Applied Voice Studio Handbook
Dr. Kurt-Alexander Zeller
2006-2007
You will receive 50 minutes of studio instruction per week, scheduled at the same time each week. (You also will receive periodic studio classes with the rest of your classmates, and sometimes members of other voice studios.) Lessons are scheduled around your other classes, but not necessarily around your other activities; lessons are a class, and scheduling them has priority over work-study hours or other commitments. Lessons include a few minutes before the end of the hour for book-keeping and transition; however, I am a terrible time-keeper and I love to teach, so I tend to keep going. If you need to leave to get to a class, take responsibility for that and say so. If, at your scheduled time, I am still with the previous student, please knock and enter quietly so that I will know you are there and your lesson can start promptly. Don’t wait.
Cancellation: If you must cancel your lesson for any reason, please let me know as far in advance as possible so that I can use that time productively rather than waiting. If I must cancel your lesson, I will do my best to notify you, and the lesson will be made up later. Occasionally I perform out of the area and must reschedule lessons. Those lessons are always made up. If you don’t show or fail to cancel a lesson a day in advance, you have lost it.
Illness: There is some controversy about how detrimental it is to sing when one is ill; it really depends mostly on the nature of the illness. But it is my firm belief that a singer has a responsibility not to share his or her illnesses with colleagues. Therefore, I will not teach when I am ill, and your lessons will be cancelled and made up. Furthermore, I will not teach you when you are ill. DON’T COME TO MY STUDIO SICK—I WILL SEND YOU HOME. CALL INSTEAD. Since that is the case, I will try to make up lessons, up to a reasonable amount, that you miss because of your illness—provided that you call in advance and that you then go to the doctor. “A reasonable amount” will generally be up to two lessons per semester; exceptions may be granted in extraordinary cases.
Makeup Lessons: Makeup lessons will be scheduled, as much as possible, at times of mutual convenience; however, it may not be possible to schedule them at the times you most would like. I reserve the right to schedule make-up lessons during evenings and Saturdays, which are instructional times in this building, if necessary.
Taping: I suggest you record your lessons; please bring a cassette tape to each lesson, or, if you can afford one, a minidisk recorder makes particularly good lesson recordings.
Scents: The teaching studios here at CSU are not very well ventilated and the HVAC turns over the air slowly. Some of your classmates can be very sensitive to the scents and chemicals in perfumes, colognes, and hair care products; these can even cause asthmatic reactions in particularly susceptible individuals. Since what we all do in this class is dependent upon healthy, well-functioning respiratory systems, please be considerate of your fellow students in your use of these products on lesson days.
Applied lessons are a course just like any other, with homework or lab time—in this case, that preparation is individual practice. Expect to do it regularly, or your course performance will suffer. Cramming will not work. The appropriate amount of practice time will vary with each individual, and I will help you set goals, but for most students, 6 hours weekly is a minimum. The best pattern is frequent episodes of comparatively short blocks of time. (6-hour marathons are a waste of 5 hours.) I expect that you spend at least as much time working on this course as any other course. Also, practice must be free of distractions and have the full attention of your visual, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic senses. Singing in the car, or while you’re doing housework, may be fun—and thus well worth doing—but it’s not practice. Never practice without warming up.
Practice journals: All students in my course are required to keep journals of your practicing. The purpose is three-fold. 1) Having to write down what you are doing will help you be more focused, aware, and observant in your practice sessions. 2) The journal will provide me with more feedback about your experience and will allow you a forum to share concerns or ask questions that one or both of us may forget about in the lesson. 3) Since you will see the instructor only for one hour a week (plus the studio class), the journal will provide a record that you can consult to measure your progress, identify consistent problem areas, and begin to use to “teach yourself” in your practicing, as all singers must do, by noting what has worked for you in the past. I will collect each week’s practice journal for examination at the next lesson and return it later.
