Posts Tagged ‘Singing’

Niche-ing New York City: Honing Your Talent (Affordably!)

Saturday, August 2nd, 2025

Congratulations! You’ve found your niche and you want to start putting your talent into practice. 

While simply being good at something is often free, honing that talent can get expensive – in terms of both money and time. Many of us will not get the chance (or have the time and money to spend) to earn a degree in our talents, but this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be able to develop those talents. In fact, it is often necessary; like we heard from Heather earlier in this series, many corporate employees in New York City live a double life to maintain their mental health and work-life balance through a creative outlet – accounting by day and painting by night, for example. Others depend on the income from two jobs, the way a Broadway actor might wait tables between shows. While you’re studying finance in preparation for your mind-numbingly boring career in banking compliance, there are plenty of ways to fill your free time productively and creatively. Here are some accessible and affordable ways to hone your talent in the city:

Free Classes and Workshops 

  1. The New York Public Library system is great not only in the amount of free events and workshops it offers, but also in the spread of library branches across the boroughs. They have a helpful filtering system to choose between the 93,000 programs they offer every year, such as date, location, topic, and audience types and age groups. Supplies are provided for the most part, making the vast majority of these classes completely free. Some examples include tango and flamenco dance lessons, creative writing workshops, and classes to help you create your first business. 
  2. Club Free Time is a great resource for finding other free events in the city, including workshops in a wide range of talents like portrait photography, juggling, and singing in a choir. Club Free Time also lists free concerts, lectures and presentations, galleries, tours, and more. If you’re interested in theatre, becoming a member at CFT can also get you 2 to 5 free tickets to small and innovative (but pricey) shows!
  3. Shape Up NYC is a free group fitness program with events in parks all over the city. If you’re a talented fitness teacher, you can volunteer to lead these classes and give back to your community. Or, if you’re just breaking into your future in fitness, you can join classes like Caribbean dance, intenSati (kickboxing meets yoga), and dynamic stretching.

Affordable Classes and Workshops 

  1. One of the most expensive talents to pursue is a musical instrument, but it is also one of the most rewarding and beneficial to your brain health. The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music offers hour-long group lessons or ensemble sessions in 16-week semesters for $40-50 per lesson. It’s a great way to continue practicing your instrument or to start a new instrument as a beginner. They also offer financial aid, as well as free and cheap one-off events to help you pursue your talent as affordably as possible.
  2. The Brooklyn Brainery is a helpful resource for affordable classes that may be more targeted toward your niche than many free options. For example, there are classes on cyanotype, Shibori, and decoupage if you want to dive into a skill that most people have never heard of – and are unable to pronounce. Their teachers also offer walking tours, unique book launches, and online classes that all land in a range of $20-100.
  3. CourseHorse is a similar resource with a much broader range of classes and activities – and thus, a broader price range. For example, they list a drink and draw event for $15, but also a hybrid, 658-hour software engineering certificate program for $10,995 (which, at $17 per hour, is still quite affordable). They offer everything from dance classes to tours to mig welding workshops – a great one-stop shop for any and all talents.
On a networking panel.

Networking Events

  1. For those with less hands-on or purely artistic talents, networking is a great way to build skills like public speaking, strategic communication, and – of course – networking while building your community and learning more about your niche and others’. Eventbrite has a great list of free and low-cost networking events in the city with a wide variety of subjects, such as influencers, AI startups, and the entertainment industry. 
  2. Similarly, Luma lists some of the biggest events in the city, with waitlists hundreds of people long. While these can get expensive and might require registration months in advance, some of the cheaper options include Climate Changemakers Manhattan’s free community picnic and a mid-summer momentum panel and mixer for interns in New York City. 

The great thing about living in NYC is that whatever you’re into, someone else is into it too – and they’re willing to teach you (and if not, there’s plenty of people out there who can teach you how to turn your hyper-specific talent into a business of your own). Take some time this summer to follow your passion and hone your talent!

Get a $16.95 lunch at Spicy Moon this summer when you show this coupon at checkout!

By Lauren Male

Lauren is a senior at Pace University majoring in English and Communications, with a minor in Journalism. She is pursuing Pace’s M.S. Publishing program. When she’s not reading, Lauren can be found trying new coffee shops, thrift shopping, and spending all of her money on concert tickets.

For over 25 years, the Campus Clipper has helped college students in New York City—and later in Boston and Philadelphia—save money and succeed in city life. We offer a digital coupon booklet with discounts on food, clothing, and services, plus an Official Student Guidebook with real advice on how to navigate college life in a big city. Our internship program lets students build skills, earn money, and publish their own e-books. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @CampusClipper, and sign up for our newsletter to get deals straight to your inbox. To access the digital coupons, scan the QR code on our printed card—available in dorms, student centers, and around campus.

