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The Story of Your Life, Part 2Last month, I discussed some of the important functions that your biography serves in your career, as well as the basic outline of a professionally written biography. This month's column continues in more detail about information you should consider incorporating into a medium-length biography. But first, a quick review. The opening paragraph of your biography should portray your most recent accomplishments with excitement. You can achieve this by focusing on recent performances, honors, or even upcoming engagements. The opening line is critically important, because its command will capture the reader's attention.
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A bio isn't the place to talk about your eccesntric passions or unusual hobbies. Keep it brief, factual--and, if possible, about you as the artist.
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One item I neglected to mention in the previous article is the tendency to inflate oneself unnecessarily. Generally speaking, you should refrain from over-dramatizing yourself or your accomplishments. For instance: "The violin virtuoso Alexandra Narino performs regularly to adoring audiences throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her stunning beauty, passion, and dazzling technique make her a favorite with conductors and concert presenters worldwide." The words that stick out in these two sentences are "adoring," "dazzling," and "stunning beauty." Refrain from making comments about yourself that are largely subjective and reflect the writer's view (in most cases, your own) and not necessarily those of a professional reviewer or music critic. In this example, I would leave out "stunning beauty" entirely, and prefer not to use "dazzling technique," because it is overused by music journalists. Instead, I would recommend finding a way to talk about a specific focus, such as "Her passion for new music…" to describe why she is a favorite with conductors and concert presenters. And a phrase such as "…performs regularly throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia" is a far simpler way of leaving the reader with the impression that the artist is in demand worldwide.In a medium-length biography, the second paragraph usually presents a new theme. This is the time to introduce your other professional activities. If you are involved in teaching, coaching, directing, writing, etc., you might consider creating a paragraph around one of these topics. But you should first consider the totality of these activities—do you have enough experience to support an entire paragraph? One of the common errors I see in biographies is the tendency to lump into the second paragraph everything that doesn't fit squarely into the first. Little consideration is given to the relationship between the individual items and the introductory sentence. In other words, if you begin the second paragraph with your commitment to new music, an immediate detour in your next sentence to your South American tour with the Young Mozart Player's Chamber Orchestra makes no sense. Keep all the material you decide to share in your second paragraph related to your topic sentence (which undoubtedly means making some tough choices about what to include).Finally, we come to the third paragraph, which should be of lesser value or interest to the reader than the preceding two. But this doesn't mean that the material should be mundane. The final paragraph can finish your biography with a commanding punch or dribble off into oblivion. Finishing any biography on a high note is difficult, because the salient information you might consider for a finale will likely be a strong candidate for inclusion in the first paragraph. If you save it for the end, you are taking a risk that the reader may not take the time to read the entire bio. In our busy lives, few of us take the time to read a news story from beginning to end. Instead, we scan the headline, and skim over the rest until our curiosity is satisfied. Think about your biography as a news story and you'll begin to understand how potential presenters, agents, directors, and conductors are likely to read it.There are a number of approaches you can take for the final paragraph. I strongly encourage reading dozens of artist biographies (which you can find online) to see these approaches. If you do, you'll quickly recognize the recurrence of certain "themes." Some biographies finish with information about the artist's current professional activities; others conclude with formal education acknowledgements. Still others will add a personal touch, such as "Mr. Norman lives in New York with his wife and 7-year-old daughter Megan." If you do venture towards the personal, avoid going into much detail. This isn't the place to talk about your eccentric passions or unusual hobbies. Keep it brief, factual—and, if possible, about you as the artist. The ending should complement your previous two paragraphs. The ideal opening and ending paragraphs work together to frame the artist's professional life elegantly.If you need assistance in writing a professional biography, please stop by our office in Room 476 to schedule an appointment.Derek Mithaug is Juilliard's director of career development and an alumnus of the School.
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