Music and Mentors

There's not enough time before my Pilates class to do any work, so I might as well write. I haven't posted anything for a while, and I now have a new subject. It's an expansion of one of my pet subjects, that I addressed in this post - mentors.

Apparently a well-known diva has set up what she calls a "mentoring house" - a place for conservatory students and other young singers to live and have access to her archives, coaching, and other advice.

I don't know what the criteria are for getting to do this, but I've now met a young woman who is living there. Yes, she's good, but so are numerous other young singers whom I've met who are struggling on their own. Apparently she met The Diva in a masterclass. Did she stand out? I have no idea.

I never had a mentor, unless you count The Mentor Who Shall Not Be Discussed and the problem with him was not only his toxic flirting (he was gay, so he was "only kidding" although he really had me fooled!) but his capriciousness. Basically after a certain point he got bored with me and wanted to move on to other "finds", in addition to having gotten an earful about how much the congregation of this UU church disliked operatic singing (boy am I glad to be outta there - a subject for another post)!

My current voice teacher, whom I've known for years, was never a mentor either, and come to think of it, he never had a mentor which is why he never had a career. A man with a dramatic voice like that, who can sing every tenor role Wagner ever wrote, half of Verdi's, and many Verdi baritone roles as well, should have been better known.

I think when my rather wistful envy of this woman and her mentoring situation (actually, she doesn't look very happy most of the time so I can't say I really envy her) turned to total dumbfoundedness was yesterday, when she mentioned not owning a black dress, and said she would "see if she could get Diva to buy her one!!" Apparently Diva had gone through this woman's wardrobe (part of mentoring, no doubt) and made her throw out half of it because it didn't fit. Well, yes, clothing is part of being a singer.

I suppose both my mother and my partner were mentors of a sort, just never about singing, which is what I desperately longed for. My mother made me a writer, by example, and it was because of my adolescent moonlighting as her proofreader that I was able to sidle into a professional editorial job with really no formal training. And my partner went shopping with me for the "right" clothes for a senior executive. Yes, they made me look frumpy and totally sexless, not to mention that they were too big, but it was her attempt to help me have a "career" (so that she would always be assured of a breadwinner in her life - no, don't go there!!)

Yesterday I had a reasonably happy day. The church where I sing observed Palm Sunday, which was her favorite holiday. She wanted to come but couldn't, so I brought her palms and made her favorite soup. During the soupmaking, she despaired of my not understanding the "right" way to chop parseley with a big knife. I asked her what the big deal was and she said "Well, I won't always be around, you know." Come to think of it she was my kitchen mentor as well. She taught me how to cook. (So I could cook for her?) In any event, I suppose that was a form of mentoring.

If I were a better person I might be more appreciative and less envious, but - I'm not!