Category: Music

Written By: Seon Gyu Park, Voice Teaching Artist

 

Our winter recital is less than two months away from now. I want to share some practical tips on how to prepare well for a recital. I have many experiences performing operas and concerts in New York, the Washington D.C. area, Korea, and many other places. I once had stage fright, but as experiences piled up, I was able to overcome it slowly. I definitely understand how you feel anxiety and nerves before a performance. I hope this article helps our Academy students to perform confidently and shine on the stage.

1. One Month Before the Recital
Work hard on memorizing music. This month should focus on remembering the music, the notes, and rhythm. You should know all the musical terms and dynamics in your sheet music. If you are a singer, you should know the meaning of the lyrics not only the words. After studying your music thoroughly, you need to memorize it as fast as you can so that you will have much time to polish it. Plus, this will give you more confidence on the stage.

 

 

2. One Week Before the Recital
Image Training—After memorizing your music well, now you need to do some image training. Find a quiet room and time and imagine that you are wearing a beautiful outfit and walk to the stage. Your audience welcomes you with big smiles and warm applause. Now, you are playing your music from beginning to end. You perform perfectly, and you bow to your passionate audience. One of the benefits of image training is that you can play your music over and over until you don’t make any mistakes. Do it repeatedly until you feel confident.

 

 

3. The Day of the Recital
Start your warm-up at least four hours before your performance. Even though you believe that you already woke up, your mind and body don’t wake up totally. Your body needs time to be warmed up. If your concert starts at 11 a.m., I encourage you to wake up at 7 a.m., take a warm shower, and have a good and healthy meal.

Have a meal at least two hours before the recital.Please don’t have a big meal right before the recital. Digestion will slow your mind down, and you don’t want to burp during the performance. Eat at least two hours before your performance. If you get hungry again, have a light snack, and stay energized.

Be hydrated with room temperature water. Hot water or hot coffee will dry your throat, and milk products make mucus. Soda drinks are not good neither. You know why; It makes you burp 😉

Have a rehearsal about one hour before the recital. Use this time to check the sound and memorization one final time.

 

4. Enjoy your performance!
Don’t worry about anything and enjoy your music. You need to believe that all the people in the audience are your supporters and cannot wait to listen to your music. You are the star! Rock it!

 

 

---

About Ms. Seon Gyu Park

Ms. Park is a full-lyric soprano and voice teaching artist at the Academy. She is an active opera singer appearing in numerous opera productions including the title role of Massenet’s opera “Cendrillon (Cinderella)” with Amato Opera and a soloist in the Praise Celebration of Milal at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Park is recognized in regional and national competitions such as the National Association of Teachers of Singing Virginia State and Mid-Atlantic Regional Voice competitions and the Classical Singer National Voice Competition. Ms. Park has almost 20 years of teaching experience at public school music programs and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in vocal performance at George Mason University.

A good singer with a lovely personality—this is how Jillian Michelson’s friends and family describe her, an Academy voice student who loves to bring happiness to other people’s lives.

“It was always joyful to have lessons with her,” said Ms. Seon Gyu Park, voice teaching artist at the Academy. “She has the ability to make people around her happy and bright. I believe this is a great strength as a singer.”

The Perfect Role
A singer who wishes to bring joy to her audiences, Michelson constantly searches for musical characters that make people laugh. A perfect opportunity appeared when a community theater production held an audition for its musical “Frozen, Jr.” Michelson jumped into action and earned a leading role, Olaf, a goofy and heartwarming character from this famous Disney story whose songs and jokes draw frequent laughs from the audience.

“I was excited because making people laugh and singing on stage is so fun!” said Michelson. “I feel like God’s blessed me with the perfect role to make people happy and one that suits my personality really well.”

 

 

Building the Foundation
Before the audition, Michelson was a private voice lesson student with Ms. Park, who is a full-lyric soprano with almost 20 years of singing and teaching experience. Ms. Park recalled that Michelson was weak on the low and middle vocal ranges when she first started voice lessons in 2016. To widen her vocal range, Michelson worked tirelessly to build up support muscles.

“She is enthusiastic about singing,” said Ms. Park. “Whenever I gave her songs, she learned it thoroughly and made the song her own. Her ability to express the characters is excellent. Hard work finally paid off so that now her voice is stronger on every vocal range.”