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Songwriting and Publishing: Chorus Crisis

Tuesday, July 5th, 2022

Chorus Crisis

Personally, the most challenging part about writing a song is figuring out the chorus. It strikes me as difficult because it’s the climax of the song. Remember the plot diagrams that teachers used to show us in our English classes growing up? I’ve come to realize a song is somewhat like that. The rising and falling actions reflect the verses and bridge, and the climax is the chorus. There’s always a build-up to the chorus which is why there is so much pressure to make it catchy or unique because it’s what some listeners resonate with the most. I find a chorus hard to write or even compose because it needs a wow factor to stick in the audience’s brain. When writing this song’s chorus, I tried so many chord progressions, but I feel like I’ve hit a wall lyrically and melodically. With frustration at my fingertips, I try to not give into that energy and force myself to remold that into inspiration, so I turn to the artists that have influenced me most. 

My favorite Taylor Swift song is “Clean” from her fifth studio album, 1989. I absolutely love that song because, to me, it represents hope and the ability to rebuild yourself from a tumultuously toxic relationship or experience. The chorus is a breakthrough and feels like you are about to “punch a hole in the roof” as she says in the second verse of the song. When the chorus hits, it feels almost like a release of your emotions and the lyrics surround you like a warm hug to let the listener know that they made it past these strenuous endeavors. The lyrics, “Rain came pouring down/ When I was drowning, that’s/ when I could finally breathe/ And by morning/ Gone was any trace of you, I think I am finally clean” not only are melodically sound but allows those to dig deep inside themselves and relate this song to any life struggle. It talks about the loss of a relationship, but it could also be about addiction, depression, or the loss of someone. What I love about interpreting this chorus, is that there are no limits as to what this means to the listener. 

When writing my chorus, I keep these things in mind but also try not to allow the pressure of trying to achieve any kind of musical perfection, because that simply does not exist. With that weight off my shoulders, I begin to strum and sing what comes to mind. I finally reach what I think is going to be my chorus: “I found you/ in the corner of my eye/ hidden in plain sight/ where were you all this time/ so hard to find/ it’s too good to be true/ but I found you/ and you found me too”. I thought, yes Taylor Swift’s chorus is jam-packed with meaning and beautifully written metaphors that have all different kinds of interpretations, but there’s also a beauty to simplicity. I didn’t want my chorus to be too much or too copy-cat-esque, but I wanted to be my own style with that hint of her inspiration. 

I run into the problem of self-doubt a lot when it comes to writing music and writing in general. I always ask myself, is this too cheesy? Or is this too cliche? But what I’ve realized is that a majority of tropes that surround music are so cheesy and so cliché, but that’s because they’re universal experiences and feelings. I’m not saying that everyone needs to write a corny Top 100 pop song to be successful, but those themes are so common that it’s a matter of turning them into something that is unique to yourself. It is important to write something that will receive an emotional response, not only from listeners but from the person singing it. When I write, sing, or play an instrument, it’s something that I have to feel in my body and mind, or else the execution or performance is set up to be a disaster from the get-go. 

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By Megan Grosfeld

Megan Grosfeld is a Junior at Emerson College majoring in Writing, Literature, and Publishing with a concentration in Publishing. Her dream is to be like the modern Carrie Bradshaw of the Publishing world, but with more writing, sex, and infinite pairs of Manolo Blahniks.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services. At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Songwriting and Publishing: A Verse of Poetry

Monday, June 20th, 2022

A Verse of Poetry

When it comes to writing a song, there is no proper way to go about it. If I sat here and tried to figure out how to write the perfect song, I’d be sitting here for hours. One of my biggest inspirations when it comes to songwriting is Taylor Swift. I admire the way she creates a story through her lyrics and her experiences. Her songwriting takes the form of poetry and that is something I definitely try to emulate with my own songwriting. But what am I even going to write about? The first thing I do whenever I’m writing anything is grab a notebook and a pen and get to brainstorming. With my guitar laid across my lap, I start playing chord progressions till I find something that feels right. Along with playing melodies, I simply start singing whatever comes to mind because without thought I can truly figure out what I feel. By not having any predetermined outline, I can let my words flow freely and have them come naturally, instead of writing something first. 

Concentrated and ready to write!

The first thing that comes to mind is love. Love is a universal feeling that everyone has experienced at one time or another. We love our parents, friends, and significant others, so there is a lot of room to play here. With a brush of my thumb, I start singing from an outsider looking in at my own relationships. The first lyric for the first verse starts with: “my friends see how well you treat me, never heard that one before” to reflect on how sometimes we don’t realize how well things are going till we take a step back. “They tell me, how much you need me, never needed you more” follows to show an appreciation for that person in my life. As I continue, I realize what I want to write: a love letter. As much as I love writing, I am admittedly bad with words in the sense that I never openly tell people how lucky I am to have come across them in my life, so this is a way to express my love through music. When writing, I often stop and come back to my guitar to hear what I write with a clear mind and a new perspective. 

