tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10248995135755042232024-03-18T01:28:53.785-04:00Opera Singing in Germany and other adventures....Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-54529207762518530022018-06-19T12:39:00.001-04:002018-06-19T12:39:53.461-04:00Allergy & Cold Remedies for Singers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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.<br />
<br />
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! :) <br />
<br />
<b><u>Over-the-Counter Medicines:</u></b><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Claritin/Allegra/Xyzal:</span> doctors say that Claritin is the mildest
anti-allergy medicine (in pill form) and Allegra is the next strongest,
followed by Xyzal, which is <i>the</i> strongest. I've not tried any of these so I
cannot speak to their effectiveness.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Flonase:</span> over the counter nasal spray which is a synthetic steroid and
supposedly helps with decongestion. My disclaimer: when I used it once before going to bed, I woke
up the next morning with swollen and ultra-dry vocal folds which lasted
1.5 days and felt like sandpaper. I have never used it again!!!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">GeloRevoice:</span> sorry to say that this is only available to buy in Germany, but if you've got someone you know auditioning there or vacationing there, ask them to pick you up a tube. It's a lozenge which coats your vocal folds in a hydrating film that protects them and helps them to heal. It's especially useful if you've overused your voice or you've got tired folds from a lot of coughing, or just a really sore throat in general.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Mucinex</span>: some say it's too drying for them, some say take a half a dose, some say it's their go-to drug to get rid of phlegm. However, a vocal-medical professional friend of mine says it's not proven to help and might really just dry you out. Either way, good to know about if other things might not be working for you. <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Neti Pot:</span> helps with decongestion and runny noses as well as sneezing.
Make sure to use this only with spring or purified water; it burns quite a bit in your nasal passages if you use tap water.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Saline Nasal Spray:</span> this is just like the Neti Pot but a bit less intense- also helps with decongestion, runny noses and sneezing.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Healing Foods:</u></b><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Apple cider vinegar (with "the Mother" included- check the label!):</span> this is acidic which helps cut phlegm.
Can be drunk (or gargled) when diluted with cold water but also is recommended to be taken
with warm water, lemon, and honey, as a sort of 'tea'.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Asian pears:</span> are acidic and supposed to rid you of phlegm.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Coca-Cola (regular- not diet!):</span> supposedly works for removing phlegm from the vocal folds, but it's only a <i>very</i> temporary fix.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Green apples or any raw apple in general:</span> are acidic and are supposed to cut the phlegm on the folds. I've tried this one recently and was surprised by its effectiveness!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Turmeric (liquid concentrate, capsules, tea):</span> gets rid of vocal fold swelling. This is my ultimate surprise winner in effectiveness for allergy sufferers--- I used it for one day and my vocal fold inflammation went away for 2 days following- it's honestly awesome and works like a charm for me! I use the stuff you can get in <a href="https://www.qunol.com/products/qunol-liquid-turmeric-1000mg" target="_blank">liquid concentrate form</a> which I buy either via Amazon.com or at Costco.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>Natural Supplements:</u></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Bromelian:</span> a pill that you can take made from an enzyme extracted from pineapple cores (and found in other foods too) which reduces swelling. This is also good to use if you get swollen folds during your period.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Fenu-Thyme:</span> helps with alleviating seasonal allergy symptoms. I've tried it and it works for me.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Lobelia Extract:</span> an herbal expectorant, so if Mucinex dries you out, try
this. Though, consult your doctor or pharmacist first, since high doses
can lead to vomiting and be poisonous.<br />
<br />
<span class="UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span style="color: #a64d79;">N-acetylcysteine
(a.k.a. "NAC"):</span> You’ll have to go to a supplement store to get it.
Thins mucus but is not drying. Can cause stomach upset.</span></span></span> <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Quercetin:</span> helps reduce vocal fold swelling and inflammation and is also helpful in reducing allergy or asthma issues due to its natural antihistamine properties. <br />
<br />
<b><u>Holistic Remedies: </u></b><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Acupressure Massage Points for Lungs and Throat:</span> Should help with decongestion if you press them for 30 seconds each.<br />
<br /><span style="color: #a64d79;">Eucalyptus Essential Oil/Peppermint Essential Oil:</span> a colleague
recommended smelling these oils in order to stop a dry cough or the
tickle that you get in your throat when you're suffering acute allergy
symptoms. Either way, they work well for both of these issues.<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Gargling with--tonic water, warm salt water, warm water with baking soda, apple cider vinegar:</span> all should reduce phlegm on the vocal folds. Some may work better for you than others, but they are all effective.<br />
<br />
<span class="UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span style="color: #a64d79;">Oil
of Oregano:</span> is supposed to help with getting your voice back if you've
lost it due to hoarseness or overuse. You can buy it at most heath food
stores and the recommended dosage is</span></span></span><span class="UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span class=" UFICommentActorAndBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"> 2-5
drops under the tongue. It's not the tastiest thing ever, but usually quite effective short-term. In fact, it's pretty commonplace for choir singers with tired voices to use this an hour prior to performance, though using it in this way should be done with caution so as not to overtax your tired voice which can cause permanent damage! You can also gargle with this using the same amount of drops diluted in lukewarm water.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Steam Inhalation:</span> use a small steam machine to inhale steam and clear
sinus congestion and remove mucus from your vocal folds. Nearly all
singers swear that this is an effective method. You can also add a drop
of Eucalyptus Essential Oil to the water in your steamer to get a
stronger decongesting effect.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Vea Oris:</span> (sorry- this one is also only available to buy in Germany!) a throat spray which is just super-concentrated Vitamin E, that, once sprayed on your uvula and in the back of your throat can prevent a cold coming on if you catch it early enough, since it is antibacterial and super-ultra-moisturizing. <br />
<br />
<b><u>Teas & Drinks: (my favorite category!)</u></b><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Hot water, honey and lemon/ Hot water, honey, ginger and lemon/ Hot
water, honey, ginger, lemon and cayenne pepper/ Hot water, honey,
ginger, lemon and fresh garlic:</span> all reduces phlegm, honey has
anti-bacterial properties, lemon is acidic so will cut phlegm, and the
hot water will help to open your sinuses- the ginger will too if you
make it a strong batch by slicing the ginger extra thin and first
soaking it in the water you'll be using cold (in a pot) and then
bringing that same water to a rolling boil. That will make a much stronger and
spicier ginger-tasting tea. The cayenne should help to decongest your
sinuses. The garlic and the honey are both antibacterial.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Licorice Root Tea:</span> gently encapsulates your vocal folds in a gentle film to make them feel better if they're sore. Does not remove phlegm, simply
makes painful folds less painful.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Mallow Blossom Tea ('Malvenblueten Tee' in Germany, where I found out about it):</span> gets rid of long-lasting residual phlegm in your lungs and your sinuses. I've tried it and it works for me!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Pineapple juice (source of Bromelain):</span> acidic to cut phlegm and reduces the
swelling of your vocal folds if they're swollen and not coming together
fully. You can also take Bromelain in a pill form or to get the most
concentrated amount you can juice the core of a ripe pineapple and drink
it. <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Sage/Peppermint Tea:</span> a colleague and friend recommended these herbal
teas to get rid of phlegm and while I do believe that they are useful
for that purpose, you should make sure not to over use them, because
mint and sage along with menthol are actually drying to your vocal folds and should only be used sparingly by singers. <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Stinging Nettle Tea:</span> can be used to reduce the symptoms of flu, so in turn is helpful with colds too. This is a diuretic though, so be sure to also drink a lot of water in conjunction with using this.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Thyme Tea (fresh is most potent, but dried works too):</span> this is one of my go-to's for getting rid of sinus infections or colds that masquerade as such. It works wonderfully to get rid of sinus congestion!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Vegan Golden Milk:</span> (coconut milk in the can, almond milk, ground ginger,
cinnamon, turmeric, black pepper and coconut oil) helps with protecting
the vocal folds, getting rid of inflammation and decongestion. Recipe here: <a href="https://minimalistbaker.com/5-minute-vegan-golden-milk/">https://minimalistbaker.com/5-minute-vegan-golden-milk/</a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">Water:</span> Without a doubt the most important thing you can do whether you have a cold or allergies is to drink as much water as you possibly can in order to keep all of your mucus membranes moist while simultaneously flushing out all the gunk that's clogging them up, and also re-hydrating your body (since getting rid of all that gunk is also getting rid of your body's moisture). So, drink even more water than you would normally when you are sick or dealing with allergy symptoms. The recommended daily water consumption <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/water/art-20044256" target="_blank">according to the Mayo Clinic</a> is 2.7 liters for women (11.5 cups) and 3.7 liters for men (15.5 cups), with even more required if you're doing intense exercise, breast feeding, pregnant, or just in a humid and hot region and sweating a lot. So, remember to drink your recommended daily amount of water in order to optimize all of the above suggestions!</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-67940648083535822092018-06-13T02:02:00.004-04:002018-06-13T22:14:49.192-04:00Singing Sustainably<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
There are many ways that singers can live their lives more sustainably, which in turn will help their wallets, time management, and overall productivity.<br />
<br />
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. Therefore, please enjoy my list, and if you've got amazing ideas of your own, which I'm sure you do, please share them in the comments below!<br />
<br />
<b>1. Take a refillable water bottle with you everywhere you go.</b> Not only will you be properly hydrated and your vocal folds will thank you, but you will also save money and save the planet by avoiding purchasing plastic bottles of water. Plus, I just read today that the reason Reese Witherspoon's skin is so youthful looking is due to the fact that she takes a reusable water bottle with her everywhere she goes, so follow her example and always bring a refillable water bottle with you!<br />
<br />
<b>2. Recycle paper by printing on both sides.</b> This might be a no-brainer, but if you've got to print out music, print it on the empty back side of an already printed page that you no longer need. That way you're saving money and paper!<br />
<br />
<b>3. Get your printer cartridges refilled instead of buying new ones.</b> While we're on the subject of printing at home, chances are that you've bought your share of ink cartridges after printing out tons of music and resumes. No matter- now you can save money and get your empty cartridges refilled instead of having to buy totally new ones, saving you money and saving the planet! Costco does refills on HP, Canon, Epson and Brother printer cartridges and Walgreens does refills for Sharp, Xerox and Okidata printer cartridges. OfficeMax offers this service too. <a href="https://www.lifewire.com/refilling-inkjet-cartridges-3968745" target="_blank">Lifewire has an article all about it here</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>4. Get digital subscriptions.</b> If you're like the rest of us and have already got tons of old editions of Opera News, Opernwelt, Classical Singer, The Journal of Singing and other professional industry publications cluttering your shelves then make the switch to digital subscriptions! You'll save money because often a digital subscription is cheaper than a print subscription, you'll save time by being able to read it on-the-go on your devices, you'll save your back and won't have to tote a bulky magazine with you everywhere, and you may even save your sanity since you can download the issues and save them to a nice file folder on your computer, instead of having to find another space on your shelf for next year's magazines.<br />
<br />
<b>5. Invest in a reusable set of travel utensils.</b> Due to our frequent travel and eating-on-the-go you can imagine how many plastic forks, spoons, knives and straws we must throw away in a year's time- yikes! I am sure that our fish, turtle, bird and marine mammal friends will rejoice each time we grab our handy travel utensils instead of using plastic, since they're not recyclable and most often end up being dumped into the oceans somehow or other.<br />
<br />
<b>6. Buy a set of musician's earplugs.</b> Instead of using foam earplugs which last maybe 3-5 uses tops and then need to be thrown away, buy a set of musician's earplugs which can be custom-molded to your ear as well as the decibel range that you want to block, and they will last you the rest of your life. (Provided you don't lose them, of course!) ;)<br />
<br />
<b>7. Look for your performance attire (and everyday clothing, for that matter!) second-hand.</b> Shopping for new suits, gowns, shoes and accessories might be fun, but it's not always fun for your bank account, nor for the environment or fair for the people who manufacture clothing in third world countries. Besides being significantly cheaper than new, second-hand clothing is often able to be found in quite good condition either on websites like <a href="https://shoperatic.com/" target="_blank">Shoperatic</a>, <a href="https://poshmark.com/" target="_blank">Poshmark</a>, <a href="https://us.letgo.com/en" target="_blank">Letgo</a>, <a href="https://www.thredup.com/" target="_blank">thredUP</a>, <a href="https://www.ebay.com/b/Fashion/bn_7000259856" target="_blank">Ebay</a>, <a href="https://www.vinted.com/" target="_blank">Vinted</a>, <a href="https://www.swap.com/?ref=cj&utm_source=cj&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=cj-2617611-7682639&CID=2617611&PID=33&tk2=7682639&tk1=9a88837d2d94ac3d927fa3f369000317976dad3aa4f63a60a" target="_blank">Swap</a>, <a href="https://www.tradesy.com/" target="_blank">Tradesy,</a> <a href="https://www.therealreal.com/?sid=vbtyj6&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=Google_US_Search_Brand_Alpha-201506&utm_term=the-real-real&cvosrc=ppc.google.the%20real%20real&cvo_crid=99689339580&Matchtype=e&cvosrc=affiliate.shareasale.314743" target="_blank">The Real Real</a>, <a href="https://www.vestiairecollective.com/?utm_source=linkshare_us&utm_medium=affiliation&utm_campaign=tv2R4u9rImY&utm_content=Skimlinks+%28Variable+Pricing%29&ranMID=40393&ranEAID=tv2R4u9rImY&ranSiteID=tv2R4u9rImY-oLhs9vtLYlC_3sVWg9NG7w&siteID=tv2R4u9rImY-oLhs9vtLYlC_3sVWg9NG7w" target="_blank">Vestiaire Collective</a>, <a href="https://www.materialworld.co/" target="_blank">Material World</a>, <a href="https://www.grailed.com/" target="_blank">Grailed</a> (for Men's stuff), <a href="https://leprix.com/" target="_blank">SnobSwap</a>, <a href="https://marketplace.asos.com/" target="_blank">Asos Marketplace</a>, <a href="http://www.thevintagetwin.com/" target="_blank">The Vintage Twin</a>, <a href="https://www.shopmaeven.com/" target="_blank">Maeven</a>, <a href="https://refashioner.com/" target="_blank">Refashioner</a>, OR you can visit your local Salvation Army, Goodwill, Plato's Closet, Greene Street, OR-- totally old-school, I know-- you could even hit up yard sales, or get a bunch of your friends together after you've rid your closets of things you no longer want, and host a swap party at your house. All of these options will definitely save you money and perhaps offer the excitement of searching for something that you'll love since now you have so much selection instead of just what's in stores this season (!!!). Plus, clothes that were already worn and washed a few times also have less chemical residue in them from production, unlike new clothing.<br />
<br />
<b>8. Carpool.</b> If you've got to go to rehearsal and you live near a colleague who is also going, why not organize a carpool? That way you'll save money by alternating who drives to rehearsal, and you'll get to know your colleagues better on the ride there!<br />
<br />
<b>9. Barter with your talented friends and colleagues.</b> If you happen to have a friend who is a web designer, for example, and you need an updated website, then ask them if they'd design your website for you if you watched their dog while they're on vacation (or whatever you both agree is a fair trade). That way you're not paying for anything directly but still getting what you need, and they're getting something that they need too. You're helping one another out which will give you a feeling of satisfaction that money never can, AND reducing the rampant spread of consumerism a bit by keeping money entirely out of the equation.<br />
<br />
<b>10. Use sea salt in your Neti Pot.</b> Not only will you be saving money, you will be reducing waste by not throwing all those teeny tiny salt packets away, and you'll still be getting squeaky clean sinuses. What's not to love about that?<br />
<br />
<b>11. Buy your Apple Cider Vinegar in bulk.</b> If you're an apple-cider-vinegar-gargler like I am, then you can also save money and reduce packaging waste by buying the largest bottle of ACV that the store offers. Besides, it takes forever for the stuff to go bad, so it's a win-win.<br />
<br />
<b>12. Use a tablet when viewing your sheet music instead of printing it out.</b> So I know that I said that if you're printing out your music you should print it on the back side of a piece of paper you no longer need, BUT this is taking that idea one step further. If you already have the majority of your music digitized (a.k.a. you've scanned it into your computer and saved it there as pdf's) then you can view those digitized pieces of music on a tablet and even make notes, write translations, highlight, make colored markings, and whatever else you'd do on actual paper, but on your tablet instead. That way you're saving money and paper by not printing out your music, you're saving pens, Post-It notes, and highlighters by not having to write with them, and you're even saving your back by not having to carry around heavy scores. This means, of course, that you need to own a tablet.... but I'm guessing that the majority of us already do, or know someone nice who would let us borrow theirs.<br />
<br />
Okay, I hope that this list has gotten you thinking about how these tips can help you to live your singing life more sustainably, and I am looking forward to your comments and ideas of other methods we can all employ. Every little bit counts!</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-78694453159912861502018-03-08T14:42:00.001-05:002018-03-08T14:42:51.569-05:00Teaching Others: A Matter of Trust and Self-Evaluation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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 <i>everyone</i> is a good teacher; but I'd argue against that theory and here's just a few reasons why.<br />
<br />
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, theoretically, you can, at the very least, give someone a basic idea of how to begin doing what you do (a.k.a. singing, composing, playing an instrument...you get the picture).<br />
<br />
Secondly, even if you've been performing for the past decade at such a crazily high level we can't even begin to fathom it (which, again, congratulations and thanks for doing what you're doing for music and culture) you still can at least help those students who are on the cusp of joining you in the crazily-high-level world of performing. (Relax, they're not there to steal your job- they're only just starting out- you've got clout and experience- that counts for a lot- but it also means that you need to pay it forward and give someone new a helping hand just as someone gave you once.)<br />
<br />
Thirdly, no matter how expert you are in your music-making, I guarantee you that teaching others, regardless of their achievement level, will give you greater insight and clarity into your own artistic process and help you to deepen your artistry in ways that you could never imagine. When we spend time thinking about how and why we do the things we do, it forces us to examine whether or not what we're doing is still serving us. We might realize that we are still executing some facets of our technique habitually and with less awareness than we'd like. Or we may notice that we could be more subtle regarding our emotional connection to a piece. Or we may finally be able to pinpoint why we are successful at what we do and thereby streamline our rehearsal techniques for greater efficiency. Whatever it is we notice, we definitely will notice something, and oftentimes several somethings upon which we can improve.<br />
<br />
Fourthly, I know that many of us have had less-than-stellar experiences during our training with teachers who were emotional vampires, over-critical, manipulative or just plain mean. We may worry that we'd unintentionally psychologically scar a student by saying something inappropriate or worst of all, somehow morph into that hated teacher (just as many of us may also fear becoming like our parents in one way or another) simply because we were exposed to their bad behavior. However, our past bad experiences allow us now to easily identify that which we want to avoid and that which we'd like to actively encourage. That way our students can flourish instead of flounder, and we can break the chain of dysfunctional and damaging teaching. Because of this, as our students grow older they will have a more healthy, positive outlook on music making and over decades this will positively influence the future of music in our culture and society. There is no better way to heal a scarred soul than to be kind and helpful to others who need it.<br />
<br />
So, not only am I asking those of you who've never taught to consider sharing the technical and spiritual understanding of your gifts with developing musicians who will be grateful for your guidance, but I'm also challenging you to try teaching because it allows you to bravely self-evaluate. Perhaps that's the true reason why not everyone teaches, because after the gazillion lessons and coachings we've had, we're tired of opening ourselves up to learning new perspectives and/or hearing constructive criticism. But if that's the case, then we need to reevaluate- because having a healthy curiousity about our actions and beliefs is what later on imbues our performances with a certain "je ne sais quoi" that separates the good musicians from the great ones. As musicians, our dilligent committment to fully serve the music requires that type of curiousity from us- not just when we are on stage, but in every moment of our lives- since that is the fabric from which we weave our interpretations. The richer our fabric is in intention and understanding, the better it can be absorbed and appreciated by our audiences.</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-60898340498960275242017-12-15T13:11:00.004-05:002017-12-15T13:11:57.431-05:00Yoga and Singing: A Perfect Match<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I write to you all after having just finished watching the movie titled "Awake: the Life of Yogananda". I have been profoundly impacted by this film and its interconnectedness to singing. More specifically, I was delighted, although somehow not surprised, to see that Amelita Galli-Curci, a very famous Italian opera singer in the early 1900's, was a visitor to Swami Yogananda's school in Los Angeles, California. The film shows that his teachings completely changed her approach to her own singing and benefited her not only psychologically but also heightened and improved her vocal abilities. This doesn't surprise me because I believe, as a singer, that we are drawn to discovering life's deep truths. We singers are called to tell stories that can uncover pathways into opening the hearts and minds of our listeners in order to positively change them and their views on life and their fellow human beings. When you sing for a living, you are inextricably bound to delve into the difficult emotional work which you have inside yourself, as well as that which you sense in the world around you; in the energy that you feel radiating from each place, thing and person that you meet. You are familiar with this as a singer because you are familiar with feeling the buzz of confirmation, like a bolt of lightning or electricity, when your voice melds with the sublime melody of life. You are listening and looking for the subtle vibrations which your body and your psyche confirm as correct, not only musically but also spiritually. Certainly we are not always experiencing these moments in singing, but when we do, we know. And that is why I think singing is something from which you cannot divest yourself once you've felt that strong pull to become a singer and to make singing your life. It is a calling.<br />
<br />
Every time that I've felt the profound calm that is bestowed upon me during meditation, or the supremely exalted feeling that sometimes comes over me while I'm practicing yoga in a series of Asanas, I am reminded how much singing is like yoga. In the best circumstances, singing can take you outside of yourself and your focus on the world and transport you into a realm of peacefulness, joy and love, since that is what you feel as the performer reflected back to you from the eyes of your audience members. Of course this doesn't happen during every performance, but I honestly feel like I know I've done my best when I am electrified in this way while singing, and I have gotten positive feedback from audience members that confirm this suspicion.<br />
<br />
I find too, that if I practice Asanas and meditation before I begin singing practice at home, that I am immensely more focused, more attuned to my abilities and the sensitivity with which I can evaluate my tone production both physically by sensations within my body but also aurally by listening to the sounds I'm producing. Yoga helps me feel alive and vibrant and keeps my body flexible, healthy and strong- all things that are necessary for singing. I am more aware of what my body is doing after I've practiced yoga and can therefore more accurately interpret the roles I'm singing, or more freely and organically choose certain reactions or postures without feeling locked in my body or tight in any way. This of course becomes extremely useful when I'm singing and want to portray someone who is utterly different from me in stature, character or manner. I am now much more malleable than I was before I began my daily practice of yoga several years ago.<br />
<br />
Thus, I can only encourage fellow singers to practice yoga in both Asana and meditation form, to deepen their awareness of themselves and increase the possibility that during singing they can access that special place of communion between the audience and themselves within the music.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-46501459938788494652017-09-23T02:53:00.005-04:002017-09-23T02:53:58.867-04:00Dissecting Vocal Technique: "O zittre nicht" sung by Christina Deutekom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div data-contents="true">
