The values at the community college where I work are the foundation of our future endeavors and help us realize our mission of being an open-access, comprehensive community college committed to the transfer education and workforce needs of our students. These values are collaboration, community, inclusivity, learning, innovation, integrity, and trust. These values support our vision of being a model for inclusive and transformative education and strengthening the communities we serve through our students.
I'm pretty sure that the university where I received my college education also has and had similar values and vision, but when I was a student I wasn't really mindfully aware of them. I was very much aware of the honor code that all students, and I assume faculty and staff had agreed to follow upon admission and enrollment at the university. As a student I assumed that the college was doing its best to provide a comprehensive education in an environment that considered the best interests of the students, and that they all had values similar to my own. The longer I attended and the more that I invested into my education, the more that I valued the benefits that a good education would bring.
One of the choices that I had in my education was the opportunity to take a group voice class. I'm sure that I could have found a private voice teacher, but that wasn't really one of my priorities. My mother has always told me that she enjoyed listening to me sing, but I never have felt very confident in my singing abilities. I love music, and I love to sing, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to have some professional coaching. We did learn some fun music, and I tried to practice what was taught, but I'm afraid I haven't retained what I was taught very well. I was also married and pregnant that last year of college when I took the voice class, so felt I didn't have quite the lung capacity or the posture that I needed to do my best. Excuses you say? Probably. I still love to sing and will do so at church and in the church choir and with my family, but I doubt you'll find me performing solo in front of an audience any time soon.
What about you? What are your values and vision? Have you taken voice lessons? Any advice for a still very armature singer?
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