Mezzo-soprano Frederica "Flicka" von Stade captivates audiences worldwide, and is one of the great opera stars of our time. She has appeared numerous times on Live from Lincoln Center telecasts and has received six Grammy nominations. Read a short autobiography on Edutopia.

Music in Schools Today (MuST)
How did you get into the business of music?

Flicka
I had music from my mother. Actually, she listened to the opera on Saturday afternoons, and I hated it because it meant it was late Saturday afternoon and I hadn't done my homework. And the weekend was disappearing, and so I hated when she put the opera on. But she loved Broadway, and she played Broadway music all the time. We put on Gilbert & Sullivan plays, which are very tricky and complex.

In fifth grade, we had this incredible teacher. I went to Sacred Heart and Catholic schools and always had music -- two or three plays, four concerts a year, that sort of thing. In high school, we sang the mass everyday in Latin, so we knew twenty-seven masses. We'd read through the music; it was just part of my life. I can't imagine living without it.

MuST
What is one of your earliest memorable experiences with music?

Flicka
When I was given my first big part in a Gilbert & Sullivan play, like in the fourth grade, I couldn't learn this particular phrase. And I sat with this recording for hours and played it over and over and in those days, you didn't hit a tape machine, you had to pick the needle up and find the right place. I must have spent hours, and I got it! And I remember that moment when I got this phrase, and I could sing the whole song.

Music offers children something way beyond musical skills. It's accomplishment, it's self-esteem, it's the lesson that if you practice something, it does improve. You don't know when, but it does. And I'll never forget the feeling in my bedroom, putting this needle on and finally walking away and having the phrase that I couldn't get. It was such a thrill!

MuST
What advice would you give a young person who is unsure of the extent of their own talent?

Flicka
I would say to a young person who didn't know the extent of their talent, "Don't worry about it!" Nobody knows the extent of their talent. It's one thing you can't judge for yourself. You have to put it out there and for the fifty people that will love you, fifty will think you are nothing -- that's show biz. But the joy of singing, the joy of performing, the joy of being part of a musical experience is as great as anything on the earth!

Music is part of every soul. My daughter said the other day, how rap was really born is because kids have started making instruments with their own voices, because they've got to do something. They have so much to express, and the key way to express anything is through music and art. And so much has been taken away from them, that they're gonna do it no matter what! They'll spit into microphones or use their voices like instruments and¡ God bless 'em.

MuST
When you were growing up and discovering music, did you have a musical mentor?

Flicka
I think almost all teachers in the music business are huge influences on their students. I had Mrs. Mosbach, Sebastian Englebergh, and Jane Randolph, my teacher today. There's something that's a little of the element of guardian angel. And in the opera business, the people behind the sets who you don't see are pushing you out there with such love.

People used to ask me, 'Gosh, you take your kids to the opera house all the time?' I took them when they were little and they'd play in the dressing room. And I said, 'Yeah, because an opera house is an incredibly nurturing place. Everybody is taking care of something to get it together.' It's not totally Sunnybrook Farm, but there's so many people that are putting their artistic expertise into getting something out there. From the first day of rehearsal, everything was assembled with great care and devotion. That is the nature of a lot of opera and symphonic work, this accumulation of energy. It's thrilling!

MuST
What is the role of discipline?

Flicka
There's an enormous amount of discipline. But discipline to kids is a dirty word. I think more than discipline, it's order. Music is very ordered. A young friend of mine, Jonathan Meager, his grades went up 12 points since he started playing the saxophone, because there is a certain math to music, and it's very ordered. That gives kids a great sense of security. If you follow the rules, you get the results. It's like putting a puzzle together. That's fun! To be given something on Monday and have no success, and then figure it out and be able to do it on Friday, that's wonderful -- as fun as any video game.

MuST
How can we make music programs part of the school day?

Flicka
I have been lucky enough to witness a great program developed by Dr. Larry Scripp for music in the schools as being part of the general curriculum. I went to this charter school in Boston that was started by Larry, and I think they have up to third grade. They add a grade each year. The fascinating thing to me is that it's taught by non-musicians. So Larry has taken it upon himself to train lay people to teach music. And music is a part of these children's curriculum every day. He's able to tap professionals to come in and illustrate things, and they play lots of tapes.

But there is such a sense of concentration for these kids. Because the world today does everything to shatter concentration: video games, TV, are all sound bites and kids have a great deal of trouble with skills that take a little bit of time. Larry has a way of teaching them so that they are able to concentrate, and then they write their own things. You never underestimate their abilities, and that was what I witnessed. It makes a start of a drop-in program that can go into the schools. It's not the schools' fault that they don't have music programs. The problem is so gigantic. They have politic and specific problems with scheduling. If you can make a program that can be easily scheduled, you've got it made!

MuST
What means the most to you in your work?

Flicka
It's such a joy, I wish people could know. And it crosses all kinds of music and ballet and dance. With all the reputation that the performing arts and show business has for being high strung and difficult -- and that's what you hear about because that's what's fun to hear about -- there are hours of such pure fun. You have no idea. And actors, singers, composers are all vulnerable people. They all have a big chunk of sorrow in them. Because they're vulnerable, they're more accessible, and that's such a treasure.

MuST
If you could do it over again, is there anything you'd do differently?

Flicka
I would have learned to play the piano and write beautiful songs. I love it all -- the good times, the bad times. For all the times it's out of kilter -- I'll always feel, till I die, it was a privileged beyond what I ever imagined -- to love singing so much from the time I was a little girl, that I still can't quite believe that someone would pay me to do it! People say, 'Are there roles you haven't sung that you'd like to sing?' I feel I've had more than I deserve, and it's been so much fun, and I just love it. I love this stage, I loved the beginning stage. It's a great joy and a privilege to be part of the performing arts.

MUST
What advice do you have for a young musician entering a career?

Flicka
Don't give up, no matter what. If you do give up, it's something you weren't meant to do. Kids come to me and ask me to hear them sing, and they say, 'I don't know whether to go into this or whether I should go into graduate school.' And without saying that graduate school needs to be the end of their career -- I say, 'If you can make a decision between those, don't be a singer. Because if it isn't 'Gotta dance!' -- if it isn't at that level, it won't suit you. You've got to be nuts.

MuST
What would you advise this young artist to avoid?

Flicka
Cigarettes and drugs.

MuST
Why should music and arts education be taught in schools?

Flicka
Because we're dealing with schools now that don't have music and arts, with one side of the whole soul. We're dealing with the technological side. Not everyone is gifted in math and science, and we've stressed them to the degree that I feel the whole essence of our humanity is being neglected. Music, art and literature are the expression of the human soul. And they endure. If we take them out, we're taking out a whole half of the person.

Music and art are for life. They may be the greatest source of joy for someone. They're not getting much joy by riding BART to a job where they sit in front of a computer all day. Many people's lives are oing to be that way. If you add art and appreciation and understanding and expression of that and music, you've added something enormous into their lives. It does take a spiritual and religious overtone. It's part of our human spirit.

Education in general, for everything that we need to do in this state and country, music and art we have to get it back in. That's why MuST is a must, and why you should visit this website. MuST is vital for our kids.