Growing up as the middle child in a family of nine kids makes it difficult to find your voice. As the peacekeeper of our family, I would often acquiesce to whatever decision was most convenient for the group at large and hardly ever spoke my mind. It isn’t that I wasn’t encouraged to form my own opinions; just that I never learned how to express them in such a loud (very loving) household. I didn’t know how to make my voice heard.
When I was in sixth grade at St. Mary’s School in Crown Point, my choir director put on a musical cabaret tribute to the late, great Walt Disney. Even though I had never auditioned for a solo in my life, I was encouraged to try out for the Beauty and the Beast classic, “Tale as Old as Time,” and was selected to perform the song during our concert. That was it; I was hooked! Immediately after the concert ended, I begged my parents to allow me to take voice lessons so that I could continue my passion for performing in the Crown Point High School Choir and Theatre Department. Enter Becky Osborn, and what I came to cherish for more than a decade as my home away from home: Music of Oz.
The musical education I received at Music of Oz is unparalleled to any studio I have ever attended, although surprisingly it is not the most rewarding thing I gained from my years taking lessons at the studio. Becky, Pattie, and all the instructors treat their students like their own children, and the community they create feels much more like a family than a business. Under Becky’s masterful direction, I learned how to control my voice and tame my particularly energetic vibrato. She taught me how to train my voice to blend in with a choir as well as how to add individual style choices as a soloist. I learned how to interpret the lyrics much more than just reading words on a page and even gained valuable acting lessons that helped me earn lead roles in the Crown Point High School musical productions.
After graduating from CPHS, I went on to perform with the Purduettes, Purdue University’s premiere women’s vocal ensemble that is a part of Purdue Musical Organizations in West Lafayette. Even while I was away at college, any time I came home to visit I knew that I could drop into Music of Oz to say hello to Becky, and if she was available, have an impromptu vocal lesson or therapy session (whichever was more necessary at the time). I still stop into the studio every time I visit Crown Point because I know that she will always be there for me. She has become one of my closest friends and most respected role models. I am eternally grateful that I decided to audition for that solo in sixth grade, because it not only led me to Music of Oz, but to some of the finest music educators I have ever known and my life’s passion: singing.
I cannot speak highly enough of the musical education I received at Music of Oz and the lessons I learned from Becky Osborn and all the instructors. If you are considering music lessons for your son or daughter, then look no further than Music of Oz. You’ll find more than what you ever expected, and your child will find a home.”