Pre-Hijack 6 Month Update

I seriously haven’t posted since JANUARY????? Yikes.

So I guess I’ll squash 6 months worth of opera and Mars activity into one post before hijacking my own blog to participate in an education chat over the summer.

One topic at a time:

First… The WING is no longer. I’m not sure what happened. So … I’m back on the main stage, as they call it. I’ve performed in two concerts. One was “April in Paris” and it was so much fun!

It was held at a historic mill – basically this large barn-like structure with some antique milling equipment still there. The stage is about 2 steps up from the floor. The floor was set with little round tables, cabaret style. There was a table of food at the back. And as the name suggests, it was all in French. Now, to back up… I had been working on Voi che sapete, then I learned of the theme about a week and a half before the show. French! Hmmm… back when I first began studying voice, I did learn a few songs in French. The easiest one for me to relearn in time to perform was The Tipsy Waltz. There were two Opera Project rehearsals and I had just one voice lesson before the concert.  It’s such a short song that

I sang it through twice. See if you can tell when I spilled the wine all over my dress.

The next month we had another cabaret-style concert at the mill. This time I sang Voi che sapete. The person who recorded this for me probably didn’t realize he was recording it sideways! Here we go:

I still need to work on standing still! Also, breath control. Remember to breathe! But I’m doing so much better with keeping my voice on top of the air.

Now I’m learning this silly aria from Barber of Seville. The maid sings it – it’s about how crazy the house is with everyone being in love with all different people, love is this terrible thing and OH NO SHE FEELS IT TOO. No video yet of ME singing it. Here’s a silly one I like. It doesn’t include the recit, which is a about 30 seconds long.

Then the other day I found a CD I made of accompaniments for songs I was learning with my voice teacher. I sang through them for my current voice teacher and we decided to work on Gretchen am Spinnrade and Vedrai carino. And I’m going into it all with the attitude of DON’T FEAR THE HIGH NOTES!!

So that’s the voice lesson summary. Now, onto the performances I’ve attended.

JOYCE DIDONATO in Princeton! Yes indeed. She is amazing. Had front row balcony in a tiny tiny venue.

Then I saw her AGAIN in May at the Met. La Cenerentola. Went alone. Went to the matinee. Took myself out for lunch at Bar Boloud beforehand. Food and service were fab fab fab. I had the prix-fix 3 course lunch. There was pate with these tiny pickles, quiche and a pear tart.

It was more food than I could eat. Then I went across the street to the Met and made my way to my seat in the orchestra rear. I was about 3 rows from the very back. View from my seat:

The opera itself was FABULOUS. But of course it was. How can any opera with Juan Diego Florez and Joyce DiDonato be anything but? She'll be there again next year. And so will I of course!

Next season I plan to see The Merry Widow and of course La Donna Del Lago. Nathan Gunn, Renee Fleming, Juan Diego Florez, Joyce DiDonato and John Osborn!!! Whoop whoop. Will convince the Huz to come with me to at least one of those.

Finally, in Mars news... not much. Saw Artifact in NYC. Ticket included Q&A and photo with Jared. He saw me and said, "Hey! The opera singer! We have an opera singer here!" And I swooped in for the hug. 

Future Mars news: 2 shows in August, but they're sharing the billing with another band so I have a feeling the crowd won't be the same. We'll see!

And now, the next several posts over the summer will be related to a virtual camp I'm participating in, about school involvement in the community. And maybe opera stuff, if anything happens in the middle of the summer.

Picky Choosy

Had a pretty good voice lesson yesterday. Told my teacher about next week's auditionesque thing. We picked over Una Donna and also the Tipsy Waltz. She said either would be fine. I said I would ask my readers and she was into that. So now y'all have to listen to my teacher and help me pick which one to sing.

Tipsy Waltz is mezzo, French and short.
Una Donna is soprano, Italian and long.

I was home alone all day today so I recorded them and then put them together in a "Which one?" video. Here you go. And as you listen and remember that I will continue to practice connecting to the breath, using the low abs, dropping my jaw and all that other stuff for a fuller, more rounded sound. Please post a comment with your vote. Thanks!



Another benefit of being home alone all day was that I could sing without being told to shut up. Uh I mean, to stop singing. I didn't really sing all day, but at one point I put on this CD I had made of the accompaniment for all the pieces I've learned and I sang through that. I also faked through Art is Calling for Me. Last week I promised my teacher I wouldn't sing it yet and we didn't have time to get to it yesterday so I was just being goofy and not really singing it. No one was here to tell me to stop and the neighbors are all too polite. Although suddenly everyone was mowing their lawn... surely a coincidence...

My teacher had to cancel next week's lesson but I'll be calling her after I sing for the group.

So let's see, particulars from yesterday's lesson ... just picky stuff about pronunciation and timing in the songs, the lippiness of French and so on. Breath, using the abs, staying grounded, the usual stuff. She says she loves seeing how far I've come and how much better things sound now. That's nice to hear. And vocal exercises to practice... uh... yeah she gave me some but of course I don't remember them at the moment. Luckily they're all on the tape... assuming, of course, that it recorded.

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EDITING TO ADD:
No I'm not pregnant. I poof out my stomach to breathe and that adds to the fat to make it look like I'm 6 months along, but I'M NOT!!!!! !!!!!!!
Guess it's time to step up that diet and exercise regime...
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Tipsy Post: Gretchen Take 1

Time to post a "before" of Gretchen am Spinnrade.

