Landing on up country ground again and having a week with my wife, furry kids, flowers and lawn has given my memories from Rome, Romania and Paris a very special patina.
My little Suzy
Teddy
The week of rest was absolutely necessary. Old people know what I’m talking about. Old tenors are no exception. I’m beginning to feel my batteries holding a charge, and I’m up to bringing my mind back to the word processor to get it to spit out some thoughts. They may be a little Jet Lag limp today, but I expect things to get better soon.
I am so encouraged about the state of the human voice. I wish I could say the same about the human mind. Rome and Sibiu were revelations in my exploration of those human attributes. I know my job is the voice, and will stick to that part of the anatomy as much as possible. Every voice I found on my latest quest was worth developing. Each hopeful singer had every material gift necessary to the craft of singing. However, they all sang with the standard technical deficiencies. Many of the singers are seeking work, but the world is not handing them stacks of contracts every time they audition. Is that something new in the world? Shouldn’t everyone expect rejection? I don’t think so. Rejection should be a puzzle to young people. It was to me. (I’m a tenor, right?) No, the committed singer needs to be puzzled by unsuccessful auditions. First, in the realm called the mind, which is “not my job” today, the singer has to get over the disappointment of a fruitless audition on Monday in order to have a positive attitude when planning for what’s next on his calendar, another AUDITION with time and place attached. Getting through these trials is a mind thing that must be addressed, but not by me at least not today. What I want to address is why the singers I met on this trip get the cold shoulder in auditions. They have been sold a bunch of lies.
I’m happy to say that the above accusation: “Liar!!! Liar! Pants on fire!!” is only mostly true. These students, at least, got some truth. They were all told at some point: “You have a voice! You should take voice lessons and make singing the focus of your life!” The lie came when they heard: “Come take lessons with me and I will make you a star.” Or, on the other hand, they may have heard the derivative: “You need to enroll in my University to get ready for a life in music.” The first lie is easy to dispel. No one can make that claim! The full measure of what it takes to attract enough public attention to be able to claim star status is beyond any teacher’s ability to control. Anyone who would claim star maker abilities needs to be avoided, but what are young people to do when they can’t know these things because of their youth? The University track is the same problem wrapped in a prettier package that I already covered in “Factory Made”. If you think I need to say more on that or any other issue, “Please Write”.
The Rome participants cracked my shell of low expectations and hit me with a set of challenges that might be considered individual nightmares by some teachers. They were dream world stuff all right, but they didn’t give me cold sweats. They filled me with energy, caused my days to start with a burst of ideas rushing to my mind directly from Garcia’s writings and made the close of the day an unexpected arrival. It was my first Master Class in which I could honestly raise my glass of mineral water in a toast to the improvements most of these young people made.
Two of these success stories will continue to be written when they come to Plattsburgh next month. These two from Rome who want more truth about how to sing were among the closest to being “Ready for Prime Time”. That’s why Garcia’s success with them was so obvious. The excitement these young people experienced and expressed was fully matched by my own.
My first days in Sibiu set me up for almost the same experience I had in Rome. Great instruments with as many signs of unfortunate instruction as were presented in Rome. Garcia’s teachings worked again and I had a wonderful time watching as these singers absorbed his advice. One of them even took notes… Surprise! It was a tenor. There were some differences between the Rome experience and my Sibiu work. Whereas in Rome those closest to “Prime Time” moved farthest, in Sibiu those farthest from “Prime Time” made the biggest moves. In Sibiu I had no arguments from any of the singers. In Rome there were a few who just couldn’t believe me, and, one by one ceased to attend the classes. Sibiu and Rome were the best master classes I’ve ever had the pleasure to do, and my satisfaction at being able to confirm Garcia’s teachings with the help of these singers is beyond my ability to quantify. I credit the singers who came trusting me to present Garcia’s wisdom to them.
My excitement with these master class experiences has renewed my faith that God is still making wonderful vocal instruments. I joyfully listened to and worked with many more than I expected to find. They are out there. If these young singers want to learn the best way to use their voices, they need the teachings of Garcia. I come home with a renewed commitment to waving his banner.
I left Europe with an invitation to help create a special kind of Master Class in Montisi.
Morning in Montisi
That project is still in the idea phase, but I have high hopes that my friends there will be successful. My week of home rest had not completed before I received an invitation to return to teach another Master Class in Rome. I hope I can go back this coming February/March.
Accademia Musicale Praeneste, Roma
Going out to glorious vocal discoveries in Europe and coming back to our secret corner of beauty gives me an unreal feeling that all I did was switch dreams. 
I feel like Dorothy took my hand and clicked her ruby slipper heels together, and there I was confronting gorgeous voices dressed in unfortunate costumes. I reached into my bag of Garcia magic, handed out some new clothes and great things happened. Then Dorothy came back and grabbed my hand, did her clicks and here I am again surrounded by Technicolor Treasures. I know the two realities are not dreams, because I had the “Hurricane” of travel that separated Home from Garcia Wonderland. It is also truly real to me because a few of the people in possession of those voices in Europe still talk to me, and here I am, home again, using Garcia’s teachings to help my students who had to wait for Dorothy to bring me back to the wonders of Technicolor.
Do you have a voice and feel like joining me next year in Italy to explore the teachings of Garcia? “Please Write”