Staff Spotlight: Jessie Freyermuth
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What's your main instrument & why?
Voice; While I play other instruments, voice is the one I have studied the longest and for which I earned two degrees.Â
What's your musical origin story? What lit the spark for you?
I began singing in church at a very young age. I watched my family sing along to the hymns and wanted to participate. I'm sure at the age of three I wasn't singing the correct notes, rhythms, or words, but I was desperate to keep up with my older sister who was doing all of those things. I took piano lessons at a young age, but when I began playing guitar in fifth grade I really started enjoying lessons. I studied guitar for a few years before I began voice lessons, and that is what I continued to pursue throughout middle school, high school, and college.Â
Can you share a good gig story?
I think one of the best performances in which I was involved was an all-female faculty recital we put on at Ottawa University in the fall of 2018. I was one of four female faculty in the recital, and we performed pieces by women composers. It was a great way to acknowledge the lack of female representation in music and to demonstrate what fantastic works are out there by these wonderful composers.
Tell us about your practice routine and share some practice tips.
For me practice has always been about consistency. Practice is about creating muscle memory so that no matter what you do, your default setting is correct. It is more beneficial to practice for a short period of time daily than a long period of time once or twice a week. The most important thing is focusing on technique. Once you have mastered certain skills, you can play (sing) anything. While many students don't love singing art/classical music (I know I didn't!), I tell them that one of the main reasons I feel so comfortable and confident singing any genre is because of my classical training. If you can sing The Rake's Progress, you can handle just about anything!Â
When practicing I would start by going back through the recording of the lesson. I always recorded my lessons so I could hear what my teacher and I worked on that week. It is so difficult to retain everything in a 30 minute lesson, and something that helped me focus on specific elements of each lesson was to refer back to the recording so I could highlight those things. My first practice session after a lesson would be to listen to the recording so I could catch anything I had missed from the day before. It was usually a lot!
What drew you to the Music House team?
I love the atmosphere and the community element of Music House. I also think everyone at Music House has the same belief as I do - it is all about the students. I value that mission and have always turned to programs, universities, schools, and private studios that share in it.
Want to learn more about Music House?