Each journal entry should include: 1) Date, time, and total time of practice session. 2) A note of your vocalise work and any observations about your experience that day. 3) What repertoire you worked on, what you did with it, and what you observed. Try to include your sensory experience (which is fact) as well as your subjective judgments about those facts. You need not adhere to formal writing standards. (However, you must write in such a way that I can read it—in other words, legibility counts.) Journals do not have to be the Great American Novel; you can write a prose narrative on loose-leaf notebook paper or, if you prefer, you can print the Practice Log form off of my website and fill one out for each practice session. See the “How to Keep a Practice Journal” Appendix for more details.
Vocalises: I will give you a series of vocalises; I expect you to do them in your practice work. The entire sequence can be a very effective way to warm up the voice, but they are not just “warm-ups”; they are voice-building exercises. Athletes have a workout regimen, and so must singers—singing is an aerobic exercise!
Practicing your repertoire: It is your responsibility to learn your assigned repertoire on your own and come to lessons prepared; I will not bash notes and rhythms for you in the lessons—and any pianist who’ll do it is letting you take advantage of her/him. The entry-level music theory, aural skills, and piano skills courses, not this course, are where you should be gaining the skills to teach yourselves repertoire on your own—that is what they are for and why those courses are required.
Mistakes are part of learning, but consistently repeated mistakes are a clear indication of poor practice habits. If you come to a lesson unprepared, the lesson will be halted (and not made up), and I will make an alternate assignment for your use of that hour.
Tape review: You should review and study your lesson tape each week, and periodically you should listen to an old lesson tape to help evaluate your progress.
Each student in this course will purchase a 3-ring notebook and keep in it the following:
A thorough understanding of the text, of the musical styles and conventions of the period of composition, and of the situation and intent of the composer has a significant impact upon the ability of a singer to communicate the meaning of the music. I will examine voice notebooks periodically and grade your work.
I am requiring a textbook for this course, The Structures
and Movement of Breathing by Barbara Conable (
It is illegal and unethical to perform from photocopied music. Composers and arrangers must make a living for themselves and their families from sales of their published scores. You must expect to purchase music scores for this course, just as you must purchase textbooks for other courses. Begin building your music library now; music never gets any cheaper. Put music acquisition into your personal budget as a regular expense. I will expect you to purchase the score of all music you are assigned in this course. If local music stores or the bookstore do not carry the scores, you can order them easily online or by phone from stores like Sheet Music Service (www.sheetmusicservice.com), TIS (www.tismusic.com), or Patelson’s. Many publishers also allow direct online orders.
Once you get your legal scores, however, make photocopies of your assigned songs and put them in your voice notebooks. Then you can write notes, correction, suggestions, IPA, and anything you like on the copies during your lessons and practice sessions and still have a clean master score. (This is handy when you do competitions; you don’t want to hand a judge a score with all your trouble spots already prominently marked for her.)
I put in a lot of work to try to ensure that the repertoire assigned to you is challenging yet appropriate, and once I get to know you, I hope I am able to choose repertoire you will truly enjoy. (However, I reserve the right to assign good-for-you broccoli whether you like it or not.) Repertoire requirements cannot be completely standardized, as they must vary with the needs of the individual student. The longer students have worked with me, the more I will expect them to make a contribution to the discovery and selection of appropriate repertoire for their work; intelligent selection of repertoire is an integral part of one’s artistry.
The minimum repertoire requirements for music majors are as listed below; students doing superior work will be learning more repertoire:
Freshmen: 4 pieces (begun new that semester—applies to all the following also)
Sophomores: 5 pieces, 1 chosen by the student and approved by instructor
Juniors: 6 pieces, 2 pieces chosen by student (w/ my approval)
Seniors: 7 pieces, at least 2 chosen by student (w/ my approval)
Students must expect that the minimum pieces will include appropriate foreign languages in addition to English. The pieces to be selected by the student must be selected and approved by Midterm Day (13 October 2006 and 2 March 2006).