This was my first time really singing it through with the words... which I don't really know. Nor do I really know how to pronounce them. I did my best. I wanted to record it so I could examine and it see what I needed to work on. Like, open my mouth wider. I didn't realize until the end, when I relaxed, that concentrating on the words made my jaw and shoulders a little tense. I'm hoping that once I really have them memorized it'll make a difference.



Oh yeah the 1.5 gin and tonics I had before singing this didn't hurt. Not that I think they helped, but I think they lowered my affective filter to take away my potential embarrassment at mistakes and so on. Yeah I know it's a linguistic term but I'm a certified ESL teacher so there you go.

Oh yeah while I was tipsy in front of the camera I did this. Note the lack of dynamics, if that's what you call it... it's all one volume. I have the tipsiness to thank for that.

This Year's Results

Had a voice lesson tonight and got the results of yesterday's eval. Like last year, I'll type in what each person wrote for each song.

Haha first I have to share that when I went back through the blog so I could link to last year's evaluation, I came across this entry about polka-dot underwear. I also came across this entry about what my teacher said to me immediately after last year's eval. She even posted a comment!

Ok so to get back to yesterday's evaluation:

The Tipsy Waltz:

Evaluator #1:

• Charming performance!
  
• Even in the "tipsy" state sing good , pure French vowels.
  
• Keep your jaw more relaxed on [a].

Evaluator #2:

• I get the sense your registration gets locked into wherever you start in your voice. More exercises going through all sections of your voice may be helpful.

Evaluator #3, aka my teacher:

• The French has really improved!
  
• You need to ground yourself! Connect with the earth!

If Music be the Food of Love:

Evaluator #1:

• Lovely! You are a good musician.
  
• You are very expressive, but sometimes let your head alignment collapse.
• Keep the back of the neck tall so the whole body stays lined up and you can support your tone more
• Keep up the good work!
• Good job!
• Thank you for singing for us!
  

Evaluator #2:

• Larynx sounds high and tight to me.
• You tend to pull your chin up and forward, which will affect your larynx. When it (larynx) is high, the folds can't come together completely which could contribute to the breathiness.
• Good musical instincts.

Evaluator #3, aka my teacher:

• Relax
• You have come a long way with this one - really!
  
• Great phrasing
  
• A few funky embellishments
• Great focus to the very end.

So there you have it. It's interesting that one focused on the purely technical while the other was more performance oriented. And then of course my teacher gave her psychological support. Tonight she told me that she hadn't noticed me doing the neck/chin thing before. I sang to a little statue that was on a filing cabinet across the room - maybe I was sort of stretching out towards it? Who knows. I know some of the problems were due to nerves but I was surprised by the nice comments. She said she was really impressed at how I remained in character in If Music after the piano stopped. I think I've written about that before - it just happens... I become the person singing and believing that song, so when the music ends I'm stuck there for a moment.

Next up we have a studio recital on June 7. I will sing Una Donna a 15 Anni and If Music be the Food of Love. Today we went over Una Donna. She made up some exercises for one of the parts that's giving me trouble near the end. My teacher insists that I watch myself in the mirror while singing to see where I'm not opening my mouth enough. There's a mirror in the room and she made me watch myself. I really don't like to. Why? I don't know. I just felt weird. I'll get over it.

Oh Who Are We Kidding

As if I could take a week off. So here's some stuff I sometimes watch.

Tipsy Waltz, in context.



And Natalie Dessay doing the Lucia Mad Scene:



I still think I like Diana Damrau's Lucia the best... that's like saying, which chocolate do you want from this box? They're all fabulous, but this one has that special something...

Ha! Here's one someone took from their seat at the Met. That's even more illegal than anything I've ever done! Uh... not that I've done anything illegal... but anyway... The sound quality stinks of course, but I have to post it anyway since I saw this production. Hm. I hope Diana Damrau's press agent doesn't call me and tell me to take it off the blog... nah...



Wow. They should have propped the camera up on something. I think I'm getting sea sick...

Riding the Breath

Had an extra-long voice lesson tonight. I wasn't happy with my voice at all. But I plundered through and worked on some of that dastardly French pronunciation for the Tipsy Song. Or Waltz. Whatever it's called. The pronunciation is causing me to lose my legato. Seriously, I think it's the first thing to go when I need to work on some other aspect of a song.

Then I wanted to go back to Vedrai Carino. Like with Una Donna, I can definitely hear a difference after putting it on the back burner for a while. But then there's that damn legato. Where does it go? I wish I knew. So we did it without consonants and then stuck them back in, which helped. Then we talked about riding the breath. Turns out I was doing something that my teacher said is a common mistake- I'd have a few measures to prepare but would take this one big deep breath just moments before I had to sing, then it would come out with a sort of jarring blast. So I practiced taking that big prep breath sooner than I thought I should, and I began to let some out before starting to sing, so that the breath was on its way when I jumped on with my voice. Hence, riding the breath. I could hear an instant improvement when I did that. We worked on a couple of trouble spots and will probably work on it some more next week.

Tomorrow: Fledermaus.

The Noive

My voice teacher was SICK and had the nerve to cancel my lesson rather then haul her sick self 45 minutes to sneeze in my general direction. Haaaaarrumph. Good thing, too, because I was supposed to do the IPA for the Tipsy Waltz and I didn't. I did manage to write it out and then translate it, and I left a line free for the IPA, so at least I did something. But not the part she told me to do, probably because I've been busy with this. And would you believe I posted this entry there first by mistake? Oops.

The challenge of today's Cat Pic Friday is to post pictures I haven't yet posted. Although I just went through all the Cat Pic Friday posts and did see a few duplicates. Oops again.

Today it's all about Viola.


How does she DO that?


Cat Camouflage