Confidant As Well As Teacher

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30587, 2 November 1964, Page 2

Confidant As Well As Teacher

"TM Pre»»" Special Service AUCKLAND, Oct. 30. Many years of singing teaching have taught Sister Mary . Leo she needs to stand in as psychologist, friend and confidant to her pupils. Technical instruction is not er who numbers among who numbers among her outstanding former pupils the singers Heather Begg and Elisabeth Hellawell.

On this basts she has about 60 girls, of all denominations, coming to her at St. Mary’s College of Music in Ponsonby for reassurance on email human problems as well as encouragement in their lessons. It helps if a girl has a good outlook on life, according to Sister Mary Leo. She attaches great importance to this psychological factor in the end result of her teaching. Overseas professionals hearing her students have remarked on this ingredient in voice production without being able to identify it “It is something your pupils have got” said one visiting artist with years of training overseas. Sister Mary Leo thinks it! may be going too far to describe it as a spiritual quality. But she said, it was not much use if a pupil was preoccupied with personal matters. She gives her pupils the reassurance they need, is careful not to flatter them, but always to encourage them and in turn has their respect and confidence. This is the foundation on which the extraordinary success of so many of her pupils is built “Singing is a very psychological thing,” says Sister Mary Leo. At the same time,: hers is a no-nonsense, feet-' firmly-on-the-ground philosophy—especially in dealing with interviewers who i struggle to bring the subject round to herself.

AU that Sister Mary Leo! will concede is that she was! a school teacher and a singer! before beginning her vocation as a nun. “One should not teach singing until one knows the sensation,” she said. The teaching she does is prodigious. It lasts from 8 30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, and most of Saturday, with hours set aside for spiritual duties which Sister Mary Leo considers the most important function of her long day. Her pupils come from many walks of life, and the extended hours help to accommodate those of them who have ; to fit in practice as best they . can before and after work and during the lunch hour. Even on her recent visit i to Australia there was little j respite for Sister Mary Leo. i Telephone calls came from people wanting lessons, however brief.. It was not her ‘ first visit to Australia, but it ’ attracted the most attention. > On Right Track i In effect, none with worth- . while talent is turned away, although there is obviously a limit to the numbers with ’ which Sister Mary Leo and her fellow teachers in the [ small “conservatorium” can •cope. Strings and piano tuition is also given there by the • staff of the Sisters of Mercy. She prefers to train youngasters from scratch, occasionally making exceptions as in the case of an outstanding eight-year-old “who was de- ’ termined to sing, but singing 'the wrong way. The talent 1 was there. It had to be put 'on the right track.” There is, of course, an audition for newcomers. Sister ! Mary Leo says she can tell i by the quality of the voice, , | rather than its quantity, whether it is going to be exceptional. “ ‘Not the biggest voice, but i the best projected',” she . quoted from the comments of a judge at an Australian contest where one of her pupils j was placed first Happy in Label ! And Sister Mary Leo is quite happy to be labelled unorthodox in ignoring the com- ! mon precept that singers are ' not ready to sing until the age of about 18. 1 "That is a mistaken idea,”

she said firmly. “One cannot tell what a voice will be like until the pupil is older and the voice settles, but there is no harm in young people using their voices. “I think I have proved this, since nearly all the girls I have taught began in their early teens. Fourteen, and even younger, is not too young to learn to use natural voices correctly. The fundamentals can be taught, and built upon, and as long as the voice is not forced real voice production can be left until later.” Sister Mary Leo said she has no cut and dried method of teaching. She adjusts to the individual pupil and finds that even those lacking any real natural ability can be trained to sing well even though they cannot reach professional standard. It was definitely not correct

that she did not allow a pupil to open her mouth until she had learned deportment and dress sense, said Sister Mary Leo. These things certainly were important, but they fell into place without being pushed. Some of Sister Mary Leo’s outstanding pupils, including the recent competitions winners in Australia, PettineAnn Croul, Malvina Major and Hannah Tatana, together with former pupils, Heather Begg and Elisabeth Hellawell, will sing at a concert with the music school choir in the Town Hall on November 26.

Although she has trained a number of boy sopranos in her career, Sister Mary Leo no longer trains male voices because of the demands on her time. It was hard luck for the last of them, a tenor, but he had to go. As long as he remained, Sister Mary Leo was under pressure to take others. The studio where Sister Mary Leo gives individual tuition contains much evidence of the deep bond between teacher and pupils, both past and present. Unrivalled Success

It is not so much the form this takes in gifts and photographs, which is impressive, as the way Sister Mary Leo recalls each of her singers as an individual.

Perhaps this should provide a clue for observers who, intrigued by her unrivalled success as a teacher in New Zealand, suspect some secret formula is at work.