Yesterday was Solo & Ensemble competition in Racine (Kenosha’s is next Saturday) and it turned out to be a great day for these reasons and more:
Great Singing: I played for 24 events yesterday, and I can say without hesitation that everybody did a really nice job and either met or exceeded expectations. That’s the best feeling that there is – and it’s also a rare thing at S & E. Usually there are at least one or two singers who get a bit nervous and botch something up- sometimes something minor and once in a while something pretty major. (Occasionally, there are even tears.) And sometimes people get sick and that keeps them from singing their best. But yesterday, for some reason, just about everyone was pretty much at the top of their game… maybe aside from one young man (one of my private students) who didn’t wake up soon enough to be fully warmed up and truly ready for his 8:24 solo. Fortunately, he still sang well enough to earn a 1* rating. And sometimes that kind of success is especially gratifying- when you are singing under less than ideal circumstances yet manage to dig deep inside yourself and somehow make it work (to quote Project Runway’s Tim Gunn.)
Terrific Judges: If anything drives me crazy at Solo & Ensemble, it’s when I have to sit and listen to so-so judges … especially if the schedule means that I’m playing in one room for a long stretch of time and have to listen to less-than-stellar judging. By that, I mean either a judge who doesn’t seem to know their stuff and offers little or no helpful, meaningful feedback to the singer – or a judge that can’t seem to summon up any enthusiasm, warmth, or genuine interest in the student who is singing for them – or, worst of all in my opinion, a judge who can’t refrain from making the moment about themselves and who prattles on about their own experiences as though they are in the spotlight rather than the student at hand. It doesn’t happen often, but it sometimes happens. On this particular occasion, I was fortunate that my entire day was spent with first rate judges … and even if I didn’t agree with every rating they gave, I found myself in complete agreement with all of the feedback that was given.
I especially enjoyed watching a friend of mine, Judy Kirby, in action. She has been doing this for quite a long time and yet there is no hint of jadedness. She seemed genuinely excited to be there and took very seriously her responsibility to offer helpful comments to each and every singer- including the ones who delivered performances that were nearly beyond reproach. “Do you know what they pay me to do?” she asked one of my singers who had just delivered an almost flawless performance. “They pay me to be PICKY!” And she proceeded to be exactly that, offering up several perfectly valid criticisms so that an already excellent performance could be even better. I saw her do that repeatedly- and I was quite impressed.
One Heroine: At one point, I crossed paths with a Carthage graduate who is now one of the most highly regarded music teachers in the Racine Unified School District – and whose middle school students offer up consistently excellent performances at Solo & Ensemble, year after year. She was seriously under the weather on Saturday and probably should have been in bed, but there was no way in the world she was going to leave her students high and dry after they had worked so hard to prepare for this competition. So she was there for her students, and I wish I could have pinned a medal on her – or better yet, I wish my schedule would have allowed me to give her some relief. All I could do was admire her from afar and wish that more people understood and appreciated this kind of selfless devotion. Well done, Ms. Bieri!
Good Catches: I am happy when singers sing well- but I must confess that I am happiest when there are at least a couple of occasions where something minor goes wrong and I, as the accompanist, have to ride to the rescue. Nothing too serious went wrong with anyone, but there was the curious case where one of my students finished singing the first verse of Bononcini’s “Per la Gloria” – and then proceeded directly into the second verse without waiting for me to play the 8-measure piano interlude. (He had never ever done that before.) I just leapt with him without batting an eye and the judge didn’t say a word about it- score! Otherwise, the only catches I needed to do were the kind where a singer comes in one beat early or one beat late, and it’s my job to make those small errors sound correct. It’s a fun challenge and one that I relish.
A Dash of Comedy: During my very first accompaniment of the day, about a third of the way into the song in question – “Romance,” one of the loveliest, most ethereal songs of Claude Debussy- one of my fingers accidentally brushed up against a button that engaged the keyboard’s automatic drumming/rhythm feature. (Nothing enhances an exquisite impressionist piece than a sudden interruption by snare drums, maracas and claves.) Evidently I wasn’t the only pianist who did this – because not long after that, I found out that one of the staff members was going around to all of the rooms and disarming that particular feature, so there would be no more Ringo Starr-type interruptions.
