Linea Rondael, soprano (2007)

Professor Scime,
Let me start by thanking you, the faculty and staff of the Assisi Music Festival for an amazing and invaluable experience. I don't know how else I could have supplemented my college education better than participating in this Festival. I found particularly beneficial to me during these two weeks in Assisi was that the Festival put theory into practice. In class and on campus, you hear about how things work and what to look for when you finally begin to establish your career, but when you're actually in it, as I was during the festival, that's when true understanding can take place. I've always learned things better if I could do it myself, and that's why the festival was so great for me.

Reflecting upon our experience, I realized that the festival singers performed at least ten concerts. At school, the University Choir performs once every semester; so, in essence, we did approximately five years work in less than one month! From this alone, I realized my potential as a musician regarding the kinds of demands I can put on myself and how well I work in truly high pressure situations.

I, also, thoroughly enjoyed the classes that I took while I was there. The Festival gave me an opportunity to work with different artists and learn from other musicians just by working with them, another experience that I would not have if did not come to the Festival. Madame Gloria Banditelli's master class on Baroque music taught me the importance of the phrase, not the note. A musician cannot communicate with a single note. It's like trying to tell an entire story by using only one letter. And, what I learned from her does not have to be confined to the one genre of Baroque music, but it can be applied universally to all styles. This idea was only reinforced by Padre Verdi's class on Gregorian chant, in which I have developed an interest to study independently. It was also incredibly important to make aspiring musicians like myself aware of the role of business in music. This was discussed by members of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra before their concert. Especially, if I am to promote myself as a professional, whether as a solo artist or an educator, business knowledge is invaluable to my success.

In addition, my perception of music has been reinvented. I've always thought that I knew what music was for and why it was important, but I don't think I ever really understood until now It began with a visit to Saint Stefano's church before a chamber concert. Listening to the nuns chant was an enlightening experience in itself. It was then that I began to realize how I was too focused on the technicality of the music and not focused enough on the music itself. This idea was further perpetuated by the cloistered nuns that sing before the 7:30am mass at Santa Chiara. Nothing these sisters sang was complicated or virtuosic, but they were all working toward the same goal, to communicate with God. The emphasis was on the message itself, and that made what they did beautiful. It was here that I finally understood when I was told that when the performer truly understands his message, his technique falls into place. I've never understood what I've sung well enough to just let myself go in the message and let the technique take care of itself. But, now, I realize that I can only take the technique so far in my art. Technique is mechanically based: "Feel the resonance here," "Focus the tone here," "Support from here." These are all important concepts for singing, but that's not all that it is. To be a successful musician requires an investment of the entire person, mind, body, and soul, and that requires a connection with character and message, a concept not easily grasped.

The thing that struck me the most was the difference in focus for Italian music and American music I learned that Americans like to criticize music, while Europeans simply want to enjoy it. With musicians and audiences from America, I learned more and more that our society emphasizes the technicality of the music so much, that we sometimes forget to notice the beauty of the music. European audiences could care less if you strike a wrong note or sing a wrong word as long as the music is communicated effectively As a music student, this concept was hard to digest because in an educational environment, every time I get up to sing or sit down to play, I know I'm being evaluated on how perfect, or imperfect, my performance is. I know now that this one-tracked mindset has hurt me as a musician, because I've come to care solely about the technique and not enough about the art. As a performer, this way of thinking makes me rigid and false without depth of character or feeling.

For me, this Festival was not only a way of showing me how much more work I need to do to be successful in my career goals, but it also showed me how far I have come since I began studying music and thinking of it professionally. This has helped me recognize my strengths and my weaknesses, and being able to assess myself in that way is one of the most important things I can learn.