tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32182451557002093752024-03-13T12:28:43.826-04:00Avocational Singer<i>The highs and lows, successes and failures, smarts and stupids, joys and pains, ridiculousness and sublimity -- and -- the yin and the yang of one person's quest to master her singing voice and not give up, even if it takes a lifetime.</i>Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.comBlogger131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-18917588662862262382015-12-01T08:24:00.001-05:002015-12-01T08:24:09.575-05:00The Work Itself Was The PleasureThere I was sitting on the piano bench, arms limp at my sides. The depressive ruminations swirling in my head were immense. With each negative thought, my body slumped a slight bit further on that same bench where I had so often sat with such very good posture.<br />
<br />
"Why should I touch this instrument when no one is ever going to ask me to play." "I'll never play for anyone." "No one needs my skill on this thing." "I have nothing to learn." "What should I start to work on?" "There's no place to perform." And on and on.<br />
<br />
So, having mentally and emotionally wiped the slate clean of all the motivations used from the past to play, I had to ask myself the question, "Well, if all that is true, is it still worth playing? Why play? And if I do play, what should I play?"<br />
<br />
I glanced over at a book of Chopin: Complete Ballades, Impromptus, and Sonatas.<br />
<br />
There's only one piece in that book that I've played. Why don't I just take a look at the other stuff.<br /><br />Over the next couple of hours I fumbled and hesitated as I sight read through most every piece in the book, getting a picture, an overview, of the contents.<br /><br />Will there be something I fall in love with and desire to play?<br />
<br />
The sonatas. Sonata number 2. Oh! The funeral march. Sure, why not?<br />
<br />
And then I came to the Finale of Sonata number 2. The Presto movement. Wow, this is hard! Could I ever play this? I could never learn this. I shouldn't try. I should try to perfect something within my level. Yet, it would be a challenge. And I'm in no hurry, after all. I could just take as much time as I wanted. I could learn it inch-by-inch.<br /><br />So I made a plan to challenge myself. I will learn 2 measures a day and memorize them. I calculated it out. At that rate, I'll have this thing committed to memory in 4 or 5 months. And then it will only be the beginning of working endlessly to improve it. And I will have forever to the end of my life to improve it.<br />
<br />
Every day thereafter, I sat down and worked on my two measures a day. Within a couple of weeks I had 3/4 of the first page memorized. Amazingly, I could actually see the possibility now of playing this thing. Would I really be able to speed it up? Lots and lots of SLOW practice. Then, I "saw" a way of being able to play it faster. Rolled chords. I will just treat everything like rolled chords, using the patterns I see on the keyboard! This piece is now coming within my grasp.<br />
<br />
Also within that time-frame, just because it caught my fancy, I decided to really perfect the accompaniment to Liber Scriptus from the Verdi Requiem, which is a song that I have been practicing with my voice for a while. On the second page, there were all these sextuplets in the left hand that I was mostly just faking and sloppily approximating when I played through the piece. After all, it was not really written as a piano piece. It was for an orchestra. We're just trying to get the idea here. Does it really even need to be so precise? It will all just blur with the pedal anyway. And yet. And yet the way it was written was very specific. Perhaps, just as an exercise, I'll commit myself to learning it properly.<br />
<br />
Carefully, I broke down those measures and commited to analyzing them and practicing them very slowly. It must have been so boring for my family to listen to it. Sometimes for a full two hours I would work on the same 4 bars of music. Slowly, meticulously. Did those amazing pianists who accompanied me practice it this way? Seems like they just sit down and sight read it. Are they faking/approximating it? I didn't notice. I will have to notice what they are doing next time they play for me.<br />
<br />
A week later, those 4 bars came together. Now -- at last! -- was the thunder, the fire and brimstone, the ominous warning in the rumbling flowing out of the left hand! What satisfaction!<br />
<br />
My husband passed by and remarked, "That sounds so incredible!"<br />
<br />
I retorted, "Yeah, it only took me a week of incredible labor to play just these 4 bars!"<br />
<br />
My husband said, "Don't diminish the compliment I just gave you."<br />
<br />
I thought about it for a bit. No, I'm not diminishing the compliment. It's just that I would prefer to be acknowledged and complimented for the work I did over the past week than for the result I've achieved.<br />
<br />
And that was it! Eureka! I found the reason to play when there was no audience, no performance opportunity, no opportunity to accompany anyone. It was the work itself. The work itself was the pleasure!<br /><br /><br />
<br />Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-77868798270407330662013-02-25T11:42:00.000-05:002013-02-25T11:42:53.599-05:00Dramatic IntentionAre you having trouble, like some singers do, getting in touch with and expressing the dramatic intentions of your songs and arias?<br /><br />Me too. It's been frustrating me for a long time now.<br />
<br />
But recently, the art of making salad enlightened me on this topic.<br />
<br />
What? Did she say <i>making salad</i>? Really?<br />
<br />
Yes, making salad. You see, when I was first trying to teach myself all about food and how to cook, I once read that the proper way to make salad was to tear the lettuce leaves, not cut them. It was something about the way the dressing was going to adhere to the torn edges or something. (Or maybe it <i>wasn't</i> that -- so long ago, hard to remember).<br /><br />So, in the early years, I dutifully refrained from cutting and carefully <i>tore</i> all the lettuce for my family's salads.<br />
<br />
As the years passed, I stopped making salad because it was so much trouble, and we didn't have it as often.<br />
<br />
Then one day, I was reading this great book, <i>How to Cook Without a Book, </i>where the author, Pam Anderson, tells you to just chop up the lettuce for the salad.<br /><br />What? She is chopping the lettuce? That's so quick and easy! She says that when she wants it to look nice, and she has the time she tears it, but otherwise she chops.<br />
