An amazing couple of days!

My flight went smoothly, and since I had a layover in London, the flight was only 6 hours long. That was a real treat for me, since I am used to an 8 hour flight. It is true, I had a three hour layover in London, but at least a person can move around.

Well, the first day was simply an orientation of the school grounds and the city. I met quite a few lovely people right from the start. Marco is a tenor from LA who I helped find a shoe store and buy a pair of tennis shoes. A girl named Janet is also very sweet. She speaks wonderful German and comes from Melbourne Australia. Another tenor named Christopher is already talking about what duets we should do. There are so many wonderful friendly people. Especially the staff.

Now to the guts of what we're learning. There was a lecture on breathing and a master class today. Throughout both of the sessions, I was so pleasantly surprised to find that most all of their advice was exactly what my teacher, Barbara Kierig, would say. Of course I already believed her and knew that she's the best, but it's a nice reinforcement for me.
I was giving my own prognosis (in my head) to singers during the master class, imagining what Barbara would say, and then lo and behold, Gabriele Lechner said the same thing.
**Elongate your vowels (don't spread)- Release the breath low - Think down when the notes go "up." - Keep everything high in thought - Don't work at all from the throat.**
It may have been phrased differently, but it was essentially the same thing.

In the breathing class, Roberta Cunningham almost focused more on posture than dealing directly with breath, because if one has a good posture, a relaxed throat and releases low, the breath should take care of itself. This is an idea behind Alexander Technique, which I studied this year and which Barbara also advocates. Roberta also mentioned keeping the cheeks lifted (to help keep the soft palate high) and your mouth long (not spread). That is again what Bag teaches. And my favorite similarity is that Roberta said "If you need a breath, take a breath - THE AIR IS FREE." She was practically quoting Bag there; I don't know how many times I have heard that already.

Even though a lot of this was a repeat of what I had already heard, it was so refreshing to hear good solid technique coming from other sources. Very often you will find teachers that try to sell you a bag of tricks and who just don't believe in the ability of the voice to do its thing naturally if you allow it. To watch these singers in the master class today, and to hear what a difference it made in their already fabulous voices, is a real comfort and encouragement to me. I know that I am in good hands here and when I come back home.

Tomorrow I have my first hearing to determine which professor I will study under while I am here. More on that later. Tonight, I am going to relax in front of the TV and cheer on Germany in the World Cup. Es lebe Deutschland!