This week, the Summer School for the Solo Voice is underway in North Battleford. It's a unique summer school that provides not only education but performance opportunities for participants as well as recitals open to the public.
In most recitals that feature the piano, or in which a piano is played as accompaniment, you will notice, not one, but two people sitting up to the keys. One is there to do the playing and one is there to turn the pages. The page turner's job is to sit unobtrusively nearby, near enough to stand and reach the pages for the turn, then remain unobtrusively in their seat until needed again.
How does one end up being that person turning the pages?
Larissa Chipak became a page turner by accident of birth more than anything else.
"Because my mom is a music teacher she would know about all the concerts, and she would often hear people say, 'I need a page turner, but I don't even know who to ask.'"
Apparently, her mother did.
The daughter of mezzo soprano performer and teacher Lisa Hornung, who is the founder of the Summer School for the Solo Voice going on in North Battleford this week, Chipak has always been involved in music herself - singing, composing and playing piano.
She'd sometimes helped by turning pages for people playing at the local music festival, and for accompanist Gary Gansauge (who she calls "Uncle Gary" due to his long working relationship with her mom) and she says she always found it interesting.
Then one day her mom asked her, "Do you want to page turn?"
She answered, "Why not?"
When she was very young, Chipak says, she was fearless. She loved to perform, singing and playing the piano at the music festival.
"I loved the attention and I loved getting up there. I remember getting tons of awards because, when you're five and you can sing in tune, usually the adjudicators say, 'Oh my gosh! A five year old singing in tune!"
When she grew older, as a teenager, she began to feel less comfortable in the spotlight, and developed a preference for working in ensembles.
"There's a point I guess, when you realize the audience is watching you and then it gets scary."
So, with her skills and experience and her new preference for a less high profile presence on stage, page turning seemed a perfect fit.
It was six years ago, when she was 12, that she turned pages for the first time on a concert stage. It was a performance by Jaya Hoy, a pianist originally from North Battleford who has performed extensively throughout Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States.
"That was what I would call the first real page turning experience," says Chipak, who became Hoy's regular page turner while she was living in North Battleford. Hoy has since moved to Saskatoon, where Chipak and her twin, James, will be attending university in the fall.
"I love her to bits," says Chipak. "She's so much fun to page turn for because she's so laid back if you make a mistake."
She also says, "It's not the hardest job in the world, but I didn't expect it to take so much focus."
How does a page turner know when to turn the pages?
Chipak says most people nod when it's time to turn the page, but not always. It depends on the musician, on the music and how fast it's being played. A good page turner has to be proficient at reading music - and something of a mind reader.
"Jaya never nods for me anymore because I know that if it's a certain speed song she'll want it one bar ahead, or I'll look at it and know she'll want to see a certain chord so I will turn after that chord. Once you've done it enough with someone you can pick out how they want it done."
After six years of partnership, they've become "in sync" with one another, but their first concert together was a nerve-wracking experience for Chipak.
The music was difficult and it was fast, and she says it was probably the first time she page turned repertoire that didn't have lyrics.
"I could barely follow along with it, so I remember being very, very nervous doing it because you just kind of guess, 'OK, I think she'll want it now,'" says Chipak.
Being able to read music well is crucial, says Chipak, who has been playing the piano since she was five. Although she plays mostly for her own enjoyment and eschewed the exam process in favour of a more varied repertoire, Chipak reads and plays at a Grade 9 or 10 level in piano.
"For the really difficult songs you have to be able to read music well," she says. "You need to be able to point out where they are if they get lost. Page turning is lots of times more than just turning the pages."
She says, "It's scary sometimes, especially when you can tell your performer is nervous," she says. "It makes you really nervous, because you think, 'If I do one mess up, they are going to get frazzled."
Having performed herself, Chipak says, "All it takes is one thing to go wrong and you're frazzled for the rest of the performance."
While it can be stressful, it's worth it, she says.
"You get used to it and it's not so nerve-wracking."
Looking back at times when things didn't go as planned, one incident pops clearly into her mind.
It was in a concert with Hoy. Usually, Chipak explains, the music is in a binder. This time, however, the pages were loose single sheets.
"I went to pull one over, and it just went right off the stand … so in the middle of the concert I had to get off my chair, scrambling on my hands on knees while the concert's going."
Meanwhile, Hoy was having to make up whatever she could until Chipak located the errant page under the grand piano.
"It was the least graceful thing I've ever done," she laughs. "I was so embarrassed I was bright red."
She finally got the page back on the piano's music stand.