Well Timed Breaks: I am happiest at Solo & Ensemble when I am busy playing – but I was glad this time around that I had two different one-hour breaks, which gave me the opportunity to slip away to a nearby McDonald’s and get some work done on my laptop. A couple of other pauses in the day allowed me to chat briefly with Kathy, who was volunteering her time as a room monitor. And the length of my lunch break (11:40-1:20) allowed me to run to the nearby Renaissance Movie Theater and watch the first act of the Met’s HD simulcast of Verdi’s La Traviata (which was fabulous.)
A Touch of Heartache: It wouldn’t be Solo & Ensemble if there wasn’t some disappointment and sadness in the mix- and it’s an important part of the experience. (After all, if everyone received a I rating, then it be a completely meaningless accomplishment. In fact, it wouldn’t be an accomplishment at all.)
For Solo & Ensemble, I am usually playing for my own private voice students- in whom I obviously have a deep personal investment- but I am spending most of the day playing for students who are relative strangers to me. And while I certainly wish all of them great success and do what I can to help insure that they will deliver fine performances, I tend not to be quite so deeply affected by what rating they are given as I am with my own students. But Saturday, I have to say that my heart cracked in two when a young woman I played for was given a II rating for what I regarded as a really fine performance that I think deserved a I* rating, hands down. She had chosen this particular song to sing because she knew it was challenging (it was in French) but she had obviously worked tremendously hard on it and had it well in hand. And her performance of it was lovely and expressive, and the judge was quick to say so in her spoken comments afterwards. But this particular judge was probably the ‘toughest’ of any of the vocal judges in terms of ratings, and apparently in her mind this performance deserved a II rating. I just wish this judge had known how desperately this young woman wanted to advance to state after several unsuccessful attempts to do so- and how much time and energy and heart she had poured into preparing this song.
At the very end of the day, when I saw this particular rating posted, I actually wished that I had a magic wand by which I could have swapped that II for someone else’s I*. But life isn’t like that- and neither is Solo & Ensemble. It’s a arena where one can experience exhilarating triumphs and wrenching disappointments. In the end, it can’t be about I’s and II’s. It has to be about the singing itself – and relishing the opportunity to learn a great piece of music, performing it in public, and then trying to learn from the experience so you can sing it even better the next time around.
This young woman’s hurt and disappointment really helped me to better appreciate and understand what my private voice students had accomplished on Saturday. Noah, Jimmy, Logan, and Ethan sang ten solos and duets between them – and earned ten I* ratings. It was a splendid accomplishment indeed. But I don’t want it to be about that – for me, or for them. I want it to be about the singing- and I want all of them to sing even better than they sang on Saturday. I want them to think about what could have been better- and then work to make it better. And I want them to want that. And I have to say that one of the things that makes me proudest of all four of these young men is that they seem to have very little interest in resting on their laurels- but instead have a sincere desire to make the most of the talent with which they have been blessed.
Maybe it comes down to three little words that are emblazoned on a little magnet I have hanging in my office at Carthage. Those three words are: MAKE YOURSELF PROUD. That’s what it’s about. Not about earning a particular rating from a judge. And it’s not about making me proud- or their choir director proud- or their parents proud. It’s about them being able to look at yourself in the mirror and knowing that they gave it the best they had to give. And even if the rating did not align with your hopes or dreams or expectations, at least you can know that you gave it your best.
And that’s the sweetest feeling of them all. Truly.
(Pictured at the top- Logan Munoz and Noah Chartrand. They worked very diligently to master a tricky duet arrangement of Purcell’s “Blow ye the Trumpets”- and delivered a really exciting performance of it. That was one of many high points throughout an eventful day. I was very pleased with my two seniors- Noah and Jimmy Kohlmann- and glad that their last local Solo & Ensemble competition was so successful. And I was certainly pleased that a freshman student of mine, Ethan Wilkins, did so well in his very first Solo & Ensemble experience. Kudos to all four of these guys- and to their choral directors as well as their other mentors for the significant role that they have played in shaping these fine young men into who they are.)