, but just to get started, it's like, oh, let's lower the barrier of entry. It doesn't have to be super polished. You just have to show up.
00:08:08
Speaker
Yeah, and especially with YouTube, I didn't really even do it with anything in mind. I didn't think that it was going to be as big as it was. So it wasn't until I got to a certain stage and I suddenly realized people were watching that I was like, oh, I better try and make this good. Because for ages I was just like, well, you know, I might get a few more pupils. It's a kind of fun thing to do.
Teaching Philosophy & Vulnerability in Art
00:08:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's one of those deals where at first it feels like you're just doing it for yourself and then at some point a switch goes off where you have to have a little more empathy and be like, oh wait, there's an end user here that I have to be a bit more mindful of than maybe I was at the start.
00:08:48
Speaker
yeah like maybe I should look in my camera settings or check that I record the audio properly and I didn't have really any of the equipment or anything but as I've gone along I've picked up bits and bobs you know I've got my mic and
00:09:06
Speaker
all my lights around me right now and I even have my own special recording room, a room dedicated to it but it didn't start off like that. I was lucky in that I had a room for music that I was teaching in and I could use it as a separate space.
00:09:22
Speaker
But yeah, none of these things started off very well. But yeah, you're very right. You have to start at the beginning. And I think people always want to start at level 10 without going through the rest of the levels. And then they're upset that they're not there yet.
00:09:40
Speaker
That's brilliant, and that's definitely some of the themes that you talk about in a lot of your videos, whether it's the chats or the reactions or through the podcast. This is ostensibly a writing podcast, but when I was listening to your stuff, there's just so many great universal truths and themes that you unpack that are very germane to what I like to talk about, getting into the head and the psyche of the creator.
00:10:04
Speaker
And it's just you unpack that really well. So I think that'll be a lot of fun to get into as this progresses. Yeah, for sure. I mean, singing for me, anyway, is a really interesting art form because I feel like it is one of the most fragile art forms in the people. It's so connected to your sense of self.
00:10:31
Speaker
people are really scared of it. I guess when I'm teaching, I'm teaching people at their most fearful a lot of the time. So it's a really interesting art form for that, but also it's so unique and there's no right and wrong as well. And I think most art forms are like that. People, you can't put a formula around it. That's one of the reasons actually people always say to me, why don't you do an online course in teaching singing and
00:11:00
Speaker
One of the things I've resisted it because there are certain exercises that help everyone and stuff But I I don't really believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. It really depends on each individual's voice, but I think it's like that with everything really
00:11:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And getting to the heart of the vulnerability of what you're alluding to also is that singing, unlike maybe writing, singing, it's so inextricably tied to the physical.
00:11:32
Speaker
as well. It's an embodiment of the body in some ways. Where writing, it feels a bit more reclusive and private, but when you sing, you're out there, it's performative, but it's also quite literally a part of your body and you're making sounds with your own body. So it's definitely a much more raw and visceral art in a lot of ways, and I'm sure that's what you deal with with a lot of your students.
00:12:00
Speaker
Oh, for sure. But it is also storytelling at the same time. It's... I mean, the word's already written, but then you have to tell the story. I always say to my students,
00:12:12
Speaker
You know, if you were singing in a language that I didn't understand, I still want to understand the meaning of that. But yes, you're right. It's very vulnerable. And often you are, you're facing an audience. And with writing, you are facing an audience, but you don't see them directly straight away. And no one, I mean,
00:12:36
Speaker
No one wants to be kind of facing the herd, I guess, in science. If you're like facing the other people, it makes you scared. It makes you like other than the other people. So of course that's a terrifying position to be in. Your body goes into like fight or flight.
00:12:54
Speaker
But so teaching singing is teaching people how to be in that situation as well. And so much of singing is your head space and your confidence and how much you believe in your voice. Because all those muscles going to the physical, those tensing up are often more to do with. I mean, sometimes they're to do with the muscles themselves, but a lot of the time it's to do with
00:13:23
Speaker
your head space and then as soon as you relax and all those muscles relax and suddenly you can hit this high note.
00:13:33
Speaker
Yeah, that's so great. And I love how it ties into everything. Headspace, vulnerability, confidence, and what that can do when those start to crumble. And they usually all start to crumble. Artistic people just tend to be a bit more sensitive in that regard. How have you wrestled with that so you can relax and then put your best face forward?
Beth's Background and Theater Experience
00:14:02
Speaker
If I'm honest, it's something that I probably still struggle with. It really depends on what I'm doing, really. And as you say, I do so many different things, and I'm always trying to push myself out of my comfort zone. So I think it's getting used to being out of my comfort zone is one of the main things. So even if I'm terrified on the inside, maybe people don't notice as much. Hopefully, I don't know.
00:14:32
Speaker
But the more you do anything, the more you start to relax. So with singing for a very long time, I was really, really, really nervous about that. And before I coached,
00:14:47
Speaker
I was a singer and I worked on the West End and I performed and I was so nervous all the time but the more and more you do it and eventually you're doing you know you've done a hundred shows and you're not nervous anymore.
