This week marked my first week as a first year Masters student at Cleveland Institute of Music. I was very nervous on Monday. Which is odd for me. I’m still not quite sure why I was so nervous. I think part of it stemmed from the realization that now I would be a grad student and would therefore be expected to be more advanced than the undergraduates, and I worried whether that would be the case. I worried I would regret my decision to go there, and that I would feel stuck. Well despite all my worries everything has worked out lovely- as it so often does. Sure, I am taking essentially a repeat of the classes I took in Undergrad- theory, aural skills, opera workshop, and French, but the teachers are very understanding and down to earth, and it feels much better the second time around. The review will be good for me.
The best news of course is that my lesson with Clifford Billions went incredibly. For those who didn’t know, I decided to come to CIM based on a lesson with Dean Southern, and I was planning on studying with him. However, I received a call from Dean this summer informing me that he would be moving to the University of Miami in Florida. As a result I would be studying with Prof. Billions.
I had my first lesson on Tuesday and it was very eye opening. The technique they teach here is different from Oberlin. There is a much greater emphasis on relaxation and natural ring. We worked on breath control, onsets, and high notes, and by the end of the lesson I actually felt like I had a concrete understanding of how to successfully do all three. I left the lesson with a great desire to practice. I haven’t felt that that intensely for years! I’m thrilled with Prof. Billions thus far, and I hope it continues.
My french teacher is fabulous. It’s a repeat of 101, which I could probably test out of since I took it last year, but I’ve decided to stay in it, so I can really work on the speaking part of french; and to concrete the grammar in my mind. Fortunately this teacher, who is french, is very big on learning to speak first and then read and write.
I’m working on the audition excerpt for the Beatrice et Benedict audition next week. The opera was written by Berlioz. It’s a beautifully written opera, my excerpt is Hero’s aria, “Je Vais le Vois.”
I was given the job at Avon school of Music, I started yesterday and it went well- except that I got stuck in rush hour traffic and it took me twice as long to get there as it should. I have three students as of yet. I teach Courtney voice and piano, and then I teach Kate and Mekenzie together. Courtney’s 11 and Kate and Mekenzie are 8. I should be getting more students as schools start up again.