It was twenty years ago this fall that I began teaching at Carthage. It was so long ago that Brett Favre had not yet thrown a pass for the Green Bay Packers . . .there was no such thing as Youtube, EBay or Amazon.com . . . there was still something called the Soviet Union . . . and Justin Bieber hadn’t been born yet.  (I was about to say that we also churned our own butter,  but I think you get the idea.  1991 was a long long time go.)  And oddly enough,  when I started teaching at Carthage I had no idea that it would last beyond a single semester.  I was asked to fill in while Dr. Richard Sjoerdsma went on sabbatical,  but when he returned in the spring, there were too many voice students for him to easily accommodate into his academic load, so they kept me on… and on…. and on…. and twenty years later,  I’m still here – and very grateful that life took this unscripted and unexpected detour for me.

Throughout these past two decades, I have taught a dizzying array of students: some for whom singing was the most important thing in their lives,  others who couldn’t have cared less . . .  some brilliantly talented and others not so much, to put it gently.  But I’m grateful for each and every student I’ve taught  over the years, because it’s only through them that I am the teacher that I am today.   I am especially grateful for those students I taught during that very first semester – Bill Mains, Chris Hill, Jane Thompson, Ann Thompson, Kim Smith, Bill Strube, to name a few – who were so patient with a completely inexperienced teacher just trying to do the best he could.  I’m thankful for their patience and graciousness – and thankful for all of the young men and women I’ve taught in the years since – including the few that drove me crazy (and perhaps vice versa) as well as those who were a complete joy to teach.   (I’m glad I remember the latter much more vividly than the former.)

Twenty years after I started teaching at Carthage,  I’ve been given the single best gift that a teacher could possibly ask for:  namely,  the finest group of students I have ever had the pleasure to teach.    I don’t mean that each and every one of them is better than any student I’ve ever had before- but rather that as a group they are collectively the finest singers I’ve ever taught. . . bountifully blessed with talent, to be sure – but bringing other important qualities to the table as well, such as dedication,  appreciativeness, and good humor.   In short,  I have never had more fun or felt such rich satisfaction in my Carthage teaching career as I do right now.   Part of it is the exceptionally fine group of freshmen that I am teaching:  Mike Anderle, Fletcher Paulson, John Kryl, Jack Lambert, Max Dinan and Nick Huff;  they are a fantastic group and each and every one of them is an absolute joy to teach.  Several of them came to Carthage with rich singing experience and training, which allows us to hit the ground running.  But one of my freshman is studying voice for the first time in his life and he may be the most eager, joyous student I’ve ever had at Carthage.    I’m delighted as well to be teaching such talented upper classmen as David Duncan,  Brett Robertson, Andrew Scott, Josh Hamm, Michael Chase, Zach Rivers, Bob Petts, Chase Tonar, and Neil Geistlinger – a splendid group of singers that I am enjoying getting to know better both as people and as singers who are growing in such exciting ways.   And just to make things especially interesting,  I’m also teaching two Super Seniors:  Bryan Chung, who graduated several years ago but who’s back to get his education degree, and Andrew Johnson, who I believe began at Carthage seven years ago as a piano major,  only to discover midstream that singing was what he really wanted to do and is finally about to finish up his studies here.  Mix them together and you have a spectacular group of students who I am so lucky to be teaching.  In fact,  here is the best way I can say it:  Every year before this one,   I would have at least one student per semester (and usually more) where I would not mind in the least if they called or emailed to say that they were unable to appear for their lesson.   Teaching them felt like work, typically because they seemed to just show up and go through the motions,  essentially wasting both my time and theirs.    But I can say with complete honesty that I don’t have any students like that this year;  none!    I want each and every one of them to appear at each and every lesson,  because it’s so fun to teach every one of these fine young men.

And I feel especially blessed on those occasions when most of my students gather together for Studio Class, during which they sing for each other and for me.   When I see all of those guys together in one room at one time,  I feel like the luckiest voice teacher on earth. . . in part because of all the musicality, intelligence and sheer talent they represent- but even more because they’re such great guys, so good to one another, so fun and so easy to be with,  and so appreciative of my efforts to nurture their God-given gifts and help them become even better singers.

Happy Anniversary, indeed.

pictured above:  Most of the guys I am teaching at Carthage right now.  Left to right-  Mike Anderle, Bryan Chung, Nick Huff, Zachary Rivers, Fletcher Paulson,  Jack Lambert, Max Dinan, Chase Tonar,  John Kryl, David Duncan, Brett Robertson, Andrew Johnson.    Not pictured:  Bob Petts, Michael Chase,  Josh Hamm, Neil Geistlinger, Drew Scott.  Incidentally,  I did used to teach both women and men at Carthage-  but a few years back we ended up with so many male voice students that it was easier and better for me to devote myself to teaching only guys.  That’s where my real expertise lies. . . although I sure had fun with Kasey and Erin and other female students once upon a time.