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Show lit Takes Mere Tflnami Talemlt she was in her 30s before she was able to let go of her emotions and enjoy the rapwith an audience. port that can come It is a strange thing, she said We take lessons to play golf and lake training to leam other skills, but most of us don't think fts necessary for singing. I lave you not iced how so many people Ask a teenager what he dreams of some day, and chances are that he will want to make it big in professional sxrts or in the entertainment field. Most fledgling careerists do not realise what making it to the top in either field entails. There is more to lecorning a star, especially in entertainment than being discovered sipping a soda in a drug store nr lieing picked by a talent scout who somehow hears the ruck group at the local school gymnasium. Performers are a dime a dozen. Then too there is more involved than just having talent. There are millions of talented ieople in the world, who never make a ripple in that glittering sea of fame and fortune. In addition to talent it takes dedication, training, experience, exposure, and most of all, the right opportunities some of which are to name just a few of the elements present in most suc- does it sing and dance. Everybody whether they have had trainingornot.Yet both art forms singing and dancing are that take great preparation." So many kids today want to try to do everything, she added. They want to march in the pep club, play in the band, take singing lessons, be in plays. They wont have a priority. In order to sing you must have a passion for it. Somehow we dont get as passionate about things as we used to. There is a general feeling in the world of whats the userni She added To be successful in the entertainment field you have to like a challenge." She has been studying all her life, practicing about 45 minutes a day. never get You never reach perfection through. Singing with the Tabernacle Choir is a challenge and is also spiritually rewarding, while performing in concerts and other solo work brings that emotional rapport between the singer and the audience. It is a great feeling she said. cess stories. Beverly Proliert is one who has enjoyed success in the field of music and entertainment. Mrs. Proliert stresses the importance of training in a musical career. Many young people today think that all you have to do is pick up a guitar, play a chord and start singing, she said. There is so much more to it, Mre. Pro-lie- rt pointed out. Now a member of the famed Taliemade Choir, she appeared on television and radio for many years and gave hundreds of concerts. In spite of the seeming ease with which some singers perform, most of the longtime successful ones have Iieen trained. People without t raining sing with tense jasvs and tight throats, Mrs. Proliert said. To tighten up the vocal chords will strain and damage them. Most people think yon have to work your voice really hard, but acording to Mre. Proliert, the trick is to learn to sing with freedom in the throat, using the muscles in the diaphragm. In spite of a busy schedule as Tooeles t) first lady (wife of Tooele Mayor Oren and as a memtier of the Tatiemacle Choir, Mre. Proliert teaches a few vocal students in ther home. She has been training voices since she was a very young girl. I only take a few students, she said. Teaching drains me. I wouldnt do it for a living. , Speaking of her students over the years, she said that often it is the parents who want the child to sing, but if the child doesnt want to do it, it is useless to push. Most dont realize what hard work it really is, she said, and when they find out, those who are really not interested dont want to continue. But most voice students are surprised and pleased to find out how much more they can do with their voices once they have had training. Pro-lier- H Group singing can be hard on a voice Probeit pointed out. For one thing, you dont hear your own voice. You should sing pretty well before you get into something like Tabernacle Choir. Even so. Conductor Jerrold Ottley is expecting more and more of his people. A choir member has to be a musician. You dont get in just having a pretty voice. Mre. Probeit said the choir practices at least twice a week and often three times for two or more hours each time. We work as fast and as hard as we can. We leam between 350 and 400 songs a year. There is such a variety of music in the choir. I dont think anyone has any idea how much work is involved. Mre. vocal It is never too late to start to enjoy the freedom in singing which training brings to the voice, according to Beverly Probeit. New student Ruth Sanger agrees. According to Mre. Proliert, anyone who can carry a tune, would benefit from training. It opens a whole new world to them. You first have to unlearn so many habits. It takes as long to unlearn them as it did to learn them. Gaining good habits is just the beginning. From there you learn