by Anne Miller –
Her career path was inevitable. Alexandra (Lexa) Yates was born into a creative family and has music in her blood. From a tender age, Lexa could be found humming in her stroller before she could even talk. By the time she was three and a half, she was enrolled in Suzuki violin lessons and even spent her lunch hours away from elementary school attending lessons. “I’d have to wolf down my lunch in the car,” she said, all because she loved music that much. It was no surprise, then, to learn that the famed Hoagy Carmichael was her great-great uncle.
Music was, and still is, an essential element of her life. At 10 years old, she began six years of training at the renowned Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan. The program was rigorous and enriching but after three years of instruction and performing violin, she went on strike. She was tired and lacked a social life.
The next phase of her young life was a mission to find her “own sound,” to explore her unique musical gifts. She chose voice, training as an opera singer, and therein she created a distinct sound that was her own.
As high school was ending, Lexa contemplated plans for her future. Prestigious music schools accepted her but she deeply missed home. Thus, she enrolled at UVic, where she was offered free tuition. She didn’t finish the three-year degree program but she learned a valuable lesson. To succeed, a student needs a good match with a coach. Lexa explains that, while you can learn to master techniques, if you are to excel and feel joy, there must be harmony with your coach. She moved again to Michigan and studied with an amazing vocal coach. She discovered that the degree wasn’t key. “It was my sound and being inspired that mattered.”
While there, her path was to take a different direction again. Encouraged by a teacher, she gradually ventured into teaching music, beginning with Suzuki violin lessons. She loved it. After 10 years in Michigan, she continued as a teacher back at home, discovering she’s a better teacher than a singer. She now makes her living teaching violin, voice and music writing.
Lexa’s approach to teaching was honed by years of personal experience. Contrary to the way she was taught as a child, her style is not “my way or the highway.” Rather, her teaching is very much client-centred. From the get-go, she asks the student: “How do you learn? What triggers discomfort? What do you love about music?” Proceeding, she says, “OK. Let’s unpack it and find your own voice.”
Her rewards are many. Students achieve excellence elsewhere and continue to keep in touch. A young violin student casually plays a piece she composed and moves from violin into music writing. A 55-year-old vocal student is making an album as a legacy to her family. Lexa feels honoured to be a teacher. In that role, she allows someone to excel beyond her and she is not threatened. Rather, she relishes being able to release something special in them.
Lexa lives and works in Sidney, nurturing students and her talented daughter, Helen, within the sensational world of music. As she takes on new students, she says: “I’m not looking for the best ones. I’m looking for the ones that are doing their best to sound the way they love.”
Photo by Nunn Other Photography.
