Student Teaches More than Singing at Cleveland School of the Arts

Cleveland Institute of Music graduate student Coraine Tate (voice, Schiller) spent her first year at CIM singing a lead role in CIM’s opera production of The Marriage of Figaro, performing a recital at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and spent the summer singing in London. But she also spent her days at the Cleveland School of the Arts (CSA) coaching voice students. This year she continues teaching every morning in the specialty arts school in the heart of the Cleveland City School District.

Tate started teaching at CSA last year when she was invited to share the story of The Marriage of Figaro. “I found the experience to be incredibly fruitful,” says Tate. “It was very clear that the students wanted the opportunity to learn, the opportunity to find and develop their purpose in life and the opportunity make the world a better place through their art form.” Tate herself benefited from a dedicated high school teacher who took an interest in her musical studies. “Growing up, my family could not afford to provide private studies for me. Instead, I would often stay before or after school with my public school music teacher to learn more. An opportunity, in hindsight, I am incredibly grateful for.”

Tate is a natural teacher, quizzing her students on the correct ways to breathe, running through exercises and warm ups and tweaking each musical passage with the expertise of someone with a well-trained ear. “I rarely think of myself as a teacher,” she says. “Instead, I believe in building life skills through the arts. As a result, I see the students persevere by choosing to sing despite difficulties with life at home, academics, social interactions and financial constraints, in addition to the demands the world has on emerging young adults today.”