It was like I was looking back at myself as a 12 year old student. I had that low, sultry chest voice. (I still do) but a voice teacher took me away from that chest connection and taught me a head voice. I will be forever grateful to that teacher for doing that for me. The only thing was that the chest voice should have gone along with that and I probably would not have been moved up higher to the soprano range.
Looking at Savanna and that excited and happy look on her face that she made the sounds she made on that folk song, made me so very happy. I felt redeemed. I can’t even describe how happy it makes me feel that she has that fabulous start to a great chest voice connection. She’s a lower voice and had been singing in the soprano section of her choir. I nicely asked her to request from her choir teacher that she be moved to the alto section. When Savanna first came to me a few months ago, she could only stand there and stare at me, she had such anxiety. Now just a few months later, she has auditioned to be a part of her school’s talent show and is starting to make really connected chest sounds. I helped her make a recording last night of a folk song that she literally put together with me in twenty minutes time for her to submit to the school. What progress.
There is nothing better for me than to be able to turn around and help someone else to find their voice. How I wish someone had really understood mine, but I see so clearly now that my path went the way it did so that I could help others to not traverse the path that I did. I saw myself in Savanna last night.
All my love to you,
Heidi Skok