Machan Taylor — Those who can, teach
You won’t find too many artists listing their resume on their website, but hey, when you’ve got a body of work as impressive as Machan Taylor does, why not?
But looking back and saying, “Wow, what a run,” isn’t exactly the reason for the CV on MachanTaylor.com.
“When you’re in the job market in academia, people want to see your resume,” laughed Taylor, who never found it difficult finding work over the course of a career that has seen her sing backup for the likes of Aretha Franklin, Sting, Pat Benatar and Pink Floyd, as well as release her own solo album in 2007.
But after her last tour with Sting ended in 2000, a mix of burnout and a Screen Actors Guild strike left her looking for a new gig and a new direction.
“I was really burned out from doing the road thing and being a background singer,” Taylor said. “And the way it happened was, when I came back to the city after leaving that tour, there was a Screen Actors Guild strike and it went on for about six months. So, as a singer, there was no work in the city because you were a union member, and I couldn’t do any sessions.”
Taylor proceeded to take out an ad in the Village Voice offering her services as a vocal coach.
“I discovered that I loved teaching and I was actually pretty good at it,” she said. “Cut to seven, eight years ago and I started the journey of going to get my Bachelor’s degree through SUNY Empire State, where you can get credits for work that you’ve done in your field. I ended up getting my Bachelor’s, and then I applied to NYU and got in, and I got my Master’s degree two years ago.”
By way of description, Taylor says, “I really have done a big turnaround in my life.” That might be understating things, but the main message of this is that at 61, she’s happy. And the adjunct instructor at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU hasn’t abandoned performing, as she is currently on stage for Gov’t Mule’s Dark Side of the Mule tour, where she is singing alongside her husband, Gov’t Mule keyboardist Danny Louis. But teaching and performing aren’t the only things keeping her busy.
“I feel pretty settled now in the teaching world, so now I’m starting to think about the next solo project for myself,” she said. “And I’m just beginning the process of working on a book that I’ve been thinking about writing for a long time. So those are my two big creative projects that I need to sink my teeth into. And now I’ve got the headspace to do it.”
It’s a work ethic that almost feels lost these days, and it’s probably why Taylor is as vibrant and relevant as she’s ever been while some half her age are waiting for the world to come to them. That’s never been this New Yorker’s attitude.
“I think it’s extremely important,” Taylor said of the lost art of working hard. “Being a creative person and a self-employed person, which I’ve been all my life, every day you have to come to the table of your life and really decide what it is you want to accomplish. We really have to take our work seriously in that if you want to attain whatever goal it is you’re setting out to reach for, it’s all on you. We don’t have bosses that are telling you what you’re going to do; we have to do it ourselves.”
Luckily, Taylor’s vocal and songwriting students get to learn from someone who has been there and done that and is still going strong. Most importantly, they will find out firsthand that if you’re not working hard for a goal, all the talent in the world won’t help you.
“You can teach technique,” she said. “I’ve studied a lot of the science of how the voice works, the physiology and the mechanics, and you can teach that stuff. But can you teach someone to be an artist? No, I don’t think so. I think there has to be some sort of innate gift, some talent, of course. But then it’s really up to that person and part of that person’s makeup that’s going to help them discover and develop and reveal who they are as an artist. And that is on them and has to do with their level of not only talent, but passion and drive and determination and the sheer will to want to discover that in themselves and develop that in themselves. And that you can’t teach.”
That’s the tough love part of the equation. The rest, it’s all about love, something evident when Taylor picks up the microphone.
“I’ve been singing since I was a little girl, and I think for any singer or any artist, I can embrace that feeling of being in your element and in your strength and in your joy about what you’re doing,” she said. “To me, it answers the question of ‘Why am I here in life?’ And I know that’s why I’m here.”
For more information on Machan Taylor, click here