00:15:03
Speaker
But it does take that time and doing it that many times to be able to relax and a lot of self talk. Like, come on, Beth, it's fine. So let's back up a little bit. Tell me where you grew up, Beth. So I grew up in Perth, in Scotland. OK. And what did your folks do?
00:15:25
Speaker
My mom was a doctor and my dad is in the army, but they're retired now. Oh, my mom is just about to retire. Oh, wow. And do you have any siblings? Yes, I have three little sisters. So one who's a dancer and the youngest two are twins and one's an actor or singer as well. And the other one is, well, she's just about to go to university. Oh, wow. So yeah, pretty artistic family, I'd say.
00:15:54
Speaker
Well, they are setting up a drive-thru theater right now, so they're quite busy trying to make art in the times of coronavirus. Yeah, jeez. So, okay, so you got a pretty, you know, your siblings, of course, are pretty artistic of you are, of course. So, you know, where did that come from? Where does that stem from?
00:16:18
Speaker
I can tell you exactly. Well, when I was really young, my mom always says that I sung before I could speak. So when I was a baby, my dad was away at war, actually. He was in the first Iraq war. OK, early 90s.
00:16:39
Speaker
yes, and when I was learning to speak and I couldn't at that point and would just sing like nursery rhymes and she'd send it over to my dad's and they were like when will she speak she's just making little tunes all the time. But I really got into it. My mum and dad were both
00:17:01
Speaker
They weren't really arty, they didn't know much about singing or anything like that but they knew that it was something that I really liked and there was a local production of The Sound of Music and they put out an ad in the local paper looking for kids to be in it and my mum sent me along and I kept on getting recalled and at that time being eight years old I thought I wasn't doing it very well because he kept on asking me back and asking me to do it again and I was like oh I must not be doing it very good
00:17:30
Speaker
But actually I got the part and that was it. I think I was kind of hooked on theater at that point. And what year is that when you get your first gig as an eight-year-old?
00:17:43
Speaker
Oh, what would that be? That would be 1997. Very nice. Okay, so you kind of have the bug there. What strikes me as interesting too is the father in the military, your mother or doctor, those mindsets tend to want to steer people
00:18:03
Speaker
You know, I'd broad brush, but steer people towards and certainly their children towards more stable careers, so to speak. So at what point do they kind of lean in and support you and be like, hey, you know, you've got a knack for this. You know, why don't you just run with it? Well, weirdly,
00:18:26
Speaker
Contrary to the idea of being in the military, my dad is a massive dreamer. So it was always like, he's the sort of person that I would be like, oh, I really like Beyonce. And he'd be like, you're better than Beyonce. And I'd be like, I'm not better than Beyonce. Whereas my mum is a bit more pragmatic and a bit more
00:18:53
Speaker
She's just all about if you work hard enough, you can get what you want in life, but you have to work hard. So I think the combination of the two of them, you know, that is where I come from, hardworking, but also a big old dreamer.
00:19:10
Speaker
And as you're progressing, say, through school your teenage years, do you come across like a key mentor, someone who was putting fuel in your tank and someone who was able to adequately coach you along and keep giving you that thrust you needed to keep pursuing this thing? You know what? Throughout my teenage years, I didn't really have that.
00:19:36
Speaker
I did when I got older, weirdly, but a lot of it was just that I really, really felt like I, I guess I felt like I wanted to do it, but a lot of it was chance. Throughout school, I mean, I had done well in music, but I actually had a music teacher who told me that I didn't deserve to get the grade I got. So I was gutted by that, and, um,
00:20:03
Speaker
I wanted to sing and act, but I was really, really deadly shy as a kid. Like, as a teenager, I did not speak very much. I was really, really deadly shy. And then, so I didn't really know what to do.
00:20:20
Speaker
was doing like theatre groups and stuff a little bit and then I took a year out and a friend of mine had got into a drama school in London and he was like look Beth you should audition for it you can sing go and audition
00:20:35
Speaker
and so I did on like an off chance but I didn't really expect much from it and then I got in and that was a big kind of turning point in that I felt like I could leave Scotland and kind of shed my shy persona and be more of the person that I wanted to be so it was a new start and that is when it all kind
00:21:01
Speaker
kind of changed for me and I started to realize I did not start off as any of the I didn't start off as the best or particularly high up or anything within the other students on that course but I worked really really hard and by the end I got a really good grade and
00:21:24
Speaker
After that, I was again a little bit of a chance happening. Well, a combination of a chance happening. I had sent loads of CVs off being like, I've just finished drama school. And I didn't have an agent or any of those things. But there was one musical that was looking for someone who could do a Scottish accent and could play saxophone. And those are two things that I can do.
00:21:49
Speaker
So, and sing and act in all those things. A bit of a jack of all trades, maybe. And yeah, and I, you know, I don't know if there's that many people that can do those things, all those things. And yeah, I got that job and that kind of started me on that journey. But it's certainly been an up and down journey.
