At my American schools, the best students were rewarded and being an ambitious and nice student (yes it was even OK to give the teacher an apple!) was the aim. Whether or not it is good to reward the best students may be a political and completely other discussion… however since I did good I was personally happy that it was appreciated.
When my family and I moved to Sweden I soon had to readjust. Knowing or saying too much was not a good thing anymore. Students with most problems were the ones getting most attention and were put in special groups getting more time and teachers. Since I already had learnt English, my lessons of it were spent alone reading a book of choice with no guidance or futher teaching. Soon my fluent language stagnated at the level of a 10-year-old's (my age when we moved). My classmates were competing in being the coolest - which meant daring to speak up against a teacher, making a mess and to not do the homework. Being ambitious or - beware - even be nice to the teacher.. was not even thinkable.
Shortly, being a nerd was not cool.
Imagine how glad I was to later meet Cathrine Sadolin whom already during the first CVT-seminars I attended, began to proudly title herself and our group as ..nerds!
Finally! it was rewarded again to be a person who actually cares - who wants to find out more and go deeper, question things, develop themselves and the work they do, to revisit one's knowledge and never stop learning.
But even at the best, most loving and accepting place as CVI.. there is just that much the general crowd can bear with the worst nerds. After a full day of intensive studying, practicing and discussing at school, followed by more pondering during evening dinners and at hotel rooms.. and when everyone's eyes were struggling to keep awake…. mine were still wide open and excited about still one more idea about vocal technique.
When everyone had fallen asleep, left the room or even the country, there was only one person whose attention I still had and - who continuously inspired me with feedback and own ideas. As you might already have guessed… that was Ville.
And so we found a great source of knowledge, common interests and inspiration in each other.
This blog is one of several things it lead to and, expect much more. We have been making plans! We are just back from Copenhagen where we spent three whole days with endless talking, planning and studying with no one else around to get tired of us :)
Another friend of mine, who is very dear to me, has many amazing qualities. She is goodhearted, intelligent, loving, funny, quick and has the energy of a hurricane. However she is not a nerd and she never could understand how me and Ville seemed to be able to go on forever talking about the same subject (vocal technique), over and over again!
In a moment of frustration she once outbursted in the humoristic kind of way only she can:
"I am leaving now cause I know what's gonna happen anyway. Wherever the two of you start, it always ends with Lara Fabian!" ... :)
And that is partly true. Lara Fabian's singing technique is one of many things we love to discuss. If you too would like to know more about the voice and all it can express, stay with us and join our nerdy discussions!
- Annika
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