Is there such a thing as too many strings to your bow?
When coaching actors, I frequently find they are multi-skilled chameleons who can turn their hand to anything.
Often, if you can act, you can sing. If you can sing, you can play an instrument. If you can play an instrument, you can write music. If you can write music, you can write a play. If you can write a play, surely you can act? It’s a vicious, gifted circle.
However, you can use this to your advantage. Nowadays, actors are expected to be able to do ‘everything’ so if you CAN do something else well - keep doing it!
© Jorge Lizalde - Georgina White in ‘The Beauty Parade’ at Wales Millennium Centre
As an actor who can sing and play musical instruments proficiently, this has pulled me in many different directions on stage and screen, sometimes away from my solid RADA roots to more musically theatrical lands, though these are always fully grounded within me.
What I have discovered is that over the years I really have used every skill I have and I am, fortunately, rarely out of work. Although I have had many memorable ‘in-between’ jobs, i.e. perfumer sprayer in Harrods and call centre worker.
I never imagined as an 11-year-old schoolgirl taking bassoon lessons (I was tall with big hands so it was clearly the obvious instrument choice) that this amazing and peculiar instrument would travel with me around some of the most prestigious theatres in the UK. My acting abilities landed me leading roles, however, my musicianship opened up multiple opportunities from that.
Georgina White in ‘Somewhere In England’ at Theatr Clwyd
So, is there such a thing as too many strings to your bow?
Never! It will only bring you more opportunities. Just make sure you take the time to develop one skill before moving onto the next.
The global pandemic has given us the time to step back and look inwards - to find out what is important to us and what really makes us tick. It has given many of us the opportunity to adapt our skill sets in order to be able to work from home. After the closure of theatres, I began vocal coaching online with Zoom last March which has been very successful and I now have a worldwide client base of professional actors.
I also started to get voiceover work enquiries and built a home recording studio so I could take these jobs. Having a fully equipped recording setup led to more work recording singing and voiceover reels for actors. I would never have had the confidence or the initiative to have set up a home studio had it not been for all our periods of lockdown.
© S&B photography - Georgina White as Rosalind in ‘As You Like It’
Of course, this past year has been incredibly painful and challenging for us all, but I do believe a lot of positives have come from it and adaptability is one of these things.
As you go through life, the more you learn and the more you challenge yourself, the better you will feel about yourself and the more confidence you will have. I’m currently working towards my Grade 8 piano at 34! Never stop learning. I have also recently written my own show, a one-woman musical play called ‘Villainess’ that I have also composed the music for which very excitingly will have an R&D in London as soon as theatres open.
How should I develop those side-skills?
Time management is key. Having dedicated practice sessions booked into your diary will motivate you. I also recommend either going to group coaching or private coaching in whatever skill you are looking to develop. If you can afford it, 1-1 sessions will propel you faster than anything else.
Ideally, you want to be having an hour of coaching per week and doing at least an hour every day of practice. It’s like going to the gym with all of these skills. If you don’t go, you lose your muscle and you become unfit. So, the more practise you do, the better you will be and the more confidence you will have.
Keep challenging yourself and learning as you go through your life. Also, if you are skilled at something then do keep refining these talents. You open up so many more potential doors in this notoriously tricky industry. Remember that no one else is you and that is your superpower!
About The Author
Georgina White is a RADA trained British actor and singer. She has worked professionally in theatre and on-screen since she was a teenager with her West End debut, at just 15.
Most recently in The Beauty Parade at Wales Millenium Centre, she can next be seen in the feature film The Lady of Heaven, out this year.
Georgina is also ‘The Actor’s Vocal Coach’, working with professional actors, and 1/3 of close harmony trio/musicians, ‘The Sass Sisters’.