00:22:16
Speaker
Did that teacher who said you didn't get the grade you deserve, did that light a fire in you and motivate you to greater heights to prove them wrong, to try to uphold that grade? Yeah, maybe. I think a little bit.
00:22:37
Speaker
I have a definite...
Managing Self-Doubt and Career Fluctuations
00:22:41
Speaker
There's like two sides to my personality in that I can be quite shy and have self-doubt, but then I also have the side of my personality that's really determined. So it kind of depends at what particular point to which one is winning.
00:23:03
Speaker
When you're in that self-doubt mode, what is the kind of self-talk that you use to get yourself out of it? What do I do? Well, what I've been doing recently is doing a lot of meditating, actually. I've been doing that in recent years, but also just telling myself that I just need to make small steps.
00:23:31
Speaker
and not trying to focus on the wider goal too much. It was something that I used to do. I'd get so overwhelmed by this massive, massive goal that I had. Like, I want to be on the West End, but you know, sometimes it's no good looking at that because you've got to take all the tiny steps to get there. So just think of the next goal and don't let yourself get overwhelmed by those bigger goals.
00:23:56
Speaker
And when you say you were deadly shy growing up, and then of course you're able to put on a new face when you get to drama school, how long were you able to keep the non-shy face up before you sort of receded back into who you are and who you were? Was there an internal calculus or at least an internal struggle of who you were and who you were trying to be?
00:24:23
Speaker
Maybe, I think I have always been, I mean there will always be a certain
00:24:36
Speaker
shyness to me although a lot of people are fooled by it people will be like oh Beth's an extrovert but I feel like actually I mean I'm probably like borderline I can be both again maybe I'm just a person of contradictions I don't know maybe everyone is and I think if I was around the right people
00:25:02
Speaker
and I was feeling confident enough, then I probably am not shy. And I'm normally fine with people on a one-to-one basis generally.
00:25:11
Speaker
but I think I just found school particularly hard, but I do have times where I will, and always have, and still do have times where like, I will definitely step back, especially if it's a new situation, a new social situation, and I don't know anyone and people know each other. So there are moments that it comes back, I suppose, that shyness. For sure. Still.
00:25:37
Speaker
Yeah and okay so you get the you get this gig saxophone playing Scottish Scottish role which seems just like yes perfect for you would you identify that as uh as your big break or were you still or or is the that one's uh the big break still still ahead of you? No I mean I would say that was one big break yeah but it wasn't
00:26:03
Speaker
I feel like there's been so many defining moments of my career and they have been so up and down, not all good moments. And it made me get to ultimately where I am now, which is coaching and a lot more relaxed, I suppose, as a person, but I...
00:26:28
Speaker
Yes, it was one of the bigger things because I went on tour and then I went on the West End with that show. And that was like, that gave me a lot of confidence in the fact that that was something that I'd always dreamed of doing. And I was still really young at that point. I was only, I think, I remember having my 21st birthday on tour, so I was pretty young. And I mean, yeah, that was massive for me. But then after that,
00:26:59
Speaker
I did a few more jobs, but being an actor, a musical theater actor is not stable. And there was many times that I was out flyering or whatever odd job that you have to do at the time to kind of keep yourself going. And that was really, really tough afterwards. And then I would get like another cool job.
00:27:28
Speaker
whether it be either in musical theatre, I did some really small TV bit parts, or I did some singing on other artist tracks and things like that sort of music industry, and then I would be like the next week
00:27:47
Speaker
washing dishes in a restaurant so it was just so up and down for a period of my life until i actually met a vocal coach um he's actually someone i've got on my podcast called um joshua alamo and he is now vocal coach to loads of fancy singers
00:28:06
Speaker
He teaches like Little Mix and people like that. But I went to him to be like, I sing musical theatre. I'd like to sing more pop style. Can you help out? And he was someone who gave me a lot of confidence. But that wasn't until I was like my mid 20s, like 24, 25.
00:28:26
Speaker
Yeah, I bet. And I bet when you're, you know, washing dishes and everything and everyone's like, all right, yeah. So you're so you're here and they're like, what do you do? You're like, well, I'm a singer and a performer. And they're like, yeah, sure. You're washing dishes. How's that going for you? And you're like, screw you. This is what I'm doing to pay the bills before I can get the next gig. Yeah, exactly. I think there's a.
00:28:47
Speaker
And people, especially when you're doing theater, if they haven't heard of the thing that you're doing, they also assume that you're not very good.
00:28:57
Speaker
Yeah, that must be maddening to do that. But I suspect too that it sounds like once you essentially had achieved the big goal and on some level, and correct me if I'm wrong, it sounds like it wasn't as maybe fulfilling as you had thought. Am I wrong there or was it not everything you thought it might be?
