Getting Students Ready for Recital

The end of the school year is a busy time for me as a voice teacher. I teach voice part time at a school in the Bay Area. I also teach for a number of other professional groups as well as maintaining a busy private studio. Recitals for all of these venues are coming up. My task is to help my students prepare as well as possible so that they will have good experiences while performing.

Today, some of my students worked for the first time with their accompanist for an upcoming recital. I worked on notes and rhythms with some students. With some I worked on anticipating the musical line more to help move the line along. Others were ready to work on emotive affect, looking at the music the composer has provided them and how that music fits together with the text. This is one of my favorite parts of the performing process.

I love that singers can move an audience emotionally. I love the feel of it when I do it and I want for my students to learn how to do it as well. A favorite conductor once said, "The audience doesn't pay to hearing beautiful singing. They pay to be emotionally moved." I don't know if that is always true, but I suspect there is some truth in it.