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="bc1m6" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0"><span data-text="true">This morning I was confronted with a video on Facebook that was posted by a fellow singer who was fascinated by the vocalism in the video and didn't really know exactly technically what was going on, so I decided to break it down in this blog post, because I think it's worth discussing how much tastes and vocal technical practice has changed in the past 49 years, since Christina Deutekom sang the role and was acclaimed by the New York Times (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristina_Deutekom" target="_blank">according to this Wikipedia biography of her</a>) as being 'the greatest Queen of the Night of our time'.</span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0"><span data-text="true">Here's the video: </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UdUddMXZAFM/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UdUddMXZAFM?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0"><span data-text="true"></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0"><span data-text="true">So- I sing this piece- and have been studying it and singing it for 4 years now-just so you know where my thoughts are coming from- and from a technical perspective this recording to me is all over the place. In the recitative she changes the text (at "ja schuldlos" and "dies tief" which at the time she was singing was normal- in fact people here in Germany have even suggested that I do that too sometimes--so it's still happening even now to some degree) and then in the waltz she's covering some vowels crazily and then others not at all (which I find to be the easy way out vocally speaking- of course it's easier not to cover the 'noch sehe ich' - but then it's really really bright in terms of color and I that they can be made prettier if you round out the sound a bit on the top and don't let it get so very horizontal) and she also totally drops out of her resonance/vocal legato line on the last 16th notes of the second 'boesewicht' which I think gives it less dramatic power, not to mention makes the next stuff you've got to sing a bit harder, unnecessarily. </span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0"><span data-text="true">And also- if I sang this today the way she's singing it in terms of vibrato use (and I mean that she really uses a pretty wide vibrato throughout the piece, but especially in the slow second half of the waltz), I'd be immediately advised that it was 'too much vibrato' and that it should be more controlled, more thin, etc...so I'm not sure if that's a performance practice thing because people are going back a bit to thinking of the waltz as written in a style hearkening back to 'early music' and so should sound a bit more 'pure' in a Mozartean way, so aka- less vibrato- still vibrato- but just not so wide. I'd also be told that the 'lft' at the end of "ach, helft" should be able to be heard- unlike here where you can't hear it hardly at all when she does it. </span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0"><span data-text="true">You can also hear if you listen closely on her "du, du, du' that she doesn't set them up correctly support-wise (they should feel as if they're building upon the momentum of the previous one and not just sitting there- they need forward motion) because at the end of that phrase on "gehen" you can tell she's slightly out of breath- and that doesn't have to be the case there if you manage the 'du's' differently. </span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0"><span data-text="true">There's also a different way of thinking about the singing of the phrase immediately after "ja! du wirst der tochter retter sein"- there's large intervals upward on "du wirst" and she just lets them kinda plop out, but you can sing them so that they're connected in a more graceful way with better legato and I think that the direction of the musical phrase speaks better- and I've been told this by countless coaches and teachers too. </span></span><span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" style="background-image: url("https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/fb0/1.5/16/1f609.png"); background-size: 16px 16px; height: 16px; width: 16px;"><span class="_ncl"><span data-offset-key="arbp4-1-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></span></span><span data-offset-key="arbp4-2-0"><span data-text="true"> At the "und werde ich dich als Sieger sehen, so sei sie dann auf ewig sein"- you can hear that she's vocally 'placing' every note and not letting her ear lead her voice there and I find it a bit bumpy-sounding. It could be clearer there with better legato. Not to mention, that's not a vocally friendly way to sing that passage- especially if you're going to be singing this role a lot- talk about vocal fold wear and tear! </span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-2-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-2-0"><span data-text="true">Then starting at the 'so sei sie dann' where it then turns into the coloratura runs- those first words are sung normally- then you hear a bit of an 'ng' thing being done by her vocally-right before the long coloratura run on an 'ah' in the score- which is to prepare her to yodel these next passages- yes, they're yodeled- you can tell it by the way that the notes kind of slur together in the overtones and how it nearly sounds like she's doing a 'g' at the start of some phrases, and also how towards the end of the run in the two sixteenth, one eighth note patterns its clear she's yodeling because her rhythm is off but she can't do anything about it because she's in the 'yodel'- and to change the rhythm she'd have to break out of that type of vocal production which would break her line (not a yodel expert but maybe someone is who can explain this technically better than I?) she instead sings something that sounds like swung triplets- which I think most conductors nowadays would kill her for- I've sung them even the slightest bit unevenly simply because they're really hard (lol) and yikes---the response wasn't pretty. </span></span><span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" style="background-image: url("https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/f24/1.5/16/1f641.png"); background-size: 16px 16px; height: 16px; width: 16px;"><span class="_ncl"><span data-offset-key="arbp4-3-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></span></span><span data-offset-key="arbp4-4-0"><span data-text="true"> From the 'ewig dein. Auf ewig dein, auf ewig dein.' she's singing normally again technique-wise. </span></span><span data-offset-key="arbp4-4-0"><span data-text="true">In case you need a comparison to fully believe the yodeling supposition on my part, here's two videos to check out: (the second one at 1:03-1:04 sounds especially like the Deutekom 'O zittre nicht' at 4:15-4:17)</span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-4-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FhYVWGRQcAE/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FhYVWGRQcAE?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UMIjGYjSTrM/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UMIjGYjSTrM?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-4-0"><span data-text="true"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-4-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="arbp4-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="arbp4-4-0"><span data-text="true">So, to sum up, there are some things that I disagree with that she does only because I think they're not actually the most healthy choices for her voice and that the healthier choices technique-wise would also sound prettier, but overall you've got to give the woman credit. She's making it work and she's got a great high F (which is possibly all most people in the audience care about, lol) and so yeah....I hope this explanation helps those of you who aren't Coloraturas and or haven't ever worked on or sung this piece. </span></span><span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" style="background-image: url("https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/fb0/1.5/16/1f609.png"); background-size: 16px 16px; height: 16px; width: 16px;"><span class="_ncl"><span data-offset-key="arbp4-5-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></span></span><span data-offset-key="arbp4-6-0"><span data-text="true"> It's surprising how different performance practice is today from when she sung- and she was discovered and championed by none other than Elisabeth Schwarzkopf- so it's pretty fascinating how many things have changed since then- since the advent of technology helping us learn more about our vocal production, to changes in taste in terms of performance practice...it's a whole different world nowadays.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-36374151751542750362017-04-04T02:51:00.002-04:002017-04-04T02:51:30.321-04:00HOW-TO: Choose Music for a Solo Recital<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I think it's safe to say that all of us Singers will have to sing a Solo Recital at some point or another. Which, just to be specific, is a concert where the singer performs a bunch of songs with piano accompaniment for about an hour to an hour and a half, max. That's the traditional Solo Recital, hence calling it "Solo", because the Singer is the main performer and it's basically a showcase of their singing abilities.There are, of course, other variations on the traditional Recital theme, where you collaborate with other Musicians- either Instrumentalists or Singers or both- and one singer is not the sole focus of the event. This is sometimes called a Collaborative Recital (but some people refer to a Solo Recital as a Collaborative Recital too- so just note, these terms are flexible), and is also a common type of performance which you'll see just as often as Solo Recitals.<br />
<br />
Which brings me to the reason for this blog post, and the most exciting part of any Recital besides actually singing it: <i>choosing the Repertoire you'll be performing</i>!<br />
<br />
Normally if you are singing a Solo Recital within the confines of an academic program, such as an Undergrad, Master's, Performance Certificate or Doctoral program, then you will most likely have specific guidelines as to the duration of your performance, the type of Repertoire you'll be required to perform in terms of languages and time periods they belong to, and the way that you need to format your printed-out concert programs. (Oftentimes a university likes to have all the printed materials for events that take place on its campus look the same way, so it makes sense that there'd be a standardized format for anything that the public would receive, like a concert program, for instance. And because of that, it is normally explained in your degree requirements or on the University website, how you should design and format your program, so do be sure to look for that information if you are performing this Recital for a degree requirement.)<br />
<br />
If you are organizing and performing a Recital independently from an academic institution and not as a degree requirement, however, then you will be happy to know that you have 100% free reign to choose the Repertoire, design the program and concert posters and choose the pianist and or additional musicians with whom you'll be working. Though, this does come with a lot more responsibility because you are solely in charge of every aspect, I can assure you that it is a very rewarding endeavor.<br />
<br />
Anyway, back to choosing your Repertoire!<br />
<br />
I always find that it's helpful to keep a list of my entire Repertoire handy and up-to-date so that when I want to plan a Recital, I can just look at it, see what I know and then go from there. It's a lot easier than trying to remember off the top of your head which Schubert pieces that you know have "Fruehling" in the title, for instance. It's also a time-saver, since you may not always have a few months free to learn an entirely new hour's worth of music. Once you've looked at what you already know, you will be able to come up with a theme or idea around which you can focus the pieces you'll be singing. This way, even pieces from vastly different time periods, languages or moods will fit together logically and there will be a "flow" that the audience can understand and appreciate. Remember, you as a performer want to make your audience feel comfortable with you so that they remain open both emotionally and psychologically. This enables your singing to take them on a journey that will enlighten and enliven them, and most importantly- make them want to come to your next Recital!<br />
<br />
So, for example, let's just say we choose to do a Recital based on the theme of 'Springtime'. There are various ways that you could begin choosing pieces for that theme. You could consider which pieces have the word Spring in the title or the lyrics, or which pieces were composed in the Springtime, or which pieces evoke the feeling of Springtime for you (even if they're not directly referencing Springtime in the words or title). Those are just a few of the ways you can do it. You could also examine a Theme that's a little more concrete- something like "French Melodie of the late 1800's", for example. That way you'd be focused on a certain time period, but be free to choose all sorts of pieces in terms of song text, tempo, and mood. If you choose to go with a time period for your theme you should also remember that some time periods were much more exciting compositionally than others. The more close to our modern age, the more musical diverse your program can become, simply because more modern composers have a wealth of compositional techniques and knowledge from Composers before them that they can draw on which someone like Monteverdi or Haendel didn't have. It's also possible, depending on which time period you choose, that you'll only be able to choose from certain languages- for example, Godric was the first known British composer in 1065 and Hildegard von Bingen was the first German composer in 1068, but at this time period you won't find music from French, Italian or US-American composers (especially since the USA as we know it today didn't even exist at that point). So, those are certainly things to consider when deciding to go with a time period.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<u>And now, a quick side note, that I learned about programming music from relatively obscure Composers:</u></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
If you are interested in finding music which is lesser-known and rejuvenating it with your performances for the collective appreciation of today's audiences, you will have to do research. Oftentimes the reason that these Composers' works are not performed nowadays is because they were never published, or if they were, then only in very limited edition. If the Composer you've chosen is still alive, your best bet is to figure out how to contact her or him and ask if you could perform their piece "So-and-So" where ever you intend to perform it. I've heard of many musicians being granted permission to perform obscure pieces this way, and the Composer may even come to the concert, if you're lucky, which is totally exciting, isn't it!? Of course, if the Composer whose pieces you would like to perform is already deceased, then you'll have to figure out where their music is being kept. Many Composers had their entire Oeuvres donated to famous archives at notable libraries, for example, the <a href="https://www.paul-sacher-stiftung.ch/en/home.html" target="_blank">Paul Sacher Stiftung in Switzerland</a>, or the Harvard, Princeton, Yale, or Eastman University Libraries, just to name a few. It is also possible that a Composer's music is stored with their family members- whether they be recently deceased and their music is kept by their Spouse or Children, or they passed away a long time ago and the Great-Great-Great-Grandchildren are in possession of it. That's also a definite possibility- like in the case of the Wagner family- who set up an Archive of Richard Wagner's music in Bayreuth, which is also a museum, open to the public. Keep in mind, with all of this, it's quite possible that the pieces you want to perform may not have been recorded and you can't hear what they sound like until you get your hands on the sheet music and play it yourself at the piano. This isn't always the case, but it certainly is possible. And it's a risk you have to be willing to take if you want to discover pieces that are long-forgotten. You may ask yourself after reading all this how you'd even go about finding these obscure Composers in the first place? Well, you can use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_composers" target="_blank">this handy Wikipedia article</a> where they list a heck of a lot of Composers in various ways (chronologically, based on their nationality, and based on the period in which they composed) as a starting point. Then once you've found someone who piques your interest, you can research further to find out more about them. Thanks to the Internet, you can do much of this online and you may even be able to receive the music via email from the institutions/individuals who are in possession of it. At any rate, if you are not afraid of doing a little digging (or a lot, in some cases) to find music that speaks to you and which you want to share with others, then I certainly recommend it as a way to keep your Recital programming fresh.</div>
<br />
Truly, the main goal in choosing Repertoire for a Recital is to keep it interesting and continuously evolving- like a story. You want to have the audience just as interested at the end of the concert as they were at the beginning. And you can do that by pacing within the overarching theme that you chose. Choose groups of songs that have a common thread somehow (whether it be language, or composer, or time period, or key word in the lyrics or title, etc.) and then take these small groups of songs (6 at the maximum, I'd say) and alternate them with other small groups of interrelated songs which also somehow have something in common with the other small song groups, and voila! You've got a captivating Recital program!<br />
<br />
So, for those visual learners out there, since it gets a bit complex at this point, it could look something like this:<br />
<br />
Your theme could be: 'Springtime'<br />
Your Program could look like this: (FYI: I conceived this program for Soprano voice)<br />
<br />
Clara Schumann, Opus 23- 6 Songs from 'Jucunde'<br />
1. Was weinst du, Bluemlein<br />
2. An einem lichten Morgen<br />
3.Geheimes Fluestern<br />
4. Auf einem gruenen Huegel<br />
5. Das ist ein Tag der klingen mag<br />
6. O Lust, O Lust!<br />
<br />
Mozart- <br />
1. Das Veilchen<br />
2. Sehnsucht nach dem Fruehling<br />
3. An Chloe<br />
4. Abendempfindung<br />
<br />
Schubert-<br />
1. Im Fruehling<br />
2. Fruehlingsglaube<br />
3. Am Bach im Fruehling<br />
4. Heidenroeslein<br />
<br />
Wolf-<br />
1. Er ist's<br />
2. Fussreise<br />
3. Im Fruehling<br />
4. Auch kleine Dinge<br />
<br />
Strauss- 'Maedchenblumen' Song Cycle<br />
1. Kornblumen<br />
2. Mohnblumen<br />
3. Efeu<br />
4. Wasserrose<br />
<br />
<br />
So, to evaluate: the overall theme was served by the texts having something to do with Spring- either they blatantly mention Spring or Springtime, or they are about things that occur in spring- flowers, walking outside, falling in love, etc. You may have noticed that all the songs I chose in this particular program are in German; that was a conscious choice on my part. Of course, you aren't tied to creating programs in a single language. Even in keeping with the the them of Springtime you can find songs in Italian, English, French, or Spanish that would have worked. But, hopefully seeing this example helped to solidify the idea of 'smaller interrelated groups within a larger group' concept. <br />
<br />
You also want to make sure to choose your Repertoire with your audience and the location of your performance in mind. You could perform a recital program like the example I've given above in Germany basically anywhere because it's all sung in German, but you may not want to perform it, for example, in a suburb in Kentucky. The audience there might be challenged initially because of the language barrier, but that also means they'll have a difficult time enjoying it because it would all sound relatively the same after a while and they'd have to read along with the translations to really enjoy it. And I'm not saying that they wouldn't do that. Maybe they would- perhaps they were an audience of people who wanted to be challenged. But, perhaps they weren't. Maybe they just wanted enjoy a beautifully sung evening of songs but instead were confronted with a challenging program and were disappointed because of it. The point is, you have to be able to evaluate your audience beforehand, so that you don't program incorrectly and either overestimate or underestimate their ability to focus on and appreciate your musical offerings. Ideally, you want to try and aim for the middle of those two extremes by challenging them with a group of pieces that might be new to them in some way, and then rewarding them with a group that is familiar to them, which they can easily enjoy because they know them already. Repertoire that is familiar versus not familiar will be vastly different depending on the audience and the location. What is difficult to an audience in Billings, Montana might not be difficult to an audience in Chicago, Illinois, or vice versa. If you live in a very diverse metropolitan city it's probably safe to say that your audience members will be able to handle a musically challenging program, or at least a linguistically diverse one. It is your job to know what kinds of music the area where you'll be performing is exposed to regularly, and then base your Repertoire decisions off of that knowledge.<br />
<br />
So, I tried to cover everything that you will have to consider in choosing Repertoire for a Solo Recital. I hope it was easy to understand and helpful to those of you who are looking to choose your own music for upcoming performances. Of course, I don't pretend to know everything, so if you have good advice or other ideas which you'd like to share, please feel free to comment below. Thanks so much for reading, and as always, Happy Singing!</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-2634683931081747862017-03-28T07:59:00.005-04:002020-07-06T14:24:48.318-04:00Why LA LA Land is Dystopian, and what the National Endowment for the Arts and Ending the "Gig Economy" can do to fix it<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Like many of you, I went to the movie theaters a few months ago to see the movie "La La Land" because of all the rave reviews it was receiving from critics. As you can imagine if you've also seen the film and are a working Performing Artist, I was pretty angry at the predictability of the movie's plot, and their <span style="background-color: white;">insensitive and narrow-minded</span> presentation of an Artist's life and options they have. And, then coincidentally, my issues with La La Land were summed up, in a masterful blog post that I happened to stumble upon last week written by Linda Essig, who is the Director of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Programs at the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University, and if you're curious to read her thoughtful words, <a href="https://creativeinfrastructure.org/2017/01/08/la-la-land-of-broken-dreams/" target="_blank">you can click here to see her post</a>.<br />
<br />
Basically, what she says is what I was feeling right after seeing the film. Why does life's trajectory always get over simplified to two distinct and different choices for an Artist in people's minds (and sometimes, sadly, due to societal pressures, also in the mind of the Artist)? Those choices are either 1.) pursue your career and individual artistic goals but thereby forfeit all other things (like: a fulfilling relationship with a significant other, having your own children, keeping in touch with your family and close friends, or even keeping a handle on your individuality as an Artist) or option 2.) choose to have a "life" (in this case meaning where you do normal things like live in one place for long periods of time, get married, have children, have pets, spend time with your family and friends, and do things for fun that aren't related to your individual artistic goals) but then sacrifice something else (like the love of your life) simply because you can't have choice #1 and #2 at the same time. <br />
<br />
Does this seem reductionist to you too?!? Well, good. That's because it is.<br />
<br />
Why are we constantly told by society that Artists cannot have both option #1 and #2? And why do people believe that!? I'll tell you why. My theory is two pronged. One, because the majority of people who aren't Artists don't know what we do all day and can't fathom it. So they think that we Artists are just having fun all the time (because we love what we do so much) and since our work is just 100% fun, it doesn't merit the rewards that a person receives when they work a "normal job". (And why is being an Artist not considered a normal job!? More on that later....) So why should we Artists deserve to have things like full-time employment, job security, health care, pension plans, maternity leave or paid sick days? We shouldn't, in their minds. Because we're just goofing around all day creating our "Art".<br />
<br />
News flash!!! We are working just as hard as people who have jobs which others can easily understand from their job title (HR Manager, IT-Specialist, Public Relations Coordinator, Chief Executive Officer), and oftentimes we are working harder! Why? Because we are forging new pathways. And those don't come with a road map or warnings of possible danger. We are forced to create something new and develop it all on our own (without high-tech factories and teams of Research and Development Engineers) and that takes time, full concentration and dedication and ultimately...money--which means also that you've found someone who is willing to exhibit, or hire you to perform, the art that you've created and developed.<br />
<br />
And Two, because we Artists find ourselves in a system which was created to punish us (by not offering us adequate pay, full-time employment, health care--basically everything on the list in the previous paragraph) for choosing to pursue our Art, and eventually we become so beaten-down by struggling to create our Art in this impossible system that we are duped into accepting our fate as being a choice much like what we find in La La Land. Either create Art (which is actually a basic need for Artists, woven into the fibre of our very beings) or have a life where you can live like a normal human being with financial security and surrounded by those who love you in a safe and nurturing environment, but therefore have to sacrifice your Art and your dreams. It's kind of like a choice between having your heart in your body but being dead, or being a zombie but having no heart.<br />
<br />
I'd like to argue that there is a third alternative. Many of you know that I've lived in Germany for 6 years now. But I've got to start at the beginning for this story to make sense.<br />
<br />
I'm originally from Pennsylvania and went to school in Princeton, New Jersey and New York City for my Undergraduate and Master's Degrees. I grew up in a small-town in Pennsylvania and was a straight-A student all through school, as well as a successful musician, playing the Oboe, Piano and Singing. When I went to Undergrad things got more difficult because the workload increased and to help pay for school expenses I got a few part-time jobs. I also was introduced into the world of Young Artist Programs and what that all meant. (Basically applying year-round for various training programs, oftentimes taking place in the summers, which would cost anywhere from $1,000 to $4,000 and which I "needed" to do in order to supplement my education with practical performance experience and networking opportunities with notable, more experienced conductors and big-name teachers.)<br />
<br />
Then, once I was finished my Undergrad I applied for my Master's which included application fees (back then in 2006 they were $100 each for Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music and Mannes), and I didn't just apply to 3 schools, because I knew that'd be risky, so I applied to SUNY Purchase, Eastman and a few others too. Anyway, after all the traveling for the auditions and the application fees were paid, I had spent at least $1,000 total. Then once audition time rolled around I didn't get accepted to Eastman, SUNY Purchase accepted me but didn't give me any scholarship money, and then Juilliard, MSM and Mannes were all happening on 3 days back-to-back in NYC and I got Bronchitis a few days prior and had no voice. Stupidly they don't allow you to reschedule because of illness, even if you have a doctor's note, so I missed those auditions and consequently didn't get accepted to those schools either.<br />
<br />
At any rate, my student loans were piling up (because I was taking Federal Loans as well as Private Loans to pay for my education which was around $29,000 per year) and I couldn't take a year off until I applied again to my Master's program because I'd be swallowed alive by monthly loan payments and wouldn't be eligible for any new loans for a second degree, so I did what anyone would do, and asked around to see if there were still schools in NYC accepting applications with voice degree programs. Lo and behold, I found out that Hunter College had a Master's in Voice, and you didn't even have to study with the professor on faculty- you could find your own private teacher for your degree lessons, and they were accepting applications. So, I applied, was accepted, got a half scholarship, which was a huge help, and started my Master's the following year.<br />
<br />
Again, I was in a financial pinch, because I needed money to live, so I found a Nannying job which was 30 hours a week which paid my rent and my food expenses just barely. But I didn't have health insurance. I couldn't. It was $237 a month and I simply didn't have the money to afford it.<br />
<br />
To give you an idea of my schedule back then: I'd go to classes every night of the week (Hunter offers night classes for their Master's Degrees since it's a reality that many of their students have to have a job concurrently while going to school) and then I'd work all day long before that at my Nannying job, then I'd grocery shop late at night or early in the morning and do my homework on the bus or on the weekends in advance of due dates or whenever I had a spare moment. As you can imagine, I was living in a constant struggle just to survive.<br />
<br />
I was living on Chinese take out when I didn't have time to cook, or microwaveable noodles, or street vendor hot dogs or whatever was on sale that week at the grocery store (which we all know isn't always the healthy food!), and I was working myself to the bone every day so that I could accomplish it all. At the end I managed to emerge with a 3.8 GPA and a Master's Degree. But I didn't have a singing job, and I didn't have any sort of job.<br />
