I'm an older student... :(

lapinfoofoo
Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:35:35 +0000

Hello. I am a 23 years old non-traditional student working full time, and going to community college, hoping to get into a music program in about two years.

This is my musical background:
Classical piano from age 3 to 15, pop singing.

I would like to major in vocal performance. Yes, the classical kind.
The problem, is, I’ve only started taking lessons in classical this January.

Am I out of my mind?
I must be. I am still working on basic skills (voice placement, breathing, posture, not pushing, not squeezing, relaxing tongue) after 9 months, and I honestly have not improved much since I first started. I’m trying. I’m listening to my teacher, and practicing, but it’s just not happening.
A lot of the problem lies, I think, in the fact that I’d been singing pop all my life, and re-training those muscles and reflexes to do the “right” thing has been a frustrating nightmare that doesn’t seem to end.

Also, I was just in the first recital with this teacher, and I found myself a bit uneasy to see/hear that not one of her students were very good. Doesn’t mean the teacher’s bad - maybe the pool of students is bad, and they don’t practice. I don’t know. I want to blame my teacher, since she doesn’t have a music degree (but is knowledgeable about vocal pedagogy and physiology), but no, I know deep inside that it’s me.

I feel like I’m in a desert with this lofty goal I don’t know I can reach.
Sure, if I keep training, I could be good enough in 10 years, but not two.
Not to mention the competition I’d be up against - the kids who have been training for years, and the high number of sopranos to begin with. Ahh.

But I want this so much, I just can’t give up yet.
But I also feel like I’m starting to lose perspective of the size of the desert that I’m in. And my goals.
So if anyone has a perspective as to what my approach could be, that would be amazing.