Musical Training in Russia

I have always thought that Musical training in England was fantastic; that is to say until I arrived to Russia and began my training at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in St. Petersburg. However, my first impressions of the place were not very good ones. The conservatoire looked impressive, especially standing opposite the grand Mariinsky theatre, home to the famous Kirov opera and ballet. 

I was heading for my audition to start the special training course that was advertised on their website. I was giddy with excitement as the training in Russia was such a prestigious achievement. I was told to arrive an hour before my audition time so as to have time for a warm up. Well what I arrived to was completely different. I was told to sit outside the foreign department and wait till my audition time. I had been waiting their for an hour till the head of the department told me and some other students to follow her. There were about 5 of us altogether waiting to be heard by the course coordinator. As we approached the audition room we were told to wait outside while she chatted to other professors.

When we were ushered into the room we were all told to sit down and wait our turn. I had no warm up time and was told to sing right there right then. I was shocked as in Europe this would never happen. You are always given time for a warm up with your accompanist and your audition is always between you and the panel. 

I didn't hesitate as that morning I had made sure I did a warm up for at least 30 minutes. Everyone had their turn and finally the panel told us who was to stay and who was to go. I was told that because I had only considered coming to the conservatoire for a short time, there was nothing they could do with my voice. The students who were applying for a year's course were accepted even though they could not sing. It was apparent that the only thing that mattered was the money a foreigner was bringing in to the conservatoire and not the talent.

Luckily, a family friend decided to get involved and decided to take matters into her own hands. She had friends in high places and was quite a well known name in St. Petersburg. Thanks to her I was accepted into the conservatoire, not on a special training course but to the vocal department.

I was allocated a wonderful teacher who had travelled around the world teaching on various exchanges and didn't have a problem with teaching me for a few months. I could tell that she didn't take any nonsense from anyone. My first few lessons with her were interesting as various strange things happened such as her pupils would come in to the classroom in the middle of my lesson and wait for their turn. Some would join in with my singing which vexed me quite a bit. I always believed that the time with the teacher was always your time, but apparently not in Russia.

The conservatoire was always buzzing with musicians and I felt like I was stepping back in time. Students would practice in corridors, toilets, staircases. You name it, someone would be there fiddling away or singing out their arias like it was a concert.

The other thing that was a huge surprise to me was singing in different languages. My teacher had explained to me that at the conservatoire the only language that was taught was Italian and that the students could not sing in any other language. I didn't believe here at first but during one of my lessons I got a chance to hear what she meant.

A Russian singer has the most wonderful control of the pitch be it high or low but when they sing with words it is another matter. The training that the singers receive is fantastic but they are all told to sing without pronouncing the words. Sometimes I had no idea what language they were singing in. It was an interesting experience as I have been trained to pronounce the words I was singing still making the sound legato and the fact that European training includes diction lessons as part of your course. 

By the end of my 3 months' experience I was giving a concert where my repertoire included Russian such as Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov as well as Mozart and Barber. I found that in order to sing Russian songs you have to experience Russia. I would often find myself walking in the park full of birch trees just imagining the spirit of the songs. 

The whole experience was hugely valuable to me and one that I would never forget.