Can you believe it’s November already? Where has the time gone? I feel like I blinked and October was over.
The biggest thing that happened in October was our studio concert. We had a concert! I couldn’t believe it. It felt so good to be on stage again. Don’t get me wrong, Sewing Room Opera is an amazing personal project that brings me immense joy (if you haven’t seen it yet, check it out and subscribe. I could use the support); and over the last year and a half, I have found new and creative ways to give effective and personalized voice lessons (e.g. virtual lessons, singing outside, doing karaoke, etc) and it’s been super fun. But for a singer, the stage is the ultimate prize.
As I watched these beautiful young singers on stage, I couldn’t help but be in awe. Months and months of preparation in the studio and a few weeks of rehearsal time and then we got out on stage. It was magic. When they stepped out onto the stage, they were stars! Their posture was great, their characters were emerging, their smiles were genuine, their voices filled the amphitheater and reverberated from the trees. I could not have been more proud.
I once attended a masterclass given by Patrick Hansen. He is the opera theater director at McGill University in Canada. He said singing is magic. He went on to explain that singers hear a group of seemingly random noises in the air and somehow extrapolate from the noise a tone that we then interpret with our voices into a sound that is pleasing to the ears of an audience. Magic! While all singers can do this, not all singers have that special gift necessary to sing in front of other people. My students have that gift. They love sharing their gifts. This concert was not just important for me; it was necessary for them. I hope they learned how special their gifts are and will continue to learn and share it. For me, it is a pleasure to teach and mentor them. Being their teacher, singing with them, sharing that ultimate prize with them… Magic!
I have so many plans for the studio going forward. Hopefully, this is the first concert of many and we’ll see PVA grow in new and exciting ways. Stay tuned!
Happy singing!