00:29:22
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there were moments when it felt like it might be, like I remember when I first sang on this big stage and I was like, oh, wow. And then the more you have to get into the day to day of performing, yeah, it wasn't what I thought it would be, but I don't think things always turn out how you think they will be. Or a lot of these big,
00:29:51
Speaker
goals and dreams. There's a lot of reality around it that you don't see until you're in it. And I guess I didn't really enjoy stuff like I didn't enjoy the touring aspect for sure and that was one of the things that I started to feel like I didn't want to go on tour and actually I really
Transition to Teaching and Fulfillment
00:30:15
Speaker
only enjoyed doing certain roles and I thought well I don't feel like I'm that willing to do the rubbish parts of this job and so many people would kill for the opportunity to do
00:30:30
Speaker
any of this, and I didn't think that that was fair, that I was trying to take up a space in the industry almost. So that's why I also took a step back and went more towards teaching. Did you find that as you were in the thick of it, that you were losing the love for it as you were in the day-to-day grind of it all?
00:31:01
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think there was a time, you know, in my early 20s that I didn't really know where I was going. I didn't know what my passion was and I was really lucky that I had kind of achieved my one big goal. And then there was nothing, I didn't really know where to aim after that or what I wanted to do.
00:31:25
Speaker
And it wasn't until I met Josh and I slowly started to teach just as something to help me out, to pay the bills and not be some of those horrible jobs. And then I was like, oh, this is great. It's creative and I'm helping people. And, because that was also something that had always
00:31:54
Speaker
I guess I sometimes felt like doing just theater felt like I wasn't really helping people or it felt like it was just for me and I wanted to do something for everyone else or for other people.
00:32:11
Speaker
Right. Yeah. It felt kind of too myopic in a way. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. So it wasn't until I started teaching and then when you see people learn and grow and then you're like, Oh wow. Yeah. That's something really, really special. When you see people have those moments when they, I don't know, there's aha sort of moments.
00:32:40
Speaker
Yeah, I noticed too when I talk to a lot of people that in whatever artistic endeavor they're in that sometimes there can be those moments of competition, that unhealthy competition that can weigh you down and I suspect that as a performer and a singer sometimes you can look over your shoulder and be like, you know, you can compare yourself in bad ways whereas like, oh, they're just better than I am, I'll never get to that level or someone who
00:33:08
Speaker
is more successful than you and you know you're technically and proficiently better and yet you're not at the level that they are and then you get kind of in that toxic treadmill, so to speak. Is that something you ever experienced in your time performing? Yeah, for sure. I think it's really easy to get in your head and I think
00:33:33
Speaker
within the theatre industry is so competitive more so than music because with music you can you know you're just trying to be the best version of yourself you can be but when you're competing for certain roles all the time it can be quite a toxic environment for
00:33:53
Speaker
to be in and people you know the whole industry people can be quite mean and then you can feel like jealous of a role or jealous that someone's got that and you haven't and it's never very good especially when I was really younger
00:34:13
Speaker
It took me a while to kind of get over that and be like, no Beth, this is not that. You don't need to be jealous. You just need to do what you need to do. But when you're, you know, you're 21, it's not, you don't have the maturity always to deal with that yet.
00:34:29
Speaker
Right. And I've heard you talk about burnout and dealing with that. How have you in your career dealt with burning out and making sure that you don't maybe get to that point where you just want to just pull up anchor and disappear?
00:34:47
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, as a self-confessed kind of shy person and someone who is a hard worker, this is a classic Beth issue in that I get really excited about things, and then I'm like, yes, yes, I'm gonna put those into it, and then I'm like, ah, too much. So it's constantly something that I have to be aware of. I'm very, very lucky
00:35:16
Speaker
At the moment my partner is also helping me out with my schedule, so he's always like no You cannot take on this thing because you know that you're gonna get super stressed in like three weeks time So I'm lucky in that side of things, but I also have to be aware of that in myself and it's something that I constantly need to reevaluate because
00:35:43
Speaker
I want to balance having new and exciting things with also maintaining the other things that I'm doing.
00:35:56
Speaker
It's just balance. It's just reevaluating and making sure and understanding in yourself that you need to rest because then you will be able to give your best if you give yourself the time. And I recognize this every time. Every time I get myself a little bit close to burnout and I give myself some time off. And then the day afterwards I'm like, oh, I was so productive on that day because I rested.
00:36:25
Speaker
So just remembering that. I suspect that of late you've had to get especially good at saying no and picking your spots more, right?
Work-Life Balance and Career Sacrifices
00:36:36
Speaker
Yes, I have, yes, definitely. My everything, in fact, lockdown has been the busiest. All my friends are like, oh yes, I'm learning a language. I've been reading all these books and I'm like, everyone wants singing lessons because they're stuck in their houses.
