As I approach 50 years of age, I reflect back on a particular set of voice lessons learned with the late Jan DeGaetani. The lessons were not just about the technical use of the voice or music. They encompassed life lessons as well. It is crucial that we learn how to become one with music while learning about the self. I later realized that Jan was showing me a kind of love. She was taking time and caring for me as a person as well as a student and musician. She was, in effect, molding me to be a stronger and wiser thinker. Jan was a teacher who made her students think about everything – every note, every word, why there was a pause in one section or other in the music, why was a phrase connected or not connected to the previous or next phrase? All of these delicate variables were important to her..." |
 |
 |
Finding the perfect place for your "college experience" is a daunting task. This one decision will not only decide your fate for the next four years, but also possibly the outcome of the rest of your life. My private high school, despite its incredible music and arts programs, tended to guide its graduates towards Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford, into the fields of law, science and medicine, respectively. I took the required job placement personality test that they gave to all juniors. None of the questions had anything to do with singing, dancing or acting, and so the top two careers the test predicted for me were Tugboat Captain and Limousine Driver – perhaps because I knew that I wanted to travel, meet exciting people, and be my own boss... -Lauren Pastorek |
"When I visited Eastman on the weekend of my audition, I knew right away that it was where I wanted to spend the next several years of my life. It is bursting with passion and talent and because of its small size I felt constantly in the middle of everything going on. What made my time at Eastman so wonderful were the influential teachers that care so much about the students and the plethora of opportunities at hand. Even after graduating in May of 2007, I still have frequent contact with my private teacher (Professor Kathryn Cowdrick) and trust that I could contact any professor that I worked closely with for professional advice. As for the opportunites, Eastman enabled me to dabble in different areas (lieder, opera, musical theatre, vocal pedagogy, languages) with more than competent teachers and coaches in each. I was never told what to do, but instead encouraged and guided until I found my true love of pedagogy and musical theatre... -Analisa Leaming |
 |
 |
Since my graduation from Eastman, I have been fortunate to have been able to make a career exclusively as a professional singer and teacher; I never had the most impressive or the most beautiful voice; nor was I the best student, but because of the well-rounded preparation I received at Eastman I have always been able to deliver what was required for me at pivotal moments of my career.
Specifically, three of these moments stand out as illustrations of how my Eastman education enabled me to succeed where a less-thorough education may have proved deficient. -Richard Byrne |