<br />
My eyes were opened to what I had done. I had been depriving my family of salad because I thought it was wrong to chop the lettuce. They were getting no salad at all! I realized that chopping the lettuce is better than giving them no salad at all!<br />
<br />
Well, this is something like what I did with the dramatic intentions of my songs and arias. I learned in acting school that I should not play attitudes. (In this analogy, playing attitudes is like chopping the lettuce.) "Playing attitudes," if I am remembering this correctly is just taking on an emotion, such as anger, and adopting a general angry attitude because the character is angry, but not really living in the character and being angry for the reasons that character is angry, and responding to stimuli that the character is experiencing.<br />
<br />
Little did I know that by not allowing myself to play an attitude I was making the salad mistake. I wouldn't let myself play attitudes, yet I wasn't getting to the dramatic intention the better way either, so what was left was just a nervous person trying to get through a song and not expressing anything much in particular -- no salad at all!<br />
<br />
I have decided that if it is simpler for me to play an attitude, that is better than not coming up with anything at all. I am releasing myself from this "rule" I have imposed on myself all these years, that I can't play an attitude. I say now, go ahead and get there any way you can. Playing an attitude is much more interesting than no salad at all!<br />
<br />
If you can't find all the deep stuff in your song, fall back on playing an attitude for now. Maybe you'll get better at the other stuff later, the more advanced character work.<br />
<br />
<br />Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-80429497275900484792012-07-12T08:51:00.000-04:002012-07-12T09:35:13.855-04:00When Vocal Difficulties Cease to Exist<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #cfe2f3;">"From the easy, unconstrained motion of the fingers, from the beautiful touch, from the clearness and precision in connecting the successive tones, from the advantages of the new mode of fingering, from the equal development and practice of all the fingers of both hands, and, lastly, from the great variety of his figures of melody, which were employed in every piece in a new and uncommon manner, Sebastian Bach at length acquired such a high degree of facility and, we may almost say, unlimited power over his instrument in all the keys <span style="font-size: large;"><i>that difficulties almost ceased to exist for him</i>.</span>"</span></blockquote>
<br />
These words popped as they appeared before my eyes in a biography of Bach I had been reading (<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Learned-Musician/dp/0393322564/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342095875&sr=1-1&keywords=bach+biography">Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician</a></i>, by Christoph Wolff).<br />
<br />
The little bubble of excitement, desire, and enlightenment they stirred up in the pit of my stomach made me want to just jump out of my bed at 11:00 at night and go down and practice voice. (Of course, I waited for the morning.)<br />
<br />
This is what a student of voice works for his/her whole life. To get to the point where vocal difficulties almost cease to exist. To reach the point of vocal freedom. To have unlimited power over our instrument. To have an unconstrained motion of the musical sung phrase. A beautiful touch, onset. Clearness and precision in connecting successive tones, legato. To employ ourselves in every piece in a new and uncommon manner!<br />
<br />
Ah ... the stuff dreams are made of.<br />
<br />
It has been roughly 27-28 years since I embarked on this journey, although the quest to surmount the difficulties was present in my singing before I ever took a lesson, so in a sense, I've been trying to solve the mysteries of the vocal difficulties my entire life!!<br />
<br />
Finally, I can say that I am getting somewhere. Many difficulties have ceased to exist for me, and I see the possibility of present difficulties being solved as well.<br />
<br />
What took so long? There was a major big imbalance blocking my way for so many years, and there had not come along anyone who was able to identify or explain it to me, and there had not come along anyone who could specifically address the issue. Removal of this major imbalance required me to let go. Let go of a grip I had on my voice that somewhere along the line had convinced me it needed to be there in order to have control.<br />
<br />
At long last I have got myself in a situation where this imbalance has been identified and addressed and it is opening up my voice to it's true nature! It's a very happy time, even though it has come late in my life.Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-44471862558461808362011-07-11T00:45:00.000-04:002011-07-11T00:45:57.016-04:00First Element of "Barefoot Singing" -- Back to Nature<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSeO9i2AVU8L6s2NXB45cewBveJbCTPQg0QvIxQR0SdNfCn2X3NTBYpwnheDTt4V3GbtQKJpIlVFPBn7T7xuHV93Mc8jPUHlyp7G8va-ui6lE_VuSKOQSEvH7sLWLozoFGwk5O-GRKoEM/s1600/Barefoot+Hudson+River_16-04-20_174a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSeO9i2AVU8L6s2NXB45cewBveJbCTPQg0QvIxQR0SdNfCn2X3NTBYpwnheDTt4V3GbtQKJpIlVFPBn7T7xuHV93Mc8jPUHlyp7G8va-ui6lE_VuSKOQSEvH7sLWLozoFGwk5O-GRKoEM/s400/Barefoot+Hudson+River_16-04-20_174a.jpg" width="292" /></a></div>
Ever since<a href="http://avocationalsinger.blogspot.com/2011/07/barefoot-singing.html"> I posted the other day about the notion of categorizing myself as a "Barefoot Singer,"</a> the thoughts have been coming to me about what type of singer this might be. Have been scribbling down notes in a rather haphazard way as the most appealing elements of barefoot running start to shape an approach to singing in my brain.<br />
<br />
Originally, this post planned to list all the elements scribbled over my notepaper. But now it seems like there is too much to say about each element, so I may have to make one post for each element I discover and wish to discuss.<br />
<br />
Here is one of the elements, in very rough form right now, but pressing to lead the way as all the elements collect themselves into some kind of unified theory. This won't always be worded exactly right. It is a floundering around to put something into words in order to clarify it.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: lime; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">Barefoot Singing seeks to uncover,</span></i></div>
