When you have two toddler-aged children at home, if the house gets very quiet for very long, you usually know mischief is afoot. Recently, after a moment of such silence, I sought out my three-and-a-half-year-old and eighteen-month-old daughters. Within moments I discovered them sitting in my bed, the oldest with scissors in hand and large chunks of her hair all around her. Above a wide grin, her eyes sparkled with naughty delight.
This wasn’t the first hair-cutting incident. My budding hair stylist had cut her own hair twice before, resulting in a short bob that was just starting to grow. She had expressed in recent days how much she wanted her hair long like her cousin’s.
“Why did you cut your hair?” I asked in exasperation, eyeing her lopsided bangs, the two big holes of missing hair over both ears, and another big chunk missing from the back. “I thought you wanted to grow it long!”
Her smile instantly faded. “Mom,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes. “You have to put the scissors up high where I can’t reach them!”
Ah, responsibility. None of us really wants it in such moments. And yet—at least for my daughter and me—we both needed to accept some.
Each January Classical Singer highlights summer programs, surveying program directors and singers for details about the previous and future summers’ happenings. Overall, singers’ reviews are positive. But when those occasional negative reviews come in, it can be difficult to determine where the responsibility lies—with the singer or the program?
Program directors do have a lot of responsibility for a program’s success, and so do singers. Singers want programs to be well organized and provide them with the opportunities and connections they need to succeed. Program directors want singers to be good colleagues, prepared, and hard working. When either side fails in its responsibilities, disappointment follows.
One area where singers can always take more control and ownership is in choosing a summer program. How they approach this important decision can make or break their experience. According to Amy Johnson (p. 38), singers need to first research prospective programs thoroughly and second evaluate their own skill set, determine what they are lacking, and then find the program that can best fill in those gaps.
The Summer Program Directory (p. 52) and Program Highlights (p. 56) are a great jumping-off point for gathering information about programs, and the online directory has even more information and programs. In addition, you can read in depth about studying in Italy (p. 32), Joan Dornemann’s long-standing IVAI program (p. 52), and the legendary Sherrill Milnes (featured in this month’s cover story) and his VOICExperience summer programs (p. 20). And don’t forget about the massive resource of January back issues available in our online archives (www.classicalsinger.com/magazine/archive.php) with other in-depth program features.
In recent months, Classical Singer has featured another hot-button issue that begs the question of responsibility: application fees. An online petition inspired Cindy Sadler to revisit this important discussion in the first of a three-part series (p. 12). Singers want companies to take more financial responsibility for audition expenses and eliminate the fees. Companies want singers to understand that while trying to keep singers’ best interest in mind, they also have a bottom line to consider during this particularly difficult economic period. Where does the real responsibility lie?
My daughter’s hair is even shorter now, after an expert hairstylist did her best to hide the significant holes. I, once again, have hidden all scissors in high, unreachable places. And we continue to talk often about the appropriate uses of scissors.
Ah, responsibility. Let’s all take a little more of it this new year.
