On Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2000, Jeffrey Joel wrote:
>>About my experiences with singing teachers: I had
>>three singing teachers, all women. The first one gave
>>lessons at a music school, but had been an opera
>>singer for about forty years. She had forty students
>>when she started, and she sent away 37 of them: I will
>>always be grateful that she did not do that to me! But
>>she said: 'you are a baritone, and will never be
>>anythign else', which I believed (by the way: she was
>>a mezzo). After four lessons I was the only one left
>>and she wanted me to take private lessons, which was
>>too expensive for me. Then I had a sweet soprano, that
>>was still studying at the conservatory. She improved
>>my diction a lot, and tried to let me forget I few bad
>>habits I picked up when singing as a bass in a choir
>>(I am a high lyrical tenor!). We had a lot of fun, but
>>I also learned to panic before starting to sing: there
>>were so many things I seemd to have think about before
>>you can start. I did not learn really how to support
>>from her.
>
> Maybe this just reinforces that women should not teach men?
>
Dear Jeffrey and Vocalist:
I think it reinforces several things: one being that music schools may want
to, but don't always provide appropriate instruction for young students. I
don't necessarily agree that women should not teach men, but maybe that you
should find a teacher that knows everything humanly possible about the
voice.
I have to teach both women and men; I don't have a choice. I'm the only
full-time teacher at Wesleyan, and I have to meet the needs of the music
majors. Luckily there are other teachers here, both women and men, people
who I can feel confident about assigning students of all voice types and
stripes to. Teachers who know the voice!
Cheers!
Jana
--
Jana Holzmeier
Dept. of Music
Nebraska Wesleyan University
5000 Saint Paul Ave.
Lincoln, NE 68504
jjh@n...
402-465-2284
Visit the Music Department website at http://music.nebrwesleyan.edu/
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