<br />
So I began working as a Temp after graduating, while still taking private voice lessons once a week (which cost $150 an hour, and for NYC that's relatively reasonable. I know teachers who charge $250 an hour nowadays!) and applying for as many Young Artist Programs as I could, hoping I'd get my 'big break' and be heard by someone who would help me take the next step and become a Professional Singer. Luckily, I was able to land a full-time position through the Temp agency as an Administrative Assistant in a Law firm in Midtown NYC, in the Labor & Employment Department. I was working there about 38 hours a week and in my free time was practicing my singing and preparing for auditions which I scheduled in my lunch break and then walked or took cabs to, since most of them were also in Midtown Manhattan. Normally I'd eat the food that was leftover in the Firm's Conference Rooms for lunch and dinner and go home exhausted. And I did that for 2 years while spending thousands of dollars on application and participation fees for Young Artist Programs which inevitably always improved my singing (because let's face it, I wasn't forced to work a day job answering phones all day and sitting at a computer for 7 hours before trying to sing, which is only obvious that that would improve my singing), but career-wise they got me nowhere. So I was in a rut that I didn't know how to get out of except keep hoping that it was because I hadn't had the lucky moment where that important person heard me.<br />
<br />
So I took a chance and quit my job in NYC and moved back home with my Mom to Pennsylvania because I was accepted to a year-long Apprentice Program with a company in Philadelphia. They didn't pay any money, but I didn't have to pay them to participate, so I figured it was at least not putting me further in debt. After that year, where I performed a ton of operas and covered a lot of roles, I also was singing better than ever, but still hadn't entered the realm of Professional Singing where I'd get paid to perform. It was a never ending cycle that all centered around money. Not having any, not making any, and never getting paid gigs.<br />
<br />
Ah, right. Money and gigs. That brings me to the next article that I read recently in the New Yorker which made me seething mad, because it is so true and highlights a serious problem in the way we pay and treat our Artists, <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/culture/jia-tolentino/the-gig-economy-celebrates-working-yourself-to-death" target="_blank">and I suggest you read it here so that you know what I'm talking about</a>. It was explaining a concept that has become an everyday reality in the fabric of USA's business dealings with Artists, something known as the "gig". The article was titled "The Gig Economy celebrates Working Yourself to Death" and examined an ad released by the Internet company Fiverr which showed a woman whom they termed "a Doer" but who apparently, according to the ad, "...ate coffee for lunch...", followed through on her follow through and had sleep-deprivation as a drug of choice. She goes on to argue that Americans value self-reliance above all else and thereby see a person working themselves to death as a commendable act, rather than evidence of the system they're operating in having failed them. And I would go a step further. We haven't yet fully come to the understanding as a Society that the Arts are a vitally important part of life and that we have to support them (monetarily, in creating jobs and opportunities which are sustaining and reliable for Artists, and not just keeping them teetering above the poverty line, hanging onto their existence by a thread) and that the Art that they create is just as important as anything else in our lives. And until our entire Society comes to that conclusion, which must be encouraged through education and outreach programs and NOT continually espousing a romanticized but tortured version of their only being two options for Artists (a.k.a. "La La Land-dystopia"), then we will continue to suffer from all sorts of societal maladies like general discontentment, never being satisfied with anything, having a baseline level of stress in our lives, being overcome with greed and envy, and not fully appreciating what we have in our lives. Art gives you perspective. It allows you to examine your perceptions in a playful way and determine if they're still serving you. It gives you insight into the depths of the human soul. It urges you to be brave and gentle, understanding and open. It shows you different ways of thinking about your problems. It helps you to process your emotions in a cathartic way. It mirrors your life experience outside of yourself so that you can look objectively at how you might change for the better. It gives you a opening to give yourself a second chance. It makes you whole when you didn't know something was missing. It broadens your horizons and unlocks your imagination. It is essential.<br />
<br />
And Germany and the German Government know this. Thus, the culmination of my Third Option for Artists- and no, it's not move to Germany- but rather, you have to fashion your life into what you want it to be and don't accept society's ideological limitations as actual limitations. Okay, what do I mean by that? Well, here in Germany I have been performing my own concerts in various venues for free. I don't get paid for my performances, but I am okay with that because I've decided that music is something that belongs to everyone and not just those who can afford to pay for it. Plus, I feel somehow that Art is not something which can be properly defined by a monetary value, so I don't want to place one on it. I know that this solution is not for everyone, but what I'm trying to say is that, I took my idea of what "success as a Professional Singer" meant to me, evaluated it, and looked at my situation (I am very lucky to have found a loving Husband who supports my Artistic goals and doesn't force me to get a job just to make money), and then tried to find a model which worked for what I wanted out of my life. I have found someone whom I love and want to share my life with. I don't like traveling all over the place for auditions, so I don't. I don't apply to programs that I know are just training programs but won't bring me to a place of fulfillment for myself. I don't sing Arias that I don't like. I don't let myself be defined by a specific 'Aria Package' of 5 pieces in 4 different languages. I sing what I want at my concerts and I choose the venues and the collaborative musical partners myself. I create the promotional materials and my website myself. I do it all myself. And I don't have a huge following of 'fans' or have made thousands of dollars with this, but I do have a deep sense of self-worth and have found a sense of calm and safety that I never before experienced when I was trying to become a "Professional Singer" in my earlier education. What I ultimately learned from my education is nothing that I was taught in a classroom. Instead, I realized that creating Art is something that needs a feeling of safety so that I can be vulnerable enough to expose my innermost yearnings and make them audible and visible to the audience members with whom I take that journey. And that feeling of safety forced me to throw out the Option #1 or #2 model and create my own Option #3, where the first two options where combined, shaken up a little, and then pared down to what I needed, individually.<br />
<br />
Oh, and apropos- education and outreach programs- let me introduce you to the National Endowment for the Arts (or the NEA, for short)! <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/reggieugwu/11-things-you-probably-didnt-know-the-nea-helped-create?bftw&utm_term=.kg782rq68#.hydavkRVa" target="_blank">Here's a cool article that tells you about just a few of the many projects that the NEA has helped to realize </a>which have made a large positive impact on our culture and society and helped to build a cultural legacy that we can look back upon and be proud to have future generations discover.<br />
<br />
Let's look at this idea of Education and Outreach and what it can do. For example, let's take Major League Soccer. They didn't leave it to chance that soccer fans would just automatically appear in the USA so that they'd have people coming to their games, buying their merchandise, paying for their players' salaries, and ultimately loving Soccer. No, Sir! What they did was started putting their marketing efforts and money into sponsoring teams for school-age children all over the nation so that once those kids grow up, they automatically become life-long soccer fans. Voila! They actually have developed 6 Official MLS Youth Soccer Partners (America SCORES, AYSO, NSCAA, SAY Soccer, US Youth Soccer, US Club Soccer), and there are programs organized by these partners throughout the entire USA. Talk about a successful outreach program!!<br />
<br />
And the National Endowment for the Arts does that too- the only difference is that it takes Taxpayer money to finance this outreach effort. However, when you consider that it is only $0.46 cents per person that it costs to continue the <a href="https://creativeinfrastructure.org/2017/03/16/an-nea-story-savethenea/" target="_blank">NEA's important work, I think you will admit that that is a minuscule amount of money to pay in exchange for something so worthwhile.</a> In fact, the USA spends only a small fraction of its money on supporting the Arts <a href="http://www.alternet.org/culture/culturally-impoverished-us-nea-spends-140th-what-germany-doles-out-arts-capita" target="_blank">in comparison to other countries like Germany, Northern Ireland and France, like this article explains.</a><br />
<br />
So perhaps next time you see any one of these complex facets of the issue of understanding the Arts and Artists who create it, please keep in mind that in order to change our society into a place where the Arts are appreciated and available for all we have to continue to financially support individual artists and their projects through organizations like the NEA. This way, the outcome of these projects and educational efforts will be rewarded with a Society that is more humane and generous in its understanding and acceptance of itself as a whole and also of the billions of unique individuals that it comprises.</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-66650347831450782142017-03-28T04:10:00.004-04:002017-07-07T07:12:02.865-04:00What an ENT Doctor Visit is like for an Opera Singer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So I was lucky enough to recently have had vocal troubles. I know, I know- sounds not so lucky. But, behold! It was. Because my vocal troubles were really minimal, actually. It started rather slowly and then got worse; I was often a bit hoarse after singing (either after an hour-long coaching of Opera Arias, or after 2 hours of private practice at home) and I knew that that wasn't normal. So off to the ENT Doctor (Ear, Nose and Throat, or in Germany they are called HNO which stands for Hals, Nasen, Ohren- the same as in English, just "auf Deutsch") I went. And luckily for me, here in Munich there is a ENT that works in the Klinikum Rechts der Isar, which is run by the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (for those non-German speakers- the Hospital on the right side of the Isar [River], which is run by the Technical University of Munich) who works in a department of the hospital which was specifically designed to treat Musicians' injuries. Cool, right? They often deal with things like repetitive stress injuries for instrumentalists or, in my case, something having to do with vocal distress from singing, which is then treated by their on-staff ENT.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I thought it was pretty darn amazing that there was a whole department of one of the hospitals here that was dedicated to musicians' medical issues, so I was definitely more excited than usual to get checked out. (Normally, I'm not all that pumped to go to the ENT. I mean, sure, it's nice to know that my vocal folds are A-okay and things are looking healthy, but the actual being scoped is not a favorite free time activity of mine. If you're not sure what a Laryngoscopy is then take a look at <a href="http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/laryngoscopy#1" target="_blank">this comprehensive explanation of it on WebMD</a>. What we singers usually experience when we go into the ENT's office to get checked up is either a 'Flexible Laryngoscopy' or an 'Indirect Laryngoscopy', the latter of which is what I had at this appointment because the doctor said it helps her see the Vocal Folds most clearly while I'm singing- because normally you're asked to sing a note on an "ee" vowel or "ah" vowel while they look at your vocal folds via the scope.) Firstly, and perhaps retrospectively funniest but also most depressing in the moment, was that upon my arrival at the hospital I asked the woman at the front desk where I could find the Department for Musicians' Injuries (called "Musiker Ambulanz" auf Deutsch) and she was like, "Um....what? We have one of those?". To which my brain was like, "Of course! Why didn't I expect that? Even in a hospital it seems that music gets lowest billing. Sheesh. Is there anywhere we musicians can go in society without feeling like we're forgotten about or not wanted?" Of course, you see, my brain was way too psyched to have a wonderful experience and then its hopes were dashed. So, on one hand, at least we got that out of the way first and it wasn't the doctor who was disappointing, but on the other hand.....jeez- truly- why does it seem like musicians can't get any "R.E.S.P.E.C.T."? I mean, even the doctors who dedicated themselves to treating our injuries and illnesses seem to have now unilaterally been "put in the corner" for wanting to hang out with us. Ugh. Okay, moving on.<br />
<br />
At least after I went on a wild goose chase to find the "Musiker Ambulanz" and aggravated at least 5 more different departments within the hospital to whom I was directed to by other equally-clueless departments who thought they were the right place (Ha! The irony continues!!) I finally, by sheer determination and going out a hospital door that was clearly marked "please use other exit when raining" (and it was raining! Sorry God!!) I found my destination. Where, I noted much to my chagrin, that the buzzer on the door of the building where they were located didn't even have their department name on it. GAH!! I really tried to forget how silly it was that no one knew they existed but now THIS!? Ay carumba. Seems like they need an organizational guru around here. And preferably one who's a music lover. ;)<br />
<br />
Anyway, here's where the story takes a distinct upturn in its trajectory.<br />
<br />
I entered the non-correctly-labeled building, proceeded up to the first floor and found, at the end of a long hallway, a door labeled "Musiker Ambulanz". Woo Hoo! Success!! And, an actually correct label. Interesting! Trying not to let my now renewed hopes get the best of me, I knocked firmly but not authoritatively. Just enough to let whomever was on the other side of that door know (which was locked, by the way, I tried the knob) that I was there and politely looking forward to my appointment and rather <i>less</i> politely looking forward to filling out any paperwork that would be required. (I hate paperwork. Did I mention that?)<br />
<br />
Within seconds, the door was opened by a tall woman with brown hair who was wearing a white doctor's coat and looking smart and authoritative. I liked how this was developing. She then told me that I'd have to fill out these papers (which she handed to me on a clipboard with a pen attached) and then once I was done I should knock again and she'd tell the doctor I was there. Well, so far so good, I thought. Then I looked at the papers that were on the clipboard for me to fill out. Holy mackerel! There must have been at least 10 double-sided pages to complete. Yeesh. I better get started.<br />
<br />
The questions on the first few pages were something that you'd expect- name, address, insurance info, any prior illnesses, allergies to medications, surgeries, et cetera. All stuff that I've seen on every medical questionnaire. Then it got much, much stranger. I knew that they dealt solely with musicians, and thus by default mainly professional singers, when I got to the questions like "Does singing nowadays make you feel depressed?", "Are you worried about not being able to make a living with your singing because of your current vocal problems?", "Are you frustrated with how your voice sounds?"....etc. All those things were like....wow, they definitely know what singers have to go through psychologically and physically when our voice isn't working correctly! I finally felt validated that I was in a place where people really understood me for once. Even if it was in a non-correctly-labeled building that few people in the hospital even knew existed. Who cares!! At least it exists, and that's a start!<br />
<br />
Of course, as I was only halfway through the considerable paperwork, another door opened in the middle of the hallway and it was yet another woman in a white lab coat with brown hair, this time albeit a much shorter woman, and she called my name. As I slung my book bag over my shoulder (which I was carrying because a physical therapist told me it's better than a purse since the weight is evenly distributed on both shoulders- but that's a story for another blog post) she held out her hand for the paperwork clipboard, which I gave to her while feeling totally guilty since it wasn't yet done (!!), and followed her into the examination room. She motioned for me to sit and as I took a seat she looked through the paperwork and when she reached the middle and the pages that were still empty she said "Ah, okay, no problem". Phew!! I felt better. Perhaps she knew she was jumping the gun by calling me before I'd finished the paperwork. Anyway, she said it was okay and I could fill the rest out later, but that now she'd like to hear what my symptoms were.<br />
<br />
I explained to her that I'd been experiencing for the past few months a bit of vocal tiredness after speaking German for a long time (on the phone for example) and also feeling the same thing while speaking English after a long time too. Plus, I felt that somehow it was connected to my singing because as my voice got tired from talking my singing voice also was less available and that was making me basically avoid all conversation so that I could at least practice singing. However, when I did sing, I also noticed that my voice felt tired, so that was worrisome. To my great surprise, she actually took my description of my symptoms seriously and said it could definitely have something to do with how I was speaking, or perhaps how I was speaking either German or English, and more possibly German because it was my second language. She said it was good that I came to check out what was really going on, and that a colleague of hers would do an evaluation of my singing and speaking voice and then she'd scope me to see my vocal folds in action afterward.<br />
<br />
<br />
Thus she sent me back out into the hallway to wait for the next evaluation by her colleague, who promptly emerged from yet another door further down the hallway, and beckoned me to follow her into the examination room. Whereupon I was introduced to another woman who was also dressed in a lab coat and who was apparently a student training to be a speech therapist or ENT...my mind's foggy on what exactly she was studying now, come to think of it. Anyway, she had me sit down, then asked me to explain my problem and what I thought might be the issue. Then she asked a series of questions about my singing practice- what my warm ups are like, how often I talk during the day, which languages do I use and for how long per day, and when do I notice the most difficulty? Is it consistently a problem or only after certain difficult rehearsals or long phone calls? Anyway, her barrage of questions ended and she asked me to do a few things so that they could measure my voice's response to gauge if it was normal or not and also to evaluate the effectiveness of my breathing. I had to sing a sustained tone, as soft and loud as possible, shout (as if I were trying to get someone's attention far away), a chromatic scale ascending and descending to the extremities of my range, blow into a breath-measuring device and a bunch of other things. She then explained to me that I was speaking English at a relatively high pitch (normally healthy women speak naturally at a pitch around middle C, regardless of whether they're high Sopranos or not, she said--important to note, fellow women singers!!) and that I was speaking somewhere around an E, a few notes right above middle C. <br />
<br />
To me that didn't seem so very drastically different, and I explained to her the philosophy that a few voice teachers once told me (on separate occasions, so watch out, people! Don't fall into this trap!) that if you're a "High" soprano voice, you should really place your speaking voice where your voice likes to comfortably sing (i.e. the pitch range). So I had artificially moved the pitch of my speaking voice (which speaking English, not German, because I found that affected my German accent negatively) upwards because I was told it was better. However, now, retrospectively, it does seem that perhaps what those teachers were trying to prevent me from doing was speaking in the vocal fry. But- I only spoke sometimes in the vocal fry, so I'm not sure why I'd need to move the entire pitch of my voice upwards just in general. Anyway---that's the first lesson to be learned here---do NOT artificially alter the pitch of your speaking voice for any reason. The woman who did my voice analysis explained to me that when I was speaking artificially higher, it basically was like I was singing because I had to create in my vocal tract and mouth the conditions for me to speak higher (which only required the edges of my vocal folds to vibrate, much like what happens when I sing in my higher range) and thus my singing voice was tired when I hadn't sung- because it was like I was singing, just not supporting, and so that was the reason my voice was often hoarse or tired. Secondly, she explained that when you speak around the pitch level of middle C (which is typical for most women!), then your vocal folds naturally vibrate fully and entirely (not just the outer part of the folds, but the entire fold itself), almost like when you sing in 'chest voice', which is able to be more naturally supported by your body and thus is more suited to long time periods of use without producing vocal wear-and-tear. So that was my first issue that they helped me iron out, and I was glad for it. Then, she examined how I was speaking German and said that although I have a very good accent (aka, you cannot immediately tell that I'm an American) it may be that because I taught myself my German pronunciation (and didn't go to a speech therapist to get the accent minimized in a professionally trained way), it could very possibly be that I created considerable undo tension in the musculature surrounding my voice production (aka in the larynx, jaw, tongue, etc.) and that this happens frequently actually with people who are trying to eliminate accents. So, her idea was that I should see a Speech Therapist who could help me with the issue of 1.) eliminating my undo tension in the vocal tract and surrounding areas, and 2.) help me to speak German with a minimal accent in a correctly trained way, and not just approximating it by ear, as I had done myself. She assured me that she was pretty confident that those were my only vocal problems, and then she sent me back out to the hallway to wait for the other doctor who'd do my laryngoscopy.<br />
<br />
So within moments, I was called into the ENT's office and she gave me an "Indirect Laryngoscopy". She began by spraying a numbing spray into the back of my throat which strangely reminded me of the taste of cough syrup from childhood (yuck!) and then she held my tongue down with some gauze and stuck a laryngoscope into my mouth and looked at my the movement of my vocal folds while she asked me to sing a note on an "ee" vowel, on an "ah" vowel, then a scale on both vowels. Then it was over. She recorded what she saw and played it back to me on a monitor directly afterward. It was cool to see my own phonation in action. She also said that I am definitely a Soprano because my vocal folds don't fully come together in certain parts of my range (as is commonly observed in Sopranos) and that they were totally healthy and normal. Phew! My mind was eased for sure, though I did hate how my throat was feeling. Boy, that numbing agent was serious! I could barely feel myself swallow and when I did, it was totally strange. And she told me it could feel that way for up to an hour afterward and that I shouldn't drink or eat anything. Sigh.<br />
<br />
But, at least I found out so many important things during my visit to the "Musiker Ambulanz". Which I hope is a lesson to you, dear Reader, that you should not ever manipulate the tone at which you speak, and that you should always consult a professional when seeking to eliminate any accent that you may have, whether it be in your native language or a second or third or fourth language. You can cause yourself many unnecessary problems through both of these mistakes, and can freak yourself out too when your voice starts trying to tell you that it isn't right. ;)<br />
<br />
As always, Happy (and Healthy!!) Singing (and Speaking)!!!<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-11531272229646735892017-01-31T07:02:00.000-05:002017-01-31T07:02:18.546-05:00A Singer's Essentials: Accessories<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
For the New Year I wanted to offer you all some of my 'essential' products for a singer's life, so I've made a list of some things that I simply cannot live without. And no, in case you were wondering, I'm not being paid or compensated in any way to endorse these products. I merely like them enough to want to share their awesomeness with the world, and with you, dear Reader. Although I wouldn't mind having a lifetime supply of some of these things...and neither will you, once you try them! So, happy reading and happy finding new favorite go-to products for yourself or the singer who is dear to you.<br />
<br />
1.) <b>Burt's Bees Lozenges</b> (<a href="http://www.burtsbees.com/product/natural-throat-drops%3A-honey/01441-00.html">http://www.burtsbees.com/product/natural-throat-drops%3A-honey/01441-00.html</a>)<br />
<br />
Especially when Winter is in full force and we are plagued by dry air from indoor heating on full blast, having a lozenge in my purse or coat pocket at all times is essential. I especially like these because they don't have any high fructose corn syrup in them nor do they have any artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners or preservatives- it's truly the best lozenge that I've found on the market today.<br />
<br />
2.) <b>Eucalyptus Essential Oil</b> (<a href="https://www.instacart.com/whole-foods/products/136645-365-eucalyptus-essential-oil-2-fl-oz">https://www.instacart.com/whole-foods/products/136645-365-eucalyptus-essential-oil-2-fl-oz</a>)<br />
<br />
This picture illustrates a bottle that I purchased here in Germany (hence the German writing on the label) but it doesn't matter what brand or where you purchase this stuff- the link above shows that they have it at Whole Foods, for example- just that it's 100% pure essential oil. The reason this is one of my go-to products at all times of year is because Eucalyptus Essential Oil is excellent for getting rid of any nasal congestion that you may have. I just sprinkle a generous amount of it on the wall of the shower and then once you've created some steam the oil will evaporate slowly with the steam and you've essentially created your own gigantic vaporizer in your bathroom. It's truly the one remedy that I have used time and time again with fabulous results every time- stuffy noses beware!!<br />
<br />
3.) <b>Humidiflyer</b> (<a href="http://humidiflyer.com/">http://humidiflyer.com/</a>)<br />
<br />
The Humidiflyer is a nifty and useful little gadget that combats jet lag. Not seeing the direct relevancy to singing yet? Well, what if I told you that one of the main reasons that we get jet lagged is because the air on the airplane is so dry and you get slightly dehydrated because of it? Thus, enter the Humidiflyer! It was designed by a member of Air New Zeland's cabin crew, who wanted to combat the dryness he was constantly exposed to from flying, so he invented this amazing contraption. It has definitely changed my flying experience and bonus- I don't get jet lagged anymore either! Definitely a must for busy singers' schedules who don't want to worry about flying a few days early to combat jet lag. Now you just wear your Humidiflyer for the flight and Voila!-you're singing the same day or the next day without any dryness or residual flight-related vocal issues.<br />
<br />
4.) <b>Hollywood Fashion Secrets Stylette</b> (found this on <a href="http://www.ulta.com/classic-sophisticated-stylette?productId=xlsImpprod11441003" target="_blank">ulta's website</a>, on <a href="http://intl.target.com/p/hollywood-fashion-secrets-stylette-big-secrets-little-bag-pink-orange-10pc/-/A-16598889" target="_blank">target's website</a> and on the <a href="http://www.hollywoodfashionsecrets.com/index.php/shop/kits.html" target="_blank">hollywood website too</a>- so check all 3 if you're having trouble finding it)<br />
<br />
