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This marks the first in the series of The
Lookout’s online profiles. This week, Associate Editor Rich Tupica
sat down with Dr. Michael Nealon to talk about his start in the
field of music at an early age.
How did you originally get into
singing classical music?
I think I was 7 ½ years old, living
in Hicksville, Long Island, which happens to be the birthplace of
Billy Joel. We went to the same high school, although he is
considerably older than I am. In fact we had a lot of the same
music teachers.
It was one of the teachers at the
high school, who was a teacher of Billy Joel’s, who started a
group called the Singing Boys of Long Island. It was in
that boy choir tradition, that dates back, especially in England.
I joined that at 7 years old. That sort of started my musical
career.
What type of voice did you have
when you first started to sing?
Starting that young, I was of
course a boy soprano, which I was able to hang onto until about
the age of 14. Then typically there is a year in there where you
are not really singing, because your voice can’t be trusted. For
me, my voice turned into the tenor range, kind of more church
tenor, not a Pavarotti or that kind of thing. That was never
really my inclination.
I’ve heard that you traveled a
lot as a young singer. How did that come about?
Within two years I was singing with
the New York Metropolitan Opera. We would sing songs in Central
Park. I cut some of my first LPs (vinyl records) singing Mozart
and those types of things. I spent about a month of every summer
traveling through Europe, traveling the United States, the East
Coast, playing concerts. (I was also) singing for the Pope in Rome
and in St. Peters, and the Queen of England. I stayed with that
group until I was 18 years old.
What has all that traveling done
for your teaching and education?
It was an incredible education. I
think that is what the arts can provide for you. The world can be
your textbook, the art works that you surround yourself with, the
places we were performing, like Notre Dame in Paris.
Did you learn knew languages
while traveling?
In first grade I began studying
French as a language, which I studied all the way through high
school. Later I picked up German, Italian and Latin, and some
other languages, as a musicologist. My first trips to Paris and
France, I could be relied on by my pals in the group as the
translator. I was pretty fluent by the time I was in the seventh
grade.
What was your family like? Were
there any other musicians?
I was one of six kids. Five of us
were boys. In fact I have a twin sister, and she’s the only girl
in the family. It seemed like what most kids did was play ball. My
lifestyle was just a little bit different. I was going on tours;
spending a lot of time in recording studios and doing that kind of
work. But I had very supportive parents and I stuck with it, which
is important, not only in the arts, but just for young people to
do in general.
How long have you been a
chairperson at LCC?
It has been a year and two weeks,
so it was back in the spring of 2007.
I came here in 1998. It was my
10-year anniversary and I decided to take up a new talent and move
across the hall.
But I’m telling you there is no
finer group of faculty and staff, and certainly no better cohort
of students to work with than the folks who share that interest
and passion for what the humanities and the performing arts can be
all about. |
Adviser's Blog
Dr. Michael A. Nealon