My First Singing Teacher, Mr. Kristoff.

Tri-M recital 2003

Today is June 7th and it's exactly 10 years ago that one of the people who have had such an influence on me as a singer passed away.  The things that replay in my head from that day are mostly the sounds… the sound of the intercom beep before our principal made the announcement was the most dreadful one that I can still hear in my mind's ear even now... but after 10 years I remember most of all, of course, the sounds that came before June 7th, 2004-- all of the sounds that Dan Kristoff helped us make and the ones he loved and shared with us, all of which have really formed a huge part of my own musicianship.  I think of him whenever I have a victory as a singing teacher and know he'd be proud, and I think of him often when I see a show or hear a soundtrack that I know he would have loved, too.  I had briefly mentioned Mr. Kristoff in a post last year but since today is 10 years and it's his day I want to write a full post just about him because he would have said something if he were around to say it if I didn't write one.  "What about me? I thought this was a singing blog, Bonehead!"  I will also affectionately call this post "Chicks With Dicks: Mr. Kristoff" because I'm sure that's what he would have wanted it called.

"Soprano 101" for me was with Mr. Kristoff… painstakingly trying to imitate his bizarre interpretations of women singing high A flats.  I got the part of Sarah Brown in 9th grade and he understood that I was terrified of the upperclassmen who were circling around like sharks waiting to hear if I could hit the high notes… He let me sing the lower songs in front of them and then when they left it was back to business.  From then on I was cutting class like everybody else to bring my new vocal selections or soundtracks down to his room so I could sing more and more…and he was only so happy to park it at the piano with his Diet Coke to play through the whole book or listen to the whole CD to drool about what sounded awesome, rewind and listen again.  If this man had access to Youtube my general education would surely have been in serious jeopardy.  The first time I ever heard the song "Popular" was via his mini-disc recorder which he snuck into all of the shows he saw so he could play them back for us the next day… and I could picture in my imagination what Kristin Chenoweth was doing just by listening to him snort-laugh through the whole thing.  He shared everything he had with us because he wanted us to love it just as much as he did.

Yes, I'm from a town called Hicksville.  And it's a real place.  No, there aren't cows. 

One of my favorite memories of him was when he was showing this to me (first time I ever knew what Wicked was at all…he taped it on VHS the night before when the cast made an appearance on Letterman and brought it in) and he said that he thought the dance turn the Winkie soldiers do near the end was sexy.  (He was just inappropriate and fun and treated us like people and that's what I loved.





It's because of him that I know how important it is for kids to be able to have a teacher who they know they can trust when they are starting to experiment with expression not just as musicians but as people.  It's because of him that I know that a class can be fun AND productive and that snacks are appreciated (My Monday night Krispy Kreme blueberry donuts are still a favorite pasttime).  It's because of him that I realize that confidence building, a sense of humor and patience (although when was he ever patient?) are 90% of it.   It's because of him that I know that it is most admirable if a teacher has the capacity to put his ego aside and admit he, too, is sometimes still learning and discovering right along with his students.  And sadly, it's because of him that I know that life is too short and we aren't invincible…and that we have to spend our lives doing what we love to do.



He put his blood, sweat and tears (or in his case: excessive spit, sweat and tears) into everything and that's what made him the teacher we loved and sometimes hated, too.  This post doesn't even come close to doing him justice but I know he knows how much I think about everything he did and still does for me.

In honor of Mr. Kristoff today, I post a song/bootleg that I remember hearing/watching for the first time in his classroom from the risers.  He's the one who introduced me to The Last 5 Years and I attribute a lot of the way I sing now to the fact that he let me sing through the song selections book with him so much during his free time.  And again, what would a blog post be without a little Sherie?