This small cosmetic bag is great because it's filled with a ton of useful fashion-emergency items so you can just throw it in your luggage or purse and you know that you are ready for any disaster! What it actually includes is: fashion tape (to hold your clothing in place or do a last-minute hemline), bra converting clips (to make your regular bra into a halterback for a spontaneous workout class), a deodorant removing sponge (because we've all forgotten to let it dry before putting on that little black dress..whoops!), garment shields (since we don't want to dryclean our blazer every time just because the armpits stink), and nipple concealers (for those shirts that are tight or those extra cold days where you don't want to wear a bra that feels like armor), lint removing sheets (because they're so much more compact than a lint roller!), a leather wipe (since that stain will set if it's not gotten rid of pronto!), 2 makeup removing cotton swabs (to remedy the effects of those times when you're on the subway applying your eyeliner and the driver hits the brakes extra hard), and a stain-removing wipe (because when you spilled the coffee on your leather bag you also got it on your pants leg too-oops!). I've also added my own emergency things to this bag too (because they fit in, so why not!?) and they are: bobbypins (in case my hair takes a vacation day), safety pins (you never know when a button will fall off or a zipper will break), a few extra black hair elastics (since I seem to always lose them), bandaids (you never know how terribly a papercut will bleed until you don't have a band-aid on hand), and an emery board (because your nails will always break or chip just when you least want it).<br />
<br />
<br />
5.) <b>Hollywood Fashion Secrets Fashion Tape</b> (<a href="http://www.hollywoodfashionsecrets.com/index.php/shop/apparel-body-tape/fashion-tape-keychain.html">http://www.hollywoodfashionsecrets.com/index.php/shop/apparel-body-tape/fashion-tape-keychain.html</a>)<br />
<br />
There's not much to say about this tape- it's your basic double-sided tape which helps to hold your clothing in place when you accidentally lose a button and your blouse would be popping open otherwise, or if you want to keep those bra straps in place when you're wearing a boatneck dress or things like that. You know, fashion emergencies. Hope that you'll find it as useful as I have. Oh, and this one even comes with a cute keychain so you can take it whereever you go- how cool is that!?<br />
<br />
6.) <b>Decibullz Custom Moldable Earplugs</b> (here on <a href="https://www.decibullz.com/product/custom-molded-earplugs/" target="_blank">their website</a>)<br />
<br />
My brilliant Husband got these for me after I complained extensively about a flight we took upon which there were 3 screaming babies for 9+ hours. Not to mention we were seated in the part of the plane right behind the engines (AND in 2 of the middle seats of a 2-4-2 seat configuration-Oy vey!) so that noise was crazy too and added to my ears' purgatory for the duration of said flight. Needless to say, after testing these babies out at a noisy club on New Year's Eve, I say bring on your crying toddlers and jet engine noise and anything else you can throw at me- I'm ready--these things work fabulously!!! And they're not nearly as expensive as noise-canceling headphones from Bose (which were the other option I was considering) and they actually work just as well. Because the downside about the ones from Bose were that they only worked fully to cancel the noise if you were playing music, and let's face it, as a musician I don't want to be forced to listen to music for a 9+ hour flight just simply to cancel noise. I don't know how you might feel, but I seem to find that because I work with music on a daily basis and have to listen so intently so very often, I normally just want silence when I'm relaxing. Of course the Bose headphones also had active noise canceling which you could turn on without playing music, but after trying them out at several of their stores, I found honestly that I could still hear things pretty well through despite the active noise-canceling system, and that it wasn't worth it to me to pay over $300 bucks for a product that didn't 100% noise cancel. So, back to the Decibullz. Of course they're not 100% noise-canceling either (but at $20-some bucks on amazon I wouldn't expect them to be) but they do drastically reduce the noise you hear, plus they come with the neat feature that you can mold them to your ear so that their effectiveness is improved through a good seal. Again, they're not perfect, but for my money and for my sensitive ears they block out a good bit of sound. They're also made in the USA, so that's cool too! :)<br />
<br />
7.) <b>NYX HD Concealer</b> (found here at <a href="http://www.ulta.com/hi-definition-photo-concealer-wand?productId=xlsImpprod3460285" target="_blank">Ulta</a>)<br />
<br />
This particular product I found by chance when I was looking for some concealer that was in a wand form and was also for HD use. I actually ended up going back to the store and buying another one once I had completely used the first one I had purchased for a few shows last summer. And I am not exaggerating when I say that in the dressing room for those shows all of my female colleagues were asking to use my concealer after the first dress rehearsal had ended and they saw how my makeup looked. So, it's a win-win. The product works superbly, it's cruelty-free because their products are certified by PETA (aka never are any of them tested on animals) and it's not going to cost you a bunch of money (I paid $4.99 at Ulta last time I bought it) though since it's such a good buy you may have to go to a few stores before you find it because it's often sold-out. (First world problems, people. Truly.)<br />
<br />
8.) <b>Zoom Recorder, Model # H5 </b>(found <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Zoom-H5-Four-Track-Portable-Recorder/dp/B00KCXMBES/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1485863005&sr=8-2&keywords=zoom+H5+recorder" target="_blank">here</a> on amazon.com and <a href="https://www.zoom.co.jp/products/handy-recorder/h5-handy-recorder" target="_blank">here</a> on their website)<b><br /></b><br />
<br />
So I know that everyone has their preference when it comes to recording devices for singing, but besides all the technical stuff that this thing can do (it can actually record 4 tracks at once, for example) it's also just really amazingly easy to use, requires only 2 AA Batteries to work, and is really the best recording quality I've gotten yet by using a do-it-myself device. I'll let you read the website to find out about the technical specs, but trust me, it's amazing and you won't be worry. Plus, it's under $300 on Amazon. What's to think about? That's less than a studio session right there! And is there really any reason to go into the studio for those YAP applications? I think not, especially when you can make studio-quality recordings whenever and whereever you like with this Zoom. :)<br />
<br />
9.) <b>Fast Scanner App</b> (in the Google Play Store website <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.coolmobilesolution.fastscannerfree" target="_blank">here</a>)<br />
<br />
This handy app is built for both iPhone and Android (yay!) and is FREE (who doesn't like that!?) and is literally super-easy to use. It has cropping functions and allows you to change the darkness of the scan as well as scan multiple pages to be saved in a single pdf document. It's a life-saver when you need music quickly (or any other document, for that matter) and want to transport it without all the hassle of photocopying it. I've definitely saved quite a bit of time and money using this app.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-11039657968690869342016-07-05T03:34:00.005-04:002016-07-05T03:36:04.228-04:00A Guide to Ethics for Professional Opera Singers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Dear fellow singing friends and professionals,<br />
<br />
I was awakened a few weeks ago by a few very unsavory experiences to the fact that it might be a good thing for me to talk about the Ethics of being a Professional Opera Singer. Before I start, I would like to say that I welcome all of your thoughts about this topic, so if after you've read my post you feel there's something to add, please do share it in the comments section below!<br />
<br />
It's certainly possible that these principles of professional ethics apply equally well to other industries, but I'll forge ahead with their relevance to being a singer, specifically. As a professional Opera singer who hasn't yet had her "big break" (a.k.a. a contract singing at an 'A-level' Opera house OR really any job which would allow me to actually earn a living wage from my singing in a year's time), I still feel it of the utmost importance for me to be "ethically professional" because I believe that having such an approach to living life benefits everyone and helps to create a positive environment where we live and work. Therefore, even though I have been hired to sing in numerous circumstances where there was already a less-than professional atmosphere, I always tried to rise above it and do the very best I that I could with the situation. However, a few basic principles have occurred to me to be true and important to keep in mind in <u>every</u> circumstance and they are as follows:<br />
<br />
1.)<b> Arrive to rehearsals and performances appropriately early so that you can be ready to do your best </b>(for me this usually means anywhere from 1-2 hours before the show starts so that I can properly get into character, finish warming-up my voice, get into costume and makeup and NOT generally run around stressing everyone out and yelling at people to help me with x,y,z so that I can get myself together on time and generally acting like a "Diva/Divo" in the negative sense of the word. If I'm arriving to a rehearsal I try to be at least 10-15 Minutes early in case there's something I'd like to review before it begins, or someone I need to talk with, or just give myself some time to generally relax and get focused before the rehearsal begins. Normally for rehearsals I've warmed up fully before I arrive, in contrast to my pre-performance routine.)<br />
<br />
2. <b>Treat others with whom you are working with courtesy, kindness and respect at all times </b>(this means everyone who is involved should be given the utmost respect, consideration and kindness that you'd expect them to give to you, and that includes people who you might think are "beneath" you in the hierarchy of the theater/production/etc.. Don't get a big head. Everyone is equally important and is there to help the greater cause, so keep up with your team spirit and don't let stress or a difficult circumstance make you into a monster where colleagues are concerned. They're most likely dealing with the same sorts of things too, so have a heart and some empathy.)<br />
<br />
3. <b>Do NOT EVER gossip or spread negative opinions about colleagues</b> (this means that if I'm working on a show and someone said something snippy that I don't go right to my friend in the company who wasn't there that day and tell them all about it, painting that person in a bad light. People have bad days. And who are we to judge, really? It's as simple as this: if a person is a jerky turkey others will find out soon enough on their own. You don't need to gain the reputation of a gossipy, mean-spirited person just to "uncover" that person's true nature- keep yourself above all that. And, karma will get them in the end-so don't worry about doing something about it yourself.)<br />
<br />
4. <b>When you are employing others- do NOT cancel on them at the LAST MINUTE because you're "friends" and they'll "understand" </b>(No, no they won't. They'll think you're a flaky jerk. That's what they'll think. And they will be very reticent to work with you again because you led them on and then it all came to nothing. Most likely they were counting on that money and now they are having problems paying their rent. Do you want that on your conscience? I didn't think so. So just don't do this one- it's not worth it!!!!)<br />
<br />
5. <b>Having Rehearsals/Meetings- Don't WASTE and/or ABUSE people's time! </b>(this means that if you are in charge of a rehearsal make sure to start punctually and to end punctually. How do you going to expect your colleagues to concentrate on the rehearsal if they know you'll be starting late or have a tendency to run over? They'll feel taken advantage of, and that's no way to rehearse/meet. Furthermore, have a well-structured rehearsal schedule so that the majority of people who are called to be at the rehearsal are occupied with something to do. For instance, if they're not in the scene for a little while let them take a break. Or if they're needed soon but could rehearse dance steps/lines/whatever with another colleague who is called later have them go do that together until they're needed. Make sure that you are keeping in mind how you can best use a person at all times. Respect their time. Rehearsals are not the only time they spent on this piece- don't forget the countless hours spent beforehand in voice lessons and coachings on the material prior to the staging/group rehearsals. People will get disinterested if you call them each day all day and then let them sit there doing nothing for half the time, plus they'll just lose their energy which leads to uninspired rehearsals which leads to uninspired performances, and NO ONE wants that! That also means that you need to know how to budget time properly. Make sure that you don't call people to rehearsal for a 4 hour block to work a scene that will take 30 minutes.)<br />
<br />
6.) <b>When working with colleagues who are friends, DON'T TAKE ADVANTAGE of them</b> (this means don't expect your friend who is now your colleague- because you're hired to do the same show or are working on the same project- to get you water at rehearsals, or always cover for you when you're late, or share their music or pencil with you when you forgot yours, or let them do all the work when choosing the music or costumes, etc..., or not take their ideas as seriously as you would another colleague's who wasn't your friend before. In a nutshell- it's not okay to use your friend simply because now they also happen to be your colleague. But, on the converse.....)<br />
<br />
7.) <b>Make friends with your colleagues, or at least BE friendly to them if befriending them proves difficult </b>(because otherwise it's going to be a LONG rehearsal period and show week, that's for sure. You're spending so much time with these people in rehearsals and during the show you have to have that magical "chemistry" onstage, and normally that helps when you at least make an effort to get to know the people with whom you're working so that you have a bit more than just a superficial connection onstage. Normally there's any number of things you can talk about as icebreakers with your colleagues- ask them where they're from, where they went to college, what do they like to do in their free time, who is their favorite composer, what is their favorite opera....you get the idea. It's only logical that you'll most likely have SOMETHING in common with your colleagues- even if sometimes you'd otherwise never search this person out as a friend- I'm sure you can still find some common ground to help understand one another better. And oftentimes those colleagues can become your best friends if you just give them a chance and don't write them off without a second thought- trust me, I have really met some amazing people over the years- it definitely pays off to invest the time and open yourself up to new friendships!) :) <br />
<br />
8.) <b>If a colleague recommended you to someone/for something have the courtesy to THANK them </b>(this means that if someone went out on a limb to recommend you for a teacher or program or audition or anything else that you might not have been able to achieve all on your own, have the common decency to credit them with doing so and thank them profusely and sincerely. Don't have a chip on your shoulder and forget who helped you get where you are now- make sure you continue to let those people who helped you on your way up know how much you appreciated it. And tell others of the help they gave you, because they deserve that others know of their good deeds- it's the least you can do- and it helps you remain humble in a business that is filled with oversized egos which are not attractive, believe me.)<br />
<br />
9.) <b>If you're provided a Homestay during a summer festival with local people, make sure to be tidy, polite, responsible and a good House Guest</b> (this might seem obvious, but it does seem that the definition of a good house guest can vary greatly, so I'll just spell it out here in more definite terms so that you know what is considered the bare minimum requirement. Let's say you're lucky enough to be accepted into a program or hired and then provided the opportunity to stay with local people so that you don't have to pay for a hotel or short-term rental. First of all, that's super- you're saving money AND you get to meet people who are fans of what you do- how much better could it get? So first off, you should always be super polite (that means saying please and thank you) to your Homestay Hosts, and making sure that if they give you privileges (use of their car, pool, hot tub, sauna, backyard/deck/patio, etc..) that you make sure to thank them for it and to return everything in the condition it was given to you in, and punctually when you said you would. Also if you've been staying in their home and you have been sleeping in their beds and using their bathroom and kitchen (for example) it is considered common courtesy to keep the shared spaces as clean as possible at all times- so that means that you should work out with the Host family ahead of time how often they normally clean (or with what- sponges, sprays, etc..) and then offer to do the cleaning- since you're contributing to the mess. So prepare to clean a bathroom and kitchen and strip and wash your bed sheets while at your Homestay. Considering that you may have really amazing Hosts, you might also be allowed to invite other colleagues from the program over for a pool party or BBQ or something similar. It's then your job to make sure that after the party's over that you clean up everything so that it looks like it did before, take out the trash, make sure it doesn't get too loud during the event and disturb the neighbors or the Hosts themselves, and just generally consider at all times how to make sure that once you're gone your Hosts are pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to have you staying with them and that they'll be psyched to host singers in the future. You don't want to be the type of guests where they say to themselves, "Well that was a lot of work. Let's not do that again next year." That means you didn't do a good job. So, make sure to be on your A-game and do yourself and your future colleagues a favor so that these generous Homestay Hosts keep opening their beautiful homes to us singers!<br />
<br />
10.) <b>If you're doing a program in another country don't be the "Ugly American" </b>(it is very rare that I've met a singer who actually fits the description of the "Ugly American" when traveling or working abroad because most of us are well-educated and sensitive people, but since there are levels of what this can mean, I thought it was worth addressing. Certainly we all understand from our education within our singing degrees that different cultures do things differently and different things are expected from a person in different parts of the world, so when we do travel and or work abroad, we have to make sure we are not inadvertently offending or insulting the culture of the place in which we find ourselves. So because I'm living in Germany I'll use it as an example, you most likely know it is illegal to draw or wear a swastika symbol, but you may not know it is equally offensive to call Germans "Krauts", to make phallic jokes about "Wurst", to speak loudly or to eat while you're using any form of public transit, to not separate your garbage and meticulously recycle, to vacuum on a Sunday or make any loud noises- even in your own apartment- between the hours of 12-2pm every day, or to tell Germans they're not funny-most often they are- they just have a different sense of humor than we do-it's much drier-think British and then you'll get it. Some of these are things that are perhaps a bit more subtle than you'd have guessed, but they are all good examples of how you could be offensive without even being aware of it. So, before you go abroad, do your research and make sure you're doing your best to respect and understand the culture in which you'll be operating.)<br />
<br />
I know that I'm probably missing some things, so please let me know in the comments below if you think of more! A list like this will hopefully help you to successfully navigate any situation in which you find yourself with regards to professionalism as a singer, and I hope it helps with preventing possible faux pas. :) Happy Singing!</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-62492181228652285302015-12-03T03:57:00.002-05:002015-12-03T04:07:24.535-05:00German Lied Interpretation: Do we really have to keep digging up Fischer-Dieskau????<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Okay, so I'll set the scene for you: yesterday evening I had an impromptu audition for the Sueddeutsche Schubertgesellschaft e.V. (which translates to Southern German Schubert Society, a Non-Profit, <a href="http://www.schubertgesellschaft.de/" target="_blank">here's their website</a>, if you're curious) which was organized only the day prior, and which I was looking forward to for a few reasons. Actually, I found out about about them through a flyer I'd seen where they were advertising for a series of concerts of Schubert's music where the profits from the performances were to go entirely to benefit the Refugees here in Munich, so that made me think, "Yeah, what a good cause! Maybe I can help by offering my singing and then they'd have more concerts and make more money and it'd be great!" You get the picture.<br />
<br />
Then, I thought about it some more and decided to call them and see what they said. At least I'd get the chance to sing some German Lieder (aka Art Song) which I hadn't done in a while, even if I wasn't getting paid anything to do it. After all, it was for a cause which I believe in, and which I really would like to support, and considering that I have this ability, why not use it if there is the chance? (That was my train of thought, anyway. Soon to be derailed as you'll find out, but nonetheless, a pretty good one, right?)<br />
<br />
I practiced the day before pretty intensely the two songs that I wanted to sing, and then I went there the day of being pretty positive that I'd done good work and I could offer something of value. At least I was certain that I wasn't making a fool of myself. After all, I'd had Lindsey Christiansen's German Lieder class (Westminster Choir College students will appreciate this reference to a very beloved professor) and I was no dummy! I knew all the "rules" and I was going to do what I could do adhere to them while also making my own individual artistic statement through my interpretation.<br />
<br />
So, I get there and I'm confronted with a man probably in his late 50's or early 60's who gives the impression of a scholarly individual, surrounded with his walls and walls of Classical Literature and Art Song scores and Composers' Biographies, etc. He was the Vorsitzender (aka guy in charge) of the Schubert Society and also the Pianist who played for all of their concerts (Coincidence? I think not.). He took my coat and I told him I'd like to sing "Gretchen am Spinnrade" and "Heidenroeslein", two pretty standard pieces, which many people know and love. I have coached both of these pieces countless times with professional musicians in the USA and I know that I sing them well. It's a simple fact. I don't sing them with intonation problems, pronunciation problems, or rhythmic mistakes. Those things are objective and can be precisely determined to be correct or incorrect. <u>Besides, technical perfection doth not a transcendent performance make!</u> (How many times has that been proven to us as Audience Members (<--i a="" after="" because="" been="" behalf="" br="" capitalizing="" cold="" emotional="" investment="" left="" m="" missing="" of="" on="" performance="" performer="" s="" that="" the="" ve="" we="" when=""></--i><br />
<br />
So I sing the first piece ("Gretchen am Spinnrade", <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV8JkKr8cAo" target="_blank">here's a link of Jessye Norman singing it</a>, which is NOT unlike my interpretation in terms of dynamics...) and I did what I do- I painted my interpretation of Gretchen's inner turmoil by using different dynamics, emphasizing certain words in the sentences by making them louder or pronouncing them especially distinctly, and certainly altering the treatment of words that are repeated so that each restatement is different in some way. These techniques are all commonly taught to us singers to help make our performance unique, and also allow us to 'make an Artistic Statement'.<br />
<br />
Well, you can imagine that I was then completely baffled to hear after I'd finished singing that I had done it completely and utterly wrong. First of all, I had not adhered to Schubert's dynamics (to which my brain replied "There are only dynamics written in the Piano part, not in the vocal line, so it's more of a suggestion for us singers. If Schubert had wanted the dynamics to be in the vocal line then he'd have written them there. Obviously he didn't have any issue writing them in the piano part so....."), and then he went on to tell me that I had interpreted it WAY too dramatically and that I hadn't observed the many Pianississimos which were in the score (again, in the PIANO part of the score), and that I also had some pronounciation issues with consonants and vowels (convient, since I'm not a native speaker, always an easy thing to pick on and a thing upon which I cannot defend myself, since what am I supposed to say to that?, but funnily enough when I asked him which ones he just said "Oh, all the um-lauts" which, uh huh.....how specific. (NOT!)) [Let me just insert at this moment that I have worked with Brigitte Fassbaender in a week-long Masterclass on Strauss Lieder and Zerbinetta's Aria (all of which have many um-lauts in them!) and she only corrected the way that I said the the vowel in the word 'Herz' (mine was too closed) and that's it! She even went on to congratulate me, out of all the participants- some of whom were German!!- in having the cleanest diction! So, let me just say.....this guy was full of bull.]<br />
<br />
Then he asked me where I had studied and after I told him (Undergrad at Westminster Choir College, Master's at Hunter College, private studies with J. Dornemann and G. Martin Moore as well as working with a whole slew of other notable teachers and coaches in the USA and in Germany), he proceeded to tell me that studying German Lieder (= Art Song) was a special two-year degree program at German Music Conservatories and that in order for me to properly be able to master the discipline of singing this type of music I'd have to study AT LEAST two more years, and he kindly inserted at this point too (after I'd told him I was 31) that it may not even be possible for me to study this anymore because I'm getting too old to be accepted into the Conservatories here and that they also have a "very difficult" entrance audition exam and they don't take everyone. Of course, IF I studied with him to prepare for it, PERHAPS I'd make the cut.<br />
<br />
It was at this point that I'd heard enough and wanted to get the hell out of there when he said "Well, perhaps I could hear your second piece" and whereupon I thought "What the heck for?!" but kindly and with as much dignity as I could muster said "Sure," thinking all the while that perhaps he just didn't like the Gretchen interpretation and he'd find this one better. Or, I could still win him over. WRONG! Oh, gosh- how wrong I was!<br />
<br />
After singing "Heidenroeslein" for him, he just said, "Yes......hmm. Well, make sure to call the voice teacher I recommended and talk with her about all these issues that I just explained to you, because if you keep singing like you are now, you won't have a voice left in 15 years."<br />
<br />
I was shocked. No, that's an understatement. I was mad at myself for listening to that kind of crap without calling him out on his wrongness, AND I was upset that it was bothering me so much to hear what he had to say, because who was he, anyway?! I would have never even HEARD of the Schubert Gesellschaft if it weren't for a flyer that I'd seen on the street, so it can't be a monumentally important organization. And, to top it all off, I KNEW that the Germans have this strange affinity for the "Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau" approach to Lieder singing (i.e. a very 'precious' way of singing everything with very little dynamic contrast and rather as if one was entranced, with a sort of dreamy quality), and I shouldn't have expected my interpretation to be well-recieved, since I was singing it in a more dramatic way. (Although, apparently even <u>this</u> was not entirely correct of me to think, because after some thorough YouTube research this morning of the most notable singers in the past decades who sung this piece (including Germans!), even they were dramatic in their interpretations! So, yeah. Take that, stupid dude.)<br />
<br />
After a lot of feeling shitty about this whole situation (and some crying to just let out the pressure because....man!), I thought about it and realized some important things, many of which I had already known, but which this helped me to remember. The first thing: Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. The second thing (and most important!): Next time when I'm confronted with someone of this particular level of close-mindedness (because I'd honestly never be interested in working with someone like this, whether they gave me the gig or not) I might as well tell them what I think of them, just as they did to me, and make it plain that I entirely disagree, that I will <u>not</u> be looking for any chance to work with them in the future, and that their kind of small-mindedness is what contributes to the stasis of their art. I mean, for crying out loud, if they want to hear a freaking Fischer-Dieskau-esque interpretation of all the Schubert Lieder forever, then why not just play a damn CD!? (Don't get me wrong, his interpretation was great, but also <u>uniquely his</u>!)<br />
<br />
