The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1994, Qupperneq 26

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
SPRING, 1994
Valdine: I started taking piano less-
ons when I was five or six years old.
When I was ten or twelve, I began
flute lessons. I just thought the flute
was such a nice instrument. I studied
piano and flute all through school
and I majored in piano. It wasn’t until
I stopped studying piano at the
University of Manitoba that I started
to do a bit of singing. I obtained a job
on the television show, “Hymn Sing”
and earned a bit of money that way.
Ijelga: You must have had an ob-
vious talent to get a job on “Hymn
Sing.”
Valdine: Well, they were looking for
somebody, and I was just in the right
place at the right time. I certainly
wasn’t training to be a singer, but
they needed someone who had a good
academic musical background and I
had that. I was a quick learner, so
maybe they saw some potential in
me. It’s a good way for Winnipeggers
to make a bit of money. You can’t
always obtain scholarships. Actually,
I think maybe it’s the only venue in
Winnipeg for singers.
Ijelga: Have you always been devoted
to music? As a young person, did it
ever occur to you to stop studying
music, or to think that you really
wanted to tiy something else?
Valdine: No. I always knew that no
matter what I did, I would be involved
in music. When I was in high school
studying, say, geography, I knew that
it wasn’t all that crucial for me.
Ijelga: Did you know that you had a
talent for voice when you were
younger? Can you expand on how
and when you switched to voice?
Valdine: Well, I did sing when I was
younger, but I didn’t believe that
singing was a particularly dignified
way to make music. I wasn’t too keen
on singing. At university, many of the
singers were older, had begun to
study singing later and had less
background in music, so that they
were miles behind academically and I
thought that was very unusual. I had
a good ear and was quick to learn,
but I didn’t really think I was going to
make a career out of singing.
Ijelga: You studied at the University
of Manitoba. Did you find it a good
place to study?
Valdine: I studied a year of piano
there and then I moved to the Univer-
sity of Toronto, where I continued to
work another two years on piano. I
then switched to become a theory
major, because I did well in the
academic part of music. But, it just
wasn’t for me. I stayed with it for only
a year. I came back to Winnipeg,
transferred all my credits to the
University of Manitoba, and took up
singing as a major. (That’s when I got
the job on “Hymn Sing.”) I would say
that I had a veiy good voice teacher. I
believe she was the one that really
made the difference.
Ijelga: What are some of your
favourite works or roles?
Valdine: They change a lot! There is
always a current favourite, but when
you are younger you have idealistic
favourites that you hope one day to
do. As you get older and learn that
there is a definite type-casting as far
as voices go, you become more
realistic and set your goals to roles
that are written in your voice range,
your dynamic range.
Ijelga: Therefore are there certain
roles that you wouldn’t be able to
sing? - that are not in your range?
Valdine: Oh, yes. I could never sing
the heavy Verdi roles, like Aida, or
even Puccini properly. The “Toscas” -
I can’t sing them either - the heavy
Italian ones. I’m certainly a “Mozart”
soprano, and some of the more lyric
or modern ones, like “Juliet” and