"But then I realized she wasn't even on that page anymore so much time had passed, and then her pages were completely out of order."
Hoy simply asked the audience if they would mind if they started again.
"Everyone just laughed," she says. "It actually worked out for the best … it kind of broke the ice and the audience felt way more at ease for the rest of the concert because they had that good laugh."
Chipak can laugh about it now, but not then.
"After the concert, I was tearing up and I was so sad, and said, 'Jaya, I'm so sorry,' but she just started to laugh and said, 'I still want you to be my page turner. You're still the best.' So it was all good."
Chipak has had more than one experience with pages that don't stay put - particularly when fans have been turned on to help keep the performance venue cool.
"They blow the pages!"
That means not being able to sit down between turns because the pages are in danger of flying away.
"I remember one of Jaya's songs … I didn't sit down for all 10 pages of the song. I remember by the end I could barely feel my arm because the blood wasn't going there anymore," she laughs.
Chipak, who has always been slender, says she's glad she has "tiny arms" and that they are longer than usual for her height. It's easier to keep them out of the way, she laughs.
During one performance she realized her arm was getting in the way of the light set up to illuminate the music, so she has found a way to contort her arm that it doesn't block the light or the view.
"I probably look kind of goofy but no one really notices you anyway," she says.
Being unnoticeable is part of the job, so she has also learned along the way not to make faces. Suddenly becoming aware you've been squinting and sticking out her tongue while trying to follow along during a difficult piece of music isn't the best way to stay unnoticed in the background, she laughs.
It's also distracting to your performer, she says. And she doesn't want to be responsible for "throwing someone off their game,"
Having performed as a pianist herself with the help of a page turner, she knows the person at your elbow has the power to affect your performance.
"You have to sit so close to them, so I try to be as uninvolved emotionally as possible and as involved musically as possible."
Chipak concentrates on watching the music, not the performer.
"You can tell when someone's staring at you, waiting for you to nod your head," she says. "Of course that person's going to make you feel weird."
As a page turner, her goal is to be a neutral presence and remain as emotionally invisible as possible.
"I try to stay out of the bubble they need to do their job. "
It's important to stay out of their personal space, she says. With all the adrenaline of performing, they are extra sensitive to people and noises.
"Even noises like when I stand up. I try to make sure I'm nice and quiet," she says, adding, "I always check to make sure I don't have a squeaky chair."
Then there is the decision of what to wear.
"I usually asked Jaya, 'What colour are you wearing?'" she says. "Sometimes I tried to match, sometimes I wouldn't, because she never wore just black. She always had these awesome outfits and sometimes they were hard to match."
Chipak says, "When I was younger I just wore whatever. Now I tend to stick to black and greys, neutral colours. You don't want to outdo the performer."
She also wears high heels for most performances.
"I remember the first time I wore high heels, because I thought, 'What if I go to get up and I fall over?' … I remember being really nervous because before that I had always worn flat shoes."
Chipak is the first to admit she likes nice clothes, and she enjoys the chance to dress up.
"I love dresses. I have way too many dresses," she laughs.
As a page turner, she says, she has a chance to wear them without being the centre of attention.
"I am happy to admit I like attention, but not that kind."
She finds she is almost always dressed more formally than the typical audience of today, which tends to go more for casual comfort than in times past.
Not only does she get a different experience in attire than does the audience, it's also a different experience musically.
"It's a very different energy being right there beside the performer because you can sense their emotions and it's a more personal concert when you are back there."
Chipak describes herself as a "very A type personality." She has a surfeit of energy, so sitting through a concert without something more to do than to listen isn't necessarily easy for her.
"I always like page turning because I would listen to the concert and enjoy it, but I would have that second thing going."
She points out, however, you have to be careful not to get too caught up in the music that you forget why you're there. There have been times when she has been distracted by the brilliance of her performers, she admits.
At last year's Summer School of the Solo Voice, the first year famed English pianist Geoffrey Pratley was on the faculty, Chipak was his page turner and was also assigned to "follow him around."
"Everything about Geoffrey is awesome," she says. "He was very easy to turn pages for because he's been playing for so long that he basically knew all the pieces from memory and the music was there just to be there."
In his case, she could afford to be distracted. His hands, she says, were amazing to watch.
"If I turned a bar early or turned a bar late or missed it altogether it doesn't matter, Geoffrey knew it."
She adds, "He's really funny. Sometimes he'd lean over and make jokes."
It might have been intimidating to turn pages for a man of his renown, but he put everyone at the summer school at ease.
