If there is any truth to Proverbs 16:18 –  “Pride goes before destruction” – then I am headed for some sort of terrible calamity.  I say that because this past Saturday has to be one of the proudest days I have ever had as a voice teacher.   It’s not that any of my students won a competition, was hired by the Met, or debuted on Broadway.  It was simply one of those days in which I had the immense joy of watching a number of my voice students not only sing well- but also carry themselves as mature, poised and appreciative young men.   Which is not to say that I am taking credit – but rather taking pleasure – in who they are.

It all began Saturday morning when two of my voice students,  Noah O. and Andrew (both high school seniors) auditioned for music scholarships at Carthage.  In the vast majority of cases,  it is complete strangers who are up in front of the choir room, singing for us for the very first time, moments after we have first met them.  But every so often,  it will be one of my own private students who will be up there in the “hot seat,” so to speak-  and although it is the singer who is being evaluated and rated, it is in these moments that it becomes clear to me that their teacher (in these cases, me)  is also being evaluated, albeit to a lesser extent.   I can still remember the very first time that one of my private voice students auditioned for a music scholarship at Carthage.  It was Nick Barootian back in the spring of 1998 and I can still sort of feel the flip flops that my stomach did as the audition was about to begin.  (That was back in the days when the entire music faculty listened to every single music audition- both vocal and instrumental.)    But I don’t know what I was worried about:   Nick smoothly delivered one of the strongest music auditions I think we had ever heard up to that point- absolutely flawless in both of his songs as well as in the ear training and sight reading portions of the audition-  and when it was all over, I was only too happy to reveal that I was Nick’s voice teacher!  And in the 18 years since,  my private students – without exception – have acquitted themselves wonderfully well in Carthage auditions:   Chase Tonar, Mike Anderle,  Nick Huff, Max Dinan,  Sydney Rovik (just to name a few) who all ended up going to Carthage … as well as students like Andrew McNair and Colin Robertson who ultimately chose to go elsewhere.  I cannot think of a single instance in these auditions in which a student of mine made me cringe in any way whatsoever, either by some misstep in their singing or by their attitude.  On the contrary,  each and every instance has just underscored how proud and grateful I am to be teaching such great young people.

But beyond that,  I am really glad for these occasions when a student of mine steps into this particular spotlight,  because it’s a chance for me to hear them in a different light, in a different context, against the backdrop of all of the other young singers we have heard in these auditions.   A teacher obviously knows their own singers exceedingly well-  but I’ve come to realize how easy is it to begin to take singers and excellence a bit for granted- even (and maybe especially) those singers you know so well and love.  As Noah opened his mouth and sang the opening lines of “Lord, God of Abraham” from Mendelssohn’s Elijah Saturday morning,  I was really thunderstruck by how rich and beautiful and big his voice has become.  And as Andrew sailed through “Giants in the Sky” from Into the Woods,  I was blown away all over again by his tremendous gifts for becoming a character and delivering the emotional/expressive goods of everything he sings.   I know both of these young men and their singing so well by now-  and yet it was revelatory to hear them sing in the Carthage choir room…. the very same room where Nick sang his impressive audition 19 years earlier and where countless other prospective students have done the same.  Against that rich backdrop,  both Noah and Andrew made me tremendously proud.   (I’m reminded of how exciting – and revelatory – it was to hear two of my current Carthage students,  Matt Burton and Austin Merschdorf,  at last year’s NATS competition.   I could only hear their preliminary round performances from out in the hallway,  but something about hearing their rich, wonderful sound through the door helped me newly appreciate just how exceptionally rich and impressive their sound had become- a sound I was privileged to hear in my studio on a weekly basis- and still am hearing to this day.)

And from there, I was off to the Racine Theater Guild for the first of two days of auditions for our upcoming production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.   What a blast it was to hear 55 different people audition over the course of the afternoon – and what gave me extra special pleasure was the really fine performances by three of my private voice students,  Ethan, Logan, and another Noah.   This was not a new experience for any of them; all three of them had auditioned for and been cast in RTG productions before.  But I’m not sure that having done it before is actually all that helpful in terms of making it easier. In some cases,  it can make one even more acutely aware of and nervous about what all is at stake.   But all three of my students did a wonderful job in their performances of “Younger than Springtime,” “C’est moi” and “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.”   And at least one of them had me in tears.

And then,  as if all that weren’t more than enough excitement for one day,  I spent that evening in the auditorium at Lance Middle School in Kenosha,  watching their production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, with a student of mine,  Josh,  in the role of Charlie Brown.   Most of the time when I have a student singing in a KUSD production,  my involvement in their preparation for any given role ranges from tangential to non-existent because there are perfectly capable teachers, directors and coaches who take care of all that.  In fact,  I usually hardly catch a glimpse of my students while they’re involved in productions as those rehearsals take over so much of their schedule.   But in the case of Josh,  I actually spent a fair amount of time helping him get comfortable with the role and working out how best to sing it while contending with his voice change.  It’s actually a complex and challenging show,  and the role of Charlie Brown especially so- but  Josh’s performance Saturday night was assured, heartfelt and quite impressive, despite not being fully healthy.    In fact,  I was impressed with the entire production and performance.  (My hat goes off to the director,  Shannon Robertson,  for tackling such a formidable undertaking and bringing it off so very well.)

But the weekend’s Voice Teacher Pride Festival, so to speak,  wasn’t quite done.  On Sunday,  just as our second batch of “Joseph” auditions were beginning,  a former voice student of mine,  Nick Huff,  was singing his graduate recital at Eastman School of Music in faraway Rochester, New York.  And through the wonders of modern technology,  I was able to watch a generous portion of the live stream of the recital on my laptop – which was the next best thing to actually being there.

And Nick sang gloriously, as I was certain he would.  It was interesting:  I missed the entire first half because of auditions,  but was able to tune in just in time to hear the first set of the second half.  It was three songs by Alessandro Scarlatti that Nick actually began studying with me – and in fact,  I had to email Nick the music to one of them because he couldn’t find it anywhere at Eastman.  It made me feel like I was still an ongoing part of Nick’s thrilling development as a singer, and that was lovely.   But then Nick moved on to a really amazing set of songs by a completely forgotten and unknown Irish composer, Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer, …  and sang like I have never heard him sing before.  It was a moment that was both exhilarating as well as sobering for me.  On the one hand,  it was amazing to hear Nick singing so gloriously.  On the other hand,  it also felt like the turning of a page and an emphatic confirmation that Nick is sailing in an amazing new chapter in his life,  learning music I have never even heard of,  studying with a teacher I have never met, and  attaining heights of excellence I can scarcely conceive.  It is a reminder for me that with very few exceptions,  the relationship between voice teacher and voice student is a temporary one-  and we as teachers are there to do what we can for that student in the time we have with them before it is time for them to move on to other challenges in other places.   Maybe that serves as a healthy counterbalance to the pride I have been talking about here.  The truth of the matter is that the wonderful students I have worked with were, at least to some extent, already wonderful the moment they first walked into my studio, thanks to who they are and thanks to those with whom they have already worked.  And once they leave my studio for the last time,  they are almost certainly destined to become still more wonderful under the caring guidance of someone else.   That part of this can be hard.

But the heartwarming feelings I had for all for all of the aforementioned singers this past weekend – and for all of the singers in my stable, both past and present, who make me proud – is what makes this work so gratifying and meaningful for me,  and more than worth all of the twinges of regret that occur when my time with them draws to a close.