<div style="color: lime; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">to rediscover,</span></i></div>
<div style="color: lime; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">the natural function of the body</span></i></div>
<br />
One of the aspects of barefoot running that I love the most is that there is a great respect for the design of the human foot. Barefoot runners learn that -- contrary to what they may have always heard -- the arch does <i>not</i> need to be supported from some outside source, like a man made shoe. The arch of the foot is a thing of beauty capable of providing the spring action necessary to propel the human above. It is not fragile; it is strong and wonderful! That arch may be in an underdeveloped and weakened state from years of wearing shoes, but it will be restored and strengthened once it is being used the way it was designed to be used by nature.<br />
<br />
Besides the arch of the foot being weakened, the years of wearing poorly designed shoes may have malformed the foot, crowding the toes together and eliminating the natural splay of the toes while barefoot, losing the advantage of the natural alignment of each toe with each corresponding metatarsal head. This misalignment has consequences that affect balance, and cause other muscles to be recruited to make up for the loss of function. It may take some time, once the shoes come off, to redevelop the natural alignment again, and getting the other muscles to give up the compensatory job they've been doing.<br />
<br />
From wearing shoes with a raised heel, the way the person approaches her relationship with the ground she walks on will have changed. She may strike with her heel and her leg extended with a straight knee, instead of landing on her mid-foot with her knee bent in order to absorb the shock.<br />
<br />
So ... "Barefoot Singing" will seek to discover the natural function of the voice. The voice evolved from the expression of primal emotion, and the best sounds are produced when connected to that well of feeling. Society has taught us to "protect" ourselves -- like when we put on shoes to protect our feet and support our arches -- by introducing tensions to suppress the natural expressive quality of the voice. Like children who run barefoot in their youth but find out they have to put on shoes in order to fit into society, our voices which squealed freely with delight and cried at loud decibels found they had to be toned down and put in little boxes that hid our feelings instead of revealing them in order to get along in society. <br />
<br />
As I explore this idea of the primal voice, I am reminded of an early influence -- work we did from a text we used in college by Kristin Linklater called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Freeing-Natural-Voice-Practice-Language/dp/0896762505/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310356669&sr=8-1"><i>Freeing the Natural Voice</i></a>. Some of these ideas were presented to me back then, and I hardly realized the influence they had on me until I awakened to this new desire to become a "barefoot singer." I recently googled Kristin Linklater and found that she has <a href="http://www.kristinlinklater.com/">a great web site</a> with lots of information about her ideas about the voice and her work with actors to relax the tensions that interfere with the voice's expressive connection to that primal emotion. In a sense that fits the thinking in this post, one could say that by helping the actors to remove the tensions, she is helping them to remove the shoes that are on the voice. Barefoot runners are fond of calling shoes "foot coffins." Are the tensions we develop to hide our true thoughts and emotions the same as "voice coffins?"<br />
<br />
There are other vocal pedagogues who speak about this connection to the primal sound. Oren Brown, in his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Discover-Your-Voice-Develop-Healthy/dp/156593704X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310357316&sr=8-1"><i>Discover Your Voice</i></a>, comes to mind as one. In fact, in the first chapter -- which is titled "Primal Sound" -- is written, "Primal sound is ... the reflexive sound which produces emotional expression." He also says "You must rediscover yourself," because of how our coordination has been impaired from the tendency to inhibit it. And Stephen Smith, in his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005254HAC/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0195300505&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=12NM3WXXKVBEZ96T64JZ"><i>The Naked Voice</i></a>
discusses the desirability for singers to reconnect with original source of
utterance and the inhibitions introduced to the voice by
"environmental contaminants"<br />
<br />
This all reminds me of how it felt to take off my "inhibitive" shoes and rediscover and reconnect with how it felt to go barefoot after all these years of wearing shoes everywhere. I thought that when I tried barefoot running it would be a <i>new </i>experience, but instead I rediscovered an <i>old</i> one. It felt very familiar, but I had not felt that feeling for many years. It was so freeing.<br />
<br />
<br />So, this idea of rediscovering the primal sound is not new to vocal pedagogy as a foundation for good singing. It's out there. It's the starting place. It's common sense. It's understanding that the body <i>does</i> know how to sing.<br />
<br />
I'm not saying that there is not some learning to do. It's just that the starting place has to be a trust in the wisdom and design of the custom apparatus that is built-in to humans that serves this use. We have to take off the shoes we have put on our voices and find out what our voices have to teach us about what the capabilities are. We need teachers and guides, (the barefoot runners have teachers and guides too), but we must not abandon the trust in the body itself to know how to sing. We must not forget that -- like the feet that teach the barefoot runner how to run again -- our voices themselves hold a primary place amongst our teachers and we must learn to listen to what our voices are trying to tell us.<br />
<br />
