Excerpt from a letter by Julie Kierstine, a former student
Excerpt of a letter from Julie Kierstine:
On Sunday I received the news from Paul Houghtaling (of Susan’s passing) and a flood of memories came forth. Then there followed exchanges of memories with other of her students with whom I’ve remained close friends. I was wishing you could see these exchanges … the repeated adjectives everyone was using: Amazing. Inspiring. Supportive. Tower of strength. As magnificent a voice teacher and mentor as she was, your mother has left a legacy of incalculable love. She was SO beloved, SO respected and SO admired by SO MANY. The beautiful impact of her life and work will be felt for decades to come.
Sharing aspects of my own teaching with her, I once wrote her to tell her that in every single lesson I ever taught, she was right there with me. “Keep the breath low. Keep the sound spinning forward,” is the mantra she gave me (among others). Throughout my professional career, before stepping on stage for every single performance, I repeated these words out loud to myself. I can’t count the number of times I’ve said this to my own students.
This is just one example of the tens of thousands of examples all her students have. And it wasn’t just her pedagogy, of course. She was just an amazing human being. YOU know this better than any of us. Her way of being very straightforward, unflinchingly honest, professional and utterly supportive, all at the same time - had a powerful impact on all her students.
I will be forever grateful.