From the President’s desk

Step by step

An architect planned a state-of-the-art campus for a new university. The builders placed the buildings and laid out a beautiful green lawn according to the plan. But something was missing: there were no paths between the beautiful new structures.

When asked the reason, the architect replied that he had purposely planned no paths, saying that they would develop by themselves and should be laid out later – when the university had come to life with students and teachers hurrying from office to class to the cafe­teria and back to class. The paths would find themselves under the feet that criss-crossed the campus. Several years later, paths were laid out and the gardens finished in the pattern that emerged on the lawn.

This true story reminds me of EVTA. It began with a few tentative paths between the buildings of our young voice teachers organi­sations, now our founding member organisations. Those of us who met in Hannover, Vancouver, Vienna and Kudowa have continued building paths. Our major central structure – Eurovox, was held for the tenth time in Vienna and will be held for the eleventh time in Paris in conjunction with ICVT 7 in 2009. And with the assistance of the EU, we have been able to carry through a first vocal pedagogy week with colleagues and students from all over Europe.

I often feel as if we are in the process of creating those paths between the buildings of our national organisations, step by step. It is a slow and painstaking process, and there have been many things to learn so far, but also many rewarding moments: observing students as they develop their singing skills, sensing the growing number of connections between us.

We are in a major learning process in our communication about singing and vocal pedagogy. We need to continue breaking down barriers by defining what we are talking about, by speaking WITH each other and not ABOUT each other, and by cultivating the attitude of continuous learning.

Prof. Norma Enns
President, EVTA