<br />Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-54430821228499322422011-07-05T12:43:00.000-04:002011-07-05T12:43:20.686-04:00"Barefoot Singing"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIoTaXUyek5OOuSjZU8R0_FM5lu9pqFziEgAz0ENS40PEYYMXV10Pd9GvMlsxUU9z60LPPQ2Q7rnAhTQ1QQw2KN4SsNvlZE1Xl8wWTGnwUTJoS8oRbkt3tP5unufZYmCqg3QjQKdkQl2s/s1600/Copy+of+Barefoot+Singer+9802a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIoTaXUyek5OOuSjZU8R0_FM5lu9pqFziEgAz0ENS40PEYYMXV10Pd9GvMlsxUU9z60LPPQ2Q7rnAhTQ1QQw2KN4SsNvlZE1Xl8wWTGnwUTJoS8oRbkt3tP5unufZYmCqg3QjQKdkQl2s/s640/Copy+of+Barefoot+Singer+9802a.jpg" width="138" /></a></div>Dear Readers,<br />
<br />
You have been with me since the beginning of this blog two years ago. Each post I have offered you has been a little snapshot. In the beginning, frequent snapshots, and as we've moved along, more occasional snapshots, of my quest and life as a developing avocational singer.<br />
<br />
Just because you haven't heard from me does not mean that a lot of singing and growing has not gone on in between these snapshot moments I have offered you. My quest to master my singing voice and find out exactly who I am as a singer has continued, even though as part of that quest you have seen me apparently <span id="goog_1596878788"></span><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/">side-tracked by Kung Fu<span id="goog_1596878789"></span></a>, or the <a href="http://barefootfresca.blogspot.com/2010/06/beginning-barefoot-journey.html">new-found interest in Barefoot Running.</a><br />
<br />
If any of you have clicked over on the Barefoot Fresca blog, you have seen me be very active over there exploring a completely new experience. Barefoot running actually ended up shaking up my world and changing a lot of the way I feel and think about things. Barefoot running became the portal into being able to experience the utmost fulfillment and enjoyment of being a runner. It was a niche that was waiting for me to find it. It was a category of runner to which, heretofore unknown to me, I already belonged which had been waiting to reveal itself to me. All I had needed to do to find it was to take off my shoes.<br />
<br />
For some time now, I have been mulling over just what way some of the experiences and knowledge from barefoot running might apply to the singing life. If I found a niche in the running world that suits me so well, are there aspects of this niche that apply to me as a singer as well? <br />
<br />
If I am a Barefoot Runner, is there some way that I can be a Barefoot Singer?<br />
<br />
In the next post I will undertake the bold task of defining a new singing category, one that, like with the barefoot running, I belong to without having hitherto known I belonged. One that suits me and is authentic to my experience as a person and as a singer. This shall become my new path, or perhaps not so <i>new</i> a path but rather a path that I have been on, but which shall now be more clearly defined for me and for all of you, and given a name. The name assigned shall be a light upon the path. The name of the new category will be "Barefoot Singing."<br />
<br />
I am foggy on just exactly what "Barefoot Singing" will and should be, but in the next post I plan to shoot out some preliminary ideas and maybe as we go along, it will become clearer.<br />
<br />
I know a couple of things already that this path will do. It will, as barefoot running does, <i>question conventional wisdom</i>. It will demonstrate that there are <i>other ways to think</i> about things. It will <i>defy usual and standard recommendations</i>. Stay posted!<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
<br />
"Avocational Singer," <br />
henceforth AKA "The Barefoot Singer"<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcKfUG6ZVUKHcSdWsEXaUSzP68925c14lRAYoBxwECRAbuxSXmAbj_7jf8vci4awiZRMGHYXYqp615fiYRDdVjieOdW57oak7VmKJc3yZdsSeTUu3Y6usokXbIOr01pq2CzpTe5JnuyYY/s1600/Copy+of+Barefoot+Singer+9802b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcKfUG6ZVUKHcSdWsEXaUSzP68925c14lRAYoBxwECRAbuxSXmAbj_7jf8vci4awiZRMGHYXYqp615fiYRDdVjieOdW57oak7VmKJc3yZdsSeTUu3Y6usokXbIOr01pq2CzpTe5JnuyYY/s640/Copy+of+Barefoot+Singer+9802b.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-28306768116230549752011-06-14T16:38:00.000-04:002011-06-14T16:38:42.383-04:00What a Kung Fu Black Sash Test Has to Teach About Approaching a SongOn my other blog, <span id="goog_1866743715"></span><a href="http://barefootfresca.blogspot.com/">Barefoot Fresca<span id="goog_1866743716"></span></a>, I just finished up a post demonstrating, with illustrations and videos, a practice session I had in preparation for a re-test I am taking in Kung Fu this week. It occurred to me that much of what I was doing was similar to the kind of analysis and breakdown that is often necessary for a singer when she wants to intimately understand a piece of music.<br />
<br />
First, check out the post here:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://barefootfresca.blogspot.com/2011/06/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed-practice.html">"If at First You Don't Succeed -- Practice!"</a><br />
<br />
Now that you've done that, I'll show you what I mean about the approach being the same.<br />
<br />
What I was practicing in the blog post was getting into my sparring gear in 3 minutes or less.<br />
<br />
<b><u><i>The Run-through</i></u></b><br />
The first thing I did was a run-through to see where I was at. I video-taped the run-through to help with my analysis of the state of things. This is like recording or videotaping a run-through of singing a song.<br />
<br />
Next, I impartially observed the outcome of the taping. While I succeeded to get my Kung Fu sparring gear on in 3 minutes, there were little areas of concern which, when nervous, might cause problems and cost seconds during the re-test. I made a note of where these areas of concern were and planned to visit each area separately in the next part of the practice session.<br />
<br />
This is what a singer can do, circling the places in the music, specific measures that are causing problems, not secure, or display some kind of potential trouble or that might make the whole thing fall apart when under pressure during a performance.<br />
<br />
<u><b><i>Trouble Spot Number 1-- The Sparring Shoes</i></b></u><br />
I noticed during the video, and also remembered from the actual experience as well, that there is sometimes confusion with putting on the Kung Fu shoes. Before taking a close look at the matter, the two shoes looked identical to me. That's because I had been observing the shoes while "on the fly" and I had never actually stopped to examine them.<br />
<br />
