Opera singer Lesley Garrett knows all about striving to achieve your goals and dusting yourself down when you stumble to get there. That’s why she was delighted to accept an honorary degree from The Open University – and feels she’s singing from the same song sheet as the OU when it comes to ideals.
Her parents, a huge inspiration in her life, started their working life on the railways of South Yorkshire and Lesley’s father decided that he wanted to be a teacher. Without any O Levels, he studied in his signal box (something that will resonate with any OU student), got a grant and went to teacher training college – a very risky strategy with a wife and three young daughters. His determination paid off, however, when he became a headmaster in just five years.
Lesley’s mum, following in her husband’s footsteps, became head of music in a middle school and her parents’ determination to improve themselves against the odds made a deep and lasting impression on her.
“No one in our family had done that, no one had ever been to college. I saw first-hand what education can do and if the OU had existed when my dad had been doing this, he would have been into it in a minute. In fact, my dad and my step-mum are both doing OU courses now – astronomy and French.”
The example set by her parents made Lesley very aware of what you can do if you put your mind to it and study hard. “I thought if my dad can become a headmaster why can’t I become an opera singer – because I have always been passionate about opera.
Premonition
“I didn’t decide to become a singer, I always was a singer; it’s what I am, it’s who I am, it’s the fabric that I’m made of. There was no way of denying it – I just had to recognise it. I was doing A Levels at school and my aunty took me to London and I saw Madame Butterfly at the ENO. It was almost a premonition. I thought ‘I have to do this and I have to do this on that stage. I had to go home and tell my school.’
“We had no money really, to go and see opera. All the opera music I knew we sang around the piano in South Yorkshire – this is where I consider myself to be privileged, in addition to the wonderful example set by my parents, – as the area was profoundly musical. There were choirs, brass bands and musical societies in every corner of every street. Everybody was involved in music in some way or another. You ate, you breathed and you made music.
“However, my parents were very sceptical, because we all did it. They wondered ‘how is she going to make a living out of it?’ My grandad’s the eldest of a family of miners and became a concert pianist – but that’s a whole other story - but I knew this is what I had to do.
“My school was brilliant and re-wrote the entire sixth form timetable so I could do a music A Level in a year. I did and I passed, and I got into the Royal Academy of Music and that was it, I was off on my journey. Again the power of education – the accessibility and the fact my school supported me – enabled me to get here now. I’m not sure that would happen now.
“But it can do through the OU. That’s why I was absolutely delighted when I was offered my honorary degree. I am offered degrees, but there’s only two I have accepted – the OU’s and Sheffield University because my Dad was a headmaster in Sheffield and my nephew got his degree in English from Sheffield so there’s a real family link.
Dream
“I am really proud of my OU honorary degree. I accepted it in a way because I felt my history was so representative of what the OU stands for – access to education and the idea that if you have a dream you can fulfil it if you get the right information and have the right guidance.”
Lesley lost her voice and had to battle hard to get it back – another testament to her determination to achieve her ambitions. “My body had gone. I was very physically and emotionally ill, as my marriage had broken down. I felt very unbalanced. I actually threw myself at the mercy of the Musicians Benevolent Fund and saw their doctor. It was his suggestion that I should try the Alexander technique and it enabled me to regain my balance. I had this conviction that if I could find physical balance I would find mental balance and emotional balance.
“Thanks to my singing teacher, Joy Mammer – who was my professor from the Royal Academy of Music and is my dearest, dearest friend 30 years on – I clawed my way back. I went to her house and I did her cleaning as payment for lessons. I had only two notes. She very gently, over a period of nearly a year, stretched my voice to its normal range. The experience had a profound effect because I never took for granted again that my voice would always be there. I also realised how incredibly important my body is in terms of my singing. It’s an athletic pursuit. If I’m not physically, mentally and emotionally fit I can’t do it. Whatever happens to me as a human being happens to my voice. But I was determined and I had no choice. I was a singer – I had to get back on form.
“God sent me a very strange job – just as I was recovering the Welsh National Opera asked me if I would play the role of Esmeralda (the tightrope walker) in The Bartered Bride. The director believed in total realism and would only work with a soprano who was prepared to learn to walk a tightrope, normally done by a double. So I said, ‘yes! - I’m not doing anything. Bring it on!’ So I learned to walk the tightrope. It supported my need to find my centre of balance and I grabbed the opportunity with both hands. And I loved it. In fact they invited me to join the circus! I could have had a whole different career!”
Lesley will be touring in the UK this coming autumn with the Manchester Camerata and English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Philip Ellis. See her website for details.