Jury requirements and procedure are outlined on pp. 4, 7, and 8 of the Music Handbook. Additional guidelines and the actual Jury Forms are available on the Music Department website. All Applied Music students except those presenting Junior and Senior Recitals or BM Qualifying Exams that semester will present a jury exam at the end of each semester. This represents 25% of your semester grade. Please refer to the Music Handbook and Music Department website for more information.
In addition to your individual lesson, the entire class will meet as a whole, on alternate Wednesdays, 4:00-6:00 p.m. (See separate schedule.) The time will be used for lecture/demonstration, master class format work, and performance. Please read the recital attendance policy for the department on p. 17 of the Music Handbook. This is the department’s recital attendance policy for MUSC 0890. Since the studio class is an integral part of this course, my policy for this course is that you must expect to attend all the voice studio classes. In a way, you are double dipping and getting credit for two classes for the same one activity—but, hey, sometimes in life you actually get a break.
Singing is a performing art; one can’t expect to study it in isolation. Consequently, I require all students to perform. All students, except those in their first semester of 2000-level work, must perform at least once a semester on the departmental Noon Recital. All students, except those in their first semester, must perform at least twice for our studio class, at least one of those times for a Performance grade. Students in their first semester must perform once for studio class for a Performance grade. I will draw up a list of Fall performance dates by the end of August and of Spring performance dates before Martin Luther King Day; students should plan to perform on the dates listed but may perform more frequently if they are prepared.
Please read and abide by all the policies concerning accompanying on p. 4 of the Student Handbook. Accompanists are collaborators who are an integral rather than adjunct part of your performance; I expect you to treat their contribution and their time with respect. It is a privilege for you to have a skilled accompanist on staff who is available to work with students; many music departments do not.
Again, read p. 17 of the Music Handbook for the policy concerning MUSC 0890.
Your ears are part of your instrument, and they need to be “trained” just as your tongue and breathing mechanism do. The only way to do that is to listen. I will expect to see in your voice notebook evidence that you have been attending programs featuring singers each semester. Programs (or photocopies) with handwritten comments from you will suffice; you can do more extensive reaction papers if you wish.
I expect you to support your classmates by attending Opera performances and every degree recital given by a BM in Voice Performance student or BA voice student.
I expect you to attend all voice faculty performances given on the CSU campus. As of this writing, two are scheduled this year in Spivey Hall:
Sunday, 8 Oct., 3:00 p.m.:
Fri., 30 Mar., 8:15:
I expect you to attend the performances by great singers on the Spivey Hall series. You will NEVER AGAIN have the opportunity to hear so many international singers for free in such a perfect recital environment. (See p. 17 of the Music Handbook.) You must take advantage of this incredible opportunity.
This year there are an especially large number of singers giving recitals. Lucky us!
Friday, 15 Sept., 7:30 p.m.: Jenni Carbaugh Cook, soprano
Thursday, 2 Nov., 7:30 p.m.: Pamela Dellal, mezzo/Ensemble Chaconne
Sunday, 12 Nov., 3:00 p.m.: Rolando Villazón, tenor
Sunday, 3 Dec., 3:00 p.m.: Angelika Kirchschlager, mezzo/Malcom Martineau, piano
Sunday,
4 Feb. 3:00 p.m.: Heidi Grant Murphy, soprano/St.
Sunday, 18 Feb., 2:00 p.m.: Metropolitan Opera National Council Regional Auditions
Saturday, 3 Mar., 8:15 p.m.: Joyce DiDonato, mezzo/Julius Drake, piano
Sunday, 25 Mar., 3:00 p.m.: Morris Robinson, bass
As well as a number of distinguished vocal ensembles and jazz/vernacular singers
All students will write Text-Imagination papers (see Text-Imagination Work Appendix) for repertoire studied. Text-Imagination papers for works assigned at or before the beginning of the Fall Semester or anytime before 18 September are due on 9 October. Text-Imagination papers for works assigned at or before the beginning of the Spring Semester or anytime before 5 February are due on 26 February. Text-Imagination papers for works assigned later than those dates each semester will be due no later than 3 weeks after the repertoire assignment is made.
