It's all in the mind. And the throat.

I'm happy to report that after two rounds of antibiotics and a large amount of decongestant, antihistamine, rx nasal sprays and a week of prednisone I've finally recovered from the various upper respiratory infections.

For voice I'm now learning Lasciatemi Morire, Arianna's aria, from Monteverdi's lost opera, L'Arianna, composed and produced in Mantua in 1608.

Lasciatemi morire
E chi violete voi che mi comforte
in così dura sorte,
in così gran martire?
Lasciatemi morire

I'll admit I listened to an old recording of it on YouTube and got some ideas of how to sing it. But I'm still making it my own. So there's this one note, I think it's an F, the "mi" of Lasciatemi in two places... and I was sort of clamping down on it which made it impossible for me to sing it. Finally I remembered my vow to just "sing out" so I did... and WOW. I relaxed my jaw, I felt my throat open and out came this beautiful note with vibrato. My teacher jumped up from the piano and was jumping up and down with excitement. I was able to repeat it a couple of times but I still have to practice lapsing into the relaxed mode that allowed me to sing like that. I didn't realize the extent that the voice lesson was like a counseling session. But it really is. So much of it is in the mind - I need to be able to relax and not care what anyone else thinks about how I sound - just relax and let it out. I have to LET myself do that. It's not easy but I'm working on it.

Maybe one day I'll record myself singing it and post it. Maybe.

The Future

I just checked the upcoming Met schedule here: http://http://www.metmaniac.com/future.html and can now plan my future...

For 2008-2009, I'll be seeing La Sonnambula, with Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez, possibly Don Giovanni, and whatever Denise "drags" me to with her class.

I think anyone going to that list can guess what else I'm planning on getting tickets for.

Nathan Gunn's not listed there but that doesn't mean he won't be in anything there next year. Just have to wait for the official schedule.

Attack of the Throat!

I had to cancel my voice lesson this week. Whatever bug I caught from Alex turned into strep throat and a sinus infection. No wonder I felt so craptastic all week. After the doc looked in my throat, nose and ears I asked him if he saw anything good. "Oh yes," he replied, "Very colorful."
So now I'm waiting impatiently for the antibiotics to kick in.

I haven't sung since Sunday. I mean regular singing, like in the car, or along to music, or just because. Nothing. I tried this morning... the notes just wouldn't come out right. I mean I thought I was going to sing a certain note, but it would just come out wrong. Bleh.

This and That

Random post follows:

To reply to a comment, that night (New Year's Eve) Alex woke up at 3am, burning up with fever, and I sat with him until the tylenol kicked in - about an hour. Then he was up again at 5 and came to my bed where we slept until 10. So... I'm getting some sleep! Just not all in a row. Just one of the many joys of parenthood. And now I have it... Bleh.

Alex is fond of giving everyone nicknames. Yesterday he declared that Juan Diego Florez' nickname is Juan Diego Florazzberry.

Internet stuff: A few posts ago I mentioned a woman who I had been exchanging emails with after we found out we were going to the same performance of Fille du Regiment at the Met. We had been emailing every couple of days, getting to know each other, sharing favorite movies and books, etc. Then she just stopped. It was weird. I went back through the emails to see if I said anything bizarre that might have freaked her out... nothing. At least I don't think so.

More internet stuff: A couple of weeks ago I went to Nathan Gunn's MySpace page and looked at the profiles of the people on his friends list. One woman had a YouTube page that I went to. One of her favorites was "I Love to Singa." I have the cartoon version of that on my favorites list, so I clicked on it to see the "real person" version. In the list of related videos on the side was a song by the Phil Spitalny All Girl Orchestra. Auntie Cyd, who I've mentioned before, was in that orchestra. So of course I clicked on THAT video, and ended up corresponding with the person who posted it. I sent him this picture:




And he added this video to YouTube using the image. I can't seem to embed it here... Anyway Auntie Cyd is at the piano to the left. I have a bigger version of the picture at my MySpace page. And of course I've added it as a favorite to my YouTube page.

And that's my random post for today.