I saw some swans on my walk on the Esplanade after my coffee!

Hours later when I’ve had a coffee and taken a walk around the neighborhood, I go back to writing. I pick up my guitar and try plucking a progression instead of strumming, which I find to like better to create an airy, whimsical feel. Picking up where I left off, I start blissfully singing a few lines to create the first verse. After trial and error, I solidify my words and clean up the rough edges and come up with: 

My friends see how well you treat me, never heard that one before

They tell me, how much you need me, never needed you more

And you don’t judge me for my dirty laundry, 

You’re the only place in this world I feel safe 

And for the first time in my whole life,

I never felt the need to try and change.

2 hours later…

After coming up with a verse, I play it over and over again until my fingers get blisters from plucking the same four strings for what feels like days. I then record myself singing what I wrote to hear it from outside my body and to double-check if it sounds angelic or like a cat clawing at a chalkboard. I also play it in several keys to see what sound I like better for the song as a whole. Although this feels like I’m creating a finished product, to me, it is never finished. I have too many ideas and changes throughout the songwriting process that I feel like I could always add more or do it completely differently, but I like to save that for the end. This verse is “done” but there are moments where I completely hate it or love it or want to start all over, but I know if I just keep going, it’ll all turn out the way it’s supposed to. 

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By Megan Grosfeld

Megan Grosfeld is a Junior at Emerson College majoring in Writing, Literature, and Publishing with a concentration in Publishing. Her dream is to be like the modern Carrie Bradshaw of the Publishing world, but with more writing, sex, and infinite pairs of Manolo Blahniks.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services. At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Songwriting and Publishing: I Sing the Body Electric

Thursday, June 16th, 2022

I Sing the Body Electric

Growing up in Manhattan music was such an influential part of my life, so much so that as I got older, I began questioning whether I should pursue it professionally fast loans with monthly payments. At the beginning of high school, I was young, naive, and full of dreams, but so were half the kids in New York City. This city is the hubbub of talented children who are born and bred to perform and make it big. I was soon hit with the reality that everyone is after the same dream, but only a few will make it. Pursuing music was just a fantasy of mine. After every failed audition and constantly putting myself out there, I figured out quickly that the foundation of this particular industry is rejection, competition, connections, and struggle to the highest degree. This would mean a life of uncertainty and financial instability which didn’t sound too appealing to me. I admire those who fight for the dream I wished to achieve, but as my high school career came to a close, I discovered that music would be just a hobby for me. I decided to focus on and put my energy into the next best thing: writing. 

This is my hometown with a gorgeous view.

Emerson College was a school that found me. I applied blindly without even taking a tour of the school before attending. Now, it’s my Junior year and I couldn’t be happier. I remember during my first few days exploring the little corner of Boston, seeing so much creativity ooze from the one city block. It has the eccentricity of the movie Fame where the kids are talented, imaginative, and motivated to achieve their goals in all kinds of fields of work. Similar to Fame, Emerson is filled with comedy majors, film majors, theatre majors, and kids that fill in all the in-betweens. I loved that movie so much because it showed kids my age fighting to find their passions while becoming so versatile in different fields.

Still having music in the back of my mind, I decided to find something that satisfied that itch for the artistic approach. I found myself majoring in Writing, Literature, and Publishing, and for the first two years at Emerson, I focused on discovering the ins and outs of my major. Although I love to write and believe it is the foundation of this major, I surprisingly fell head over heels for publishing and soon decided to begin a concentration in that. All aspects of publishing intrigued me; from copyediting, proofreading, and magazine printing, to simply helping other writers attain a polished piece, I was all of a sudden invested in the world of publishing. 

This is my campus, aka The Boston Public Gardens

As my first two years of college progressed, music was still prevalent. I would play guitar and sing in the privacy of my dorm room almost every day, and still do. Although I still ponder the thought of how I could’ve made it big, a part of me feels as though if I had pursued music as a career, I wouldn’t love it the same. With publishing, I finally found a professional field that satisfies the craving for creativity. Through this book, I hope to combine my love of music with publishing. The first thing that came to mind was songwriting. Songwriting has always been a passion of mine because it unites the two things I admire the most in this world: music and writing. In a way, it also has a likeness to publishing; it creates a finished product and freely gives it back to the world as its own. Similar to publishing a book, there are multiple steps to creating a song. Follow me on this personal journey of uncovering the musicality of words through the ins and outs of songwriting in hopes to electrify both as one.   

A great place I like to go to in Boston is Pavement Coffee to grab an iced vanilla latte to clear my head in the heat of summer. Use this $5 discount to refresh your summer days in Boston.

By Megan Grosfeld

Megan Grosfeld is a Junior at Emerson College majoring in Writing, Literature, and Publishing with a concentration in Publishing. Her dream is to be like the modern Carrie Bradshaw of the Publishing world, but with more writing, sex, and infinite pairs of Manolo Blahniks.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services. At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.


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