A Road to Success
A successful audition comes with endless hours of training and overcoming obstacles. After Michelson told her voice coach Ms. Park about the audition, Ms. Park believed that Michelson has the potential and work ethics to succeed, and determined to help Michelson to land on a role.

Michelson spent her lesson time analyzing the storyline, characters, and their expressions. She examined herself in the mirror for her posture, her facial expressions, and her body movements, repeating every second of her audition over and over to refine every detail.

“This role has challenged me and also brought me joy in unexpected ways,” said Michelson. “Because I’ve grown accustomed to bouncing, singing, and being happy both on and off stage!”

 

 

After endless hours of training, the production opened in early October. Michelson’s family and Ms. Park attended the opening show as Michelson’s enthusiastic fan club.

“As parents, we are so proud of Jillian’s accomplishments both on and off stage,” said her mother, Kira Michelson. “She is a smart, strong, funny, kind-hearted young woman who works hard, encourages others, and is a true joy to all around her.”

“She was shining on the stage,” said Ms. Park. “I feel thankful that she believes in me. I am a proud teacher.”

The musical is at Thomas Jefferson Community Theatre, located on 125 S. Old Glebe Road in Arlington. The show dates are Thursday, October 17 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, October 19 at 3 p.m.; and Sunday, October 20 at 3 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the box office and cost $15 for general admission and $12 for children, students, military members, and seniors. Come and support our Academy student!

 

 

LEARN MORE ABOUT:     VOICE PRIVATE LESSON    |    GROUP CLASSES

Five Academy piano students showcased their talents in a recital at Carnegie Hall, one of the world’s historic performing arts venues, on Saturday, October 5. The Dream Trio, formed by faculty artists and Mason alumni Mr. Zachary Whitaker, Ms. Faith Zuniga, and Anna Kong, also made a special appearance in the program.

“The students played at a very high level and made us teachers really proud!” said Mr. Misha Tumanov, piano teaching artist. “They were super excited about performing at such a prestigious venue.”

“A recital in an important venue like Carnegie Hall is beneficial to students,” said Ms. Zuniga, piano teaching artist. “Because it rewards them for their hard work and dedication to excellence and encourages them to continue practicing diligently!”

 

 

Mr. Tumanov and Ms. Zuniga received the recital invitation from their alma mater, the Instituto Superior de Artes. They quickly realized that this would be a perfect opportunity for the Academy students. Based on the piano instructors’ recommendations, Ella, Mara, Anna, Andrew, and Dylan were selected to participate in the recital along with other dozens of young performers from Costa Rica.

 

 

In addition to the students’ performances, the Dream Trio presented a selection of chamber music including the last movement of “Smetana’s Piano Trio in G Minor, op. 15” and hoped to inspire the young musicians to continually elevate their solo performance skills and explore the beautiful sound of music through many styles and genres of music performance.

Before the concert, students spent endless hours polishing their repertoires with their instructors at the Academy. “For a big performance like this,” said Ms. Michelle Richardson, teaching artist of piano. “It is crucial to have lived with a piece for many months and to have multiple build-up performances.”

 

 

Ms. Richardson added that preparing for a formal recital requires continually reexamine the piece as it is new repertoire and going deeper and deeper as the performer crafts an interpretation.

“The rediscovery of your piece keeps the memorization clear and the emotions in the performance fresh,” said Ms. Richardson. “I tell my students that we all get nervous, even the best performers, and the key is to use the nerves in a musical way to help keep your focus and energy through the performance.”

 

 

The music faculty plans to provide more performance opportunities for our private lesson students and participants of the Vivace Intensive Program. “Traditionally, this has been a piano-only recital,” said Mr. Tumanov. “But we’re looking into having other instruments perform as well. We hope to have a bigger delegation from the Academy next year.”

 

 

SEE MORE PHOTOS ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE!

When the summer arrives, Academy Teaching Artist Glen McCarthy is on a mission to educate guitar teachers to inspire more younger students learning to play the guitar.

A professor at George Mason University School of Music, Mr. McCarthy is the executive director of the Teaching Guitar Workshops that aims to train music educators on guitar teaching pedagogies and to support school guitar programs with tools and the networks.

