Some highlights from State Solo & Ensemble on Saturday, May 7th at UW-Parkside ….
This is always one of my favorite days of the whole year, even though it’s also one of the wildest and most exhausting days of the year. Usually I am accompanying more than 30 events, and one year I actually played for almost 40 …. which even for me was absolutely insane <and against the rules.> But I love the feeling of being useful and making a difference- and if I’m going to give up an entire Saturday for contest, I would much prefer to be busy playing the whole time rather than sitting around and waiting for the next thing to come up.
This particular State contest, however, was perhaps the lightest ever for me- mostly because I had to miss Kenosha’s local contest because of Carthage Choir tour. So thanks to that, I was set to play for a fairly paltry 24 events – and then thanks to some last minute cancellations my load slipped all the way to 19.
Oops …. Make that 20! Thursday night I got a call from a local teacher, asking if I would be willing to step in and substitute for a piano player who had just left a trio high and dry…. a day and a half before contest. (The pianist apparently told these young musicians after practicing with them that because of their lack of preparedness, the pianist didn’t feel right about playing for them.) I love nothing better than the feeling of riding to the rescue, so I was delighted to fill in. The trio turned out to be two trumpets and a clarinet playing a lively Spanish piece- the accompaniment proved to be no big deal at all – and they could not have been more grateful and appreciative. And by the way, they were flawlessly prepared – so as far as I’m concerned, that piano player was lying through his or her teeth- and most likely pulled out because he or she wasn’t up to it themselves. But good riddance- it was their loss and my gain because playing for this trio was one of my favorite moments of the day. (pictured below)
By the way, my lighter-than-usual schedule meant that I had a little more time for some leisurely listening- and one of the best things I got to listen to was the Tremper Saxophone Choir, directed by my friend Kathy Ripley. I don’t remember the title of it but the piece they played but it was an entertaining mash-up of all kinds of famous melodic fragments from Rule Brittania! to the William Tell Overture. It was a blast- but beyond the fun of it, they played the daylights out of it! (pictured below)
But of course, I spent the vast majority of my time either playing for or listening to singers …. and through the day, I heard nothing but one strong performance after another – not a single clinker! In short, every single singer I heard sounded like they belonged there. One interesting moment occurred when I played for a talented, young singer from Case High School, Sebastian, who sang “Come raggio di sol.” (pictured below.)
After he left, as I lingered in the room, waiting for my next “client” to come in, the judge leaned over to me and said “I think I remember you. You work at Carthage College, right?” It turns out that this judge remembered me from a most memorable encounter at contest five years ago – which happened to be her first time judging at our state contest. (I believe she was from somewhere up north.) It just so happened that her day at Kenosha’s contest began with an absolutely sensational lineup of singers- one right after another- including three of my very best private students, Max Dinan, Mike Anderle, and Sydney Rovik – plus a couple other Tremper students of Polly’s who were beautifully prepared. At one point when there was a very brief interruption, the judge motioned for me to come over to where she was seated, and very quietly she said that she had never heard singing like this in a high school contest, and she wondered if what she was hearing was out of the ordinary or par for the course at Kenosha’s state contest. I replied that she was indeed hearing something quite extraordinary. I am so glad that I have photo that captures a moment from that incredible morning. I remember taking the photo because in it you could see Mike Anderle, a student of mine from Racine, receiving comments from the judge …. while Max Dinan, one of my students from Kenosha, looked on and listened. I remember looking at that scene and feeling like the luckiest voice teacher on the face of the earth that I got to work with such splendidly talented and nice young singers- and State was that exciting moment when they all came together in one place to hear one another and draw inspiration from each other. (pictured below)
Of course, I am still richly blessed to be teaching wonderful young high school singers – and for me the first half hour of this year’s contest included two of my favorite students singing back to back and wowing their judge and everyone else in the room. One was Austin Voyles, a Bradford H.S. student ((Kenosha) who sang “Let them hear you” from Ragtime – followed by Noah Chartrand, a Park H.S. student (Racine) who sang “It’s Almost Like Being in Love” from Brigadoon. It’s no fun to sing before 8:30 in the morning, but both Austin and Noah sang splendidly. I couldn’t have been prouder. (Pictured below- Noah listens to the critique of the judge; Austin is the young man in the front row of the audience.)
As luck would have it, my day also ended with a succession of three of my students; they were the final three singers to perform in the choir room. It was Noah and Austin – both singing their classical pieces this time around – plus another private student from Racine’s Horlick High School, Logan Munoz, who also happens to be a former student of my wife’s from Schulte Elementary School. I made sure that all three young men and their families were in the choir room to listen to each other – and I could not have been prouder of the marvelous, confident performances which all three of them delivered. (pictured below: Austin sings “Hear my Prayer,” which is one of the Biblical Songs of Antonin Dvorak. He dedicated his performance to the memory of his dad, who died two years ago. Austin sang it as beautifully as I have ever heard him sing it.)
(pictured below: Austin, Logan, and Noah – happy and relieved after singing so very well.)
There were other memorable moments along the way, including a near-miss. I had three different breaks of just over an hour each, and since there’s no publicly accessible Wi-Fi on the Parkside campus, I decided to pop down to the nearest McDonald’s in order to get work done. (I was frantically finishing up the supertitles for the Marriage of Figaro and finishing my Journal of Singing column as well.) At 2:05 I was on my way out of the music building for my third and final jaunt to McDonald’s when I happened to pass Andrew Dorst, one of my private students from Indian Trails High School, and his dad. We exchanged brief pleasantries, but as I headed out the door I suddenly realized “Hey, wait! I’m playing for Andrew! And I don’t have him on my schedule! And if I hadn’t run into him, I would have waltzed off to McDonald’s and been AWOL. So I felt mighty lucky- and so did he – that we just happened to run into each other at just the right time. (And Andrew nailed his “Danza Danza!”)
And of course, there is special poignancy in those moments when a senior sings for his last Solo & Ensemble competition. I was glad that Colin Robertson managed to sing such a strong performance for his contest swan song and that he was able to sing for an especially astute and articulate judge who was in a position both to appreciate Colin’s fine singing and had good suggestions for him. As I think about Colin …. and Noah and Austin and Logan and Andrew …. as well as Sam and Nicholas and the other Noah, who for various reasons could not compete this time around …… I’m reminded of what a pleasure it is to work with students who are talented and skillful but who want to be better. That’s really what it is all about- the relentless pursuit of ever greater excellence, and to celebrate and cherish and nurture the gifts which we have been given. (pictured below: Colin Robertson receives the critique of his judge, as his proud parents look on.)
