When I reported for my first singing lesson with Masha Campagne, I was a little nervous. Actually, “petrified” is more like it. After decades of being a closet singer, never having sung in front of another human being, I had to wonder what I was getting myself into.
I needn’t have worried. Masha diagnosed my anxiety immediately, and by the end of the lesson she had me more at ease than I could have imagined.
But that was just the beginning. As the lessons progressed, I was more and more struck by her amazing skill as a teacher. She understood exactly where I was with my singing, where I wanted to go with it, and what it would take to get me there. Her approach is anything but random; it’s a specific technique involving physiology and psychology as well as music theory and interpretation. It’s not as daunting as it sounds. Masha has a way of breaking it into easily digestible chunks, a way of helping you learn something before you even quite realize you’ve learned it. Thanks to her, my progress has been more than satisfying.
Teaching – regardless of the subject – is a gift. Masha Campagne is one of the most gifted teachers I’ve ever had. She could teach anything. If her interests lay in quantum physics, she’d be an incredible quantum-physics teacher. Fortunately for me, she chose singing.
Rod Kilpatrick - Blue Bear School student (Nov 23, 2004)