Dear Editor: Thank you for the August issue of CS. Your Editor’s Note about Mimi Lerner was so appropriate. She was a lovely lady, singer, and teacher. We never performed together, but I did have contact with her on several occasions.
The loss of Beverly Sills and Jerry Hadley has saddened all of us—he just too soon, and Beverly as well, although Jerry had a lot of singing left in him [September 2007]. I had the privilege of doing Tonio in Daughter [of the Regiment] with Sills, as an apprentice artist at Wolf Trap in the ‘70s. I was the understudy and I guess my “curse on the tenor” (just kidding) worked: I got to do two of the performances with her. What a dream for me—one that I will not soon forget.
—David F. Wylie, associate professor of music (retired) at Louisiana Tech University, Hot Springs Village, Ark.
Dear Editor: I have had a great time reading the magazine while traveling to my opera program in Italy this summer, and I have since been in touch with Kyle Ketelsen [June 2007], who lives in my town of Madison [Wis.]. It was a treat to read his story, and I am excited to meet him and see his performance. I also enjoyed the article by Ana Maria Martinez, and I love the yoga articles and the Ask Erda section!
—Christiaan Smith-Kotlarek, received via e-mail
Dear Editor: I am a subscriber to your magazine and enjoy reading all the different articles you publish. Perhaps we could have an article on teachers’ methods to improve . . . teaching. I order DVDs about singing techniques and find them rewarding.
—Stella Marie Baumann, received via e-mail
Dear Editor: [Cindy Sadler’s] latest [column] on choosing a teacher [August and September 2007] is, as usual with [her] writing, spot on. . . . I would like to add a couple more ideas.
I think it is important to hear as many singers from a teacher’s studio as possible—find out where they are singing and go listen and observe. A perfect opportunity is the recital where many students sing on the same program. Listen for what is consistent in each singer and factor in the amount of time the student has been singing and singing with that teacher. There will be characteristics shared by the students.
A word about longevity: It is vital to hear students who have been singing at least 10 years with the prospective teacher’s technique. If the teacher sings in public or has sung in public, verify what the singing quality has been for at least 10 years. . . . All too often, it is possible for a singer to create something out of a poor technique as long as there is youth, exuberance, stamina, muscle tone, and temperament. We all know that there is no reason for a singer not to continue singing beautifully for decades.
A singer may have been a “flash in the pan,” then been forced (sadly) to stop singing due to a faulty technique. How many of these singers then go on to teaching careers based on that relatively short performing experience. If they have not addressed what caused their difficulties, the chances are they will be perpetuating the same situation in their students.
When observing students who have been singing well for a long time, [students] that a teacher claims as [his or her] own, be sure to ask the individual singers [who they studied] with. . . . You won’t always hear the student crediting the same teacher for their success.
Finally, it is extremely important for us to train our own ears to know what we are listening for. I personally remember being excited by wonderful recordings in my childhood. I suspect I was responding to overall sound and many artistic qualities that I had to later study to . . . [understand]. Specifically, I mean legato line, energy, phrasing, inflection, and connection to the core of the artist.
The most useful tools I found to learn this were the reviews of two great critics who are still working today: Andrew Porter, who wrote for the New Yorker . . . and Jim Svejda, whose radio program, The Record Shelf, is heard on NPR. There are extensive book collections of their writings as well.
What is magnificent about their reviews is how they do not merely give a personal opinion about the music, but they identify what is great about a performance. When the performance does not measure up, they provide recorded examples for comparison. I worked with these concepts for a couple of years until I felt I could understand the gestalt of great musicianship.
—Robin Taylor, received via e-mail