00:36:57
Speaker
it's been really really busy and I've had to just be like right this is the set time I'm doing and then this is my time like I literally schedule time off in my calendar like this is my evening to do nothing this is my evening that like I will sit and watch a movie or and I do stuff like as I say in the mornings I do my meditation and then in the evening especially in lockdown it's really important I just go for a long walk
00:37:24
Speaker
I think I read on your blog something that really struck me. You wrote that hustlers who win are the ones who can make sacrifices or something to that extent. And I love that sentiment that if you really want something, whatever that is, it often means you're going to have to give up something. And in your career and even as you've pivoted
00:37:48
Speaker
away from, say, a lot of the West End work you were able to do, what were some sacrifices that you internally had to make that were really tough so you could manifest those goals you had for yourself? First of all, I'm really glad I wrote that because I have forgotten that I did and it sounds great, so well done to pass me. I was like, ah, that's cool. Sacrifices, I mean, certainly,
00:38:18
Speaker
Like even now, a lot of people having that time off is one thing. Like to, you know, as I say, my friends will be like, oh, we're just doing this thing. And I'm like, well, I'm working on my podcast or I'm videoing, making YouTube videos or I'm teaching. And these things are important to me. And actually,
00:38:43
Speaker
The interesting thing is in the end it doesn't really feel like a sacrifice because I'm lucky enough or I've spent enough time building up my life so that I am mostly doing things that I enjoy and the things that I feel like I don't enjoy
00:39:03
Speaker
I mean, I suppose there's all the sacrifices, but those things I don't feel like I do enjoy feel worthwhile because they're now all pointing towards things that I feel like bring meaning to myself and hopefully other people.
00:39:21
Speaker
As you were, you say maybe coming down off the performing part, which I know you still do, but not to maybe the extent that you were when you were in like super hustle mode. When did you get your first sort of paid coaching client? And what did that do to you when you were able to secure that? What was that feeling?
00:39:46
Speaker
Oh, I was terrified. I was like, do I know what to do? I don't know. We'll find out. Who the hell am I to give instruction? Exactly, exactly. And I have done quite a lot of jazz things specifically, and it was a woman. This was actually just after I had decided to completely quit theater. And I went home to my parents' house in Scotland for a few months and was like, I don't know what I'm doing with life.
00:40:16
Speaker
And I got a client there at home who was a lady who sang Scottish folk and wanted to learn jazz. And I knew enough about jazz at that point that I felt like, well, at least I can give you a little bit of something. But yeah, it was terrifying at first, but I guess every step
00:40:38
Speaker
of anything new is terrifying. And it may feel like that at first, but now teaching to me feels like the best thing in the world. And I have had to grow that competence in that.
00:40:53
Speaker
I think my point is that if anyone feels like they're scared or nervous about something, that's okay because it could end up being something that you really enjoy and are really good at in the end.
00:41:10
Speaker
I feel that way too when I do editing or writing coaching. I don't have a whole lot under my belt, but when I hung that shingle up, it was just like, well, I'm not like a brilliant writer. I don't have a ton of platform. I don't have like any sort of celebrity cache. It's like, so who am I, like who the hell am I to criticize, not criticize, but like
00:41:35
Speaker
write a critique and coach someone along to make their work as good as possible. I can't guarantee anyone publication, but at least I can elevate them as best I can. So you almost have to wrestle with who am I to even suggest that your stuff isn't good, but let's make it better. It's one of those things you have to really fake it until you make it in a lot of ways.
00:42:00
Speaker
Absolutely, and even as a teacher, you learn how to be a good teacher. So it's remembering that that is a skill in itself and you will only learn to do it by doing it. It's not, I mean, you can learn all the book smarts, you can learn everything in all the textbooks, but until you teach, you don't know how to teach.
00:42:30
Speaker
Yeah, and there's something you said too in one of the, I think you might have said it in writing, but also in possibly on the podcast, this idea of technique versus expression, and that is so vital.
00:42:47
Speaker
Name your discipline. You can be a technically proficient writer, but if you're not a great expresser of it, you're just going to come out as kind of this sort of neutered voice. And I wonder if maybe you can speak to that and how that applies to your craft and how you can learn those rules, but also start to color those feathers, so to speak. So the expression of that technique is all the more powerful and connecting.
00:43:13
Speaker
Yes I mean a lot of singing teachers will probably be like boo boo technique is everything to me so I'm about to say something that people are like uh-uh but I definitely am someone who believes in expression
00:43:33
Speaker
above technique. I do believe that learning technique to be able to sing in a healthy way so you don't hurt yourself is important but I don't believe that there is a perfect way of singing and I think that the weird things that people do
00:43:51
Speaker
are the things that make them beautiful. The unique things, the things that are not... The vulnerabilities, the fragility, those things are what people want to hear. And if you train that away, then you're kind of defeating the entire point of music or art.
00:44:14
Speaker
Art is meant to express humanity to me, not express perfection. And perfection isn't even something that anyone can even achieve anyway.