how to handle resonance, interpretation of music, interval, mjaor and minors, different pitches. Then you start working on getting a smooth scale so that it isnt interrupted and so that you can sing as loud or as soft in any pitch in your range. There is a whole list of things you must do, she explained. The nice thing , she said, is that you learn an appreciation of so many other kinds of music. You go at it little by little. It is like steps, you get on just a little different plane - a step at a time. am sorry that people dont introduce their children to more types of music today, she said. There are some wonderful music programs on television that people dont listen to. T home and hear lieautiful, soothing music, they said. But music can do more than sooth, Mre. Proliert claims. It can also excite that is the wonderful thing about it the var- ieties of emotion that it can stir.i Also learning to sing well can be a prac-tic- And what is worse, some are content with just one form of music. There is a lot of gorgeous music that has been around a whole world of it out for centuries there. We have to be open minded." Some people are poverty stricken when it comes to music according to Mrs. Probeit. She said she has listened to rock, but has never been able to get with it. Yet some wont listen to anything else, she added. I guess they like it because it keeps them revved up. They never know calm feeling;. But actually rock does not bring out the deeper emotions. Learning and appreciating the music of many composers brings a whole new scope to life. We become aware of their times, their history, the arts and paintings of the era. Everything opens another al form of giving and sharing with others. Mrs. Proliert cautions that for many young people today who want to succeed in music, there is often the tendency to push the voice. It is not unusual to hear young singers belting out a song over the blaring of a rock band. Anything that forces a young voices high tones can be dangerous to it, Mre. Proliert said. According to her, 16 Ls a good age to begin to buckle down to the serious work of learning to sing. Thats when the voice becomes mature enough. When I was about that age, voice door. The Probeits agree that music in the home is a blessing. It is nice to have a talent in a family so members can participate in cultural events. Music in the home also reflects the mood of the family. There is nothing more rewarding than to come teacher Virginia Crandall came to Tooele to teach English. At that time there was no one else in town who could teach. I was fortunate that it came at just the right time in my life. The thing aliout it was that it gave me I was taller than most of the other kids. I thought I had big feet and that my posture wasnt good. I think if we learn to do just one thing well, it does so much for us, she added. Teenagers especially need that. But learning to sing takes a long time, Mre. Proliert pointed out. It takes time to train your ear and mind and have experiences. In singing you are the instrument. Its not a key you press, its you. Mre. Proliert said it takes about a year to even learn to hear the difference in your own voice. It takes years to even start to be artistic. Four years is a minimum to start to have control, and you cant do it a week here and a week there. There is so much physical and mental energy invovled. For instance an opera singer might sing for 16 years and never get a role. Although serious study can begin at age 16, the voice is not fully mature until one is past 30, she said. She also explained that Hie piano is the basic instrument. Mre. Probeit believes eveiyone should play it. She advices that all should leam a basic appreciation. Music is a glorious thing in anybodys life. If you can play or sing, you will always have an outlet through music. The same is true if you dont play, but have learned to appreciate music. You will still have the outlet. Music paints pictures, just as writing or artists with his brush. There is much to be gained from singing lessons if you only want to sing the lovely melodies of your own time. Hiere is joy in expressing yourself well. Time, Talent, Training Young Musician Has What It Takes rock favorites, he said. I played the piano constantly. Nobody has to tell Larry Green that it takes dedication and time to make it in the world of entertainment. Music has filled the greater part of this high school seniors life. In fact, the piano bench has been his home ever since, as a toddler, he climbed up on it and began to pick out a melody heard on a big brothers record of the rock group, The Who. And now, at 17, Larry is finding that there is not enough time in the day to accomplish the goals he has set for himself. His mother added that although most kids have to be forced to practice, Larry had to be kicked off the bench to eat and to do school work and chores. If we wanted to punish him, we would take away his piano privileges, she