We don't need to train new generations of singers for that---to be machines that will simply spit out an interpretation which is exactly the same in every nuance as that which someone did 50 years ago!!!! How does that offer artistic freedom? How does that bring into the song something new and exciting? How does that help the singer make their own statement with the piece? How does it show to younger listeners the relevance of Schubert still today? It doesn't. It doesn't do any of these things, and it simply leads to people (like this dude) who think that any other way of doing it is wrong. 100% wrong. <u>To which I say, well, I certainly wouldn't want to make music like that, and I'm not going to! </u>AND, my conscious choice to perform these pieces differently will gain me an audience who is entirely unlike this dude, and who is instead, open-minded, looking for something fresh and new, interested in realizing all the different chances that each piece of music offers, and able to appreciate the differences for what they are- an informed Artistic Perspective that is individual and was carefully considered and lovingly crafted, and therefore worthy. Worthy in all musical and psychological and humanistic senses. Worthy to be heard.<br />
<br />
So, I'm going to continue to look for those types of opportunities because I would never want anything less for my singing, and for myself.<br />
<br />
And uh, yeah, fellow Singers....about the Schubert Gesellschaft e.V.- maybe steer clear of them....</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-13369914017590210222015-11-19T06:46:00.004-05:002015-11-19T06:52:09.417-05:00The Consternation of Coloratura Cadenza Crafting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Well, hello all! Welcome to another Thursday morning, just like any other really, except for the nagging guilt of my taking time off of cadenza research and instead writing this blog post for you! Why do I write today, you ask? Does it have to do with the cacophonous collision of c's in the title of this blog post? Why yes, yes it does. My, aren't you awake this morning!<br />
<br />
Currently I find myself in a 'Groundhog Day' of sorts. One which was created by the dreaded task that faces all singers sooner or later, and especially those of my particular voice type: Coloratura Sopranos. Ha!- as if it wasn't enough that we have to sing the dang things, someone still decided to rub it in by naming our variety of Soprano by the very thing that is currently making me look for excuses to clean the house, namely, coloratura cadenzas. Coming up with cadenzas with coloratura passages that ultimately show off your voice but also 'fit' the style of the music is something that each and every singer will either totally love or completely dread. Guess which side I'm on? That's right, the dread side.<br />
<br />
And sadly, dread it I do. Because what's there to love? I'm not a good enough piano player to work them out on my own (like some people can do who just sit down at the piano and say, "Hmm, this is built on a dominant chord so let's see here....(and then play something totally amazing) and then be like "....yeah, that'll work." And then they don't even need to WRITE IT DOWN to remember it. Show-offs.) No, I'm certainly not one of those people. And I'm also not one of those people who just has the creativity to keep trying to make things up by ear until something sounds good (because, let's face it, what I think sounds good and what the people who know the style think sounds good, are two very different things). So, what I'm left with (Garn!) is doing research instead. In concrete terms, that means that I listen to a thousand different versions of the aria that contains the cadenza passage (which okay, there's not a thousand, but it certainly does feel like it after you've listened to every person of note singing the aria and then rewound each cadenza at least three times to listen to what they're doing, and then transcribe it (!!!) and then compare all of them side-by-side to determine which ones you like the best, or if any of them happen to lend themselves to being combined together to make something a bit old and still a bit new....) and then finally, after that long process, figure out which ones are right for me and my voice and my sense of the drama (by singing through all of them, naturally). And until that point, my friends, sometimes <u>days</u> have gone by! And this is just one Aria we're talking about!!! God forbid it has a da capo and then you've got to figure out all new ornaments for the second time around.<br />
<br />
Of course there is that moment where you finally find the cadenzas that you want to use and then it seems as if the heavens have opened up and Beverly Sills and Sumi Jo and Joan Sutherland are all patting you on the back.......but that's a very short-lived moment.<br />
<br />
So.....while you take <i>this</i> moment to ponder how I can improve my cadenza research so that it takes less time (please God, is there actually a way!?) and let me know your ideas in the comments below, I'm going to go vacuum the apartment. :)</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-74225940119591024812015-11-18T15:55:00.001-05:002015-11-18T15:55:47.764-05:00A Musician's Responsibility to Humanity in Times of Crisis<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In light of all the things which have been happening recently (especially the most recent mass shootings and bombings in Paris carried out by ISIS) and all of the terribly violent crimes against humanity that have happened in the recent past (the Ferguson shooting, all the horrible genocides taking place throughout Africa and the Middle East, the war in Afghanistan, the silent takeover of the Krim by Russia....the list could go on and on) I feel that I need to talk about our role as Musicians in society when circumstances like these provide us the opportunity to make a real change. Not that our music making wasn't already altering the lives of those who witnessed it, but rather, in situations of less volatility, our music's message may not have been understood with as much gravitas as is possible now.<br />
<br />
Why is it that whenever there is too much sadness in the world people look to music to give hope, provide insight, ease discomfort and affect change? (Of course there are those who would argue that music has also played a large role in wartime; there's nothing like a spirited marching song or beloved national anthem which rallies troops. <a href="http://www.historynet.com/the-music-of-war.htm" target="_blank">This article from Historynet.com</a> provides some interesting insight into that topic, if you'd like to read further.) However, today I want to talk about the positive, transformational power of music, and our responsibility as Musicians in using it thusly. (Because as I am sure you fellow Musicians can all agree, any of the world famous composers whose works were re-purposed for the sake of rallying troops into battle would be utterly horrified by the fact that their music could now be connected with giving soldiers the spirit to go out and kill other human beings. I've not found anything while reading composer's bios (Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Strauss... take your pick) which indicates that they were fans of war, and in fact, the only thing I really remember taking to heart about all of these world-famous-musical-giants was that they were all incredibly emotionally sensitive and clued-in to the subtle underpinnings of our being here on this earth, so much so that many of them were recluse. So, I guess that's my way of saying, "Take that! All you people who would try to argue that Beethoven's symphonies were practically written for war. He and his other famous contemporaries were basically pacifists, or had simply too much common sense to support anything, like war, which caused harm to the human race.")<br />
<br />
Nonetheless, I digress. (Ha- that rhymes!) Sorry.....back to the main point, which is: there is a critical amount of hatred, fear, misunderstanding and reactivity in this world we live in today, and I hope that each and every one of you takes the chance in the next few days, weeks and months, to do something about it by creating music which counteracts all this evil. We all know that there are songs which are particularly poignant and appropriate to this current climate, and we all know at least one location where we could give a concert which would reach a large audience (...whether or not you get paid! Consider- this is truly a chance to make a difference on a larger scale- and isn't THAT why we all became Musicians in the first place?!?). You could enlist your friends and colleagues to help you organize it (if you've got friends who are in advertising get them to make your posters, if you've got friends in web design get them to make you a quick, easy website, if you've got friends who are always on social media get them to spread the word about your performance, etc!) and therefore, we do not have any more excuses (about lack of time or resources, because who the heck wouldn't want to help you create something SO GOOD for the benefit of everyone?!) to not be spreading the positive energy through our performances. And then video record it and share it on YouTube and Facebook. Because one concert can go a long way nowadays thanks to recording technology.<br />
<br />
You know, good-energy-creation is also boosted by doing more than just selecting throught-provoking repertoire. You can use the space in between pieces to talk about your own thoughts and feelings about our current global situation and how that relates directly to you and those in your community. Once you're on that stage, you've got time until the show's over. So use it- be brave and speak honestly and with compassion. Talk about how subconsciously holding onto these negative feelings lead to a stressed-out society. Or how such feelings manifest mistrust amongst people of different cultures. Maybe you could explain how a general feeling of anxious alertness hampers your creativity? Why not remind them of the inherent artistry of each and every human being, and with the number of people dying in wars (of various kinds) nowadays, we are losing unknown riches by never allowing the voices of those who are the victims to be shared. At any rate, there are many reasons to talk to your audience members, and to help them realize that now they have the responsibility to carry the message onward.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-63049477596398454432015-07-31T20:23:00.001-04:002015-12-15T07:35:05.681-05:00A Practical Guide To Singing While Sick<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As a singer, I try to avoid getting sick. I'm not talking about life-threatening illnesses, I'm talking about your everyday colds that turn into sinus infections, Bronchitis, the Flu, Strep Throat, Laryngitis, and those sorts of sicknesses. Of course you probably try to avoid it too, since we all know that being sick and singing don't really mix well, plus it's generally not fun. In the best case your voice will sound a bit strange and it will be uncomfortable to sing, and in the worse case you won't be able to produce a proper singing tone sometimes for days or even weeks! That's why we as singers all DO NOT want to get sick.<br />
<br />
Though, there are certainly ways to try to avoid getting sick in the first place, <b>I'd like to use this blog post to talk about what you can do <u>when you're already sick</u> and have to sing </b>(for a rehearsal or a performance) <b>and how to make the best of a bad situation, AND what tricks of the trade can help you to recover quicker.</b><br />
<br />
There are many methods one can employ, and I'd like to talk about those which are technical first. If you are experiencing phlegm that is making your voice crack ( for those of you not familiar with this term, it means that due to phlegm sitting on your vocal folds, unpredictable sounds are produced which resemble a popping or 'cracking' noise which interrupts your vocal tone. Hence your voice sounds like it's "cracking") you can make doubly sure that you are singing "above" the phlegm, by lifting your soft palate as much as physically possible while you are singing, thereby maintaining a high enough production of sound which will enable your phlegm not to be disturbed (which produces the "cracking" noise). This usually can solve the problem in most cases, which will not eliminate the phlegm, but which will allow you to sing without making strange, unwanted noises. (This advice was given to me by my teacher in my Undergraduate degree, Ms. Sharon Sweet, and she said she used this tool many times when she had to sing in her career under less than optimal health conditions.)<br />
<br />
The second technical piece of advice I can give is to learn how to properly "mark" your singing, instead of singing full-voiced. "Marking" is a term used to refer to a way of singing which protects your voice from undue strain which it would get from singing full-voiced, or in a tessitura (range) which is particularly tiring for long periods of time (aka several hours at a time without breaks). If you are sick, you can make more frequent use of this technique (which is used for protecting the voice under normal circumstances in longer rehearsal periods like staging rehearsals, etc.), since it does really allow you to still sing, but just in a more vocally safe way. Correct marking requires the use of the same support and production of your sound as normal singing, but the difference is that you allow double or triple the air to flow through your sound, making it relatively airy, thus putting less pressure on your vocal folds by only allowing them to come together in a very loose way, and not tightly vibrating against one another as they normally would. This is helpful when you are sick because it allows any swelling in your vocal folds to heal quicker because they are not being overtaxed by the pressure that normal singing would put on them.<br />
<br />
The third thing which I can recommend, which is less of a technical tool and more of a practice structuring method, is to practice only in 15 minute increments when you are recovering from an illness. This shortened amount of vocalizing allows for your voice to rebuild stamina that it had lost from the break in practicing while you were sick, without over exerting it and causing damage which would lengthen your recovery time.<br />
<br />
All of these things are great, but it's perhaps most important to recognize too when you should STOP singing if you're sick (or simply if you've practiced too much- being vocally tired can also happen), so that you don't cause yourself undue vocal damage. The main sign is: losing the ability to phonate. If you are singing and at any time during your sound production you have a delay in the sound (for example, you want to sing a note and nothing comes out, or it comes out very delayed- more so than you had intended) then that's a sign that you need to rest your voice and stop all singing and talking for the rest of the day, and even better if it were for a day (or two, depending) following. This is a sign that your vocal chords are very swollen and that they are not coming together fully, and this is not something that you can simply "sing through" and it will go away. No. It's a sign to stop making any noise whatsoever and take a "vocal rest" for a while. Normally this happens in conjunction with laryngitis, but if it persists for more than a few days, I'd recommend going to see your ENT. You also should not, of course, sing when you are too physically exhausted to support properly. When you aren't singing on your supported air, you are running the risk of causing damage to your vocal folds, especially if you do this for hours on end. You also should not sing if you have taken over the counter medicine (or some antibiotics- check with your doctor or pharmacist) which prevents the proper circulation of blood, like Ibuprofen, and some decongestants are also a problem, because they dry out your mucous membranes (of which your vocal folds are a part- remember!- they always need to have a mucosal film on them to vibrate against one another properly without causing nodules, which are basically a sort of blister on the point where the vibration occurs without proper moisture or wrong technique). Be sure you are allowed to sing while on medicine, in other words.<br />
<br />
Finally, here's the advice I have for those of you who are sick and looking to aid your body in recovering in a quick and healthy manner: (I can only tell you about what I've tried and how it's worked for me, so keep in mind that everyone's body is different.)<br />
<br />
1.) Emergen-C: a packet of powdered Vitamin C in a high dose which is supposed to prevent you from getting fully sick if you're on the cusp of being sick, or should help you recover quicker if you're sick. (It's worked well for me in helping me not to get fully sick, but never seemed to make my recovery quicker.)<br />
<br />
2. Fresh Ginger Root Tea with fresh lemon juice and honey: this is literally the most organic way to fight a cold, and has minimal side effects, since all the ingredients are natural. (This always works for me 100%- whether I'm sick or feeling like I'm getting sick, it helps prevent me from getting sick, and it also helps speed recovery). What I do is take a piece of fresh ginger root, make sure the skin is smooth- that signifies freshness, and then scrape the skin off with a spoon (it prevents you from removing too much actual ginger along with the skin), and then cut it into very thin slices. Submerge the slices in a pot of water- I usually use a 3 inch piece of ginger for 1.5 liters of water- and then let it sit, covered with a lid for at least 2 hours (the longer you let it sit, the better). Afterwards bring it to a boil, and then turn off the heat and let it sit on the burner as it cools down, so as to make the cooling of the "tea" also gradual. You can drink the tea once it's reached a golden color, either hot or warm, so the honey you add can melt. Only add 1 tsp of honey and 1 tsp of lemon juice per mug of tea. It WILL be spicy, so you may need to add more honey to lessen that, but it's supposed to be- it helps break stuff up. So, learn to like it! :)<br />
<br />
3. Neti pot: this is a small ceramic pot (often) which is filled with room temperature distilled water and then into that is mixed a solution that you can usually buy in the drugstore or at your natural food store (or make yourself with high-grade sea salt) until it dissolves and then you use this solution to rinse out your sinuses by pouring it into each nostril alternatively. (This seems to work well when I'm not sick to maintain the condition of my sinus passages and rinse out the gunk that builds up there on a daily basis, but once I'm sick and my sinuses are stuffed up it has never been a match for that congestion. Normally I cannot even get it to rinse back out once it's up there, if I can even get it to enter my sinuses in the first place when I'm stuffy.)<br />
<br />
4. Massage of the face: this is a technique that I recently found out about thanks to a colleague on Facebook who shared a link to a video of an ENT doing a technique of massage that is supposed to help drain unwanted sinus congestion and thereby ease singing. (I've tried this only recently, but it does seem to work well to combat spring allergy congestion, so that's something!) Basically you massage with the tips of your fingers in a pulling sort of motion, aiming the release of the pulling towards your ears- which allows for the fluid to drain, starting at the inner corner below your eye socket (at the top of your cheekbones), above your eyebrows beginning at the center of your forehead, from the middle of your upper lip, and from the center of the bottom of chin towards your ears. This has proven to give nearly immediate relief of congestion every time I do it.<br />
<br />
4. Eating fresh veggies and fruits: there is something to be said for giving your body proper nutrition while you're under the weather. It helps your immune system fight better. (Normally I eat produce which is high in vitamin C when sick- that means: Hibiscus Tea (bet you didn't know that actually has the most vitamin C out of any plant!), Green bell peppers-not cooked! (they have the second most!), Kiwis (they have a lot- they're third), and then all the normal things which most people know: citrus fruits (lemons, oranges, grapefruits), carrots, blueberries (they are good for other vitamins), bananas, garlic and onions (really great immune boosters!), and lots of green leafy vegetables (especially broccoli, kale, cucumbers, celery- did you know that celery and cucumbers are super good for cleansing your system of toxins?), apples (cooked are actually better than raw-especially if you add cinnamon- a super immune booster!, but both are better than processed foods), and last, but not least- FRESH PINEAPPLE-- a singer's best friend for reducing inflammation and easing sore vocal folds. And of course Coconut water- which helps you hydrate better than normal water.<br />
<br />
5. Yoga: There are many poses which help to alleviate symptoms of illness. I've tried this several times while sick and have had mixed results. If I have an illness where I'm physically tired (the Flu, for example) then it doesn't help all that much to do a lot of yoga, but just 10 minutes or so makes me feel a bit more "alive", usually. On the other hand, if I have congestion in my lungs or sinuses, it certainly helps to do slow, restorative and long yoga sessions, focusing on the breathing, which slowly loosens up congestion as I go through the practice. <br />
<br />
6. Personal Humidifier (like Vicks brand): This seems to help me only when I'm already on the upswing of getting better. Usually I put kosher salt in the water to make it a bit more breathing in friendly.<br />
<br />
7. Eucalyptus Essential Oil in Combination with a hot shower or bath: Putting a few drops of Eucalyptus Essential Oil on the wall or floor of the shower and then taking a hot shower while breathing in the steam produced helps nearly 100% of the time when I have congestion. Actually I like the smell so much that sometimes I do it when I'm not sick just for fun.<br />
<br />
8. Vicks Vapor Rub: (or any menthol based ointment to ease breathing when sleeping) This stuff does help if I have anything which has settled in my lungs (Bronchitis, etc..) and it helps particularly overnight, especially if I put a bit of it on my upper lip. Otherwise it's not too great during the day.<br />
<br />
9. Lavender (either essential oil of dried flower buds in a sachet or something): This helps to lay next to my pillow during sleep, as it provides me with better breathing ability overnight if I'm stuffy, as well as a more restful sleep in general, if I'm feeling run down.<br />
<br />
10. GeloRevoice: These are a sort of throat lozenge that you can buy in Germany (not sure where else you can get them, but you can Google it to find out) which creates a sort of synthetic protective film around your sore throat and sort vocal folds, and basically hydrates them extra, so that they can rest more effectively. It wasn't my favorite thing to use at first, but I notice that it's helpful to use these when you have a particularly sore throat or when you're experiencing swelling of your vocal folds due to your period.<br />
<br />
11. Grether's Blackcurrant Pastilles: (Another lozenge which works similarly are Isla Moos Pastilles) These are a sort of jelly-like throat lozenge which supposedly helped the great singers of the past century and was commonly used in Europe. They taste delicious (kinda like candy) and they seem to clear up mucous build up on your vocal folds, but they do not ease sore throats.<br />
<br />
Okay, that's literally all I can think of at the moment to say on the subject, so I hope that you get use out of this info and that you have a speedy recovery if you're reading this and are sick! :)<br />
<br />
NOTE (12/15/15): I've just gotten directions for ANOTHER method of ginger usage from my good friend F., so here's another method to try:<br />
<span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody _1n4g"><span><span>Peel and thick-slice a big
piece of ginger root. Boil water (start 2-3ish cups depending on ginger
and if you want leftovers). Put in like half the ginger to boil. Add
more ginger and water after 2ish minutes</span></span><span><span><span>,
then add water 1-2 more times, as it reduces (it'll get dark).
Drink/sip a mug of it straight (strong. wipe lips, sip very warm tap
water if needed!). Then gurgle a little very warm (kosher) salt water.
Then eat a spoonful of honey! Et voilà! (expands the tissue, astringent
on allergens and mucous hiding in said condensed tissue). It's magical,
especially if you have to sing.</span></span></span></span></span></span> <br />
<br /></div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-21744058801327934302015-02-20T08:29:00.000-05:002015-03-10T05:59:02.363-04:00From the Other Side of the Opera Stage- Life as a Conductor, Coach and Collaborative Pianist: An Interview with William Hicks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
All too often I find myself forgetting that there are <u>many</u>
valuable perspectives to be examined in the world of Opera and not
just that of the Singer. So today I'd like to introduce you to
one such perspective from an interview that I held recently with the
very talented Conductor, Coach and Pianist, Maestro William Hicks.<br />
<br />
<div align="CENTER">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rwnHVoOo6iM/VOc1z6THBaI/AAAAAAAAAu0/ZmoZTqkZ5u8/s1600/WilliamHicksBioPhoto.jpg"><img align="BOTTOM" border="0" height="320" name="graphics1" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rwnHVoOo6iM/VOc1z6THBaI/AAAAAAAAAu0/ZmoZTqkZ5u8/s1600/WilliamHicksBioPhoto.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Although his extensive experience with many of the legends of
Operatic, Classical and American Music would surely lead you to
believe that he holds numerous advanced degrees from Juilliard, Mr.
Hicks actually only completed two years of study as a Piano, Voice
and Piano Accompanying Major at the Cincinnati College Conservatory
of Music and he did not finish high school. (This, of course, just makes his considerable achievements all the more impressive!) He grew up in Lexington,
Kentucky; an only child raised by his maternal Grandparents and
attended private school until his musical precociousness gained him
early acceptance to CCM at age sixteen. Though he had many
influential teachers at CCM (Dr. Robert Evans, Ms. Lucille Villeneuve
Evans and Jeanne Kirstein), the lure of the big city was strong, and
as he puts it, “The minute I turned eighteen I flew the coop!”,
leaving CCM and his studies, and moving to New York City to work as a
musician.
<br />
Unlike the majority of musicians nowadays who spend all of their
time studying music performance at college, William chose to invest
his energy in his late teens and early twenties in gaining practical
work experience. This allowed him to find and build relationships
with respected professional musicians who later served as his musical
mentors. But I'm getting ahead of myself. In order to really
understand any musician, you have to go back to the beginning, so
that's where I want to start now: at the beginning of our interview
where we learn about the very first experiences of Maestro William
Hicks' extraordinary musical journey!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>OperaAdventuress: Did your love of music begin with Opera, or
was it sparked through exposure to another genre?</b><br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<b>William Hicks:</b> Opera was my first
love! Every Saturday afternoon, beginning when I was three years old,
I would tune in to the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. One of my Aunts
who was living with us at the time would come in and turn it off,
exclaiming "I work hard all week and the last thing I want to
hear is all that screaming!" I would thereupon throw such a
tantrum of screaming, crying, and pounding my fists that nothing
could calm me until the broadcast was restored. Finally, one year for
Christmas, my Grandmother gave me my very own radio, so I could
listen to Opera and all the other classical music broadcasts to my
heart's content!</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<b>OA: When did you begin studying piano? How did you transition
into Collaborative Piano (playing with Singers and Chamber Musicians)
from Solo Piano? Was that a choice you made out of necessity or
preference?</b><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><b>WH:</b> </span>I started formal
piano training at age seven, and the inspiration was Chopin's
Polonaise No. 6, the "Heroic." My family was not musical,
but they loved music and had a wonderful collection of recordings,
including this one. I adored the music of Chopin. I trained as a
concert pianist, but when Helen Beiderbecke, a voice teacher, came to
my school and invited me to start playing for her students, I added
another love to my musical sphere: that of singing, vocal music, and
making music with others. She also introduced me to some string
players, with whom I formed a small chamber ensemble and conducted
within the vocal recitals she presented.
<br />
In addition to classical music, my first love was also American
Musical Theatre. I loved the records my family had of Kern's <i>Show
Boat</i>, which I delighted in playing for them and their guests even
before I could read! Of course, at that time, I never dreamed I would
later grow up to be John McGlinn's Associate Conductor, Rehearsal
Pianist, and Chorus Master for a 20-year period, as well as getting
to prepare his landmark recording of <i>Show Boat</i> with Frederica
Von Stade and Jerry Hadley! I love this music, and think of Kern as
"America's Schubert".
<br />
Most of all, though, I love any form of musical collaboration with
others, be they singer or instrumentalist. The life of a concert
pianist was just too lonely and demanding for me, even though I had
some success at it. Sometimes a pianist will accept these
collaborations as a "second best" default when they cannot
have a solo career, but for me it was a # 1 choice!
