Being a professional musician is a lifelong learning process. Even with years of experience, the best musicians seek out ways to improve at all times, such as by attending festivals and training programs. This summer, Philadelphia teacher Claire B. attended the AlpenKammerMusik Festival in Austria, exactly for this reason. Check out her story here…
Hi! I’m Claire and I teach voice lessons with TakeLessons. When new people ask me what I do and I say “I’m an opera singer” or “I sing classical music,” they nearly always ask, “Oh, where can I see you? Are you singing at the opera downtown?”
That’s a tough question to answer. The thing is, even though I’m nearing 30 and have my Master’s degree, I’m not yet a full professional and I don’t have major singing jobs yet. Opera singers have to work their way up, and it’s a long haul. Most of us don’t have a fully developed voice until we are 32 or older, and that leaves us in limbo for a few years. Community theater, summer opera festivals, and training programs help us get experience as our voices settle and we perfect our singing. Working and studying in Europe is an option as well, since the audience is bigger for opera and there are more opportunities. I spent some time this August in Austria at an amazing chamber music festival and I wanted to share my experience with you.
For two weeks, I spent about six to seven hours every day in rehearsal with other musicians and in solo practice, surrounded by the Austrian Alps. We were in Liesing, right next to the Tyrol (a.k.a. The Sound of Music‘s “The Hills are Alive” land!), and it was so small that they didn’t even have their own grocery store! The remoteness of the place let us really focus on our music assignments. Each morning, I’d get up early to go hike along the mountain road behind our rooms, and then have breakfast in the Gasthaus (guest-house, bed and breakfast). It was wonderful to be inspired every morning looking down on the valley and breathing in the morning mist.
We used the Folk Music Academy building for our rehearsal space, and the hotel down the hill housed the performance area. I sang one piece by Ravel called Chansons madécasse (Madagascar songs) with piano, cello, and flute. It was so challenging, with tempo changes, random key shifts, and at times with me holding the piece together or singing totally alone. It’s not your usual classical piece with a full sound all the time, and it was such a good lesson on learning to trust your own ear while still keeping other totally sporadic parts in mind! We all came so far as a group in only 6 or 7 rehearsals.
I also worked on song cycles by Schumann, Schubert, and a contemporary composer named Lori Laitman. The latter composer wrote a very moving piece using poetry by children in Theresienstadt, the model concentration camp in Czechoslovakia in World War II. There was a great emphasis on the text, and that set really helped me understand delivering a poem clearly and with meaning. Songs of any kind change when you mean every word.
I wouldn’t trade my experience here for anything. I grew as a singer and performer, and I made great new friends as well as musical contacts on two continents! Hopefully all of us young professionals will benefit in the future from our time in Austria!
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Claire B. teaches singing, Broadway singing, performance, music theory, and opera voice lessons to students in Philadelphia, PA. She joined the TakeLessons team in October 2011, with her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education and a Master’s degree in Vocal Pedagogy and Teaching. Find out more about Claire, or visit TakeLessons to search for a teacher near you!
Suzy S.