My Vocal Master Classes have been very interesting.  I’ve held them in many Colleges and Universities in the United States, and several in Europe, including Hungary, Finland, Romania, Italy and Ireland.

The Master Class teacher is somebody who knows more about singing than the students. He/she has also had a lot of experience, and learned many things about the Art of singing.

My first MC experience was at Duke University.  I held 2 separate classes on stage, and spent a couple of hours hearing and advising students.  I remember being very anxious about what would happen.  I wondered whether I would be able to listen to 1 or 2 pieces by each college student, for about 5 minutes for each song, and come up with helpful suggestions after that brief audition.  I had to hear, think, and decide immediately what each singer needed.

I did my best as always, but I knew I had to do more of this “listening”.

Soon after this experience, I had the opportunity to be present at a New York Master Class given by the famous opera singer, Shirley Verrett.  Miss Verrett entered the stage in a form-fitting bright red suit, lots of gold jewelry and black sling-back pumps.  It was at that moment that I had a catharsis.  I decided I had to make an impression similar to Ms. Verrett’s.

I immediately bought a silk black pants suit, co-ordinated jewelry and make-up, and the proper elegant shoes.  At my next MC, you wouldn’t have recognized me.  I had a different Air, I looked much more professional, and I was much more relaxed.  Naturally, I took lots of notes at Ms. Verrett’s class, including her reactions to the students’ singing and all the qualities that went with it.

My Master Classes improved greatly.  I learned to listen and make judgments quickly, to help the students relax, and share with them what they needed to do to improve.

Over the many years during which I have had the great pleasure of encouraging young singers—-male and female—there has been one factor which, in every single case, has needed improvement.  That is BREATHING.

A singer’s breathing is unlike the breathing we do throughout our lives and which we don’t even think about.

The great Italian tenor, Luciano Pavoratti has said that in breathing, “you just move the diaphragm up and down”, and what a diaphragm he had!

This movement is absolutely essential.  What I like to have the students discover, is that they need to expand the whole lower belly, and even the back. The breath comes from a deeper place, and the diaphragm expands each time.  The body is able to store ample breath to sing a complete phrase by expelling the air along with the sound.

In other words, the singer controls the air and uses it to support the tone.  And how beautiful a tone it must be.

We speak about athletes at our sessions, about how they “work up a sweat”, and begin to pant as they exercise.  For singing, we need that same feeling—-of gasping for air and taking in lots of it.

Dancing with students is something I do always.  I take their hands and move around the stage with them as they sing. We move our arms in and out, up and down, we kick, we strut, we circle, and the result is that we stop worrying about ourselves, and get involved in the moment.  We have FUN!

This relaxation, along with breathing exercises, helps the student to sing the same song a second or third time in such a way as to sound better, more confident and to add more into the meaning of the piece.

That brings us to another very important point in performing—-forget yourself!  Become the music, tell the story, be the character ( if one is singing an operatic aria ), enjoy the experience.

At the end of my Master Class sessions, the students are smiling, they feel successful, and I am happy that I can draw from them some qualities they didn’t even realize they had.

I’ll be holding 2 Master Classes very soon, both in US universities, one in Louisville, Kentucky and the other in Charleston, South Carolina.  I’ve been working on my Southern drawl.

Darling Fabrizio, my lovely little Italian mouse, is being acknowledged by a doll in his likeness.  The Fabrizio doll will travel with me as I read the book and have signings in various libraries and organizations.  

When I attended the New Jersey school librarians’ event at Long Branch recently, I found that I needed a poster with very basic information on it.  So I wrote down what I felt was important.  The poster will say: WRITTEN IN ENGLISH AND ITALIAN at the top.  This phrase is an eye catcher.  I don’t believe there are many 2-language children’s books out there.

Underneath the phrase there will be my name, the book title in both languages, and website and ordering information.

For my next reading in Chatham, New Jersey, at the library, I’ll have the new poster, and hopefully, the cute cuddley Fabrizio doll.  I know that adults will be attracted to the poster and children will notice and squeeze the doll.

These new props are in keeping with my plans for “Fabrizio’s Fable” ( “La Favola di Fabrizio” ), in a pattern of growth.

Oh, I almost forgot——Fabrizio will be with me in Louisville, Kentucky in March when I visit the Irish Festival.  He and I will take a side trip to an Italian-American society.  I hope Kentuckians find Fabrizio as cute as we do up North!

I really like to practice piano.  There are lots of reasons.  One of them is that my fingers are very flexible.  This has been true all my life.  When I practice, I enjoy doing exercises, some for the left hand and some for the right hand.  As I warm up, I’m always glad to note that my fingers become more and more agile.  I think of all those tiny muscles in the fingers—-in the wrists—-in my palms——each becoming more and more independent, and thus able to navigate tricky phrases.

I like to challenge myself also.  I spend a lot of time playing pieces that have many subtle note changes.  Today I worked a full 2 hours and I did just that.  After I went through the exercises—-about a 1/2 hour, I turned to Chopin ( I have a large book with all Chopin compositions ).  I don’t play them to prepare them for a concert.  I play them because they are so darn tricky!  There are a few in particular that I practice regularly.  

I may never ever perform them, but they are tremendously useful in making the fingers stretch.  With some of the finger stretching, I can actually feel the hand muscles separate my fingers more and more.  

Because practicing the piano involves muscles, I feel as though I am doing a gym workout, only with smaller muscles.  

I have found that by playing and playing and mastering tricky passages, that my fingers “memorize” the notes.  They play by themselves automatically.

When I have pieces ready at performance level, when I have really studied them with my eyes and my hands, then I truly enjoy playing them.

This is all true of the sonatas I am working on now.  My PEL trio is performing as the solo group for a concert in Summit.  It is a very exciting event for us, since it is our very first performance as part of a series.

Every day I open the scores, read through them with my eyes, allow my brain to absorb the notes, and then work on them manually in a measured fashion.  Each repetition helps the finger “memorization” that I mentioned.  The more I do it, the easier it becomes, and, of course, the result is that it is lots of fun.

What I find to be very important is to have a goal.  Then I work even harder to reach the goal——that is——the actual performance.

When the audience hears me ( us ) play and they say: “It looks so easy”, that is the real success!!!!

Learn more about the PEL Trio on my website.

Since I enjoyed my Toastmasters experience so much, and found that I have a facility for speaking to groups, I have decided that I would like to become a professional motivational speaker.

In order to get going in the motivational field, I have been creating a flyer, which will encapsulate the theme of my speech, contain my business attire photo, some quotes

and my contact information.

My topic is: GETTING AHEAD IN YOUR FIELD

                   5 ESSENTIAL RULES TO MASTER

1     A NEW BEGINNING

2     ESTABLISH A NEED FOR YOUR TALENT

3     PROMOTION OF YOUR ABILITIES

4     YOUR STAFF

5     YOUR PROFESSIONAL APPEARANCE

Under each main topic, there will be series of subtopics, which will include principles which have worked for me in my various careers.  There will be plenty of display materials and printed takeaways.

Of course, I’ll have a Q and A session, which I really enjoy.                                               

I”ll be taking information from those assembled and plan to follow up on this.

We’ll have group activities, music, and lots of motivation ideas.

Regarding my fees, they will be negotiable.

I”ve already submitted a proposal to one venue and I’ll be back here reporting when I hear back from them.

I’m really looking forward to sharing my message with the World.

( I’m also going to create a power point so that interested persons can find me on the web. )