Opera Singing in Germany and other adventures....

I know that it's only 3 days away from the Summer Solstice, but I have had my first experience this year of just how terrible seasonal allergies and a subsequent summer cold can be, so I have compiled this list of tips on getting back to normal when in the throes of a cold or allergies. The advice comes from many colleagues and friends (thank you!) as well as my own experience. I hope it can serve as a reference (which might be handy to bookmark for cold season!) and if you're suffering currently, I wish you a speedy and complete recovery! :) Over-the-Counter Medicines: Claritin/Allegra/Xyzal: doctors say that Claritin is the mildest anti-allergy medicine (in pill form) and Allegra is the next strongest, followed by Xyzal, which is the strongest. I've not tried any of these so I cannot speak to their effectiveness. Flonase: over the counter nasal spray which is a synthetic steroid and supposedly helps with decongestion. My disclaimer: when I used it once bef...

This evening I saw a very thought-provoking film called "Farming in the Millstone Valley" which was about the Farm-to-Table movement and how it helps farming in this region of New Jersey to be sustainable. This means that the farmers who are farming here are making enough money to live on, so that they can offer healthy and organic alternatives, even when their largest competitors are large grocery store chains. Afterward I got to thinking about how this same concept might apply to living life as a singer and I had some realizations that I'd like to share with you. There are many ways that singers can live their lives more sustainably, which in turn will help their wallets, time management, and overall productivity. The following is a list that I came up with as a starting point, though I am sure that there are many ways which I'm not yet aware of that you can boost your productivity while still caring for the earth, your community, and your bottom line. Theref...

Lately I've been running into people who are extremely knowledgable and whose technique is excellent but yet- they don't trust themselves teaching what they know to others. This makes me totally beside myself and disappointed. Now I know that many of you reading this might be thinking at this juncture that not everyone is a good teacher; but I'd argue against that theory and here's just a few reasons why. First off, when it comes to making music (and that's what I'm talking about here because it's always what I'm talking about, lol) you should at least have a vague idea of how to teach someone some of the basics of what you do, simply because as a musician you've surely had at least a gazillion lessons in your lifetime (okay, minus those of you who were automatically gifted by some freak of nature- I say congratulations to you and also, you better not rub that in when confronted with the rest of us who had to work hard to get where we are). So, t...