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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