This can happen when we just keep trying to learn a piece of music by singing straight through it over and over again. We may think that two particular musical phrases are identical, but when we stop to study the two phrases, which might be in different places in the music, we discover that there is a slight difference to them.<br />
<br />
When I examined the Kung Fu sparring shoes, I found out that there was, indeed a left one and a right one. Not only that, I discovered that the shoes were shaped differently, one having a wider rounder toe box, and the other having a narrower, pointier one.<br />
<br />
Two phrases in the same piece of music may have subtle differences like that also. Perhaps the same phrase starts on a different beat of the measure in one place than the other. Perhaps there is one note added to a little run, or an extra rest stuck in there. Taking the time to examine exactly what is happening brings greater understanding.<br />
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Once I knew there was a left and a right shoe, I found another surprise. I had assumed that the two shoes would mirror each other and that the manner of fastening the shoes would be the same. I discovered that my assumption was wrong and that the strap of the shoe went in the same direction for both shoes.<br />
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Sometimes, before we look closely, we might make an assumption about a section of music based on some other song we have sung and not realize that our assumption has caused us to learn the section wrong.<br />
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<u><i><b>Trouble Spot Number 2 -- The Glove</b></i></u><br />
When I took my black sash test, I was unable to slip the glove on quickly enough because it gave me some trouble by being tightly closed, and also because I forgot there was a hand strap inside the glove.<br />
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There can be a part of the music that has a specific difficulty to it that throws the singer each time she gets to that spot.<br />
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To solve the glove problem, I developed a technique that I would use for putting on the glove. By rehearsing this approach, I trained myself to do the same thing and set myself up right so I could put the glove on faster and with less effort. First, I opened the glove. Adding that step ensured that the other parts of the task were easier.<br />
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With the difficult music section, often there is a constriction, just like the closed glove. Learning how to remain open can often lead the way to better handling the section.<br />
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This is a dumb little post, but I hope you have been able to see how the process is the same. I now know that sparring gear inside and out. I know the pitfalls and problems and I've developed and practiced strategies. When the nerves of the moment hit, I will know exactly where I am at all times. This is the kind of preparation and readiness that is also needed to perform a song well too!Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-69969383634013140562011-04-20T10:26:00.000-04:002011-04-20T10:26:57.064-04:00How to Love Your VoiceWhen singer's are recommended to "love their voice" what does that mean exactly? The first inclination might be to think it means to love the <i>sound</i> of one's voice. But doesn't that bring to mind the mythological <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissus_%28mythology%29">Narcissus</a>, who fell in love with his own reflection in the water? It seems like there must be a healthier version of loving one's voice than that.<br />
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What examples of loving something could serve as a model to love the voice?<br />
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One of the most wonderful examples of love, when it's done right, is the love of a mother for her children. So, one way for a singer to love her voice is to love it the way a mother loves a child.<br />
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A mother <span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">feeds</span> her child nutritious food to help keep her child's body growing and repairing itself healthy and strong. She doesn't give her child junk to eat.<br />
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A singer can love her voice by caring about nutrition and eating in a way that helps the cells, tendons, muscles, etc... involved in singing to repair and maintain themselves healthily.<br />
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A mother <span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">observes</span> when her child is getting tired, often evident because the child begins to behave differently, and takes that child for a "time out" so the child can become integrated and peaceful again. She <span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">notices</span> what situations and conditions are prerequisites for this dis-integration and plans and foresees potential problems.<br />
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A singer can do that with her voice too, paying close attention to different behaviors that signal it is time for a rest, and observing and learning what kinds of situations lead to the disintegration of the voice.<br />
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A mother <span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">ensures</span> that her child get the needed amounts of sleep, even to the point of forcing the child to go to bed at a much earlier time than the child wants to.<br />
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A singer needs that kind of rest to function optimally, and sometimes singers, like athletes, might have to forego late night social events in order to get adequate rest for optimal functioning.<br />
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A mother <span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">researches</span> and finds the best schools, television programs, books she can afford in order to inform her child of the higher path of learning. A mother <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: yellow;">sacrifices</span></span> having luxury items and <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: yellow;">provides</span></span> the lessons, teachers and materials she feels are better.<br />
