The Monthly interviews New Zealand musician and poet, Caitlin Smith – Part 2 – Coming back to music and poetry

What do you end up doing when you come back to music?

I call myself a story singer and a song poet but before I talk about that I should say that for the last 26+ years I’ve been teaching singing and song writing. I also write a column for NZ Musicians Magazine called ‘Finding Your Voice’. I’m currently working on the 68th columns about The Law of Attraction as applied to voice.

I help people to find their ‘own voice’ in all its manifestations. Teaching rudiments, helps students hone their skills, which reinforces good technique in my own practice. Finding your voice isn’t just what you sound like, but what you have to say. Teaching informs my process and performance, which in turn informs my teaching.

Find Caitlin’s latest article at the link below

nzmusician.co.nz/lessons/losing-finding-having-voice/?fbclid=IwAR0Y0EN2BC4s_s4eahnZrjzRWEyNwtUMNOZoFUciozyK1rJq6og4lsRaHKU

What are you working on at the moment?

I have huge dreams! I am hoping to recite my columns from the magazine into an audio book. That’s a big project I want to commit to. I also want to set up a Substack subscription whereby I send subscribers a recited poem a day. I like the idea of people being able to hear my work rather than just read it. I don’t completely trust the written word. Reciting my poems gives me control over intonation, emphasis, and delivery.

Are there difficulties in pursuing those projects?

The pandemic quite severely impacted my livelihood as a teacher and performer. People view singing and song-writing lessons as a “nice to have” rather than a “must have”. Because we have a very small population there isn’t a lot of scope to grow your local audience. If you look at the statistics, it is becoming harder and harder for anyone to make a living as a full time artist. I think you need to reach out online to an international audience in order to make a living.