00:44:25
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's such a great point, and I think that's almost the meta-lesson for your reaction videos, too, when you take a live performance. You're evaluating them based on a point of expression, and even if they don't have harmonically beautiful voices, you're able to pick out the expressive component of it that suits
00:44:51
Speaker
their genre and that's a I think you know a testament to what you're able to do you pick out these great things that you can hang on you're not overly critical you're like no let's celebrate the individual in the group in the dynamic in within this performance
00:45:08
Speaker
Yes. Well, I try to be positive because I really believe in trying to put out good positive things into the world. There's too much negativity as it is and enough bad things going on. So, you know, I try to keep it as positive as I can. I also believe that, you know, things like technique are just there as tools for expression, but it's not there for
00:45:35
Speaker
It's self, it's just there to help you. Yeah, I also think that everyone, every person who comes to lessons with me, it's so interesting because I feel like you can hear a lot about a person by the way that they sing. And whether they like that or not, maybe that sounds a bit creepy, like I'm evaluating their personalities, but...
00:46:05
Speaker
I'm not, well I kind of am. I feel like you can just tell a lot about how they approach life by the tone or the way they approach singing or the choices that they make within their voice and if you try and get rid of that then your voice becomes disconnected to the person.
00:46:29
Speaker
I love the the video you put out of why you gave up on your dreams and I was wondering maybe you can expand on that like why you gave up on on the dream so to speak which opened up more more dreams I think so like maybe you can unpack that a little bit because that's kind of what's gotten you to you know this this point is giving up on that and I think it's opened up a lot of things maybe you can speak to why you gave up your dream
00:46:57
Speaker
So, yes, my dream, as I said, was to work in theater. And I was. And I then, as we talked about earlier, found it very different and not exactly like I thought it would be in my head. I felt very lost for a while and I, hmm,
00:47:27
Speaker
I know now, in retrospect, because it never feels like that at the time, but I know now that all those things and all those different experiences that I have have culminated to give me the skill sets and give me the strength to be able to do what I do now. And the
00:47:53
Speaker
It felt like doing theater was what I should be doing.
00:47:59
Speaker
but I feel like now that I have let go of that grip on that one thing, it has allowed so many different things to come in. Like I didn't start YouTube with a massive agenda, but that has allowed so much. And I found so much joy in that. And then I started my podcast and I didn't really know what would happen with that. But these are things that I never would have thought to have done.
00:48:28
Speaker
or I wouldn't have allowed myself to go to if I'd just been focused on that one goal, but as soon as I let go of that, and that also doesn't mean I will never do any performance again or anything. I still do jazz gigs every now and again, and I still love performing on my YouTube channel, and if someone was like, come and do a theater job, if it was the right one, you never know, but it just means that now,
00:48:59
Speaker
I'm kind of just leaving it up to what life wants to give me. And there's a lot less pressure in that. So when did you officially start your YouTube channel?
YouTube Success and Music's Emotional Connection
00:49:15
Speaker
About, just about two years ago. That's it, really. Wow, that's amazing. So what was the impetus to that? Maybe what were you seeing out there? You're like, you know what, I feel like throwing my hat into this ring too.
00:49:29
Speaker
It was a friend of mine, actually, was like, oh, I've seen these vocal coach reacts. I've seen someone do a vocal coach react. She should do that. And I was like, no, no, no. Actually, I was really mean about it to begin with. I was like, no, that's tacky. I'm not doing that. And then I was like, oh, you know what? I'd actually been working.
00:49:52
Speaker
another one of my random jobs. I'd been working as a musical director for a cruise ship and I just left that job. And then I was like, well, I'm not doing anything right now and I should, I could do some more pupils because I've been so busy with that. I've not been able to teach. So a lot of my old pupils have moved on and stuff. So I thought I'd do some of that. And yeah, the rest is history.
00:50:19
Speaker
Yeah, at what point did you start noticing the traction it was gaining? You're like, oh, wow, this is really building a brand and probably funneling more people my way than I could have ever imagined. Yeah, I remember the first video that vaguely went viral. And you put a few out, and they have
00:50:42
Speaker
you know they got a couple of hundred views and I was like well that's more than I expected but then I did one and it was a big Filipino artist and you know it didn't really do well and then suddenly like three days in obviously somehow with the algorithm it just boosted and you know a day later I had 10,000 people
00:51:03
Speaker
who'd watch that video and suddenly it was like 30,000 and I think that video now is at like 600,000 views or something and then I was like oh wow okay people can people are enjoying these so then I started to try and think about how I could take it a little more seriously
00:51:25
Speaker
Well, I came to get familiar with you because in my Google feed, I'm a Metallica junkie. It was just like vocal chords reacts to nothing else matters. I was like, cool, I'll check this out. I think you got a giant bump out of that too. If you can tether yourself to Metallica in some capacity, people will flock to it just because they're so big.
