When I first found out that I was accepted into the program,
I decided to stay a few extra days in New York City. I have an aunt who lives
in the city, along as some cousins of mine who also live in the city. I usually
visit them form time to time in the summer months, and thought that it would be
perfect to stay a few extra days to get to visit with them. I also was able to
schedule a lesson with Joan Patenaude Yarnell, who is a voice professor at the
Manhattan School of Music. I was able to come in contact with her over the fall
months and she was more then willing to meet with me and provide me with a
lesson. I was very excited, honored, and humbled to have a lesson with such a
renowned performer and teacher. She scheduled me to have a lesson with her at her
apartment on the Saturday after everyone form the trip had gone back to Eau
Claire.
When I arrived to her apartment building, I walked up two
sets of stairs and arrived at her door. While I was walking up the stairs, all
I heard was beautiful music combined with gorgeous voices. She had a lesson
before me, and the person had an amazing voice. I knocked on her door and she
happily greeted me and invited me to sit in her waiting room while she was
finishing up the lesson before me. As I was waiting, she had on the Met live
broadcast of Die Fledermaus, which I had seen earlier in the week. Her
apartment was stunning, full of art and beautiful color. As I was sitting in
her study, I noticed the pictures that she had on her coffee stand, they were
of her with famous opera performers and conductors, like Pavarotti. I was truly amazed and star struck. She came
in when her lesson was done, and invited me to join her to begin my lesson. She
told me that the man that she was teaching before me was the lead counter tenor
in Die Fledermaus at the Met. I was so amazed! He and I had a conversation
before I started my lesson, which consisted of me going on and on about how
amazing his voice was, and little did I know, that he is one of the leads in a
Met production.
I preformed three songs for Professor Patenaude Yarnell.
After I sang all three songs she went through each song and picked out sections
to work on with me. Each happened to be my trouble spots, which was wonderful
to work on with you. She gave me so many tips and tricks to help improve my
singing technique and performance. It all started with the breath. We worked on
sustaining the breath to create the phrase. She also helped me to improve my
posture by using the “Noble Stance”, which is lifting your arms over your head
and gently bringing them down to your side, maintain the posture that you have
just created. It truly improved my singing a great deal. There were many more
things that I learned from in my lesson that had a wonderful lasting effect on
me. It was such an honor to work with such a wonderful teacher. She shared a
lot of valuable information with me and encouraged me to work more with her in
the future. Needless to say, I was extremely honored and humbled by her
compliments and comments. I look forward to working with her more in the
future.
Many Thanks,
Amanda
No comments:
Post a Comment