Where's "Vielka" from?

"Where's 'Vielka' from?" This is the most-asked question I receive. Here's the story...and it won't be what you think!

Learn more about Vielka at www.vielka.com and follow us at @voicewithvielka.

Graphic Design by Jeff Yas
Podcast Music by Andrew Markus

Transcript

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So before jumping into our regular podcast episodes, I wanted to take a moment to talk about Vielka. As you can imagine with this unique name, I get questions pretty much every day of my life of how do you say your name and where is that name from? So I thought I would go ahead and tell you about the story of my name. So first let's start with the pronunciation. Vielka, Vielka, or if you want to say it the way it originally was said use a Spanish accent. Vielka, Vielka. So, how did this name come to be? Here's the story. My great- grandmother named my grandmother Vielka after a famous Russian actress at the time. The story is that she was in Panama, and there was a theater that had on the marquee the name of a Russian actress. And so my grandmother Was the first Vielka in Panama and she was the first in the United States. And then the name got passed down. So my grandmother was Vielka, my mom is Vielka, and then I'm Vielka. So, I am technically the third in my family, and when I was thinking about what I wanted to name my approach and this podcast, you know, I had the luxury of having this unique name, but it's really more than just naming it after myself. I really wanted to name it because of these generations of women that were so special to me and the deeper story there is, my great grandmother, she broke a lot of traditions in her day, and she was a concert pianist, had a real love for music and, had this creative spark and created a name that has now been passed down in my family and actually has spread to many, many other people out there. So her love of music also got passed down to my grandmother who always wanted to be an opera singer. She had a real fondness for singing as well. However, at the time it was seen that that was not proper-for her to be an opera singer and to pursue that passion. And then the next generation, my mother, who also inherited this love for music and for singing, and my mom took singing lessons. And she did some singing, and really wanted to pursue it professionally, ended up making a choice to have children, and really have that be the focus of her life. She still sings, and has a beautiful voice, and has used it in many ways throughout her life. And then She gave birth to me. Thanks mom. And so she shared with me that love of singing and I'll always remember her singing me lullabies at night and just really admiring the sound of her voice. One of the gifts my mom gave me was to really encourage me to pursue what I loved as my profession. So although I loved many things, I really did love singing and the power of music and how transformative it can be both for myself and for others. So I went down this path and I ended up studying singing and music education. The rest is history. Then I had the privilege of becoming a mother. However, I broke tradition. I did not name my daughter Vielka. And so I was left with this legacy that stopped with me. And when I was thinking about what should I name the method of singing and this approach that is really unique, that has broken traditions, that has incorporated so much from the past and classical music and at the same time is giving it a new and modern twist. It made sense to me to name it after these generations of really amazing women passed down this love of music and singing. Without it, I wouldn't be here today. So it's with much gratitude that I now pass on my name and the name of the women generations before me to this music method to help you sing with confidence and teach kids to sing with confidence. Thanks for listening!