00:51:52
Speaker
uh but that's like that's the nature of it i was like oh cool and that's how i found out about you so i suspect that it's just like you know picking those picking those bands too can be a strategy unto itself definitely i actually weirdly the ones that do the best aren't always the ones with the biggest audience in terms of or at least the most mainstream audience the ones that tend to do the best
00:52:18
Speaker
are big bands but with more of a niche audience like Metallica which isn't as mainstream as like if you put Ariana Grande for me I guess maybe there's lots of people who do that already but I also think if you just I just try and do as many ones that I enjoy
00:52:38
Speaker
Yeah, what is your, you know, what's great about it is that it's your taste. You're curating these bands based on your taste. So what resonates with you? You're like, okay, yeah, I'm, I will, you know, sure you do, you crowdsource a little bit with people, but you know, for you, like what is, like, oh yeah, I'd love to dive into this and break it down.
00:53:00
Speaker
It can be really anything and I have gone into so many different genres on the channel and one of the great things about it is that I have become so much more knowledgeable as a vocal coach as well because I'm looking at genres that I didn't even know about. I didn't know existed and although it's hilarious because I'll be like
00:53:24
Speaker
Like, you know, my background was first theater and then more kind of jazz and, you know, music. And so I'll watch like a throat singing video and people will be like, why don't you know how to do that? And I'm like, I'm not a vocal coach for every single style of like, I don't know how to do like, it's not very used in musical theater. Okay. But, um,
00:53:53
Speaker
Yeah, I think I generally just try and pick things that I like, things that intrigue me. Sometimes I have seen them before, sometimes it is a complete cold reaction. I also like to look at classic artists as well, because I feel like people who have lasted the test of time normally have for a reason, they're normally good.
00:54:23
Speaker
Yeah. And they're probably as they're probably high on the expression spectrum versus the technique spectrum. And that's why they've stood the test of time. They're not they don't stand the test of time because they're technically proficient. It's because they're conveying something that is connecting on a more resonant and deeper level. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think timeless artists.
00:54:48
Speaker
It goes beyond like fashion, music fashion. As you say, it connects with people's souls, their humanity. And it often touches on subjects that everyone or feelings that everyone has felt at some point in their lives.
00:55:07
Speaker
And then you start the podcast not too long ago also. So you've got like the YouTube channel and then of course the podcast. So what was the inspiration behind starting that, given that you already had this other platform? So now you've kind of kicked over to a different one. So what was the motivation there?
00:55:25
Speaker
I just thought it would be cool to interview some really, some of the people that I'd reacted to
Podcasting and the Myth of Instant Celebrity
00:55:32
Speaker
on the channel. I just was like, ah, how wicked would it be to actually chat to these people and find out who they really are, because I'm always talking about people's voices and what that means, but I would like to know the person behind that. And so, yeah, I just,
00:55:55
Speaker
emailed a bunch of people to see what would happen and some people said yes and I was like fantastic and that was it. And of course it's titled Good Job and you usually start out all the episodes just saying like what's the worst job you've had so why start there, why go there, why is that the hook? Because I feel like I wanted to
00:56:22
Speaker
Make sure people knew that everyone starts somewhere and no one starts. I think we have such an idea of celebrity and we have this idea that kind of people are these like perfect people who are on the stage and they start out like this big famous icon, but they never do.
00:56:48
Speaker
They've all worked as bin men or in waitresses or whatever. And they've all been a person like longing to be the person that they are now. And they've all gone through an interesting journey from that point.
00:57:07
Speaker
And there's such a fine line between being deluded enough to think that you can make it as an artist and that self-belief and delusion and then to be able to withstand the grind of some of these menial day jobs to subsidize the thing you love to do. Maybe you can speak to that, just the fine line between the delusional self-belief you need to keep yourself going.
00:57:32
Speaker
It's interesting because I feel like often the most talented people are the people that doubt themselves the most. I feel like
00:57:43
Speaker
and the people who are super super confident are not always the most talented and if you can get the balance right and you can be confident and proficient in what you do then you know you you've got it you've got the winning formula but that's super super rare and people have to normally work on one or the other or both dependent on the person but
00:58:12
Speaker
uh it is really difficult because there will always be people who tell you that you can't do things even if you are really good at something um but i think trust or go to people that are that know what they're talking about surround yourself with people who know what they're talking about and who are also kind and
00:58:37
Speaker
want to help you for the right reasons, not just people who want to take your money or anything like that. Just make sure you're going to the right people and get good opinions on what you're doing, I think is a good way to go about it.
00:58:53
Speaker
Do you worry about, given the podcast, YouTube channel, and your coaching, and then of course picking up whatever gig you might be able to pick up over the course of a year, that there's a worry of spreading yourself too thin? And how do you manage that?
00:59:09
Speaker
Yeah, I'm always spreading myself to you then. Yeah, ask my boyfriend, he's like, Beth, as I say, you managed to schedule, no. Another thing, why have you agreed to this? And I'm like, oh, it just seemed like fun. It's really tricky balance. I feel like I want to make sure that I have
00:59:38
Speaker
I guess it's like fear of missing out, isn't it? You wanna do everything and wanna live your best life. And it's really, really easy to just try and do it all.
