a wealth of classical training as do other pianists - > > Christine Thomas > Or how about Billy Joel, too, classically trained in piano? Having begun, myself, in a folk-pop genre, there seemed to be some unspoken prejudice against the Classical style and "sounding too operatic", as if the pop genre took the old 19thC "starving artist" ideal one step further; or adapted the "generation gap" approach that anything which smacked to them of "the establishment" was bad...perhaps they felt self-expression would be tainted by more formalized training. Since college training for me was in the Classical tradition, it not only helped me discover an entire part of my voice (my self) I'd never known existed (beyond a healthy chest voice which reached the upper line of the staff, as someone else recently mentioned), but it introduced a whole world of sound and literature, of the highest caliber, which was exciting and enriching--and isn't that all part of what learning and self-expression are all about... It seems ironic that, with optimal technologic ability at our fingertips these days, which affords the greatest opportunity for exposure to many musical styles, listeners and performers seek to limit themselves or, at least, their attitudes. Perhaps there's just more input coming in at present than we, generally, can handle. Or, perhaps it explains why we have so many and varied opinions--because there's so much more out there to have an opinion about! --Erica
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