laughed. By the time Larry was seven, the piano had become the outlet for the music that filled his head and his fingers. He began composing simple melodies. Today, composing has become a big thing in his life that and playing in two rock groups. Oasis, a Tooele-base- d group, is in demand for high school and college dances around the northern part of the state. Stratosphere, newly formed in Grants-villis a concert group which has just finished cutting a demo tape for distribution to radio stations and prospective concert sponsors. Music is what makes Larry tick. Even when he is not near his beloved piano, his head is filled with songs to compose, and his fingers drum out music constantly. The piano has been a busy instrument in the Merl Green household in Grants-villAll three of Larrys older brothers, Merl, Larry and Danny, took lessons, and younger brother Tommy also plays by ear. e, e. Weekly practices with the two groups take up most of his nights. It is hard work, Larry said, but it is something he has to do. We play everything from Eddie Rabbit and country music to stuff like The Theme From Ice Castles. Right now the two bands are a good source of income for Larry. Thats what is so great about it, I am having fun and earning money at the same time, he said. So far most of his songs are still in his head and his fingers, and h school plans call for at least two years of college, learning music theory so he can get his songs down on paper better. Parents Merl and Myma are musical too. The family living room is filled with momentoes of music and art. Paintings by Merl and Roger hang on the wall. One comer of the room is taken up by the family piano, crowded by a huge amplifier and a guitar. A Fortisa organ has to find a spot elsewhere in the room. I wish I had a set of drums, Larry complains. It is evident that the Green family is dedicated to the arts. The expertise on the keyboard of Larry Green is in constant demand. The Grants-vill- e High senior has been playing since he was old enough to reach the keys on the family piano. When Larry was five, he began taking piano lessons as the last student of Lucille Sutton. For the next 12 yeras, he took lessons from such demanding mentors as Dan Butcher, Beth Taylor and Dan Whitehouse. F rom his teachers he learned discipline, technique and the classics. From radio and records, he picked up rock. Mom would make me spend at least an hour working on the lesson, but at the end of that hour f would switch to the current post-hig- Larrys passion for composing can sometimes be hard on his family and friends. We can be watching a television program, said his mother, when Larry suddenly jumps up and rushes to the piano with a remark like I gotta finish this. This usually means that the television program is also finished as far as the family is concerned while Larry works on his latest . composition. He also admits to working on the lyrics to a song during class instead of taking lecture notes or giving in to an irresistible urge to drum on whatever is handy. "Dreams In the Green household, it has always been understood that lessons or equip- ment above and beyond piano lessons would be handled by the boys themselves. Lost in my search for life. Ive always loved the piano, Larry said. The roughest part has been working Emptiness is all I hold. to earn enough money to buy my equipment. To do so, Larry worked as a janitor at the local elementary school for a long time. Larrys expertise at the piano keeps him in demand for occasions like church meetings, queen contests, weddings, private clubs, special meetings, and concerts. On many of these occasions, two of his original compositions, Dreams, and Lover of Nature are high on the request lists. Both rock groups also pay Larrys work. Unlike most boys his age, Larry is not so enthusiastic about sports. He does run track once in a while to stay in shape, and at one time he was involved in ham radio as a hobby. He has a general license. Other that that, music has been his whole existence. Larry seems older somehow and more experienced that most young people his age. Talking with him, a listener is struck by a maturity far beyond his 17 years. His somewhat shy smile disappears as soon as he sits down at the piano to play. Then he becomes serious and dedicated. Larry plans to make it as a solo artist. I know it takes time and dedication, he said He gets a Jot of encouragement from his family, and he has an inordinate amount of drive that sets him apart from most aspiring young musicians. Larry believes it will all come true, and somehow we do, too. Always searching for a warm tomorrow. Always ending up so cold. All I have to live on is dreams - -- Memories of yesterday. And all the love and friends I once had Have faded out and gone away. Dreams sometimes come true. And all my dreams; theyre all of you. ft seems like its been so long. I dont know where I ever went wrong. tapriaM wftfc paramiiM I Ury 111 tm |