<br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<b>OA: Do you have any memory of the first time you saw an Opera
performed live? What kind of impression did it make on you?</b><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><b>WH:</b> </span>When I was thirteen my
maternal grandmother purchased a subscription for us to the
Lexington, Kentucky Concert and Lecture Series. The first concert
we saw was with Soprano Eileen Farrell, and her Pianist, George
Trovillo. That concert is seared in my memory and had a tremendous
impact on my wanting to continue studying music, and maybe one day
play for singers like Mr. Trovillo had. [Eileen] Farrell was
tremendous, and it was the first time I was hearing a real Opera
Singer in person. The program was […] generous, containing Arias,
Art Songs and even Christmas music! Little did I know [back then]
that I would grow up to inherit Mr. Trovillo's notes on how to coach
singers, [which were later] given to me [upon his death] by his
assistant, or that I would be having lunch [someday] seated next to
Eileen Farrell and Franco Corelli at Licia Albanese's [house]!<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Helen Beiderbecke took me to my first
opera when I was sixteen; it was <i>Die Fledermaus</i> at the
Cincinnati Zoo Opera, starring Arlene Saunders and John Alexander. I
saw many staged operas there in my teens, and when I was seventeen I
was hired to sing in the Chorus and as an Assistant Conductor. My
first assignment as a Chorister was <i>Aida </i>starring
Martina Arroyo, and my first
assignment as Assistant Conductor was <i>The Merry Widow</i> starring Karen Armstrong.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>OA: When did you really start to get
into studying Opera?</b></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><b>WH:</b> </span>When I was nine years
old, I got up on Easter morning to discover that the "Easter
Bunny" had left me a recording of Verdi's <i>Il Trovatore</i>, complete
with the G. Schirmer Piano/Vocal Score; it was the Decca/London
recording, featuring Renata Tebaldi, Mario Del Monaco, and Giulietta
Simionato. I had always loved Opera on the radio up until then, but
now I was hooked! I would play the records and follow along with the
score; then I would play from the score on the piano, singing all the
parts! This was the first installment in what turned out to be annual
Easter, Birthday, and Christmas gifts of recordings of complete
operas, so I was listening to the best singers at an early age. I
grew up to later work with many of them. But listening to recordings had
its disappointment as well which I learned when I was working at the
Cincinnati Opera as Assistant Conductor during my first year. I went up to James de
Blasis, the General Director of the Cincinnati Opera, and said "Jim!
The performance is not as perfect as the recordings!" He laughed
and then told me that perfect performances were very rare in the
theater.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>OA: Did you ever experience any discouragement from your
parents or teachers in your musical pursuits?</b><br />
<b>WH:</b> I was always encouraged by my teachers to make a career out of
music, and even my immediate family reluctantly agreed to that as a
career choice for me, my mother being the sole holdout. Even when I
was well into my career, it was not until I played at the White House
for Roberta Peters, collaborated with Luciano Pavarotti for five
years, and went to London as an Associate Conductor and Conductor for
a series of recordings of the stage works of Victor Herbert and
Jerome Kern that she finally relented. It was when I landed a
position as Assistant Conductor at New York City Opera that I finally
made the choice to be a professional musician, beforehand thinking of it
as just something that I did to earn money!
<br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<b>OA: When you first moved to New York City did it take long for
you to find work? How did those first years mold your experience, as
well as their impact on the ultimate trajectory of your career?</b><br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<b>WH:</b> I arrived in New York in September
1977 at eighteen years old [and three days later] I started working
[...] A friend of a friend called me and said "Eddie Cantor's
daughter is having auditions and the pianist did not show up- can you
come right away?" I played for seventy-five singers, giving my business
card to as many as I could. After that my phone did not stop ringing!
I had to sight-read most of the songs, but sight-reading has always
been one of my strong suits. [I asked one of my coaches at the time]
what career choice I should make; she wisely advised "Do
everything; your career will find you!" So that's what I did.
While working as an Audition [and] Voice Lesson Pianist […] as well
as a Proof Reader for a law firm and a Catering Waiter, I managed to
study Piano, Voice, Conducting, Dance and Acting. I also trained as a
Bodybuilder! As there were so many singers in need of pianists, I
worked constantly. My years at New York City Opera solidified Vocal Coaching and Conducting [...] so gradually my lifelong career as a
Pianist, Vocal Coach and Conductor was cemented.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<b>OA: It's really very interesting that you studied dance and
acting on top of all of the various musical disciplines. With whom
did you study and how do you feel that it added to your artistry?</b><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><b>WH:</b> </span>I studied dance
privately in New York City with Alberto Delgado and Reinhard
Michaels. I studied acting with the great Sandy Dennis at HB Studios
in New York City, and took other classes there as well. I also
studied acting at The American Academy of Dramatic Art. It was there
[that] I learned to project my voice. I studied conducting with David
Gilbert in New York City.
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">My training in all [of] the
other fields only served to enhance my ultimate career choices. I was
fortunate [through the years] to have the very best teachers, all of
whom were willing to impart their invaluable knowledge. It was this
[combination of] private study, collaboration, public performing, and
work with major artistic institutions that shaped me as a
professional- not my brief time in music school. For me two years of
music school while I was in my teens were enough for me to fly the
nest!</span><br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<b>OA: Did you always see yourself going in this direction?</b><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><b>WH:</b> “</span>When people would
ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would always reply "I'm
going to New York City to work at the Metropolitan Opera." My
dream came true in 1995 when I started working there as an Assistant
Conductor and also eventually as Assistant Chorus Master. I stayed
there [for] six years, and left of my own volition when I realized
that I wanted to be a free-lance musician […] able to take
contracts outside the MET whenever I wanted […] so I resigned under
amicable circumstances.”
<br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<b>OA: Who do you think contributed the most to your development
as a musician and artist?</b><br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<b>WH:</b> There are too many people to
mention here from whom I learned so much, but special mention must go
to <span style="background: transparent;">the aforementioned </span>Helen
Beiderbecke, herself a performing singer, the Voice Teacher Carolina
Segrera Holden, the Voice Teacher and Soprano Clarice Carson, the Conductor Julius Rudel who taught me how to play like an orchestra
(for which I am eternally grateful!), and Luciano Pavarotti, from
whom I learned so much about singing technique during our five-year
collaboration.
</div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">One of the first conductors with
whom I worked and from whom I learned so much was Max Rudolf, who
taught me to always cut the volume by half when singers where
singing, and to bring it up when they were not singing, saying the
"Bayreuth sound" was the ideal (orchestra recessed) so the
singers could always be heard. I wish more conductors would do this
today! </span><br />
They all encouraged me to keep going in this tough and
competitive world of professional music.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<b>OA: Do you have any advice for
younger conductors nowadays, or singers who are just starting out?
What are some of the things you think that they could improve which
would make a big difference? </b>
</div>
<b>WH:</b> All the great conductors started out as apprentices in opera
houses, learning how to make music breathe. Today too many conductors
start with Symphonic music and then conduct Opera without the proper
training or background; many singers privately complain to me about
how many conductors today fail to breathe with them or to provide a
true artistic collaboration.
<br />
I think that singers today could benefit enormously by starting
their learning of material with the text, slowly declaiming and
identifying each word until they have a through grasp of just what
they are saying and how they want to say it. Too many have just
learned notes upon which they fit meaningless words!
<br />
What I said above about attention to text and dramatic intention
will also go a long way towards remedying one of the most pervasive
aspects of the vocal art today, which is either over-singing or
under-singing. If a singer is blasting away at an unremitting forte,
there can be no nuance; we don't go around screaming when we
converse, we modulate our tones depending on our intentions, so the
same holds true for great singing. (Neither do we whisper at
inaudible levels.)
<br />
Another thing I've noticed many young singers lacking is a proper
and efficient taking of initial and subsequent breaths. The topic of
breathing is controversial, and many voice teachers will not even
discuss it, but I can tell you that an improperly taken breath,
divorced from the flow of the music and taken as a separate,
mechanical event which usually results in the singer holding their
breath, can impair the performance of even the most talented artist.
<br />
I would also add that a complete mastery of vocal technique is
essential before presenting oneself in auditions or performance; it
is shocking to me how many technical lapses are accepted today that
would never have been tolerated even forty years ago, but that is
what accounts for many shortened careers; most of the great singers
of the past lasted well into their sixties, some even into their
seventies.
<br />
One more thing: there has been a lot of poking fun at the singers
of the past, saying they couldn't act! Anyone with a computer can see
from watching YouTube videos that this is just not so; not only could
they act, one could close one's eyes and hear the meaning behind
every single word. Just waving one's arms and doing acrobatics,
striking poses and attitudes, and looking like a professional athlete
are not attributes of fine acting. There is also a certain arrogance
some younger singers have who think there is nothing to learn from
the past, so they avoid listening to or watching the great singers;
they also tend to have no background in the arts, classical music,
drama, or the theater- all of which would go far in making them into
great artists and singers.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>OA: You said that you believe in mentoring younger musicians.
Why?</b><br />
<b>WH:</b> I think it very important to share one's knowledge and pass it
on to the next generation of performers if the standard of excellence
is to remain high; so many of my teachers freely imparted their
knowledge to me, and I feel a keen responsibility to impart what I
learned to those coming up. I charge nothing for doing this for
aspiring voice coaches, pianists, and conductors. Of course, as a
voice coach, pianist, and conductor I do have my set fees that I
charge, always willing to give a break to impoverished, out of work
singers who show enormous potential.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>OA: In the long list of impressive professional accomplishments
that you've gathered over the years, which of your achievements makes
you most proud?</b><br />
<b>WH:</b> The recordings I accomplished as Pianist and Music Director of
the complete Piano and Cello music of Victor Herbert, as well as 102
Collected Songs of Victor Herbert with sixteen singers for New World
Records, totaling 127 pieces of music, is one of my landmark
achievements.
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I recorded these six CD's between
September 2010 and February 2011 at Manhattan's 'The Academy', an
acoustically perfect recording space, but damp and very cold (Brrrr!)
at 155 Riverside Drive.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The project was initiated and paid for
by John Vogel, the executor of John McGlinn's estate; John's next
project was to record the complete works of Victor Herbert, but he
died before accomplishing it. Mr. Vogel asked me then to undertake
the mammoth task, but only 127 of his relatively unknown works were
all we recorded before the funding ran out. We recorded five days per
week, six hours per day, and our recording engineer was Judith
Sherman. The 'Cellist was Jerry Grossman, Principal Chair of the
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Fun fact:Victor Herbert also served in
this position! There were also sixteen solo singers, 15 Piano pieces,
10 'Cello works, and 102 Songs in all. The recordings are available
in two albums: Piano/Cello works and Collected Songs, on Amazon.com</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>CURIOUS to learn more about Maestro Hicks?</b> I've posted his
Biography below, and you can also visit his website at:
<a href="http://www.williamhicksonline.com/">www.williamhicksonline.com</a>
or purchase his Victor Herbert recordings on Amazon.com: click <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006JVME8U/ref=sr_1_9_rd?ie=UTF8&child=B006JVMJ4E&qid=1425412196&sr=1-9%3C/a%3E">here</a>
for the Piano/Cello works, or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007YOC82S/ref=sr_1_1_rd?ie=UTF8&child=B007YO6ZOA&qid=1425412196&sr=1-1%3C/a%3E">here</a>
for the Collected Songs.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>WILLIAM HICKS, voice coach, conductor, and pianist recently
completed a recording of 127 pieces by Victor Herbert to be issued by
New World Records, including fifteen piano solos, eleven pieces for
cello and piano featuring Jerry Grossman, Principal Cellist of the
Metropolitan Opera, and 101 songs with fifteen solo singers.</b><br />
<b>He also recorded HAVE A HEART by Jerome Kern with the London
Sinfonietta; A SIMPLE SONG: BLACKWELL SINGS BERNSTEIN and ALL THROUGH
THE NIGHT with Harolyn Blackwell; and MY LIFE, MY SONG with Martha
Eggerth Kiepura. He most recently conducted Puccini's LA BOHEME and
Donizetti's L'ELISIR D'AMORE for the Martha Cardona Opera Theatre in
Brooklyn, NY.</b><br />
<b>He made his New York conducting debut in 2003 conducting an all
Mozart/Beethoven concert with members of the Metropolitan Opera
Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall. From 1995 to 2001 Mr. Hicks served
as Assistant Conductor for the Metropolitan Opera, and made his
Metropolitan Opera stage debut as the concert pianist Lazinski in
Giordano's FEDORA.</b><br />
<b>He has also served as Associate Conductor for the Santa Fe
Opera, The Canadian Opera Company, the Cincinnati Opera, and the New
York City Opera. He prepared the singers, conducted rehearsals, and
performed as pianist in Maestro Lorin Maazel's first opera production
of Britten's TURN OF THE SCREW at Castleton, Virginia.</b><br />
<b>From 1990 to 1995 he collaborated as repetiteur and pianist for
Luciano Pavarotti; he has coached, appeared in recital and on
television and in master classes with some of the leading singers of
our time, including Luciano Pavarotti, Franco Corelli, Renata Scotto,
Roberta Peters, Teresa Stratas, Anna Moffo, Regina Resnik, Deborah
Voigt and Harolyn Blackwell. In 2009 he prepared Renee Fleming for
her recording, VERISMO!</b><br />
<b>From 1982 to 2002 he served as Associate Conductor to John
McGlinn, preparing the singers and performing on all of his concerts,
broadcasts, and recordings; he was also on staff of the Israel Vocal
Arts Institute for their programs in Tel Aviv, Portland, Oregon, and
Montreal.</b><br />
<b>Mr. Hicks gives master classes in preparation and
presentation to young singers throughout the world; he also has
extensive training and professional experience as an actor and
dancer.</b><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-rwnHVoOo6iM%2FVOc1z6THBaI%2FAAAAAAAAAu0%2FZmoZTqkZ5u8%2Fs1600%2FWilliamHicksBioPhoto.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rwnHVoOo6iM/VOc1z6THBaI/AAAAAAAAAu0/ZmoZTqkZ5u8/s1600/WilliamHicksBioPhoto.jpg" --><!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rwnHVoOo6iM/VOc1z6THBaI/AAAAAAAAAu0/ZmoZTqkZ5u8/s1600/WilliamHicksBioPhoto.jpg" with "https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rwnHVoOo6iM/VOc1z6THBaI/AAAAAAAAAu0/ZmoZTqkZ5u8/s1600/WilliamHicksBioPhoto.jpg" -->Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-50717165207653630202014-11-07T05:40:00.003-05:002014-11-07T14:38:26.895-05:00Comparing Yourself to Others? Feelings of Inadequacy? Making no money? Don't despair- we've all been there!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Maybe the title of this post was enough for you to already shake your head in acknowledgement of what I mean. Perhaps you know the scenario all too well yourself: you practice your music day in and day out (mostly alone and sometimes on a rare occasion with a teacher or with colleagues/friends), and eventually you get curious or bored (whatever the case, depending on the day) and decide to see how you 'measure up' to other musicians who are in your field (singing your same genre, having your same voice type, playing your same instrument....you get the picture). BAM! Before you know what's hit you, you've listened to several media samples on scarily-good-looking websites from people with whom you're kind of in direct competition (again: you are in the same genre, they have your same voice type, you play the same instrument, etc..) and you're feeling pretty bad about yourself and your musical progress in comparison to what you just heard/saw. The worst part is this: you know that you can do better than what you are doing currently, it's just that somehow you've lost momentum.<br />
<br />
Well, if you're in this particular pickle currently, or if you've been in it before you know what to do: step away from the computer!!, (though not, of course, before finishing reading this blog post) and STOP comparing yourself to others!<br />
<br />
I know that this sounds simple enough to do, but honestly, it's pretty challenging. If you've fallen into this trap before you know the reasons why. Perhaps you've even talked yourself into believing that this is a good thing to do. You'll get toughened up for when you have to audition against these people, having to listen to them auditioning right before you through the door, and then you don't get the job. Or, you're simply curious about who is getting the jobs that you'd like to have, and why they're being picked. Perhaps you can divine exactly what is the magical ingredient to their success simply by watching their videos/listening to their audio samples countless times, and spending a good hour on their website scouring through their bio and resume to discover who might be the 'big name' that is missing on your info which could have potentially gotten them the job and not you. Maybe you've even considered stealing their signature moves (a new cadenza that they wrote themselves, some interesting non-traditional dramatic portrayal, discovering what style clothes they wear when performing, adding dynamic contrasts where they do, or following their phrasing to a 'T') and hoping that they will work for you well-enough so that when you're auditioning people might think you're them (or as good as they are if they don't actually look physically like you) and then you can get the job too. Perhaps it's as easy as stealing that new killer cadenza. Right?<br />
<br />
Wrong!!! My dear friend, in all of this, the one thing that you're severely overlooking and completely forgetting is that you are unique and special by just <b>BEING WHO YOU ARE</b>. (Sorry for yelling, but this is an intervention, no?) Even if you could impersonate someone perfectly (whom you deem at this moment to be more 'successful' or more 'talented' than you are) you would never have the same success that they do, simply because you're not being authentic. People can see through that charade a mile away. Trust me- I've been on the other side of the audition table (okay, only once, but it still gave me a lot of insight about this) and I can tell you- those singers (actors, instrumentalists, etc...) who came into the audition and were completely comfortable with who they were and their abilities were the ones whom we all liked the most (and that had nothing to do with who was the most technically skilled or performed the most 'perfectly' in terms of 'traditional expectations'- actually the funniest part about all of this was that everyone we chose was NOT technically perfect, and we turned away a lot of people who were! How about that?!). And that was also a situation where each member of the audition panel had totally varying senses of what is 'good' and what is not. So, that's something to consider, right?<br />
<br />
The other thing which I'd like to mention is that you are most likely being too hard on yourself. You know, this morning I realized why we are supposed to talk to children in a way that builds them up- because living life is hard, and when you're learning a lot at one time, learning something difficult or brand-new, or even fine-tuning something over many consecutive years, then it becomes even harder- and <b>you need support and encouragement in those situations</b>! You don't need someone breathing down your neck saying stuff like this:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Why aren't you getting more done? You've only practiced 2 hours today and you did 3 yesterday! What's the matter with you? Why aren't you more motivated? Why are you so lazy? I bet (fill in the name of the person whom you compare yourself the most to) wouldn't be acting like this! I bet they do (x, y, z) instead of taking as many breaks as you do! Get off Facebook, for crying out loud! Who would even want to hire someone like you, anyway? I mean, with an attitude like this and no follow-through how do you expect to become successful? And you had so much potential!! But alas, it's all wasted now. It's much too late for you to ever make something of yourself. Lord knows that you actually have gotten worse over the years. Maybe when you were younger there was still hope to get on the right path, but now you've hopelessly strayed and have become so screwed up with neuroses and bad habits that you'll never be able to get back to where you were, let alone where you want to be. You've squandered your time and now you'd better just get a real job that pays the bills so you don't end up starving on top of already being pathetic. I guess your (Mom/Dad/Grandma/Grandpa, whomever...) was right when they told you not to go into music! But you were too dumb to listen to them. You believed in yourself- pah! Even then you didn't know how little talent you had and you had even more hope than you have now- how silly you were! Didn't you always know somewhere deep down that it was going to turn out this way eventually? So admit defeat. At least if you give up now you won't continue to make a fool of yourself and continue to waste money and time like you've been doing all these years. Maybe people will forget that you tried and failed. Hopefully they just won't mention it in the future."</blockquote>
</blockquote>
This kind of talk does not help anyone. If it's coming from someone else (maybe you're not actually saying these things to yourself- maybe someone else is saying them to you) then you have to get away from that person's influence (physically or mentally, somehow), or if it's coming from you (your own negative self-talk) then you've internalized these things as you developed over the years through hearing them from others (teachers, parents, friends, etc..) and have finally turned them into your own beliefs about yourself.<br />
<br />
However, there is still plenty of hope for you, so don't despair. When was it ever accurate to measure yourself by another person's standard anyway? Consider- there are two major systems of measuring things (the metric and the imperial) and both are considered 'right'. So why can't you be who you are and do your music how you see fit and that be right too? I say that you can. Because you have to. I mean, what choice have you got, really? You can't accurately assess yourself or your abilities (I mean, sure you <i>can</i> in a way, if you record yourself and listen back for technical perfection, or if you're doing it how you'd want yourself to do it) but that is <b>NEVER</b> going to be the way that other people experience your music (and consider this mind-blower: you are only able to assess yourself by the parameters with which you've been taught to by <b>OTHER PEOPLE</b>--which are most likely totally invalid since they were weren't tailored to evaluate <b>YOUR UNIQUE ABILITY</b>!). You will truly never be able to fully grasp the way that your music making affects others who listen to you or watch you perform. Therefore, why try to over-analyze your abilities and strive for your imagined perception of 'perfection'?<br />
<br />
It's as senseless as trying to look at the middle of your own back. You'll never be able to see it in real-time (sure you can take a picture but that loses the aspect of seeing it like others can) so you can also never judge it properly or fully. Therefore, again- why bother trying? Why place value on that? It's not important. What <b>IS</b> important is that you have a back and that it's there doing it's thing- being your back. And it's basically the same with your music making. You just have to do it in your own authentic way, and even if it's performing a piece that thousands of other people have performed countless times and have received critical acclaim for it, your version still will be enriching the lives in an unfathomable way of those who hear it and adding to the rich legacy of music making in this world. You just have to know that that is true and hold this truth in your heart, and then make your music. Simple as that.<br />
<br />
Don't buy into the pessimistic views of the naysayers. They only talk that way because they're also saying those same things to themselves in their heads. Why else would they try to drag you down into the mental mire of being your own worst critic? They need company in the muck. But don't join them! Rather, throw them a lifeline and pull them up into the world of people who live each day knowing that what they do-no matter or big or how small-is worthy, good and needed, and they should feel proud about doing it, and glad that they could.<br />
<br />
That's all.<br />
<br />
And another thing- <b>IF YOU DO NOT GET PAID FOR WHAT YOU DO, THAT DOES NOT MEAN IT HAS NO WORTH! </b> This is a common error of thinking. Many people buy into believing this is an appropriate way to measure whether or not something is worthy. The logic goes like this: if a person gets paid, then what they are doing is valuable. If a person does not get paid, then what they are doing has no value. <b>WRONG!!!!!!</b> This is a hold-over from thinking that developed probably right at the time when money was first used. Sure, back then money was created to approximate the value of the thing that it was being traded for (a.k.a. you give me a loaf of bread, I give you a coin that's worth roughly the worth of the loaf of bread). Money was used to equal the worth of goods that people needed. Well, in today's society things have changed. With the advent of inflation and modern commerce practices oftentimes a person is paying much more for a good than it's actually worth. (Gucci clothing, for instance, is made super cheaply but is still sold for a huge mark-up.) Thus, it is senseless to equate something having value with something that earns/costs a lot of money. We can all think of plenty of things which are worth a lot to us but don't create cash flow/aren't expensive. For example, what about hiking up a mountain to see the view at the top, seeing a baby smile, sharing things with others, waking up every morning, experiencing new things, learning for fun....? The list could go on and on. And these types of things are the sort that, I'm sure you'll agree, money could never buy. So, again--why believe that if your music isn't making money, it's worthless? That is a total and blatant falsehood.<br />
<br />
Okay, I hope that this has given you somewhat of a different perspective on your situation and empowered you. Maybe it will even help you to show others who are having similar problems the way out of the downward spiral. I know that once I realized how futile and untrue these beliefs were, it was easy for me to get out. I hope that you can too. So, keep on making your music and thanks for reading! And make sure to share if you know someone whose outlook might be brightened by reading this-we're all in it together! :)</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-30221665029994026632014-09-11T03:28:00.000-04:002014-09-11T03:32:36.479-04:00Opera Is NOT A Tool for Rich People to Look Good<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The title of this post may have already resonated with you, but I was so moved by reading another article that I found in Opera America's Newsletter (yes, again!), that I felt I needed to share more details. Perhaps you yourself have read the article (called <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/01/arts/music/san-diego-opera-downsizes-to-survive.html?_r=1&utm_source=OPERA+America+News&utm_campaign=9f9ff8eb45-20140909_OperaLink&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a71a99cf69-9f9ff8eb45-31817861" target="_blank">"Amid Choruses of Despair, An Aria of Hope" in the New York Times</a>) already?<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
At any rate, it might have been obvious to you too that this article was a good one, though it brought up a practice that is all too common among Opera fans who mean to do something good for the art form. For those of you who haven't read the article, it basically talks about the great resurrection of the San Diego Opera, which is back up and running and indeed hasn't been sucked into the abyss with other opera companies that are no longer existing. To this I say- wonderful! A triumph! Another established and important cultural bastion is saved! However, the author goes on to examine some of the problems that were contributing to the SDO's near death, such as having 57 board members, offices which were $400,000 more than they needed to cost because of a nice view, and 13 Staff Members who weren't absolutely essential to daily operations. Needless to say that now with a board of only 26 people, offices in a less swanky part of town, 13 less people in the office and one expensive production cut from the upcoming season (Tannhaeuser), they are saving a lot of money and operating more efficiently than ever before. So, I applaud them and agree that these measures were necessary to keep an important opera house alive. The funny part is, you'd think that those people who left, Opera fans as they are, would be equally happy that the company found a solution to staying afloat and will not have to close its doors. Well, you will be shocked then to note that the woman who was the president of the board, Karen S. Cohn, (who resigned, conveniently) was quoted in the article saying: </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
"I cannot support what is going on. This is a group of people who are not focusing on going forward. They are focusing on ruining people who spent 31 years doing wonderful things for San Diego. I don't want to ruin their chance of going forward, but I don't appreciate how they have handled this."</blockquote>
Ironically then, in contrast to her sentiment that she doesn't "...want to ruin their chance of going forward...", she goes on to say the following when asked whether or not she'll be in attendance for the coming season at San Diego Opera:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I'm going to Los Angeles, or I'm going to New York. Not here."</blockquote>
