One gift of recording your students that I haven’t really talked about how it lets you revisit old friends. And old students!
For the past few days, I’ve been doing some in-depth work on about 15 archival recordings from 2018-present. In the process, I’ve worked to make spreadsheets of ensemble members and listened closely to each of their voices as I’ve worked on preparing their recordings for release.
It’s been an incredible gift to hear their voices. Some of them I’m in touch with, thanks to social media or other connections. For others, I haven’t heard from them or seen them since I stopped teaching them. In either case, hearing their voices exactly as I left them a half-decade ago is a great joy.
That joy will remain in the final product, which will also allow each of them to have the same experience of revisiting old friends.
Just one more reason to spend the time and money to record your student ensembles.