My alma mater - Easton Area High School
After pestering my high school music director a little more than a few times, he found a slot for me to come in for a day to give my presentation and to work with the students.
I was exhilarated. What a thrill to go back to my old high school, walking the same hallway to the familiar choir department. The building has been renovated, and the choir room now is where the band room used to be, and new rooms were added for voice lab, piano lab, theory, and composition classes. I'm sure a lot of effort and perseverance of one particular person whom I regard as my very first mentor went into making it all happen. I saw the same two small practice rooms through glass windows - an electric keyboard was an addition in one of the rooms. The memories came pouring back - even the smell was the same as I remember! I almost see myself hanging out in the hall with my friends waiting for the bell to ring so we could go to choir - except that this time I wasn't a part of the group. The students gave me quick glances and went back to their conversations. They all are so young, so vibrant and so eager to join the world out there. Immediately my energy tank got filled up, the grogginess of having to get up at five went away. My outreach program is a new addition to my organization - which is, also, new. CoffeeMelodie is my baby. I decided a few months back that since the Lehigh Valley , PA is where my baritone (my DH Ralph Schatzki) and I make our residence, this is where we will make the most out of our musical knowledge. I feel that both my baritone and I have a great deal of life experience, been there and done that, and it's time to pass this knowledge to
and share such a wonderful experience with other people who have the same desire and passion and the love of performing arts as we do.
They may not be aware of that yet, but there's no harm in our introducing, poking, teasing, stirring, searching, and, building the love of the music. I have a strong need to do what I can to produce lovers of music - whether they will end up being singers/performers, directors/conductors, instrumentalists, or anyone on the music producing industry side, all the way to fans and audiences. My baritone and I, we are two idealists with strong principles. It doesn't matter that we are only two individuals, we've got to start somewhere - and this is where we start!
Thanks to my high school choir director Ed Milisits, not only did he insert my program into the busy routine of his, and his colleagues - Pete Descher and John Shilanskis- but he also sent a young pianist - Mike Nelson, a high school sophomore- on short notice to work with us on accompanying our pieces. We guided him through our three pieces in the aspect of "vocal accompaniment - how to - the crash course" as best we could within the short period we had. The result turned out really well. I'm sure Mike will agree with me that, now that he has three pieces under his belt, he is able to accompany them any time. Kudos to you, Mike!
We were to give a presentation in the first period choir which is 10th through 12th grades (7:20 am) and the freshman choir (around 9'ish am) and to conduct three classes of voice lab (8'ish, 10'ish, and 11'ish) My concern was the time factor. As any opera singer, or any singer, the body is my instrument: I carry it with me everywhere I go, and I make sure to take very good care of it. Because this was my first official CoffeeMelodie outreach program, I spent a good amount of time on the preparation, which had an unfortunate drawback on my body - I was excited, nervous, and, most definitely anxious - it involved in tossing and turning the night before so I ended up with only two hours of sleep. I didn't let that get in the way and managed to give myself a very thoughftul and careful twenty minute warm-up session before we rushed out and dropped off my youngest daughter off at my adopted parents' house (I adopted them). After I checked in at the front desk I went to the choir room and was told that there was still a meeting going on. I was directed to another room where Mike was rehearsing the pieces and I managed to vocalize for a few more minutes before I proceeded to the choir room. Seeing young faces perked me up. Mr. Milisits let us know beforehand that he kept our coming as a surprise to the students. He also asked our son Brendan who is a senior this year to introduce us. They were surprised, alright! We started the program. The size of the choir is around 180 people - as big as I remember. When the freshman choir is added it becomes almost 250 people - I wonder how many risers they use for a concert?!?! I recognized some students as Brendan's friends. I had on the program "La ci darem la mano" that Ralph and I shared, followed by the ever so popular aria "O mio babbino caro" which works wonders every time - though Lauretta is not my calling card, but then again, neither is Zerlina. Ralph presented "Some enchanted evening" as our last piece. Thank goodness that both my baritone and I were singing well. I wasn't worried about him, it never ceases to amaze me that he wakes up, hums a few notes, and is warmed up and good to go. As for me, it normally takes some time for the throat to remember its soprano-ness. Not yesterday, I was able to get into my soprano-dom and did my soprano thing at the crack of dawn - phew!!! Instead of laying out the story (boring), after each piece, we asked students what they saw, how they felt the piece was saying to them, along with questions such as - from what style or period the piece is, who they thought wrote the piece, etc., then we added just enough info and kept it light. What an enthusiastic group!!! The students were eager to participate. They were responsive, and quite knowledgeable, and, most definitely, curious. Afterwards, we answered some questions and concluded our programs. EAHS music department has a very good group of talent, and I believe that I saw some students who will further their study in music beyond high school. Wow!!!! It was a big success. We felt that we had touched each and everyone of them a little here and there, to various degrees. We are hopeful that what we did helped spark a beginning of new love (if not already) and desire in music in these beautiful young people. We look forward to seeing them again soon. As far as our outreach program, this was a beautiful beginning, and we hope that we will have more opportunities to offer it to other schools in our neighborhood. This is the beginning of something wonderful and we continue going after our dream and reaching for that very star.
Thank you EAHS choir members, thank you Pete and John. Big thanks to Mike and Brendan. And, Mr Milisits, thank you for telling me to go after my dream, and for believing in me.
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