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A singer strives to give her voice the best education possible to give her voice every advantage of learning. A singer makes financial sacrifices to in order to provide her voice with better instruction and materials.<br />
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A mother who loves her child <span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">listens</span> to that child and tries to truly <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: yellow;">hear and understand</span></span> what her child is telling her -- especially when the child is telling her, "something is wrong; I am not comfortable with this; I am being harmed by this situation" -- and believe and take the information into account when she decides things for that child.<br />
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So, also, a singer who loves her voice learns to listen to her voice when it says, "this just doesn't feel right to me."<br />
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A good mother <span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">disciplines</span> a child. She <span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">says "no"</span> when it is right to do that. She makes that child observe a schedule of some sort, and helps the child develop and practice routines and regular positive habits. She catches little things and bad habits that could cause bigger problems later if not addressed early. <br />
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Yet a mother <span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">permits</span> her child to make mistakes, knowing that it is okay to make mistakes and even necessary in order to learn. She is <span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">patient</span> with her child, knowing that perfection is too much to expect of one so young and inexperienced. She recognizes what is "too much too soon" and celebrates the strengths her child already possesses. She has<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"> reasonable expectations</span>. Yet she also recognizes potential and has <span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">vision</span> for what the child can become.<br />
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A mother <span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">accepts</span> her child. She does not compare her child to others. She would not trade her child for any other child in the world. She does not try to mold that child into some preconceived image, but steps back and observes and discovers just who this little person is. She tries to find out where the child's natural passions and interests lie, and then nurtures and explores that interest with the child, assisting the child in reaching his/her potential. She lets that child be who that child was meant to be. She allows the child to be free.<br />
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A singer accepts her voice. She does not compare her voice to others. She would not trade her own voice for any other voice in the world. She does not try to mold that voice into some preconceived image, but steps back and observes and discovers just what this voice she has been given is. She tries to find out where the voice's natural passions and interests lie, and then nurtures and explores that interest with her voice, assisting the voice in reaching its potential. She lets the voice be what the voice was meant to be. She allows the voice to be free.<br />
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Finally, when all is said and done, a mother <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: yellow;">shares</span></span> her child with the world. As she watches her child go forth to achieve his own personal mission in the world, she <span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">feels very proud</span> of her child. If she sees her child doing good out there in the world, she has the reward of seeing efforts of her love blessing not just her own child, but all who come in contact with that child.Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-29484948471039000972011-01-31T11:47:00.000-05:002011-01-31T11:47:38.149-05:00Inventing a Singing Form like Tai Chi FormI was reading this about Tai Chi today:<br />
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<blockquote>The solo form should take the students through a complete, natural range of motion over their center of gravity. Accurate, repeated practice of the solo routine is said to retrain posture, encourage circulation throughout the students' bodies, maintain flexibility through their joints, and further familiarize students with the martial application sequences implied by the forms. (From Wikipedia article -- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_chi_chuan">Tai Chi Chuan</a>)</blockquote><br />
I was thinking of how great it would be to have a single form that could accomplish things like this for the voice for the singer to practice every day. This single singing form would take the singer through a complete, natural range of motion over their "center of gravity." To me, the "center of gravity" could be a place of balanced phonation.<br />
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I once invented an exercise that I thought could accomplish something like this, only I was vaguely aware of what my intentions were. I called it a Figure 8. I don't know if my exercise was really any good, but my attempt to create a "form" with this Figure 8 exercise was headed in the right direction. I was trying to find a "center of gravity" within the singing voice that could serve as a kind of unifying theory of voice. Usually when someone is studying voice, one of the big problems is not having a center. It seems as if the voice is "broken" into two (or many) segments: the registers. In my feeble attempt to try to unify it, I thought that finding a central place, a place that was the "heart" of the singing voice, I might be able to devise a way of training and moving and coordinating all the complex muscular adjustments and movement so that there was some kind of smooth form the voice could work through.<br />
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My first thought was that this "center" could be the place where the action of the thyro-arytenoids (TA)and the crico-thyroids (CT) were exactly equal participation.<br />
