It all started last October with a note from Marilyn Horne saying, "Bobby, MTV needs a classical voice teacher to coach a 16-year-old football player whose 'dream' is to sing opera. This looks like it's just up your alley! Want to try? Love, Marilyn." Of course, I said yes--and soon found myself in the midst of one of the most moving experiences of my performing and teaching career.

Pictured in Robert White's studio are (left to right) MTV's Nikki Varhely; the aspiring tenor, Billy Archer; Billy's mother, Susan (with his sister, Jen, in the foreground); Joseph Bartning (who took Billy shopping for his tuxedo); and White.

MTV director Nikki Varhely, trailed by her technical crew, arrived with the young would-be singer, and--on camera--gave me my first hearing. I was dumbfounded! At first, I couldn't hear any singing sound in this bright and eager sports star. It seemed as if he couldn't even match pitches. I didn't know what to do, and I didn't want the camera to capture my consternation. I couldn't shatter his dream of having been chosen by MTV for this new series called Made, where young people ask the show's help in realizing their long-held, "impossible" dreams. So I went to work as if he were a normally gifted young voice student trying to access a stronger singing technique.

I had to somehow get this lad--Billy Archer, a junior at New Rochelle High School (20 miles or so north of New York City)--ready to sing an Italian aria (he was pushing for "Nessun Dorma") for his school's annual Winterfest on December 18. He had gotten his heart set on Puccini's lush aria ever since his seventh-grade Italian teacher played a recording of it in class. Every step of the way, the MTV cameras followed us in our work. They came into my studio and shot endless videotape of me working with my regular students, as well as with Billy. His mother, sister, and school guidance counselor came to some of the sessions--five or six in all.

Billy looked all beefed up and ready to go banging into people--great for football, but counterproductive to singing. My first task was to figure out where he was generating all the tension in his muscles, and work on releasing them so we could get a sound. I kept telling him he didn't have to brace himself; we weren't going to have a tackle scene or anything. He could have all the muscles in the world, but he had to learn to hold his body a little more loosely. We worked on projection, overcoming his tendency to grab the sound in his throat or push it up into his nose. He took directions well, and both of us were pleased with his progress over two months of working together every Sunday. He modestly proclaimed his singing "better than mediocre now," but there was absolutely nothing mediocre about his enthusiasm.

At one point, MTV even sent me by limousine to my very first football game (and I wasn't ashamed to admit this on camera, as I tried to make sense of what on earth was happening down on that field) in, of all places, Ramapo, N.J. MTV wanted to watch me watching our young "Boomer Pavarotti" in action. It was dizzying, because it all had to be crammed into my already heavy concert/teaching schedule (which included a two-week break in late October, while I flew off to China to judge a voice competition in Beijing).

Billy was an inspiration to me--simply because he was trying so hard to make a personal dream come true. He never doubted his ability to work towards a goal that he believed in, even when I was not so sure. The love and support evidenced by his family and teammates was breathtaking. Finally, when I arrived at the concert in December (again by MTV limo) to see Billy--decked out in white tie and tails--actually stand up in front of 1,500 students and parents and sing "O Sole Mio" (I had long since talked him out of "Nessun Dorma"), I was in tears. He did it! He sang!

Thesegment aired about a half dozen times in February, and I'm still getting calls and letters from all over the country, full of enthusiasm for the aim and results of the show. The very first call I received was from President and Mrs. Polisi, who were both thrilled with the fact that, through MTV, the program went right to the heartland of today's youth and showed them that the Juilliard world of classical music was not by definition cut off from the dreams of all our young people.

Tenor Robert White has been on the voice faculty since 1992.