 

 

“Students who play guitar are different types of learners compare to all other instrument players,” said Mr. McCarthy. “Guitarists are not traditionally a part of school bands or orchestra. We need to teach guitar differently from other instruments.”

A joint program funded by the National Association of Music Merchants, Guitar and Accessories Marketing Association, and the National Association for Music Education, the Teaching Guitar Workshops welcomed more than 400 directors from school bands, chorus, and orchestras to attend one of 19 workshops across the states. Mr. McCarthy led four workshops in Reston, Virginia; Nashville, Tennessee; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Kelowna, Canada.

 

 

Mr. McCarthy also presented a seminar on how to set up a state-level guitar ensemble during the annual conference organized by the Guitar Foundation of America, the world’s largest multi-national guitar organization.

Teaching guitar for more than 30 years, Mr. McCarthy was one of the top 10 U.S. music educators recognized by the Grammy Foundation with original pool of 32,000 nominees in 2014. Known by his student-centered teaching style, Mr. McCarthy develops class curriculum based on individual student’s need and interest.

“I embrace all the different approaches in teaching guitar,” said Mr. McCarthy. “I also realize that, depending on the students, some are going to work the better than others.”

 

 

Mr. McCarthy will teach Guitar Beginnings (Ages 5-8) and Adult Guitar Classes Level 1 and 2 this fall. He said the approaches for these classes are completely different.

“We need to keep up with interests and tunes of the current generations of guitar learners,” said Mr. McCarthy. “The same pedagogies and music to teach adult learners will not work with students in ages 5-8. We need to find tunes that interest them because I think playing guitar should be joyful.”

 

 

LEARN MORE ABOUT:     GUITAR PRIVATE LESSON    |    GROUP CLASSES

Sing your heart out. Have fun. Go after what you love. Aleksander Olszewski, the recipient of 2019 Vasya Georgieva Award for Artistic Excellence, gives three pieces of advice for any aspiring vocalists.

In honor of her late grandmother, Dr. Ina Blevins established the award to recognize a graduating high school senior, who shows outstanding achievement or dedication in pursuing music. The award was given during Academy’s annual Spring Recital. Olszewski was shocked when he heard his name being announced.

“I felt I had a good chance of winning the scholarship,” said Olszewski. “But it was a bit of a surprise to hear my name. I am very happy that I did.”

 

 

A member of the class of 2019 at the Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School, Olszewski began his music interest during his childhood. Inspired by his grandmother, who was an opera singer from Brazil, Olszewski sang wherever he went.

“I felt a desire to learn how to sing like an opera singer,” said Olszewski. “I love to sing but I felt I could sing like her too because she did. She is an inspiration to me.”

Olszewski began pursuing his singing career in church and started taking voice lessons and joining the school choir since elementary school. In 2012, he began his vocal training with Jennifer Keller at Mason Community Arts Academy and studied the techniques to advance his singing abilities.

“Alek is a wonderful student,” said Ms. Keller, a lyric soprano and teaching artist at the Academy. “And even with the rigorous demands of his studies, he always took the time to take lessons when possible.”

“I enjoy how you can express something and do it so beautifully,” said Olszewski. “The beauty of the voice can affect someone profoundly. I love it when my gift of singing affects someone and makes their day.”

 

 

With a hope to bring joy to others through singing, Olszewski took opportunities to perform on many occasions during high school. He was a part of Choirs of America Harmonic Convergence Concert at Carnegie Hall in 2019, a choir member in the “Advance Always: A Celebration of Frank Battisti and Garwood Whaley” concert at the Kennedy Center in 2016, and the singer for his high school’s graduation opening ceremony with the national anthem in 2019.

Beyond music, Olszewski was an active member of the drama club and French club at school. He also has a substantial interest in genealogy of his family and weightlifting.

As a recent high school graduate, Olszewski plans on pursuing a bachelor’s degree at Franciscan University of Steubenville and use the $500 to support his education. He was accepted to the music vocal program but would like to keep an open mind to explore other degrees, such as psychology, French, hospitality, or business management. Olszewski said he will remain active in vocal performance on campus or outside of his college career.