Why and How I Became a Tutor

It started with a phone call.
 
"Emanuela, would you like to come to Pavia to teach our choir?"
 
A school friend I came to know while studying under the acclaimed M.tro Mauro Uberti at the St.Cordero di Pamparato Institute, called me.
 
My friend had founded a choir and remembered how my voice had developed and progressed while we were students together. He wanted me to teach his singers how I did it and what I'd learned. I was just 25-year-old.
 
When I was very young I didn't like opera at all. Like a lot of young people I thought: "That's for old people!" To me the sound was strange and artificial.
 
I had played the guitar since I was 14 and singing folk music and even singing with a jazz group. I studied piano and music theory because I was thinking that one day I would become a music teacher. I also sang in a polyphonic choir and loved to sing early music.
 
I wanted to learn how to protect my voice, not to force it, and to develop it. That's why I started having singing lessons.
 
When I entered the Conservatory in Italy I discovered to get a diploma I had to learn operatic arias. For this reason I joined the opera choir in my home town of Vercelli. It was there that I stood on an operatic stage for the first time.
 
When I heard the opera singers so close for the first time, I said to myself: "I love this. I want to learn how to sing like that myself."
 
I can sing songs in a lot of styles when I want, but the operatic technique is much more complex. I had to learn how to amplify my voice and discover how our bodies work as a sort of microphone.
 
I went on, joining the first professional choir of my life, at the Genoa Opera Theatre, and I was obliged to leave the choir where I was teaching.

 I had only two year's experience there, but as soon as I started teaching them  I discovered my wish to pass on what I knew and their wish to learn. It created a beautiful relationship based on mutual confidence.
 
There were two basic elements in my teaching: The need to pass on my knowledge of experience and technique and to demonstrate it is possible to develop the voice, even with limited talent.
 
Since time began there have been successful singers who did not have a special voice when they started. Sometimes a voice may have a short range, be throaty or nasal, but this can still sound agreeable in genres such as folk, rock and even contemporary classical music.
 
But in true classical and operatic singing  they cannot exist, and as a teacher I can correct these defects.
 
I also had earlier experience of teaching, working with a Gregorian choir.
That gave me confidence in myself as a tutor. I learned how important it is to obtain the respect and affection of the students. They knew my way and believed I had the qualities to be their tutor.
 
It is very difficult to teach and a big responsibility. A pupil puts his faith in their teacher and the teacher has to accept this as a gift. There will be constant doubts if there is no mutual collaboration and mutual faith. The proof of this relationship is in the results - when something tangible emerges between teacher and student.
 
At that point the student will no doubt anymore and learns that his critics can help him get better, rather than be destructive.
 
It is easy to make compliments if a voice is beautiful, but even a beautiful voice always has something to learn. It's a shame that today everything has to be done quickly and easily. But great art comes slowly and with difficulty. It is like a plant - it needs a seed and time to grow and develop.
 
Over the years I have met people - non singers - who needed help to repair a tired or strained voice. This has been a beautiful experience to work with people in that situation and help them find their voice again.
 
Step by step, I have discovered and developed my passion to teach and I look forward to meeting and working with my students in the future.