If I Do Say So Myself...

...I think my child is amazing. Yeah yeah he's had the tests and we know he's gifted, cognitively/intellectually or whatever. Yeah he's got the sensory issues and the social skills issues that go along with being too smart for his own good. And then today... today he was making up these amazing songs. I wish I could sing them for you - I'll have to catch him on film. But he was singing something like this:

I went outside to play
There was a thunderstorm
I played out in the rain

Argh I can't remember. I should have written it down. You could tell he was making it up as he went along. It mostly rhymed. The rhythms were great. You could tell when he switched from the verse to the chorus and the meter changed. He changed his vocal quality when the subject changed - it was very dynamic. Husband and I just stared with our jaws hanging open. So the subject matter was familiar to him, the pattern of the song from verse to chorus and back to verse was typical of, say, a Beatles song, the tune was unique but melodic, it mostly rhymed AND he changed his volume and voice type to go with the feeling of the words. All spontaneously.

Perhaps this is something all kids can do - I have no idea. Either way, I am truly amazed.

More Thoughts About Lucretia

More details and thoughts about Rape of Lucretia have popped into my head. One I wrote as a comment/reply in the original post. I forgot to mention that there were a few scenes where the Female Chorus' actions mirrored those of the women. She was there on stage, singing about what they were doing, doing it right behind and next to them. They didn't see her of course. It was nice, very graceful, kind of showed that the F.C. is telling her own version of the story and the characters will therefore do what she says. Like she is in control by virtue of being the narrator? But at the same time the M&F Chorus were not in control, because they tried to prevent the rape but couldn't. This is all popping into my head as I type it so I haven't had a chance to really analyze it.

Another observation that should have been blazingly obvious at the time but wasn't until I was rethinking it today was, that rape scene - he's wearing a harness. He ties her up with the bridle. He rapes her from behind as if he's riding a horse... remember the whole whores/horse thing... I don't know why I didn't realize it at the time. Wait yes I do - I was too upset. Now it seems so obvious. And I'm still upset - I actually turned my head and averted my eyes as I wrote these last few lines.

I think this is one reason (besides sheer laziness) I don't like to do a lot of research before seeing an opera that I've never seen before. I have no preconceived notions about what anything is supposed to symbolize here - I'm going purely on that collegiate and graduate school training of how to analyze writing, poetry and other forms of art. And it's fun. I'm having these "aha!" moments as I think back over the performance. I imagine that some of the scenes are described in the libretto in detail while others are the director's creations. Doesn't matter to me - I mentioned in my last post that at least one other audience member questioned if the production was in line with what Britten intended. Perhaps this is naive of me, but... does that really matter? Once you write something, people are going to put their own spin on it, their own interpretation, based on their own experiences. You lose control. It applies to something as innocuous as this blog, or as heavily studied as the Bible. So really, is it valid to criticize something like an opera production by asking if it's what the composer had in mind? Unless the composer left explicit instructions, or is still alive, there's really no way to know. And surely any artist, writer or composer is aware that an audience may not know their intentions. And in this case I suppose the "audience" is the director. So how would a composer/author/artist feel about the fact that people are studying his or her work after they've been long gone. "Wait! That's not what I meant!" or, "Wow! That's not what I mean, but I like it!" or, "STOP!!!!!" To me, it doesn't matter. You put something out there, it's not yours anymore.

So this post has gone off on a tangent I didn't expect! Ah the joys of trains of thought.

I am still recovering from the performance. I'm still upset about the rape scene. I'm still blown away by the rape scene and all the rest of it. I'm upset, blown away and filled, as Banawoman said in her comment on the review post, with moments of joy about seeing it and experiencing the beauty of the performance. And of course seeing Nathan Gunn in it - vastly different from Papageno, Figaro, Zurga and the others he's made so popular... or have they made him popular?

Now I'm lapsing into post-performance blues. I've been waiting for this performance for almost a year. Banawoman and I planned to meet this weekend about 5 or 6 months ago, possibly more. The weekend was everything I thought it would be and more. So now what? It's time to plan the next few adventures. Who's in?

Insight From the Little Opera Singer

By now you've all seen Alex starring in his various videos, whether he's acting out a Beethoven's Wig song, imitating Papageno or launching himself into our homemade crash-pad.

Lately he has been composing music. I wish there were a way for him to record it, to actually sit down and compose. Sometimes he'll say, "I hear a song in my head right now," to which I reply, "One we know, or one you made up?" "One I made up," he'll say. Sometimes he'll just sing some tune of nonsense words with a real word thrown in every now and then. The tunes aren't bad, he changes tempos and it's hilarious when he uses a real word. The other day he was doing this in the bathtub where he was playing with a toy octopus. Every now and then he'd sing "octopus" in the middle of the nonsense language. It was awesome.

He recently told me that he prefers music that has words to instrumental music, and that's why he likes opera, even though he can't understand what they're saying.

He'll be 5 in June. I know I'm biased, but I think he's amazing.

Composing

The other day in the car Alex and I made up a great song. He came up with the idea!! I wish I could write the tune here, but since I can't, anyone reading this will have to make up his or her own tune.

"You bring the myoo
And I'll bring the zic
And together we'll make myoooooo-zic."

We went on and on with many variations, repetitions of different parts and so on. It was awesome if I do say so myself, ha ha.