(Kurt Weill 1900-1950)

In acting class I had explained previously, we are now practicing "Street Scene" by Kurt Weill. The story takes place in an apartment room in New York, and describes the husband who kills his wife who was having an affair, and surrounding people and circumstances.

Today, I would like to write about the 4-day practice (was carried out in Juilliard from 24th), and how incredibly many professors guided us.

We started reading the libretto last November. With Prof. Barkley as the director of the play, we exchanged opinions about the background or character of each role, to grasp the image. Since story took place in New York, and some of the roles in this opera were supposed to speak with heavy Italian or Swiss accents, it was somewhat easy to approach for a foreign student like me; I enjoyed the class. Meanwhile, under guidance from professor of music, the class also started reading the score.

When I was studying in Japan, I had been taught that the student must study the score beforehand, because that was considered the politeness toward the class. Here in Juilliard, I was quite surprised to see students opening the score for the first time at the class. During the class, professor's guidance gives life to the alignment of notes, and we learn how or what we should pay attention to.

One of the points to be conquered is the clear pronunciation and tone. In Juilliard, there are 4 theatrical pronunciation courses; French, Italian, German, and English. In some languages, you do not pronounce the word as it is written. So in these classes, rules of pronunciation in various languages are taught and we sort of mechanically memorize them. I went through this class recently. With just a small flavoring, my words became clear and like "a Swiss immigrant to the US." After repeated lessons, the phrases easily came to me in even my daily life, but with Swiss accent!

Finally, the most important lesson for a singer is the voice training. In this class, students practice basic vocal exercise, plus how to produce appropriate voice requested by musical director, or how to use the breath to let the words reach the audience. A student with good voice but unclear pronunciation goes to the pronunciation class. Another student with clear pronunciation but whose music doe s not flow smoothly goes to the music teacher or voice trainer.

With such many professors, Juilliard is like a general hospital where professionals take turns and treat their field of specialty. Our Italian teacher sometimes encourages us by saying; "Make what you learned during my lessons your asset! Once you are out of here, my lessons are very, very expensive!"