I can't tell you how joyed I was to find in my piano faculty colleague a recitalist who is *equally* as excited to talk about the costuming as I am. For one of our Messiaen shows I was in what can only be described as a silver sequin flying squirrel caftan, and she wore a gold lamé pleated full skirt. For a more recent program, she had the floofier skirt, and it was perfect. Clearly we are not competition-savvy, but gosh are we having a good time.
Julie, it’s so great to hear from you and I can’t wait to dig into you’re writing! I appreciate your words so much. I do think they show the hierarchy we’re taught - “bowing down” to “super humans” for example. Those musicians were students just like you, and under enormous pressure to perform expertise, as you were to perform deference. I didn’t experience that until Merola, but I can’t tell you how much it messes with us 🎹 folk as we learn the profession. Like, what if we were all just learning together, absent the postures of inflated respect or exaggerated detachment (the European style repetiteur)? I wanna experience that!
Kathy, thank you for expressing the perspective of a pianist in the classical world. My perspective as a singer had a completely different view of the wonderful pianists with whom I was absolutely privileged to work. I started my singing life at the University of Michigan with Martin Katz and his outrageously talented students. We were assigned a coach every year from his studio and this is the level of talent I thought was normal in the profession. I bowed down to these super humans and was always in awe of their abilities, professionalism, dedication and commitment. I didn’t know there was a difference between an accompanist and coach because we were being coached all the time from everyone at a very high standard. For me, the pianists in Katz’s studio were definitely a few rungs above singers on the hierarchy and I was intimidated as a youngster by many of them! The first time I ever worked with an accompanist was when I started singing in Europe and suddenly that support I was used to from American trained pianist/coaches was severely diminished. I was lucky if the accompanist would even point out wrong notes let alone any hints about phrasing, intonation, interpretation, etc. I was spoiled at a young age! However, getting back to your point, I was actually of the opinion in my limited view that coaches were highly valued everywhere and that singers were the bottom feeders of the classical music business. From reading your perspective, I see that we all could use more encouragement to create art outside of any hierarchical framework. I would have never dreamed of ever diminishing the presence of a pianist in a collaborative project. Perhaps also because I started my music journey with piano and have always had the utmost respect for those who twinkle the keys and make it all sound so easy. Just know I am still in total awe of you and all of the coaches with whom I have ever worked. You are all the fabric of the classic music business and without you all, nothing would work. The contribution of pianists definitely needs to be recognized and respected as important as any singer, as important as any conductor as important as any instrumentalist in the orchestra. We all collaborate to make one thing happen at the highest level possible and everyone is an intrinsic part of creating the whole! As far as I am concerned, you can wear a tiara and red gown if we were to perform a Liederabend together and I can wear the black pantsuit with pulled back hair!
I can't tell you how joyed I was to find in my piano faculty colleague a recitalist who is *equally* as excited to talk about the costuming as I am. For one of our Messiaen shows I was in what can only be described as a silver sequin flying squirrel caftan, and she wore a gold lamé pleated full skirt. For a more recent program, she had the floofier skirt, and it was perfect. Clearly we are not competition-savvy, but gosh are we having a good time.
Another knock outta the park ❤️❤️❤️👏👏👏👏
Thank you 🙏
Julie, it’s so great to hear from you and I can’t wait to dig into you’re writing! I appreciate your words so much. I do think they show the hierarchy we’re taught - “bowing down” to “super humans” for example. Those musicians were students just like you, and under enormous pressure to perform expertise, as you were to perform deference. I didn’t experience that until Merola, but I can’t tell you how much it messes with us 🎹 folk as we learn the profession. Like, what if we were all just learning together, absent the postures of inflated respect or exaggerated detachment (the European style repetiteur)? I wanna experience that!
Kathy, thank you for expressing the perspective of a pianist in the classical world. My perspective as a singer had a completely different view of the wonderful pianists with whom I was absolutely privileged to work. I started my singing life at the University of Michigan with Martin Katz and his outrageously talented students. We were assigned a coach every year from his studio and this is the level of talent I thought was normal in the profession. I bowed down to these super humans and was always in awe of their abilities, professionalism, dedication and commitment. I didn’t know there was a difference between an accompanist and coach because we were being coached all the time from everyone at a very high standard. For me, the pianists in Katz’s studio were definitely a few rungs above singers on the hierarchy and I was intimidated as a youngster by many of them! The first time I ever worked with an accompanist was when I started singing in Europe and suddenly that support I was used to from American trained pianist/coaches was severely diminished. I was lucky if the accompanist would even point out wrong notes let alone any hints about phrasing, intonation, interpretation, etc. I was spoiled at a young age! However, getting back to your point, I was actually of the opinion in my limited view that coaches were highly valued everywhere and that singers were the bottom feeders of the classical music business. From reading your perspective, I see that we all could use more encouragement to create art outside of any hierarchical framework. I would have never dreamed of ever diminishing the presence of a pianist in a collaborative project. Perhaps also because I started my music journey with piano and have always had the utmost respect for those who twinkle the keys and make it all sound so easy. Just know I am still in total awe of you and all of the coaches with whom I have ever worked. You are all the fabric of the classic music business and without you all, nothing would work. The contribution of pianists definitely needs to be recognized and respected as important as any singer, as important as any conductor as important as any instrumentalist in the orchestra. We all collaborate to make one thing happen at the highest level possible and everyone is an intrinsic part of creating the whole! As far as I am concerned, you can wear a tiara and red gown if we were to perform a Liederabend together and I can wear the black pantsuit with pulled back hair!