00:59:56
Speaker
I try and tell myself to take breaks as much as I can, and I do stuff like I'm taking a month off in August, so I make sure that I have definite time off scheduled in. Having said that, if the coolest thing turned up in that month, I would probably do it.
01:00:20
Speaker
I don't know if I have any good advice for that apart because I don't know if I'm particularly good at not spreading myself too thin.
01:00:38
Speaker
that you struggle with organization and i was wondering how you go about you know organizing your day in your calendar and just your day to day so you can you know ration your energy appropriately so you're giving your best to whatever thing you feel like giving that to i think i'm a naturally disorganized person but actually have become
01:01:01
Speaker
like weirdly organized to counteract my actual nature. So if I'm like left to my own devices, then I can not, I kind of just end up doing the thing that feels best at the time, which means the things that actually need to get done don't get done. So I have a pretty intense calendar with color coding and everything now to make sure
01:01:30
Speaker
that I'm like right these tasks need to get done today I need to record this many videos and I need to edit this bit of a podcast and I then have this many lessons in and you know what there's so many
01:01:48
Speaker
I mean it sounds really boring but there's like online calendars for singing lessons so you know I give my pupils a little code and they can go into my schedule and see when it's free and it all automatically does it for me. So if it wasn't for things like that then it would be a massive massive mess.
01:02:08
Speaker
And I'm very, as I say, I've got Tom helping me out all the time. If it wasn't for him, I would be probably making mistakes all over the place. I certainly used to. And I think, Jermaine, to your podcast, I'd ask you, what's the worst job you've ever had?
01:02:29
Speaker
The worst job. So I'm vegan. So actually I wasn't at the time. Cool. I had to I worked. My best friends at the time worked at Jamie Oliver's restaurant and I was doing part time.
01:02:49
Speaker
work all the time and she was like right when the chef is off sick and we need some help so I went to join in and my job for the day was chopping the nipples off the pork belly oh yeah so I think that's pretty up there with terrible jobs I had that was my job for the day yikes
01:03:10
Speaker
And given that you're vegan and I am too, it's always nice to find a fellow veganite out there. What's the most delicious thing that you've had of late?
Personal Favorites and Online Presence
01:03:22
Speaker
Oh, yesterday I had an amazing roast. Just the veg, actually. But amazing roast potatoes. They were delicious.
01:03:30
Speaker
Oh, those are the best. Yeah, this past weekend, my wife and I, we like making our own pizzas. So made the dough, made a base of nutritional yeast, raw garlic and olive oil, and then some fake sausages, onions, peppers, and a tofu ricotta that we made. Yes. Bake that sucker, and it was very good.
01:03:52
Speaker
Delicious. I've also got a banana bread waiting for me for after this that we made yesterday, so I'm excited to eat that. Well, that's amazing. Well, I don't want to keep you from that banana bread much longer, so I've just got two more quick things for you, Beth. Okay. What's your last name?
01:04:09
Speaker
Oh, my actual last name. It's really long. It's Compson Bradford. It's not Roars. Although people often think it's Roars, and people will be like, I've never heard of the clan Roars. And I'm like, it was so funny. It's not even.
01:04:24
Speaker
Yeah, I was in my research. I was Google. I was looking all over the place. I'm like, this is weird. She's done a good job that can't like keep her keep her last name hidden. And I was just like, but but in any case, I was like, all right, well, cool. So we got we got to the bottom of that. And also just where can people find you online and get more familiar with you and all the amazing work you're doing, Beth?
01:04:48
Speaker
Oh, thanks. You can just find me anywhere. If you just type in Beth Roars, the podcast is good job with Beth Roars, YouTube is Beth Roars, and all the social medias is just Beth Roars, so it's easy to find.
01:05:04
Speaker
Fantastic. Well, I'm so glad to have stumbled upon the amazing work you do. And you also have a Patreon page to all sorts of subscription levels to help subsidize a lot of this amazing stuff that you're doing. So people should check that out too if they're fans.
01:05:22
Speaker
So I just want to say thank you so much for hopping on the podcast here Beth and digging into creativity and everything that you do that makes you so special out there in the creative space. So thanks for hopping on the show and keep up the great work. Thanks for having me. How lovely was that?
01:05:52
Speaker
Beth Roars, something else. That was a really fun conversation. She's one of those, she's one of the good ones. She puts out the good energy, puts out the good work.
01:06:03
Speaker
I don't know if you heard that, but my producer just yawned in the background. Thank you, Hank, for your contributions to this enterprise.
Conclusion and Thanks
01:06:14
Speaker
Thanks to Beth and thanks to you, of course, for listening. Thanks also to Scrivener for sponsoring this episode. Love and Scrivener, go buy it.
01:06:24
Speaker
Yep, that's right. Today, recording this intro, I know it's two days after the actual birthday, but big 4-0. Thanks for celebrating with me seeing efforts. You can lead me at B-Day present by reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts, because guys like me can't do the interview. See ya!