Students
presenting any public recital (Junior, Senior, BA Capstone Recital, etc.) at CSU
other than the Wednesday departmental recital will write program notes for that
program. A draft must be turned in to me
for review and comment 6 weeks before the recital date. Another draft, incorporating any revisions
and corrections, must be turned into me 4 weeks before the recital date. Finally, the notes must be received on disk
and approved by
Other students may choose to write, for any pieces of repertoire studied each semester, program notes that would be appropriate for inclusion in a concert program featuring those pieces. These notes can be applied to your semester average for additional credit. To receive this credit, any such program notes must be turned in two weeks before the end of classes each semester (or earlier). No late notes will be accepted.
From time to time, I may assign things for you to read. The assignments may be made to everyone in the class or just to specific individuals. Anything I assign will be available in the library, either in general circulation or on reserve, or in the Music Office.
Communication
I read e-mail regularly but not incessantly—once a day, M-F. Do not expect instant replies to e-mails.
2006-2007
REFERENCE CALENDAR
This is a
calendar of major events, many of which are required.
Not every
required event is listed here --for instance,
the student degree
recitals for Spring 2007 will not be scheduled for weeks yet
Fall 2006
AUGUST
21: First day of Fall Semester classes
SEPTEMBER
04: Labor Day (no classes)
05: Faculty Planning Day (no classes)
13: Mary Dibbern master class, 4:00 p.m., MEB 157
14: Jenni Cook master class, 4:30 p.m., MEB 157
15: Last day to apply for Spring 2007 graduation
15: Jenni Carbaugh Cook, 7:30 p.m., Spivey Hall
29: Classical Now, 7:30 p.m., Spivey Hall
OCTOBER
08:
11: Departmental Recital (seniors)
13: Midterm—last day to withdraw without academic accountability
27, 28, 30, 31: Regents’ Testing
28:
NOVEMBER
02: Pamela Dellal and Ensemble Chaconne, 7:30 p.m., Spivey Hall
05: Chanticleer, 3:00 p.m., Spivey Hall
06: Pre-registration for Spring 2007 begins
07: Music Department Open House (unusual schedule day)
08: Departmental Recital (juniors)
12: Rolando Villazón, 3:00 p.m., Spivey Hall
18: Anonymous 4, 8:15 p.m., Spivey Hall
19:
21: Fall Honors Recital
22-26: Thanksgiving Break (no classes)
30:
DECEMBER
03: Angelika Kirchschlager/Malcolm Martineau, 3:00 p.m., Spivey Hall
06: Departmental Recital (sophomores)
08: Last day of classes for Fall 2006
11: Final exams begin
14: Fall Commencement
16: Exams end
Spring 2007
JANUARY
08: Spring 2007 classes begin; freshmen/transfers now eligible to join MΦE
15: Martin Luther King Day (no classes)
FEBRUARY
04: Heidi Grant Murphy/St.
07: Departmental Recital (seniors)
18: Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, 2:00 p.m., Spivey Hall
23:
24:
28: Departmental Recital (juniors)
MARCH
02: Midterm—last day to withdraw without academic accountability
03: Joyce DiDonato/Julius Drake, 8:15 p.m., Spivey Hall
17, 19, 20: Regents’ Testing
25: Morris Robinson, 3:00 p.m., Spivey Hall
28: Departmental Recital (sophomores)
29: Spring Honors Recital
30:
30-31:
NATS Southeast Regional Auditions,
APRIL
09: Advance Registration for Summer/Fall 2007 begins
18: Departmental Recital (freshmen)
29:
30: Last day of classes
MAY
01: Study Day
2-7: Final exams
12: Spring Commencement