"Patience is a virtue"

If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that, I could pay for college. But in all seriousness, patience is a super important thing to have. I admit that I am not always patient, but as an opera singer, if I am not patient I will fail. The same goes for pop and rock singers.

In opera there are different types of singing and different voices to fill those roles. I am a big guy, and I have a big voice. This means that some day, if I keep my technique in line, I can sing the super exciting operas.

I can do Wagner, and Pagliacci and my dream role of Otello. However, because my voice hasn't matured into it yet, I will wreck myself and no longer be able to sing if I progress too early. Many famous stars, such as Anna Moffo, progressed too early and lost their luster. Pop and rock stars do not always use a proper technique and employ too many bad techniques (belting, vocal fry, etc.) and lose their voices in their 40s or 50s.

The pop stars who can still sing in old age used good technique, and kept singing where their voices are best suited. Whereas dramatic opera stars hit their vocal prime around their mid-30s and their golden years are from 40-50. After 50, your voice either goes downhill and you turn to teaching, or you keep singing and your voice only gets better. Every voice is different, and is affected by the decisions you make. Good dramatic stars still sing lyric rep. " Never have a steady diet of Wagner...Sing Mozart as long as you can...Grow into the role don't force it" are some of the most valuable pieces of advice my voice teacher has given me.

Garry Grice is the man that teaches me and he had the career I want to have one day. Truthfully, he is more of a father figure than a teacher. He's spent his life singing all over the world and experiencing many types of operatic roles. Now, he is teaching at IUK and found me. A lowly little "baritone" who didn't know his real voice. Garry has molded me into a beginning bel canto tenor and I couldn't be happier.

This does have merit to the narrative, because I didn't want to go to IUK. I wanted to go to IUB and study there. Unfortunately, I didn't apply in time and came to IUK instead. I am so happy I had come here though. IUK has a great student body, and the size of the music program is great for me. It is just enough that I have cohorts, but won't get lost in the system. It is that way for all of the programs here too. The friendships and backstage shenanigans I get into are story worthy for years to come, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Anyway, had I gone to IUB I either wouldn't have even made the vocal program, or they would have trained me as a baritone in the musical theater department and I never would have realized my dreams to be an opera star.

So, the moral of the story is. Have Patience. Whether it is in life, singing, or career paths. "Good things will come to those who wait."

“Always pass on what you have learned.”

– Yoda