Diva in Training

By Misty L. Harris

I was in elementary school the first time I heard un bel di vedremo from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. There were times when my music teacher would give us a break from studying notes (whole notes, half notes etc.) and allow us to sit back and listen as the notes came together to make these beautiful sounds vocal and instrumental resonating through the tape player (nope, CD’s were not in existence and there were points where the music just stopped and the teacher rushed over to flip the tape and place it back in the deck.)