Denyce Graves
Well, folks, this week I had another assignment similar to the last two. This time, my fellow Student Brand Ambassadors and I were told to watch the video, “An Evening With Denyce Graves,” and report back with some of what we learned.
Denyce Graves is an opera singer originally from Washington, D.C., who has performed all around the United States and the world. She is renowned for her singing voice, which is classified as mezzo-soprano. In this interview, which was hosted by actress Angela Bassett, Graves gives a rundown of her life and highlights from her career (up until 2005). It was a fascinating interview and I learned a number of things I didn’t know before. So, without further fanfare, let’s get into it.
Judith Grove in 60 Minutes: “Denyce worked very hard. She didn’t wait for a gravy train. Sure, there were moments when she was discouraged, but in the end she still had her eye on the prize.”
What did you learn?
1. What opera even is
Yeah, okay, this might sound dumb. But, if I’m completely honest, I didn’t have much of a clue as to how we would define “opera.” I knew what singing is. I knew what theater is. Heck, I even knew what musical theater is. But what makes an opera, an opera?
Fortunately for me, a pretty stellar answer could be found just after searching “opera” on the HistoryMakers Digital Archive. This keyword search yielded a clip from the 2006 interview with Simon Estes, a noted opera singer. Here’s what he had to say:
“Okay, the word opera, opera as we say it in English, opera means to work. So it means, you have to work, but an opera is a musical drama that is of a classical nature. In other words, it is not like a Broadway musical.”
2. About Graves’s voice teacher, Helen Hodam
In the “An Evening With Denyce Graves” video, Graves mentions that she attended Oberlin College for three years before transferring to the New England Conservatory of Music. She left Oberlin to continue studying under a music professor who had been forced to retire from the school due to her age. Instead of retiring for good, this instructor went to New England to teach and Graves and several other students followed her there.
For whatever reason, Graves opted not to name this teacher of hers in the video. I thought that was strange, since she had lauded the instructor and the instructor clearly played a vital role in the development of her craft. I wanted to know who it was. After a bit of googling, I positively identified this teacher as Helen Hodam. This obituary from Boston.com, published upon Hodam’s death in 2008, includes quotes from Graves as well as some of her other students.
Helen Hodam, Denyce Graves’s vocal instructor.
What surprised you?
1. The rough neighborhood Graves grew up in
In my research, I ran across this video from 60 Minutes that aired when Graves made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, in 1995. The first part of the video describes the rough circumstances Graves grew up in in southwest D.C.
What research rabbit-holes did you go down in the database?
1. The history of Oberlin College
One of the “rabbit-holes” you could say I explored is the history of Oberlin College. It’s quite fascinating—Oberlin was not only one of the first universities in the United States to admit African Americans (in 1835), it was also the first to admit women (in 1837). So, of course, the school became known for stirring the pot when it came to promoting racial and gender equality, even thirty years before emancipation. This included its status as a stop on the Underground Railroad to Canada. Historian Nat Brandt went so far as to call Oberlin “the town that started the Civil War” on account of its well-known abolitionist sentiment.
Another interview in the HistoryMakers Digital Archive, that of choreographer Marjorie “Margie” Witt Johnson (1910-2007), mentions Oberlin and its reputation. According to Johnson, her father strongly pushed for his daughter to attend Oberlin, even though it was quite far from their home in Wyoming. Her father reportedly said, "I want her to go to Oberlin. I want her to go to the school that has stuck its, its academic head out to invite black women in, and I'd like to see Margie go there."
Screenshot of Marjorie Witt Johnson’s interview with The HistoryMakers.
Yet, of course, Oberlin has not been without its problems. Another HistoryMakers interview, one with composer Dolores White, noted that there was still segregation in the college and town of Oberlin when she attended. (This probably some time in the 1960s or 1970s, but we can’t know for sure, because White refused to give her birth year.) In her interview, White said, “It was… a great training and everything but, you know, black people did sit in back of the room and things in Oberlin College and various things like that.”
2. The vocal chops needed to be an opera singer
I’ve already referenced the Simon Estes interview, but there was another interesting part of that same clip that I’d like to mention. Estes talks about how someone must have a “gift” before they can even consider being an opera singer. Estes says,
“[O]pera singers have to be blessed with very special vocal cords because we sing without the use of any amplification. So, for example, when I sing at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City that has over four thousand seats, our voices have to be able to fill up that hall, singing through or over the orchestra, the place can go up to eighty-five, ninety, 100 members, and fill that house without any amplification.”
I wanted to learn a bit more about this, since (as I also mentioned before) I really knew next to nil about opera, period. I found this fascinating article from Scientific American about why opera singers can sing so loudly. Check it out if you’re interested!
Well, I suppose that just about wraps it up for this week! In closing, I’d like to share a good quote that I heard from Judith Grove about Denyce Graves in that 60 Minutes clip:
“Denyce worked very hard. She didn’t wait for a gravy train. Sure, there were moments when she was discouraged, but in the end she still had her eye on the prize.”