Thank You For the Music
"MUSIC SPEAKS WHAT CANNOT BE EXPRESSED,
SOOTHES THE MIND AND GIVES IT REST.
HEALS THE HEART AND MAKES IT WHOLE,
FLOWS FROM HEAVEN TO THE SOUL."
There’s something magical about music. It’s just noises sounded on certain pitches, and yet it has the power to tap into the depths of our hearts, stir our souls, and cause us to feel things we sometimes can’t explain. It links people of all ages and cultures together and asks us to join into something bigger than ourselves. It truly is a gift from Heaven. I thank God that it's a way He has given us to communicate and reflect the beauty of this world He has made.
I’ve always been amazed at the power and magic of music. But when it came to theory or understanding the mechanics of it, I was clueless. I’ve never taken any music lessons or been in a class discussing music theory. So when I saw Sight Singing on our list of classes we’d be taking at the Conservatory, I felt an understandable mix of excitement and uncertainty.
But, like everything else here, it’s turned out to be so much better than I’d even hoped.
So yeah. Sight Singing. Looking at a sheet of music and being able to just...sing it? I never dreamed I'd be able to do something like that. As I sat down at the table on the first day of class I was determined to try, but I doubted I'd ever be adept at it.
Sight Singing is on Wednesday evenings. Our absolutely fantastic teacher is Katherine Rundall. Like all of our instructors here, she’s really wants us to learn. I love her teaching style. She explains a concept thoroughly and slowly, and then checks in to make sure we’re tracking. If we’re having trouble, she’ll explain it again, go over another example, or ask any of the other students if there’s a better way of describing it. Although the material is challenging, especially for me with my minimal experience, Katherine sets a welcoming tone. I've never felt intimidated in that class, but instead I feel like she's on our side. That creates an amazing learning environment.
Some of the other students are well versed in theory and we’ve been able to help each other. In fact, a couple of weeks ago my roommate Ellie introduced us to the topic of minor keys. It’s quite the task to bring up such a technical subject to your peers, about half of which have never encountered this subject before. But Ellie did a magnificent job. She was very well organized and I had about 57 light bulbs go off in my head during that 90 minute class. Thanks Ellie! ;)
As we've continued our studies and built our skills, something amazing has been happening in my brain. I've begun to look at a few measures of music and actually be able to sing it out, with the correct rhythm and pitch. I can also hear two or three measures being played, and notate it correctly on a blank sheet of staff paper. Eureka!!! It's absolutely exhilarating. I’m still very much on a learning curve. For me, homework for Sight Singing takes the most amount of my time. But I’m astounded and so excited at how my understanding has grown. I know this has happened because of the environment that Katherine has created and her attentive teaching style. I couldn’t be more grateful.
Singing Do Re Me Fa Sol along to a few measures of music is nice. But there’s not much emotion in that. We’re learning the mechanics of singing and music, but we're performers! We also need to be able to apply emotion and expression to the melodies.
That’s where our class Singing for the Stage comes in. Every Thursday from 12:15-1:45 we are honored to be under the instruction of Joanne Abrom. I’ve been constantly amazed with the amount of expertise she has. She knows so much about the human voice and how to bring it to to its fullest potential. We've learned about the anatomy of the vocal chords, breath support, voice placement, vocal health, the importance of a personal warmup, and lots more.
One of my classmates described Singing for the Stage as almost like a show in itself. We cover a lot of territory and different subjects in there, all of it immensely helpful. Joanne has us do fun exercises and activities, all with the purpose of loosening us up, getting us out of our heads, and hitting our notes effortlessly.
We also talk quite a bit about auditioning and putting together our “books.” Any time I’ve talked to the professional actors here, they always say that auditioning well is the key to being successful. Once you’ve got the contract, well, that’s the fun part. There’s security, an income, and a fixed schedule. But you have to get that contract first, and auditioning well is not an easy skill. It’s about controlling your nerves, being flexible, knowing what and who you’re auditioning for, and also about knowing yourself: your voice, your strengths, your limitations, your type.
Joanne has been wonderful about helping us find music that suits our voices and making sure that we have several different styles in our books (and by book, I mean the collection of songs and cuts of songs that we know we can do well). She knows what it takes to succeed in the professional musical theatre world and is so wonderful about imparting that knowledge to us. By the time this year is over we should all have several cuts that can be go-tos, at least for a little while, for future auditions. She also gave us a neatly bound Vocal Technique book that she put together. Aaron reverently calls it his Voice Bible.
Another important part of Singing for the Stage is our performance workshops. Every few weeks we each choose a song and sing it for each other. We then comment on the performance give one another constructive criticism. We watch one another's gestures, expression, and of course how we sound. Yikes! Seems pretty intimidating, huh? I knew coming in that I’d have to sing in front of people. Duh. That's kind of a big part of musical theatre. ;) But I hadn’t done it in so long and I was, quite frankly, terrified. But these people are such wonderful friends and our class has become a safe place to learn, grow, and try out new things. We all really want to see each other succeed. So while I still get ancy when I know my turn is coming up, it’s not nearly as scary as it was the first time. Below are some photos of Emma, me, Abby and Ellie performing our songs.
I’ve performed twice so far. My first song was "I Couldn’t Know Someone Less" from the musical Daddy Long Legs. (I'd never heard of that one until Joanne assigned my song. But it's a beautiful musical and you should look it up if you don't know about it!) My second song was Watch What Happens from Newsies: The Musical. (Another fantastic show.) I loved them both and I’ve felt my voice getting stronger. I’m looking forward to growing more in this area throughout the year. I’ve also LOVED hearing my classmates sing. Each of them has a distinctive voice and strengths. Our performance workshops are always entertaining and enjoyable.
Joanne doesn’t leave us to simply work on our songs alone. Every two weeks we have a one-hour voice lesson at her personal studio. This one-on-one time has been invaluable. She’s great about hearing the strengths in our voices and helping us develop them, as well as our weaknesses and helping us to overcome them. We talk about many different subjects in Singing for the Stage, but during our lessons Joanne is able to help us learn to personally apply them.
Joanne working with JT during his voice lesson.
I’ve always loved music, and gaining a better understanding of it has only helped my appreciation for it grow. Music truly does flow from Heaven to the soul. I'm glad it's apart of what we're studying here at the Conservatory. But more than that, I'm glad God made it in the first place.
Thank you for the music.