Pretty hypocritical, right? It sounds to me like the only thing she's saving is face. But, it's not the first time that I've witnessed so-called Opera fans who have become board members or donors simply to look good and push their private agendas. Though, we all know that if they were <i>truly</i> interested in the health and well-being of these institutions they'd have sucked up their pride, admitted their mistakes, and still done everything they could to help. However, thus you can see the benefits of dire financial circumstances and poor management forcing companies to the brink of extinction and thereby flushing out these phonies to make room for more flexible and selfless stewards. Let's face it, if she had remained President of the Board at San Diego Opera, they'd be permanently closed by now. So I say let her go see operas in Los Angeles or New York- but whatever you do, don't let her, or people like her, on any more boards!</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-61367696824293206432014-09-11T02:17:00.000-04:002015-07-31T18:47:23.573-04:00The Hard Reality of What It 'Takes' to Become an Opera Singer in Today's Business<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So earlier today I read <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/j-nelson-aviance/so-you-want-to-be-an-opera-singer_b_5743074.html?utm_source=OPERA+America+News&utm_campaign=9f9ff8eb45-20140909_OperaLink&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a71a99cf69-9f9ff8eb45-31817861" target="_blank">this article</a> titled "So You Want to Be An Opera Singer" on Huffington Post, which I saw advertised in Opera America's Newsletter. Even though I had never heard of the article's author, I thought to myself, "That's no big deal- this field is huge! Maybe he has something really helpful to say." Well, I was way off! And utterly disappointed after reading the article, I might add.<br />
<br />
The reason why I am taking up your time and mine right now to write a post about said article must make you wonder though, right? Of course. The answer as to why I'd choose to examine such a generalized piece of journalism such as this is because I simply can no longer stand idly by and do nothing as I have in the past. Previously I may have believed that because I was "still a student" or "hadn't gotten my first meaningful and noteworthy professional gig yet" meant that I wasn't qualified to talk about these subjects with any sort of authority nor express my opinion because surely someone else more knowledgeable and more experienced would take up the task of doing that when it came to refuting the obvious garbage that you sometimes come across on the Internet having to do with Opera singing.<br />
<br />
Much to my dismay, however, this person many times did not appear wielding the divining rod of operatic justice and set the record straight with their honesty and transparency. No, oftentimes ill-informed authors were free to disseminate their opinions about the profession without any negative repercussions (except for people like me thinking things like "What a load of crap that was!" or something similar). So, if you had also fallen prey to reading that article and thinking something like what I said in the previous sentence, you're not alone. In fact, I'd like to write a small rebuttal to that article, so that we can all know what is really helpful to "Be An Opera Singer" and what is just basically leading more unaware lambs to the slaughter.<br />
<br />
First off, I'm not sure in what world of privilege the author lives, but I know that many of my colleagues who decided to pursue vocal studies did so with the understanding that they would need college loans, and many of them, and that those students whose education was paid for outright were very few indeed. This leads us to observe that students who must take loans cannot take one to two years off after finishing their undergraduate degree because their school loans would swallow them alive after they come out of deferment. That of course makes the likelihood of being able to work to pay off these loans as well as simultaneously get accepted, enroll and complete a graduate studies program very slim indeed. So that means that most of us, myself included, whether or not we wanted it, had to go from one degree straight into the next simply because there was no financially feasible alternative. To clarify: I'm not saying that the Huff Post Author's take is wrong, it's just not realistic for most students. And make no mistake, any of the top-tier music conservatories are going to cost you: $29,000 to $45,000 per year are the prices that I remember from my degree days. These are not public university in-state tuition prices we're talking about! Tuition has probably even gone up in the past few years- so be prepared for a huge blow to you or your parents' savings account when investing in a music degree program.<br />
<br />
The other thing that the author neglects to mention, though he does a good job in the final paragraph of noting that there are a lot of other things to mention (how ironic- the last paragraph of the entire article is basically the only time in which he really gives some useful advice to the reader, though he doesn't elaborate on it at all) is that there is no barometer which you or anyone else can use to determine whether or not all the money and time that you invest into this profession will ever pay off. And that it's incredibly risky and nearly impossible to try and make a living from singing. Basically the only way that you can be guaranteed a career is if you devote your entire life to singing, sort of like a nun or monk, but somehow while still maintaining a good network of influential connections, keeping your audition arias polished at all times, managing to keep your physical appearance at 100% as often as humanly possible, somehow have or make money to live on, and develop stalker-like habits in regards to your application-material-sending-strategy. This is, of course, predicated on your ability to stay sane and be a nice person like you were before all that sacrifice, too. This may sound grim, and that's because it is, but do not despair- there will always be some masochistic nutcase out there who is more possessed than you about getting hired for the role, so spare no expense and don't be afraid to shed your morals when trying to jockey for your next gig. (I'm being ironic, people.)<br />
<br />
But seriously, isn't that what the author is trying to say in a more politically correct way at the very end? I mean, he could have spared himself all that blunder about which school to attend and what to do when you get there because he basically negates all that in the last paragraph of his article! Those of us who are currently trying to eke out a living in this field have all realized slowly (while lying to ourselves over the last few years as it got worse and we noticed it) that this business as it exists today and has existed in years past is quite extraordinarily broken, and it must be radically revamped in order to be fixed. Or, we abandon the ship and all make our own boats. That's the other option. Because let's face it, if I were the one who was asked by the mother of someone interested in studying to become an opera singer, I would have said to her "Lady, have your kid study business administration (or marketing, or anything for that matter!) and languages, take lessons and coach privately with amazing people, and then just apply for every summer and pay-to-sing program known to man. Because there is certainly no guarantee that if they go to Juilliard or MSM or Mannes or Curtis that they'll have a professional career and studying privately with the teachers who teach at those schools is a <i>much</i> cheaper way of getting the same knowledge. And, they will most likely be happier too at the end of their studies and not burned out about the ugly side of the 'business of singing'. That way, if this industry collapses completely (which, if it keeps going the way it has been, is certainly likely) your child at least has some marketable skills which will enable them to earn a decent middle-class wage, instead of being stuck working boring temp jobs in various offices for the rest of their adult lives and feeling unfulfilled while just scraping by monetarily."<br />
<br />
Yes, perhaps that is a bit bleak, and perhaps that may scare the poor woman off entirely from allowing her child to pursue music at all as a career, but that may just be the most sound advice that a person can be given nowadays, due to the drastic surplus of singers who are being churned out each year from conservatories and universities all across the country into an industry where there are less and less spots to fill. At least I certainly wish someone had been that honest with me while I was studying, because we singers aren't dumb. In fact, I'm convinced that most of us still could have studied something completely different and managed the singing thing pretty amazingly on the side until we got that 'breakthrough' gig. (Or have you had a different experience? Please, I'm all ears!)</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-16795444111555799122014-08-28T10:19:00.002-04:002014-11-07T05:52:50.666-05:00WHAT'S YOUR (Audition Sung:Hired for Performance) RATIO?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
So, to start this off, a small ironic anecdote for your enjoyment!</div>
<br />
I was recently reading an interview with Joyce Di Donato in the September Issue of <u>Concerti</u> (I think it's solely a German publication-not sure- don't shoot me if I'm wrong) where she said something akin to it being <i>tough</i> for her when she first got to Europe because she did 13 auditions and only got hired for 1 of them. It was at this point where I laid the magazine down and thought "Sheesh! If only that were <i>my</i> ratio!!! It would be a heck of a lot better than only 2 auditions in this past <i>year's</i> time and 0 hires." I picked the magazine back up, read a bit further and found surprisingly that my reaction was incorrect (apparently) because Joyce was seriously distressed about this 13:1/failure:success ratio. It even made her stop and completely re-evaluate her approach to discover what she could do better.<br />
<br />
Now, does this all seem a bit silly to you? Do you find yourself thinking the same thing that I was? Does it seem like a success to you to be <i>invited</i> to 13 auditions in the first place, let alone get <i>hired</i> for 1 of them? Yeah. Join the club. Though apparently that's not the right attitude, because if we were Joyce, we'd have been re-tooling our entire approach to things by now.<br />
<br />
But let's face it- who knows how many years ago poor Joyce had her distressing experience of 13:1? We <i>all</i> know how hard it is though, nowadays to even be invited to audition for an agent, let alone an Opera house (especially if you're any variety of 'Soprano'- God help us), and so when I hear people (even if they are as wonderful and nice and shiny as Joyce Di Donato, don't get me wrong, I truly admire who this woman is and and her achievements) saying that a 13:1 ratio is really bad, it makes me laugh. Sorry, but I just can't help it! To me, a person who has been doing everything possible (okay not <i>everything</i>, but ...EW! No.) to get in the faces (and ears) of as many agents and Opera houses as possible in Germany, Joyce's downheartedness seems a bit premature. I can't help but ask myself what would she have done if she had been faced with the things I (as well as most of my colleagues) have had to push through? Would she have quit a long time ago already? Would she have wrung her hands at the heavens and cursed her existence? Would she have bought a farm back in Kansas and sung only to her cows?<br />
<br />
Who knows. But my point is, even though she was very well-meaning with her honesty in that she didn't get the red carpet rolled out by European houses back in the day when she wasn't as popular as she is now, it doesn't necessarily paint an accurate picture for the person who is reading her interview of the struggles and difficulties that an Opera career is laden with today. No, in fact, these sorts of interesting tidbits only make it harder for those of us out there now trying to achieve our goals (for many of us that means a paying job singing Opera, and for others of us that means any job singing Opera in a role that's appropriate, for crying out loud) and I can only say that I wish there was a way for more of us real-life, everyday Opera singers to explain what the daily grind is like. To give those inquisitive Opera Fans what they want: the truth about the sacrifices and the constant wondering when you'll get that one gig that will finally allow<i> those people</i> in hiring positions to know you, and understand you, and appreciate your artistry, and ultimately want to enable you to share that artistry with the world!!!!!!!!!!! <br />
<br />
Yeah, that's right- I DO NOT HAVE a 13:1 ratio like Joyce. In fact, if I added up all the auditions that I've ever done professionally (including YAPS) versus those that I actually was chosen for, I'd say my ratio is more like 300:10. So, according to Joyce I guess I'm in a place where I should throw out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak, and re-design my approach. But you know what? The other, even <i>more</i> ironic part of that article was that during her re-tooling she realized that her problem was trying to be the kind of performer that others wanted her to be, and therefore she couldn't be authentic, but of course once she stopped <i>that</i>, she was super successful. Huh. Perhaps on second thought I'll keep doing what I feel is best, and see where that gets me. (Even if my ratio might reach 400: 11 soon.) Maybe I have more in common with Joyce than I think.<!---for--></div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-2915472484378471212014-02-06T11:18:00.002-05:002014-02-06T11:18:44.260-05:00Musical Christmas Cheer: Seeing the Hannover Knabenchor at the Essener Philharmonie<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Did you ever wonder what sorts of things make the holidays cheerful and bright? Perhaps you have a favorite tea, or cookie, or evening ritual which is sacred to you that brings just the right amount of coziness to your Advent season. Though, I'd bet anything that music is one aspect of your holiday atmosphere that you simply couldn't go without. I mean, at the first sound of "Jingle Bells" on the radio most people get in the Christmas spirit.<br />
<br />
Now, I'm certainly not a classical music snob, and I thoroughly appreciate all of the popular secular Christmas songs that are out there, but the sound of a Christmas Carol sung by a children's choir is, to me, the pinnacle of all of Christmas' musical incarnations. Therefore it was only fitting that my well-informed Boyfriend purchased tickets for us to attend the recent Christmas concert performed at the Essener Philharmonie (Philharmonic in Essen, Germany) by the Hannover Knabenchor (Hannover Boys Choir) and the London Brass. What a spectacular experience for my ears and thereby, my soul! I'll wager these boys could sing anything and make it sound angelic. But all kidding aside, their performance was utterly professional: not one chorister was inattentive and they all looked as if they were thrilled to pieces to be singing this music, which I can understand since their program was so varied in style and language.<br />
<br />
They first sang four pieces written before 1650 (the first by William Byrd, "Sing joyfully unto God our strength", the second by Anonymous, "Angelus ad Virginem", the third also by Anonymous, "The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors", and the fourth by Thomas Weelkes, "Hosanna to the son of David") which were all very beautiful but also quite austere, as many pieces were that were written in that time period. Then they continued with "A spotless rose" by Herbert Howells which was particularly beautiful, followed by "In dulci jubilo" arranged by Robert Pearsall, which featured different sections sung in Latin and German, as well as English. Then they sung "Wexford Carol" arranged by John Rutter (one of my personal favorites simply because I love everything that John Rutter has ever written), and then a piece by Benjamin Britten called "A Hymn to the Virgin", which was also very beautiful since it utilized the excellent acoustics in the hall by its being written for two smaller choirs singing antiphonally to one another. It was quite an audience favorite because of that surprise. Then the intermission came, and already I could feel that the whole audience had the impression that the time flew by and they'd have gladly sat there another 30 minutes before they needed a break.<br />
<br />
Whatever the case, the second half held other treasures, so it was perhaps good that we could clear our auditory palette in order to appreciate them fully. It began with a sacred favorite, "O come all ye faithful" arranged by David Willcocks, which was followed by a piece arranged by Roger Harvey, "Gabriel's Message", featuring a wonderful Baritone soloist chosen from amongst the choir members. "Away in a manger" was next, also arranged by Roger Harvey, and then a piece that is new to me and has become one of my favorites through their performance of it, "Shepherd's Carol" by Bob Chilcott. What a truly stunning use of dynamics and color couple with excellent storytelling, poetic text! It was just beautiful! Another John Rutter arrangement of a popular classic "Deck the hall" followed, with another Roger Harvey arrangement, "The Holly and the Ivy" (another favorite of mine) just introducing the truly famous next four songs. Those being: "Joy to the world", arranged by Richard Bissill, "The First Nowell" arranged by David Willcocks, "We wish you a merry Christmas" arranged by Arthur Warrell and finally "Hark! the hearald-angels sing" arranged by David Willcocks. The children, the conductor (Joerg Breiding- who did an absolutely exquisite job handling the musical nuances and colors of the pieces while not allowing the choristers' voices to be overtaxed but simply flowing and beautiful and healthy- BRAVO!) and the London Brass players were certainly in a bit of a mischievous mood since they all donned Santa Claus hats before singing these final four pieces, which only added to the joyful spirit emanating from their music-making. It was truly a delight to be in the audience for such a special experience.<br />
<br />
I think, though, I was not the only audience member who was happy to realize that they had prepared several encore pieces, since they also received two standing ovations which they most certainly deserved! For their encore they simply repeated "O come, all ye faithful", "Deck the hall", and "We wish you a merry Christmas" which was just a perfect ending to a perfect concert.<br />
<br />
The London Brass was also truly marvelous and in good form in this performance, and although this was actually their concert in which the Hannover Knabenchor was simply their guest, the choristers definitely stole the show. However, I'm sure the London Brass didn't mind since they obviously couldn't help but enjoying themselves making music with the choir members- you could tell how much fun they had in this performance- a wonderful example of how collaboration is just as rewarding and potentially more so than performing solo.</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-13929522183479424172013-09-14T07:09:00.003-04:002013-09-14T07:09:40.830-04:00Psychology of Music Infographic: Why This Matters to You and Your Children, Your Family and The World<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Okay, this particular infographic got a lot of facebook shares about a month ago, and I'm just getting around to breaking it down for you all. I'm not sure if looking at it once (though they say that a picture's worth a thousand words) really communicates the concepts, for those of you who aren't visual learners, and because I think it's very important to grasp the information that this graphic presents, I'm going to talk about it a bit in this blog post, so that we can fully appreciate all the wonderful benefits of music, be thankful for them, and share them with others as often as possible! :) But first, if you haven't already- look at the infographic below (my commentary follows at the end).<img alt="The Psychology of Music " class="visually_embed_infographic" rel="http://thumbnails.visually.netdna-cdn.com/the-psychology-of-music_510e25927e035.jpg" src="http://thumbnails.visually.netdna-cdn.com/the-psychology-of-music_510e25927e035_w587.jpg" />
<br />
<div class="visually_embed" data-category="Science" rel="infographic">
<div class="visually_embed_bar">
<span class="visually_embed_cycle"><a href="http://visual.ly/psychology-music/?utm_source=visually_embed">The Psychology of Music infographic</a> </span>
</div>
<br />
First of all, the most important message that is contained in this infographic isn't found at the top- it's found in the middle- where the two graphs show the importance of music in education. These two graphs are relevant to you, even if you're not a musician, because it explains how much of a positive influence music has in life outside of music. That's right, music is good just for the fact that you have it in your life (as evidenced by the high SAT scores of the kids who just simply took a music appreciation course- which normally consists of learning a bit of music history, but also a lot of listening to different kids of music- in fact, if it's a good course- a whole lot of music- with a whole lot of different influences), which means that you don't have to be directly making music yourself for it to have a huge positive impact in your life. That, right there, is a fact that many lawmakers need to consider when they make choices like cutting out the music programs in schools (ahem, the state of KANSAS: enemy # 1!!), which they feel they are doing for the benefit of the students so they can do better in their other, more important subjects. (Hello! That graph clearly shows that students who simply learn about music (not even play it!) do SO much better in their other subjects BECAUSE of their music knowledge---so, how the lawmakers can consider cutting music to be a good idea, I cannot understand. Nonetheless, I digress. (Ha...that rhymes!)<br />
<br />
<link href="http://visual.ly/embeder/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link>
<script src="http://visual.ly/embeder/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
Besides this being an ad (sort of backhandedly) for the University of Florida's music program (okay, you can't really blame them for lauding the positive aspects of the field in which they're involved!), who might have ever thought that being a Music Teacher could be characterized as 'making a difference in the world'? I mean, okay, all of you musicians and music teachers and music lovers aside, who already know what I'm getting at, how many people do you know in your communities who would never dream of putting a Music Teacher into the same category as a UN Delegate, or a President, or a billionaire Philanthropist, or even on a smaller scale, a Doctor? Those people are typically the sorts that come to mind when someone mentions 'making a difference in the WORLD'....., so it's pretty colossal that Music Teachers are now, because of this recent evidence presented in the graphic, able to be welcomed into that category. In fact, I would wager to say that because of the information presented above (the fact that music positively affects a person's abstract reasoning, anger management, overall success, and ability to be compassionate and conquer difficult challenges-aka the medical student statistic), a Music Teacher has the ability, unlike the types of people I mentioned in the previous sentence, to change a person's life in not just one area, but in many important ones.<br />
<br />
The portion about brain waves and their effect on the body and a person's psychological state isn't so well explained, so I'll try to take that apart a little now, so you can understand what they were going for there. For instance, have you ever had the experience of listening to a guided meditation which had music in the background? That music was specifically chosen because it helped to create more Theta waves in your brain, thereby deepening your meditation practice. Or, how many times have we listened to Mozart's instrumental works when trying to focus? That is because his music increases Gamma waves. Alpha waves can be produced by listening to music that relaxes you, for instance: Debussy or even something more modern like Terry Riley. Beta waves may be created when listening to music that makes you anxious, perhaps something scary like Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, or highly atonal and discordant like Berio, or creepy like Carmina Burana (think of all the scary film music out there). You could also argue that Delta waves are produced by music since there are a number of people who listen to music to fall asleep by, and claim that it is some of their deepest sleep- so, regardless of the music (but perhaps it's something like 'smooth' jazz), it does have the ability to reach us even in sleep in a positive way. And, these are all the subconscious effects that music has on a person's mind and mood- how wonderful that it this happens even when we might not consciously be realizing it- less mental work, and more reward, I say! Then the graphic goes on to relate the brain wave activity to the fact that when we hear music, our brains are alerted and working in more areas than when we take part in any other activity. It goes without saying then, that listening to music is a highly important pastime, especially if you plan on living a long life with healthy brain activity.<br />
<br />
Finally the part of the graphic that is presented first and third, and may be the most obvious and difficult to argue with- simply because so many people have experienced firsthand the positive physical results, is the one which describes how the ear processes music (and sound in general) and transports it to the brain, and then what sorts of positive effects that music has on the brain in the realms of skills, neurological disorders improved, and healing powers- both physically and emotionally. Haven't we all, at some time or another, noticed that when we're running or exercising we like to listen to a certain kind of music that keeps us motivated and happy? Or, when we hear a certain piece it brings back memories of the past? Or, how about when we have a headache and put on something soothing and the headache pain is gone or has greatly decreased after listening? You can probably name a few pieces that you listen to when you're feeling down which always cheer you up, or conversely, when you're looking to dwell in your sorrows, a piece that always bring out the melancholy, even on a sunny day? All of these firsthand experiences plainly show us that music has direct positive effects on us in many different ways. However, most of you knew all of this already, and those of you who didn't- well, get out there and listen to more music- and you'll soon be able to experience all of these things for yourself (I'm even excited <em>for</em> you! So go!!). <br />
<br />
And, congratulations to all of you who make it a priority to involve music in your lives and the lives of those you love, as well as champion its cause in your communities on a daily basis- you are the ones who are truly changing the world- and now you've got an arsenal of facts to prove it, should anyone think otherwise! :)<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>
</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-9033976418205330222013-08-23T05:35:00.002-04:002013-09-17T08:28:44.734-04:00Bonn Trip: Beethoven's True Identity Unveiled!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This past Saturday, a combination of nice weather and guilt
(we've not been there once yet as 'tourists') inspired my boyfriend
and I to take the train to Bonn and look around with inquisitive
attitudes and wide-open eyes. Well, in case you were worried,
fear not- we certainly liked what we saw! Bonn is a beautiful
city located on the banks of the Rhein river, about a half an hour's
train ride from Cologne (also known as "Koeln" when
speaking German). The charm and beauty of Bonn lies in the
architecture of its buildings and their color palette. I'd
wager that 98% of the buildings were painted in pastel hues (light
yellows, pinks, blues, greens, oranges, and various shades of ivory)
and looked as if NYC's Greenwich Village was relocated to Germany- I
kid you not! Nearly all of the buildings in the center of the
old part of the city ("Altstadtkern" in German) had large
multi-pane windows, which were sometimes also arched or in the shape
of small circles that resembled portholes, and the facades of these
buildings were decorated with all the love and care that romanticism
could lend to classicism. (You'll understand hopefully what I
mean when you see the photos below.) <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EAjLmfyGeQU/Uhcpf00lOPI/AAAAAAAAAic/4m71Cq0trlc/s1600/P7201328.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EAjLmfyGeQU/Uhcpf00lOPI/AAAAAAAAAic/4m71Cq0trlc/s320/P7201328.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mWQ1tMMOefI/UhcpgbgQI_I/AAAAAAAAAio/Fr53XtIMqk4/s1600/P7201333.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mWQ1tMMOefI/UhcpgbgQI_I/AAAAAAAAAio/Fr53XtIMqk4/s200/P7201333.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AywHJRGGhFk/UhcpPKe57KI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/x50a1Ax2OAU/s1600/P7201326.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AywHJRGGhFk/UhcpPKe57KI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/x50a1Ax2OAU/s320/P7201326.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EwGFopTj_Ns/UhcpOsw1qVI/AAAAAAAAAiE/dsIs6_RR2KA/s1600/P7201319.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EwGFopTj_Ns/UhcpOsw1qVI/AAAAAAAAAiE/dsIs6_RR2KA/s320/P7201319.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bonn's most famous citizen :)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ik3izx_7bFc/UhcpgPjN3MI/AAAAAAAAAig/1zN1LMQwXPc/s1600/P7201330.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ik3izx_7bFc/UhcpgPjN3MI/AAAAAAAAAig/1zN1LMQwXPc/s200/P7201330.JPG" width="150" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mjmuq3uh-XE/UhcpxD2bNuI/AAAAAAAAAjA/mZF_FsilKdk/s1600/P7201341.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mjmuq3uh-XE/UhcpxD2bNuI/AAAAAAAAAjA/mZF_FsilKdk/s320/P7201341.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PA7fvjQzh-E/UhcpwoECGSI/AAAAAAAAAi0/poSAWM5BM74/s1600/P7201342.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PA7fvjQzh-E/UhcpwoECGSI/AAAAAAAAAi0/poSAWM5BM74/s320/P7201342.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2ALNr-4bfc4/UhcpxAGg3MI/AAAAAAAAAi8/ezV_IL_qdbs/s1600/P7201343.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2ALNr-4bfc4/UhcpxAGg3MI/AAAAAAAAAi8/ezV_IL_qdbs/s320/P7201343.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vco12sf441M/UhcqBZ8RNkI/AAAAAAAAAjM/_qhsZhrWTNs/s1600/P7201352.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vco12sf441M/UhcqBZ8RNkI/AAAAAAAAAjM/_qhsZhrWTNs/s320/P7201352.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BEETHOVEN'S BIRTHPLACE FROM FRONT!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EurWAAxtpp4/UhcqCADCcNI/AAAAAAAAAjc/jB1__N48wLo/s1600/P7201358.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EurWAAxtpp4/UhcqCADCcNI/AAAAAAAAAjc/jB1__N48wLo/s320/P7201358.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the Town Hall/"Rathaus" and myself</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C5Amzm0_2KM/UhcqBds8nSI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/nTjleER3ZFk/s1600/P7201365.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C5Amzm0_2KM/UhcqBds8nSI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/nTjleER3ZFk/s320/P7201365.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Painted on an underpass wall! :) </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xzDRd-6Nonc/UhcqIRTN44I/AAAAAAAAAjk/h-4gua2oqAQ/s1600/P7201370.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xzDRd-6Nonc/UhcqIRTN44I/AAAAAAAAAjk/h-4gua2oqAQ/s320/P7201370.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me in front of the University- formerly the palace</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Although the city of Bonn was a
pleasant and welcome ocular surprise to both my boyfriend and myself
(we don't live in such a pretty city), we had our most meaningful
experience of the day when we visited the house in which Beethoven
was born and lived as a child. We were lucky to have gotten there just 10 minutes before the next
guided tour (with a human being) began, and because it didn't cost
anything extra, and saved us from having to hold those annoying audio
guides up to our ears, we decided to do it. Of course, we
didn't realize it at the time, but it was a great choice to make-
since our tour guide, a petite and sprightly older woman, possessed
insider knowledge about the museum, as well as Beethoven himself.
