I have been a lonesome bachelor this week while my wife is out in Colorado with friends- but at least I’ve had some cool things to which to devote my time and energy. . . and I don’t mean cleaning my office or watering the flowers, although I’ve spent plenty of time with both of those admirable pursuits. In many ways my favorite project of the week was playing piano for what turned out to be a truly superlative recital by two brilliantly talented young women: Jacy Ripley and Haley Cramer. I have accompanied both of them for every solo & ensemble competition in which they’ve compete (and for Jacy that goes all the way to middle school) and this occasion felt like an exciting exclamation point to a great story . . . as well as the turning of a page as they begin a wonderful new chapter in their lives.
There were all kinds of marvelous moments – and even the Honegger piece that caused me so much frustration in the beginning turned out to be a blast! – but in some ways what was especially memorable in the recital were the moments after each piece had been brilliantly played when either Jacy or Haley would stand there nervously, uncertain about how long to stand there, soaking in the applause, before leaving the stage. There was nothing young or inexperienced about their playing; only in those moments when they were onstage and not playing did we realize just how young these two extraordinary musicians are. I’m glad that the audience could catch at least a glimpse of that.
For Jacy, part of what made this a memorable occasion was that it was the first time her private teacher had ever seen her perform in public. That’s because Jacy has studied with someone down in Chicago (someone who used to teach at Carthage) who obviously was not going to come all the way up to Kenosha just to hold Jacy’s hand at music contest. But she did come up for this recital and I’m sure that meant the world to Jacy, even if it maybe also added to her nervousness. But you could scarcely detect a hint of nerves in any of her playing – and by the last page of the last piece she played (a fantasia on the opera aria Casta Diva by Bellini) she was playing like a house on fire!
I accompanied all three pieces that Jacy played (the aforementioned Honegger and Bellini pieces, plus a neat trumpet/trombone duet by Erik Erwasan that she played with her brother Eric) but only one of Haley’s – a neat piece by Hindemith. The first piece she played was a haunting a cappella piece – and the last was a suite of Gaelic tunes arranged for flute quartet. What was especially neat about this lovely performance is that two of the flutists who joined Haley in the quartet were her teachers: Kristi Weyrauch Kruse, her private teacher in middle school, and Kathy Thorson, who has taught Haley during high school. Just seeing them on that stage, performing together, was heart- warming enough…. but what made it even better was the fact that it was entirely Haley’s idea. I just love that Haley wanted to share this moment with two of the teachers who have done so much to help nurture her amazing gifts.
I am a really lucky voice teacher in that I get to share the stage rather regularly with my students – including some very dramatic moments like senior recitals or in important competitions where I have been at the piano – and given a choice, I would much rather be there than in the audience! I know that after being in the audience for numerous NATS competitions, where the rules stipulate (much to my consternation) that a teacher cannot play for his or her own voice students. Maybe I’m emotionally stunted, but I find it exceedingly difficult to be a completely helpless member of the audience when a student of mine is singing. It’s not that the pianist can fix anything and everything that comes along in a given performance, but they certainly can and do make a difference (and one hopes it will be a difference for the better) and that’s much more satisfying for me. Of course, there are those instances when it is really hard to surmount the emotional weight of the occasion – and I can think of a number of such moments. One of the first came when I accompanied Kasey Costabile for the last time at Carthage – and I found myself with tears in my eyes. On top of the affection I felt for Kasey was the fact that she had suffered the ordeal of vocal nodes caused by the spray of acid reflux on her vocal folds. To see her weather that challenge – including a forced break from singing – to sing so beautifully again was among the most gratifying experiences of my teaching career. Fortunately, she wasn’t singing anything too hard to play and a few tears in my eyes didn’t cause me too much trouble. I could name other occasions except that there’s the chance of hurting someone’s feelings. (“How come you cried while you played for Trevor’s last recital but not for mine?!?”) Maybe the typical male voice student wouldn’t get too caught up in such matters, but I’m not taking any chances. Suffice to say that it is always a privilege and a pleasure to share the stage with a student. Actually, I should say that it needs to be the kind of student who makes us proud – since I’ve played for a few students along the way who made me tempted to place a placard on the top of the piano saying “This is one of my laziest students, and I do not deserve to be associated with any aspect of their abysmal singing” . . . but thus far have resisted the urge to do so! 🙂 And fortunately, those kind of students are few and far between.
Anyway- this was obviously nothing like that. Both Kristi and Kathy have every reason to be button-bursting proud of what Haley has accomplished as a flutist – and I am so glad that in turn, Haley thought to pay this kind of tribute to them. In some ways it was the single most beautiful thing on this amazing recital.
pictured above: left to right- Kristi Weyrach Kruse, Haley Cramer, and Kathy Thorson.