"He was so appreciative of what everyone had to share," says Chipak. "It didn't matter if you were a beginner or an expert, Geoffrey always had something nice to say."
Turning pages for a variety of people means getting to know a variety of performers' preferences.
While there's no written rules of etiquette for page turners, in formal circumstances a page turner would likely also carry the performers' music on to the stage and arrange it on the music stand. Chipak performs this duty for Hoy, who has performed at many international venues.
"Gary likes to carry his own music," she says. Things in North Battleford are more laid back.
If you're unsure because you don't know the performer well yet, she says it's best to go with the more formal approach.
"No one is going to be offended by you bringing out their books."
Chipak will be at Summer School of the Voice this summer, but she and her brother have now graduated high school and will be living in Saskatoon this fall to begin university. There won't be a lot of page turning in her near future.
Having always loved math and science, she has decided to study engineering. Having also loved chemistry, at this point she is leaning toward chemical engineering.
Her brother is planning to take agriculture, with a future as a veterinarian in mind. She laughs, knowing the time-honoured rivalry between the Colleges of Engineering and Agriculture will be alive within the house they will be renting together, along with another engineering student.
While Chipak has never felt the competitive urge within her musical world, despite her talent, that's not true of her academic world.
"You can do your music and whatever works for you works for you, but in academics, if your marks aren't high enough you don't get into university. If you go into a job interview and someone else has a better resumé than you, you won't get the job."
One might think, with her talent and her background, she might make music her career, like her mother did.
"I'm like my mom, but also so different," she says. "I got my dad's math side, I'm very logical."
Chipak's father John is a math teacher at John Paul II Collegiate.
Although she loves being part of a music community, solo performing, she says, doesn't fulfill her.
"My mom, she gets such a high after. I'm not like that. I go on and go off feeling about the same way."
It's the personal part of music she enjoys, a distraction from life, like reading a book is for others, she says.
There's a saying, that music feeds the soul.
"I'll be honest, I've never understood that," she says. "I'm not saying it's not valid, I respect that people feel that way, but being such a black and white person, I ask, 'does it heal our hearts?' I don't know. A good math equation will do it for me," she laughs.
Still, she goes on to prove music does having its healing powers by talking about her love for composing music.
"When I write music I'm working out of a different part of the brain. That's where I see lots of benefits to me," she says.
It's been especially beneficial after a long school day of trying to keep her "outside the box" energy level in check.
"In a way it helped heal heart and soul because doing that [writing] made me feel better as a person. It let me get some of that energy out that I didn't get out all day."
She also says her musical experiences, especially page turning, have taught her invaluable lessons she's applied to school studies and will continue to use in the next stage of her education and on into her professional life.
Being able to focus is one. Staying calm is another.
"Engineering is super academic so that is the one area I'd say I do get competitive. But I try to stay calm," she says. "I try to keep a happy medium between not being lazy but not being like some of the people at school who get way too stressed out. If you're this stressed in high school how are you going to handle university - or life?"
Knowing how to "curb her enthusiasm" is another important lesson Chipak has learned as a page turner.
"Because I'm so energetic … it's great in the business world," says Chipak, who has enjoyed working part time at Milbanke Flowers. "It served me so well because I can talk to people, I've always got words. That energy is great in a work environment because I am good at controlling it, I know when it's good to have energy and know when to be quiet."
For her first year of university, Chipak says she probably won't be looking for either employment or a musical activities.
"I don't want to join any extra-curricular programs because everyone says engineering's a really hard program … most people say don't get a job or join anything until you see if you can handle anything else."
She laughs, "I'm not signed up for any musical stuff, but will always sing in the shower!"
Eventually, she says, she would enjoy getting involved in a community choir. She could enjoy singing without the intensity of commitment to something like the University of Saskatchewan's Greystone Singers, an audition choir which would be a likely goal for someone pursuing music as a career.
Ever practical, she says, "It would look great on a resumé, but in engineering no employer is going to care whether it is Greystone or a community choir."
About her decision to pursue an academic career rather than a musical career, Chipak says she always referred back to something her dad told her.
Although engineering was her ultimate decision, for a long time she was seesawing between medicine and music. Her father said music can always be a hobby that can be taken up at any time, forever available. "But," he said, "you can't be a doctor as a hobby."
He made her think about whether or not she really wanted music as her job.
"I thought that was such a good point," says Chipak. "Some people are meant to share music … I love playing for myself."
She also treasures the community music creates.
"I really love the social part of it, or even just going to a concert with people, how it can bring people together. That's what I really like about music."