She possessed said knowledge because she was one of the members
of the organization (the "Beethoven-Haus Verein") that
founded the museum and monetarily provides for its
ongoing operation. So, our tour was quite the glimpse into
Beethoven <em>as a person</em>, as well as his musical ascent to
greatness (the first half of which was quite a bit more interesting
than the second half. Just wait- you'll soon agree!).<br />
<br />
We began our tour by finding out that Beethoven himself was born
in the house where the museum is housed, for lack of a better word
(ha!), and that his early years of his childhood were spent there, as
well as some of his later adolescent years (as it seemed that his
family moved around within the city center of Bonn, as was the
fashion in those days, and they came back to this house for a
period of a few years when he was older). He was brought
up in a musical family, as his Grandfather was a Tenor who sang at
the home of the royal family there in Bonn, and his father was a
violinist who played in the royal court orchestra. His father,
like many other musicians then and nowadays, could not make a living
solely on his salary from the orchestra, so he took on private violin
students. His own little Ludwig was one of his students, and he
was pleased to be able to have him perform in a public concert with
another of his private students when Beethoven was 8 years old (but,
much to my chagrin- his father was ever the promoter for his son- and
on the flyers that announced the concert debut of the 'little musical
genius' he was proclaimed to be 6 years old). So, it is obvious
that even back then it was common to do a little
'fudging of the truth' in order to make people believe that your
child was a wunderkind.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, although he was of course pressured by his father to
continue his violin playing, he still was able to remain a child by
the benefit of his Grandfather's acquaintance with a more well-to-do
family, the 'von Breuning's' who lived nearby. They had a daughter,
Eleonore, who was close to Beethoven's age with whom he became very
good friends. (She is most likely the very same Leonore he composed
so many pieces for later on!) While spending time at their house, he
was able to learn about the world beyond music, and he devoured their
conversations on politics, language, philosophy and religion. He
also learned table manners. (Ha! I'd like to know what it must have
been like for him to eat dinner at home beforehand if this was judged
to be necessary.) All the knowledge he learned during the time he
spent with the von Breunings prepared Beethoven well for the
independent and trail-blazing life he would lead later on. However,
again, it was very interesting to me that Beethoven, similar to many
musicians nowadays, was not able to learn all the things he needed
from his family life, and learned quite a lot of what proved useful
to him simply through the generosity and good will of friends.
<br />
<br />
They apparently were never quite able to squelch the jovial and
childlike nature of Beethoven, however, and that proved useful to him
throughout the rest of his life, as his was not one without great
hardships. Our tour guide explained that his father enjoyed drinking
a bit too much for his own good, and when Beethoven was still only 10
years old was made to support his family, taking over his father's
seat in the court orchestra. Then, as if that weren't enough,
(wearing a powdered wig and playing in fancy dress suits for hours at
a time is trying for even adults, let alone a child), his greatest
aspiration of being able to study composition with Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart in Vienna was dashed because he couldn't get the money quickly
together to make the trip, and then Mozart died!
<br />
<br />
It was only from sheer luck that Beethoven met Josef Haydn on the
streets of Bonn while Haydn was in town on tour, and after fervent
begging, he agreed to take him on as his composition student (so, at
least if he didn't get to study with Mozart, he got to study with
Mozart's primary teacher). Beethoven's compositional skill and piano
playing was so excellent that Haydn arranged for him to travel to
Vienna to perform some of his pieces there in a series of concerts,
sponsored financially by some of Haydn's friends. Of course, while
Beethoven was in Vienna, his mother became very sick and died, and at
the age of 20 Beethoven returned home to Bonn to bury her, take care
of his younger siblings and continue his composing while looking for
financial means to return to Vienna.
<br />
<br />
He eventually found new sponsors, and returned to Vienna whereupon
he decided that he did not want to ever work as a court musician,
like his Grandfather, or Father, or even like Mozart himself, and
that he wanted to be a freelancer, and earn his own money outright
based solely on the merit of his musicianship. So, he didn't take
the easy road, did he? I mean, we all know nowadays how difficult
freelancing still is- so he certainly deserves respect for such a
bold decision. Though, through his pluck, determination, and the
sheer prolific nature of his composing, he managed to attract a large group
of enthusiasts for his music, and moreover, for him as a person. <br />
<br />
He
moved around a lot in Vienna like many people at the time, depending
on how much money he was earning, and the season, etc., and
therefore, since he didn't have servants unlike other Viennese, he
was able to personally interact with his fellow citizens much more
often. This, in turn, gained him respect from the bourgeois, and he
became a beloved son of Vienna by all who came across his path. It
was only later on, through the slow deterioration of his hearing,
that he was seen with a bit of pity and callousness. Though, another
interesting fact about Beethoven, because he lost his hearing over a
period of many years (10 or more said the tour guide), he wrote a LOT
of letters. He was, after all, only trying to protect his
livelihood- as our tour guide so smartly reminded us that as an
independent musician, even Beethoven would have been hired only
infrequently if he were to admit that he was going deaf. So, he
wrote a lot instead of talking to people. <br />
<br />
Many of his letters are
still within the vaults of the museum in Bonn, and it seems he was
able to hide his hearing deficiency pretty completely up until he was
nearly fully deaf. Again though, as might be a sign of his
indeterminable spirit, or his desire to succeed in such a great
undertaking as supporting his younger siblings on a musician's
income, he never lost his sense of humor. Apparently, there are even
letters within the collection of his writings where he wrote things
like “Mein lieber Graf, du bist ein Schaf” (My dear Duke, you are
a sheep—sadly it only rhymes in German), which of course would not
have been tolerated by a Duke from anyone BUT Beethoven, I am sure.
However, this also underscores the fact that he didn't take life so
seriously, and he always gained the respect of those with whom he
associated based on his abilities and who he was as a person, therefore he
didn't have to hide his true nature, even from members of the
Nobility.<br />
<br />
The most impressive thing to me, though, was that our tour guide
reminded us of how Mozart died- a genius, surely, but he was buried
in a pauper's grave because of his debts. No one came to his
funeral because his extravagant way of life was non-relatable to normal people of the time, and his self-assured manner estranged Noble people from
him. On the other hand, Beethoven's funeral was announced by his siblings to a small circle of friends, and instead of
only 20 people showing up, news spread so quickly throughout Vienna
and the surrounding area, that on the day of his
funeral 20,000 people showed up! And, to put that in perspective,
Vienna did not even have that many inhabitants at the time, so it
can be assumed that many of his funeral guests had to travel for
hours in horse-drawn carriages, simply to pay
their respects.<br />
<br />
All in all, knowing now what I know about Beethoven from this
visit, I feel infinitely more in awe of him as
a person, and infinitely more able to aspire to his greatness as a
musician, and less intimidated by him, as it is clear now that he achieved what he did through
unending devotion to his music and not solely through genius.</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-24940401768996564802013-05-27T09:18:00.002-04:002013-05-27T09:29:42.249-04:00How Chicken Catching is a Metaphor for Singing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
On Saturday of this past weekend, my boyfriend and I decided to visit a local organic produce stand, which happens to have a small farm on the premises where you can see all of the animals in their stalls. After we had finished purchasing our produce, we took a stroll around the grounds, visiting and petting the goats, pigs, ponies, horses and cows, and it was while we were looking at the cows that we witnessed a true crisis situation unfolding right in front of our eyes. Someone had accidentally left the door to the chicken house wide open and nearly all 500 chickens were now emerging onto the grounds outside of their house, as if they did this every afternoon. The only thing that made us realize it was an emergency was because the workers were running around screaming and waving their hands in frustration as chicken after chicken flew, hopped or ran away from them. <br />
<br />
It was quickly unfolding into a full-blown catastrophe when we realized that they were calling for other people from the farm to come help them, but when we looked around we couldn't see anyone within earshot. It was then that my boyfriend said to me, "Jul, we should go help them!" and I said feebly "But, how? I don't know the first thing about chicken catching!" Then, after an admonishing look from him, I decided it was time to put aside my fears, and walked over to ask how I could help. Funny enough, I was better at the whole thing than I thought, though I had no previous experience with chickens in the least, and of course, like every other challenge, it proved to be a valuable learning experience. <br />
<br />
The woman from the farm who was in charge of the chicken corralling mission explained to me that chickens feel most comfortable in groups and that we should use large wooden boards to herd them into smaller packs and then lead them back into the building where their coops were. It was harder than I had imagined at first, because we had to remain totally calm and move at a very steady, slow pace during the herding, otherwise they could sense that we were rushing, or anxious, and they'd immediately scatter in all directions, thus making it necessary to start all over again with the herding. So, we tried our best. And it was funny! During the process there were, of course, those couple chickens that simply decided something wasn't right about this herding situation, who turned tail and flew above the boards and out of our grasp, but sure enough, we eventually got them into one of the small groups and safely into the building. The chickens' excited and nervous state made it imperative that we remained calm and exercise patience while herding, because they reacted immediately to each change in our collective energy. Over the course of the process, we got better and better at herding and corralling bigger and bigger groups of chickens, and also losing fewer. It was a hard-earned victory, but after two and a half hours, we had captured them all. When the last chicken was back in her coop, we went to the bathroom to wash the mud and dirt off of our hands and jackets, satisfied with the help that we provided. Later on, we found out that there were no other workers on the farm that day other than the ones who were already helping, because it was a Saturday. So, my boyfriend was definitely right when he said we should help, and I know the farm workers were glad we did too!<br />
<br />
Now you're probably wondering how this all ties in with some crazy metaphor about singing. Well, I realized on Saturday that the whole process of catching, corralling and herding those chickens was very similar to learning to sing. (Stay with me here....) At first, it seems like there's so much to do you don't even know where to start. And, you're not sure if you should even begin, because beginning would mean that you'd open yourself up to the chance that you might fail. Then, once you've overcome your fears about failing and have started, you realize that there are ways which make the doing of it much easier than others. For example, when you stay calm and do things slowly and steadily more progress is made that you might have first believed. However, once you realize which method works best for you, you keep on employing it, and eventually you gain competency and fluidity thereby increasing your pace, until you are doing things in a successful and time-efficient way every time. <br />
<br />
The difficulties about singing were also beautifully present in the chicken caper. When we try to learn something too fast, or when we're not ready, normally the entire thing goes badly. And, if you don't remain calm and concentrate solely on each task as you're completing it, you'll get lost in the details and worry about the one escaping chicken, when you should be glad that you've caught the other 7 chickens successfully.<br />
<br />
So, when singing starts to feel like a bunch of escaping chickens, remember: they'll all get back into their coops eventually, and you can help them along by staying calm and focused!</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-63010520302583526662013-05-15T05:51:00.001-04:002013-05-16T17:30:03.911-04:00Opera in Concert: How Much Staging Is Really Enough?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'm writing this post today because I have seen more and more performances of Opera springing up on all sorts of stages and concert calendars, and often they are being performed 'in concert'. I'm sure you've all seen concert performances of Opera throughout the years, and therefore I'm going to assume that you know what I'm talking about. (If that assumption was wrong of me to make, ask me in the comments section of this post and I'll clarify.) Anyway, I feel as a singer and budding stage director, it's important for me to examine with you the idea of performing Opera in a concert setting, so that we can find ways to make it a tad more interesting for the audience members. <br />
<br />
Although it could happen that most of the people in the audience are there because they just <i>love</i> this opera, we could also go out on a limb and suppose that there might be people in the audience who were dragged to this event by their spouse, or if they're children- by their parents, or perhaps people who just thought, "Hmm...I've got nothing to do this evening, let's see if this might be interesting." Therefore, for <i>those</i> unwilling or potentially unwitting audience members, we as performers have to offer a little something more than just beautiful singing and stylistically appropriate interpretation. Thus I give you: acting and stage direction!<br />
<br />
Now you're probably thinking, "Wait a second! Concert opera is <i>supposed</i> to have no stage direction- that's why it's being performed in a <i>concert</i> setting! Duh!" To which I say, "Excuse me, but I beg to differ!" Just because the singers may be performing on the edge of a symphonic stage, positioned on either side of the conductor and in front of the orchestra while sometimes holding scores, or propping them on music stands, that doesn't mean that we must divest ourselves from the dramatic action of the opera itself. Who ever said it had to be that boring?!<br />
<br />
It might be good for us to take this opportunity to address what's been done already in terms of 'Concert Opera' and isn't really working. There's of course the obvious: no stage direction at all, where all the singers dutifully act as if glued to their music and stand up and sit down as if they were puppets in a marionette theater piece. Despite what sorts of things you might find amusing as an audience member, even <i>if</i> the portly Tenor's chair makes a loud creaking sound each time he resumes his position in it, whereupon the Conductor gives him a death stare, over time this is surely not the most diverting form of musical enjoyment.<br />
<br />
There's also the strange way that I've seen a lot of duets performed in concert opera settings where the Soprano and Baritone are sitting or standing next to one another in the lineup on stage and when they sing their duet together they just sort of gesture to the other person with their eyes or vaguely look as if they're going to move towards the other person but never quite manage to actually do it. This is basically the ultimate cliffhanger for the audience because the entire time they're singing the duet you're thinking to yourself "Are they going to do something? Is he going to embrace her? Is she going to slap him? What's going to happen?!?" and after a while your brain is about to explode until, at the end, they finally do nothing at all. How disappointing!<br />
<br />
Then there's the possibility that we encounter the Tenor and Soprano in a semi-staged performance of a love duet. I can hear the "Ooohs and Aaaahhs" in your brain already! And yes, it will of course be gorgeously sung, although the one thing that it will be lacking is staging that works. For example, there are two very beautiful and talented singers who perform together quite often in these sorts of operatic duets whom you may know and whom I won't directly mention (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x9c1f6DwMg" target="_blank">This link will though!</a>). They are obviously top-notch singers; it is clear from listening to their beautiful voices that their technique is flawless, plus they are both very beautiful people from a purely physical perspective. At first you find yourself maybe thinking things like "Wow! He's gorgeous! And boy, she's beautiful! Sheesh! Seems like their voices are amazing too.....how come some people get all the talent?" (or something along those lines....) but, then doesn't your mind start to wonder things like "Why isn't she looking more sincere while she's singing? Why is he only convincingly acting when he's <i>not</i> singing? And why, when they're both singing together, do I find it hard to look at them and believe them? I want more and I want better!" (or, again, something along those lines...) Maybe it's because they both look as if their heads are going to explode and could care less about the love they're supposedly proclaiming for one another, or maybe it's because we just want more as audience members when the singers are so vocally top-notch, but these sorts of performances somehow still leave us wanting. Of course, some would argue that you simply can't smile while singing a high and long note, even if that's what the character in this circumstance would otherwise do, had the composer not written such complex music! And, you would be partially right. Though, there is more to it. <br />
<br />
Now, I know that to those of you who truly love classical singing, my comments might seem a tad harsh. And truthfully enough, they are meant to be provocative in order to remind us all of the fact that we can do better as performers! I certainly think that there are enough performers out there who are really very good, but I don't think that there are enough of them in concert settings who really go the extra mile. I'm talking about making the experience a fabulous one for the audience members, and offering them something they wouldn't see or hear elsewhere. After all, it's the job of an artist (even when they may have to take the reigns as stage director in these types of situations) to create art that reaches audiences in ever-changing and exciting new ways. <br />
<br />
I can hear already the commentary in your head saying something like "Well, I would be able to do that if I just had more time to prepare the material better!" To which I say: "Brilliant!", but seemingly not cost-effective when we live in a world where you often have only minimal time to prepare, and are expected to provide maximum output when you perform. This line of reasoning leads most singers to the conclusion: "So, then because I'm a singer, I better make sure the singing's the best I can do, and I can maybe not worry so much about the acting- it will come in the moment from the adrenaline." WRONG! So many singers have thought those very things and then when it came time to perform, their acting was sub-par or perhaps even non-existent. I know that it's hard to perform consistently at your best because of the time crunch. No matter who you are and what your financial situation is, as a singer you've probably been in the situation before where you've either had to work, which took up a lot of the time you'd be normally using to practice, or you simply had other life obligations (e.g. a new baby, having a family in general, moving, caring for elderly parents) and whatever the case may be, I know you simply don't have all the time in the world to practice. <br />
<br />
Therefore, I'd like to make the case that if you use your available practice time for incorporating world-class acting into your most-likely-already-excellent singing (let's face it, many people are simply perfectionists and obsess about silly things which no normal audience member would even notice as being 'wrong') you will have more overall success as a performer. Think about it: if we've learned anything from the world we live in today, we're a culture where the visual aspect of things is extremely important. So, no matter how much emphasis you <em>personally</em> place on your singing vs. acting (15% acting, 85% singing, for example), the average audience member will reverse that ratio in his or her mind, and if you aren't doing much of anything besides poorly improvising the acting in the moment, then what do you suppose your chances of being lauded as an excellent performer by the audience might be? You get the picture.<br />
<br />
Ultimately, you will have to make the decision for yourself whether or not to take a chance in testing out my theory and perhaps changing your way of preparing and performing, but I would like to wager that if you do, you won't be disappointed. In fact, if there are any of you who are reading this and have contrary or similar thoughts or advice on this topic, I'd love to read about it in the comments section below, and I'm sure the other readers would too!<br />
<br />
</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1024899513575504223.post-41852442939198931002012-08-19T14:19:00.002-04:002012-08-19T15:48:21.574-04:00Stress: It's Really a Killer (Especially for us Thespians!)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Although in the past three months I've been very busy singing at lots of different places and experiencing the joy of being able to perform and bring enjoyment (hopefully) to lots of audience members, I have been experiencing quite a lot of depressing thoughts and having trouble motivating myself to keep moving forward on this (seemingly endless) career path.<br />
<br />
I sang the role of Konstanze in Laubach, Germany in my first-ever open-air opera performance, and I also participated in Joan Dorneman's IVAI in Virginia for the second year in a row, where I got many hours of vital coaching and lessons with the best vocal professionals from New York and around the world. I have two other potential engagements coming up in the months ahead, and I have received positive critical feedback from more agents than ever before. Even though it seems like I should be 'on cloud 9' right now, I am feeling more like I dropped into a labyrinth of delusion and despair.<br />
<br />
I am guessing that these feelings of mine might have something to do with the fact that I don't necessarily admit to myself (often, if at all, really) that this career is <strong>hard</strong>. It requires a certain amount of emotional and psychological de-cluttering and purifying, and I haven't been vigilant about doing that on a regular basis after each project/performance that I complete. Often times I think we as performers, and I know certainly I do this all the time, only consider that we are put here 'as vessels' to touch those people in the audience with the public and non-censored self-sacrifice of our souls which will bring the 'message' of the performance clearly across. But, if we keep going about doing such reckless things without taking the necessary precautions of cleaning up the remains of our strewn innards on the stages of this world, we run the risk (like I am currently finding out) of becoming only the parts of ourselves that we remembered to take with us and pack back into our bodies when we are finished. So, since I know that the zombie-mauled-looking-corpse that I have become (in a figurative sense) doesn't interest anyone, least of all ME, I am going to let everyone know <u>now</u>, through this blog post, that I am taking a little bit of time off from being so open (at least for the next few months) and working on getting back the pieces of me that I didn't know how to clean off after the last few shows.</div>
Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12742039806015286388noreply@blogger.com2