Summer ’08 has been busy and exciting for me – at least as exciting as a summer can be when neither time nor finances will permit any cool trips just for fun. (I shouldn’t complain too much because at least I get to go to Nashville for a voice teacher convention, and Carthage will reimburse me for most of the costs, while my wife gets to stay home and water the plants. So I’m the lucky one of the two of us in this respect.)
Anyway, it’s been a good summer thus far – – – partly for the fun and excitement of working on Side by Side by Sondheim at the RTG (which opens on July 18th) – partly for helping prepare for Trevor and Megan’s wedding on July 11th – partly for the satisfaction of achieving some long-awaited and long-overdo weight loss. . .
. . . but one element which has been especially fun has been in adding some very nice and talented young students to my private voice studio, just as several of my favorite students have graduated and moved on. I shouldn’t be blabbing all over the internet without people’s permission, I suppose, so I will limit myself to first names only and will leave off any reference to specific schools or communities. . . I’m having a ball teaching lessons for the first time to a very talented young man named Mike who has quite a powerful tenor voice and some very impressive instincts for using it. . . a young lady named Emily who hooked up with me via a family friend and who is proving to be a delight (I much prefer teaching young men to young women, so I am paying her a handsome compliment here) . . . a young man named Joshua who is about to be a senior and is anxious to step it up a notch and become even more of a leader in his high school choir (and his choir director will welcome that, I know for a fact) and who is quite an intelligent and interesting young man. . . a young man named Sam who is actually younger than I typically teach and whose voice basically has not even changed yet, but who loves to sing and definitely shows promise. . . and yesterday I gave my first lesson to a young man I met at the most recent solo and ensemble contest in early May. This guy, who is about to be a sophomore, sang a really fine performance of an Italian aria with a truly wonderful voice and the kind of instinctive musicality that only God can give – and with a sweetness that just charmed the socks off of all of us in the room. He was just terrific, and as he and his accompanist were exiting the room, I had to intercept them in order to pay my compliments. After I said how much I loved this singing, I said that it was clear that he had probably studied with a very capable teacher- and that’s when he and his accompanist (who turned out to be his choir director) said almost in unison that, as a matter of fact, he was looking for a voice teacher. Truly, truly, I say to you, I was not asking about his musical background with any conscious hope of becoming his voice teacher- and maybe that’s why this lovely opportunity fell into my lap as it did. I would love to say a whole lot more about this great young man, but I need to limit myself to this: he is a kid who comes out of a very UNpromising background but who is so blessed to be in a loving foster home where his talents are now being nurtured, and I feel immensely privileged that I can play a part in that nurturing process. Add to these newcomers my talented veterans Sydney and Nick and it ends up being a really strong stable of promising singers who are all a complete joy to teach.
So what’s a first lesson like? I think for both teacher and student it can be really nerve-wracking. I’m anxious to hear what they can do and also anxious to demonstrate to them just what I might have to offer them as a teacher. I want to show them how positive I am in my approach, yet show them also that I have a discerning ear and am not afraid to speak up about the things in their singing that can be better. I want them to get to know who I am a bit, yet I don’t want to make it all about me. I want to make it fun and I show them that I’m a funny guy, but I want it to be an exercise in seriousness as well. I want to talk so they get to know me- but I want to keep my natural verbosity in check. And I want to be friendly and open and warm and yet not so much so that they feel like I’m smothering them. In short, I want to make as positive an impression on them as I can by keeping all of those aforementioned factors in ideal balance. . . but I have to do so before I’ve even gotten to know them and without really knowing what they would prefer in a teacher. WHEW! When you put it that way, I’m amazed that anyone ever sticks with me . . . or that I don’t end up suffering one nervous breakdown after each First Lesson. But it always seems to work out nicely in the end – and as we ultimately get to work, I can’t help but think of the superb teachers who taught me how to sing over the years. . . Cherie Carl and David Greedy and Richard Grace. . . and hope that I am becoming a voice teacher whose work would make them proud.
pictured: one of my brand new voice students, looking resplendent in his choir tux.