I just got back from Carthage where I accompanied soprano Brittany Foraker for her senior recital. She was out of commission for several weeks with a really bad cold, so the last couple of weeks have been a mad dash for her to get things together- but she somehow managed to do exactly that and sang very close to her best tonight. She managed to sing her pieces with only a couple of minor memory hitches, sang with better intonation than she has recently, and nailed the high F’s in the Queen of the Night aria.
Although she deserves much of the credit for that success, much of the credit also goes to her teacher. I am impressed with Dr. Sjoerdsma’s ability to get the best out of his students – especially when they are skirting the edge of disaster – and I wish that I was similarly skilled. I think I am a very effective teacher for the Trevor Parkers and Paul Marcheses of the world- students who show up ready to work and who love to work- but for those who can’t or won’t give 100% on their own, I often don’t know how to get that out of them. Part of it is that it’s not easy for me to read people the riot act even when I know and they know that this is exactly what they need. Maybe before he retires, I can get Dr. Sjoerdsma to record a couple of his “riot act” speeches before he retires – and either I’ll practice delivering them myself- or maybe when I have a lazy student who needs a kick in the you-know-what, I’ll just play the tape of Dr. Sj. and leave it at that!
Anyway, Brittany made what may very well go down as the single most impressive comeback of the year and it was fun to be a part of it as her accompanist. (The picture is of Brittany as Adele in Carthage’s production of Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, with Eric Leitzen – a former voice student of mine – as Eistenstein.)