What Voice Lessons Taught me about Life

In our modern society, our primal instincts have lost their purpose.  We no longer have to call out to our hunting party or communicate pain to our family in the distance.  We are taught to suppress these instincts in all aspects of our lives.  What if I told you, however, that you still enjoy those primal instincts on possibly a daily basis?  You dance to them, participate in them and measure the span of time with them.

What could I possibly be talking about?  Singing.  Singing all comes from a primal instinct within ourselves.  Please allow me to explain further.

In my last few years of college, I had the opportunity to take voice lessons with Judith Burbank.  She is a soprano who has performed a wide-range of repertoire all over the world in various venues and orchestral groups.  I was nervous, apprehensive and all around scared my first time walking into the classroom, which is her office.  What I found was a world of exploration and understanding of myself and music that I never thought I would experience.

Judith Burbank, alumni picture
Wittenburg University

The requirements: bring a CD with you every class to record your lessons, practice when you have a chance and always be prepared.  Prepared for what?  For the truth.  And Ms. Burbank was brutally honest but not without fault.  She taught me that singing comes from those primal instincts.  Each stage of the vocal scale could directly relate to an audible emotion.  The moan, groan, sigh, call, talk, scream....all of them can relate to a point in your voice.  Not only did Ms. Burbank teach me about how I still carry those primal instincts with me every day.  She taught me things about life.

Proper posture is essential for the best sound.  This was something that never escaped the watchful eye of my voice teacher.  "Stick your chest out!" she would say.  "If you don't like how you look, change it.  But be proud of what you have now."  Lesson one: Stand with confidence and do not be ashamed of your appearance.  The only thing that matters is how you carry yourself.

During warm up lessons, Ms. Burbank would have me stand in front of a mirror.  She would instruct, "Drop your jaw, let the sound come naturally without restriction."  I would stand in front of a mirror and watch past the talk of my voice as the back part of my lower jaw would drop, causing a deeper and warmer sound to come.  Lesson two: Do not be afraid to open your mouth and share your thoughts.  Everything you have to say matters, no matter how deep you have to dig to share it.

When I reached the top of my voice, Ms. Burbank would have imagery to help you root and grow your sound at the same time.  "Have a string that extends from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet.  And from your head, can a C-shape coming out and going back, like you have a big open space in your head," she would explain (I know, it may sound crazy.  But trust me, she knows her stuff!)  Lesson three:  Remember your roots and use them when you want to soar.  You should always have a place to return back to.

Every week, when I walked into the office, I would dread the question I always knew was coming.  As I set my things down, listened to the end of the singer before me and set my CD to record, those words would finally reach my ears: "Did you practice this week?"  Oh how I dreaded these words!  Even as a violin student, practicing was so difficult for me.  But it too taught me a valuable lesson.  Lesson four: If you aren't willing to work toward the things you want in life, you won't reach your full potential.  We have to be willing to practice any time possible.

Were voice lessons difficult?  Yes, it was a challenge.  Basically, you are told the way your were singing has not be correct, but let me show you the way to get an amazing sound.  And what a result!  After my first semester of voice lessons, I had a solo that opened the Christmas concert for the Lenoir-Rhyne A Capella Choir, a group of which I was a part.  I got to sing these words:

They say God loved the world so dear

He set aside his crown

And cloaked Himself in human flesh

They say He came on down

And dwelt a while among us here

He came on down.

Remember, no matter how dark things seem, there is always a
lighthouse to help guide you.

I loved it.  I was nervous and I know it came out in my voice.  But those few moments, by myself, opening the entire performance, followed by the procession of the rest of the choir into the church, were amazing!  And I was well rewarded.  My mom, following the performance, told me that I had a completely different and more developed sound to my voice and urged me to convey her amazement to my voice teacher.  Ms. Burbank merely smiled and nodded, as though to say, "You had it in you the whole time.  All I had to do was help you release it."