As many of you may already know, my teacher, mentor and friend W. Stephen Smith just announced his appointment to the faculty of Northwestern University as a tenured full professor. It's an incredible opportunity for him, as well as wonderful news for Northwestern and Chicago. His New York colleagues and students, however, are all probably feeling as wistful as I am right about now.
I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that I was utterly at the end of my rope when I crash-landed in Steve Smith's studio back in 2002.
I had already earned my doctorate. I had studied with a number of famous voice teachers and had assiduously applied everything they told me. I had read every book on pedagogy I could get my hands on.
But in spite of it all, I still couldn't really sing.
I was an excellent musician and a strong actress, and I could produce a consistent and loud enough vocal sound to land myself some big opera roles and interesting performance opportunities. But it cost me far too much effort and discomfort to make that consistent, loud sound.
I couldn't keep it up any more. Either I was going to have to start over from scratch or give up singing.
I can't imagine giving up singing, but I'm almost certain that is what would have happened if I had not met Steve. I also know that the same is true for many singers who have studied with him - they were just about ready to throw in the towel before they met him and are now grateful to have had the joy of singing restored to their lives through their work with him.
Most of Steve's students share my opinion that his approach is not only the first to facilitate really meaningful progress for them but the only one that really makes sense. I know of no other voice teacher who has devised a technique of singing where every element promotes authentic self-expression. Steve instills his students with the courage to allow their personality to flow uncensored through their singing, to share their feelings and creative impulses without concern for outside validation. While he has trained and continues to work with some of the most celebrated professional singers in the world, he is truly concerned first and foremost with helping his students achieve fulfillment and self-realization through their singing. In his studio, we're all just people, and he takes a deep interest in us regardless of our current level of skill or career ambition.
Steve never fails to praise my teaching acumen when he introduces me to colleagues and other singers, but he usually also can't help but share what a disastrous, entangled mess my voice was the first time he heard me sing. It always used to horrify me to hear him describe it - it was like reliving a nightmare!
I've come to realize, however, the way that sharing my story celebrates our work together. Because I'm just about the best proof Steve could have of the effectiveness of his technique. It's no small feat to take a good singer and help them cultivate greatness. But it is a far more gargantuan achievement to take so gravely distorted an instrument as mine was and even believe in the possibility of its becoming a thing of great power and beauty, let alone helping someone fulfill that potential. I have the advantage now of being able to tell my students, quite truthfully, that no one is ever going to show up to my studio with an issue I haven't had to fix in my own voice!
Thanks to Steve, I know first-hand that every problem has a solution, and I know that if I could resolve it, they can too.
Like the other members of Steve's studio, I am going to miss him greatly when he leaves. For those of you who found my web site via Steve's referral, I'll still be here, applying and expanding upon the principles and methods I've absorbed from his teaching. Please do be in touch when the time comes for him to leave New York - I would love to discuss the possibility of our working together.
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