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But what I didn't realize when I was devising this theory, was that I had formed a wrong idea of where this place in the voice of equal TA-CT participation was. It was a sloppy mistake, because all I had to do was think about it for a minute or two, but -- well, I'm sure I'm not the first theoretician to have formulated a theory with inexact or incomplete information. I'm sure scientists do it all the time, and merely revise their theories as new and better information comes their way, either to their personal understanding, or to the understanding of the community at large.<br />
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(One of the really great things about being an amateur, by the way, is that the penalties for being wrong are small and mostly inconsequential. I'm doing it for fun and interest and passion and I've got time to be wrong. In fact, however much I would like to, if I never achieve my goal in this life it really doesn't matter much at all. What matters is that I occupied my time pursuing something that brings me enjoyment and fulfillment.)<br />
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I have not abandoned a desire to understand/discover/define a kind of "center" of the voice. My most recent inclination is to dub the glottal opening itself as the "center" and declare that the glottal opening is the stabilizing point because the objective is for it to stay in the same place while all the other mechanical and moving parts surrounding it and affecting it adjust and change. All kinds of things are happening around this space, but it remains a stable centering point within the cyclone of activity. It is a strange thought that a space, something that contains no matter and that is empty, might be thought of as the center of something, similar to<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_%28cyclone%29"> the eye of the storm.</a> In that case, there would have to be no rigidity, no fixing. The space is just there, and everything else moves around it, with that as the point of reference<br />
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I think the idea of the glottal space works better than my original idea of making a specific muscular position (i.e., point of equal participation of TA/CT) the center, because that muscular position would not remain the same throughout the whole range of motion. By thinking of the opening itself as the center, that opening would remain in the same spot while things were changing around it. There would be no "coming back" to that position because it would always be maintained.<br />
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Okay, but back to the idea of a form that would take the singer through a complete range of motion surrounding that opening may not be as feasible as it is for the Tai Chi practitioner to do it in a Tai Chi form. One of the reasons it works in Tai Chi is that there can be a continuous flow of movement for an extended period of time. With the voice, there is always a need to interrupt the continuity in order to replenish the supply of air. So, one long continuous all-encompassing form that covers all bases may not be the right answer.<br />
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I guess disciplines evolve the way they do for a reason. In the tradition of training the vocal apparatus, a whole bunch of different kinds of exercises are needed in order to move and develop various different skills and qualities and train the different and varying actions of the muscles involved in singing. So, maybe the quest for some kind of unifying, all-encompassing routine for the voice that could take care of everything with one daily swoop is not realistically attainable. As appealing an idea as it is, perhaps there is no master form that can be developed that could accomplish all vocal conditioning in one fell swoop.<br />
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That leaves the singer with the task of picking and choosing from thousands of potential exercises and drills and making up a routine of their own for daily vocal mastery practice, which is always a confusing and formidable task.Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-8221036504711166122010-12-16T12:16:00.001-05:002010-12-16T12:18:07.370-05:00Local Music Groups Like Local Farm Movement<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_V8lNXO40oQ2XGxKCb8C5SxmYofGWJD1eOh038L_ovWH_yCbMxuebQGs6AFoS5G9Ym1jRi_CQYIfZVnVU9he0EDzVnBCsm80JSyQlh-QimNYKSE6SpLHTq7gY5nlCzF_uJjoQoPSzBtk/s1600/Concert+Flowers+9848.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_V8lNXO40oQ2XGxKCb8C5SxmYofGWJD1eOh038L_ovWH_yCbMxuebQGs6AFoS5G9Ym1jRi_CQYIfZVnVU9he0EDzVnBCsm80JSyQlh-QimNYKSE6SpLHTq7gY5nlCzF_uJjoQoPSzBtk/s400/Concert+Flowers+9848.jpg" width="335" /></a></div>I had a little inspiring thought right now as I was going about my housework and listening to <a href="http://www.sirius.com/siriusxmpops">"Holiday Pops" on Sirius Internet Radio</a> (which has a free 7-day trial which I'm checking out).<br />
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What does that expression I've head so much -- "to serve art" -- really mean? As an avocational singer, I feel that I'm beginning to come closer to an understanding of what it means. As I now am participating in two local musical choirs, and come into contact with all the excellent voices and musicianship surrounding me, and experience the leadership of very musical and accomplished directors, it has been given me a great joy to finally begin to realize that music as an art can be served in so many ways at so many places and so many times. It doesn't depend on the venue, necessarily. The presence of a person dedicated to serving art in a small local group can make the difference for everyone.<br />
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I am still glowing from the holiday concert this past weekend given by our all-women's community choir. We sang to a packed house. We have been here seven years and now have a local following and our concerts are full of warmth and love. Our families, children, neighbors, local shopkeepers, all gather together and we all just have a great evening together. We've all helped to produce it -- from the families that made do without the family member who was rehearsing, to the friends that set aside the date and bought a ticket to come in, to the local businesses that bought an ad in the program -- each and every one of us has cause to celebrate the fact that this production is happening because of a contribution we made that makes a difference. As a community, we have produced some art and it is special because it is our own.<br />
