Last Tuesday had my first voice class at Juilliard and I loved it! Been meaning to write about it. I’m actually at the school right now about to have my second class so far. Classes are every Tuesday 730p-930p for 10 weeks. I felt like the class gave me so much life, and I haven’t felt this happy in a while.
The class is amazing, and I love the teacher and my other classmates. The teacher’s name is Jane Olian and she is so nice. She has been teaching at Juilliard for 10 years, but has been teaching voice for 40 years. We also have a piano accompanist named Minjung who is a graduate student at Juilliard and is getting her Master’s in piano. She told us she has her Master’s in piano in Korea, but also wants to get her Master’s here in the U.S. She also likes to sing, and she also participated in the singing warm ups we did at the beginning of class which I thought was so cool of her.
There are 8 people in my class including myself, but in the first class there were only 5 of us because 3 people were sick. We also happened to be all girls. I didn’t know if it was going to be a big class in a lecture hall, or a small class, but it was a small class. There are 5 classes total during the week, and I think it’s nice they’re small so each person gets a chance to sing and the teacher can work with each of us.
Everyone in my class sings so well! For the first class we all had to bring a song to sing for everyone, and I loved everyone’s voices. The first girl who sang was so good! She is a Theater student at NYU and wanted to expand her vocal skills. She sang this Broadway piece, she was so good and her range was amazing. I feel like I became a fan of hers lol. The other 3 students were also very good! They all had beautiful voices. Some of them had trouble with their breathing techniques, so the teacher gave them some tips. The teacher even made one of them lay on the ground while singing their song to improve their breath, and then when she stood up and sang again she sang so much better.
The teacher chose me to go last! I kept thinking I was going after the next person, but she chose me to go last. I sang the song I auditioned with “O Holy Night.” I thought to find another song but I didn’t get a chance to, but it was still a very nice song. I did pretty well! And the teacher enjoyed my voice and my range. She asked me if I played instruments and I said violin and flute. She said she could hear flute in my voice, and I told her I liked flute because it was a high pitched instrument. Then I waited for her to give me critiques because she gave tips to everyone, but she didn’t say anything lol. She just said she loved my voice and that I flowed my words well. Then she asked me to sing it again because she just wanted to hear it. So I sang it again, and I asked the pianist to speed up the tempo a little, and I think it went very well. I’ve had many years of choir experience but it’s been a while, so it felt good to hear the teacher say I can still sing very well.
After I sang class ended, and then she met with each of us to choose a song for us to sing for the next class. She also asked our goals for the class, and I told her I also wanted to find a choir to join, and she said there are many choirs in NY she can lead me to. I also told her I wanted to get back my range that I had before. I used to have a very high range when I was younger, and I can still hit some of those notes, but I know I can go higher, so will work on that throughout the class. For the next class she chose a song for me called “Amarilli Mia Bella” which is an Italian art song.
Have to go now because class is about to start. I’ve been practicing this song and I think I have it, but she said she will also help us in class. So I’m excited =). This class is something I think I really needed, and it makes me so happy and confident. Will blog again next time for future classes.
-Carolyn
Carolyn Grace 