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I had a little solo in Britten's Ceremony of Carols. Afterward, I was presented with the customary little bouquet of flowers, and as I walked to the back of the church at the end of the concert, my daughter and several of her friends gathered around me, a bouquet of flowers of a different kind. Their faces were shining and smiling and they wanted to talk to me because I was someone they knew in the choir. I loved them there with me so much that I wanted to give them something, so I began to pluck flowers out of my bouquet and hand one to each of the girls. "You don't have to do that!" they protested, as if I was giving away something so precious and valuable. But the sight of them walking away with a flower was so beautiful I could think of no better way to enjoy that bouquet of flowers (Besides, I kept the ones I really loved -- the roses).<br />
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I think it could be so beautiful to grow a movement to support local music groups something like the movement to support local farmers and growers within the community. The little choirs and chamber groups and small opera companies (<a href="http://avocationalsinger.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-visit-to-opera-new-jersey.html">like the one I saw in Princeton this past summer</a>) remind me so much of the small farmers. While the farmers are planting seeds, using their organic farming methods, and producing crops to bring to the local farmer's market, the small community music groups are selecting their repertoire, rehearsing and growing their musical performances to bring to the center of the town for consumption by the community.<br />
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The way our community choir is bringing us together to partake of the same musical experience unifies us, just like sharing the same food does, even if for one evening. It is a very inspiring and beautiful thing and I think it cuts to the heart, perhaps, of what being an avocational singer is truly all about.<br />
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And the children who are there absorb this music, and seeds are being sewn in their hearts that serves to keep the music alive from generation to generation. Who knows what will come of it?Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-8391898526458964762010-10-30T21:53:00.001-04:002010-10-30T21:54:12.164-04:00A New Era for SingingWell, it's time for me to come over and start paying attention to my poor little Avocational Singer blog. Things have been so hopping over on the Barefoot Fresca blog that I've gotten a little sidetracked over there, but I can never forget my little labor of love over here where my first passion lies.<br />
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Where to start -- where to start -- where to start?!? There is just so much going on. Some of the events over the summer and some of the thoughtful decisions I've made have catapulted me into a new era of my singing life.<br />
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Let's try to break it down:<br />
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<i><b>------------------------------------</b></i><b><i>Choir Number I-------------------------------------------</i></b><br />
I am still singing with my beloved all-women's community choir. I was an inaugural member of this choir and the women there are like family to me. Just like in a family, when one member wants to branch out and grow and explore, the family member still wants to keep grounded with her sisters. So, I am kind of killing myself trying to sing in two choirs.<br />
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The interesting thing is that our choir director is on an exciting sabbatical overseas and we have an interim director who is raising the bar as far as our reading and the amount of material and the pace at which we need to learn it. This is kind of exciting, and since I'm being challenged in Choir Number II on this level it is fun to try to keep pace and apply new and developing skills.<br />
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<b><i>--------------------------------------Choir Number II-----------------------------------------------</i></b><br />
This has been so great for me. The choir director had told me, when I auditioned, that I would fall in about the middle of this choir as far as my level of mastery and technical ability and she was exactly right. I feel invigorated by the people around me -- the ones with more highly developed voices, technical mastery, and musicianship -- but also feel like I'm making a positive contribution to my section, and that my own skills and sound weigh in more on the plus side than the minus side. In other words, I don't think I'm a problem in the choir. (phew!) That fares me well in the "choir self-esteem" department.<br />
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One thing I love about the new choir is that the director is herself a masterful singer and knows about voice. She guides with really healthy principles. In addition, her knowledge and approach is close to what I am getting in my new voice lessons so one reinforces the other and I am making good progress. Sometimes what a singer has to do in choir can undermine what she is working for in lessons, so it feels really good for everything to be lined up just right. How'd I get so lucky?<br />
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Another thing I love about the new choir is that there is a focus on precision with breathing and consonants in the music. I had never heard of assigning an exact time value to a consonant before I read it this past summer in the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Shaw-Reader-Dean-Blocker/dp/0300104545?ie=UTF8&tag=avocatio-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Robert Shaw Reader</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=avocatio-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0300104545" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> and now I am in a choir where I have to apply that concept. You know how when you learn a new word, all of a sudden you start hearing it all over the place? Well, that's what this was like.<br />
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Some people don't need things broken down to that extent (or maybe they <i>do</i> -- who knows?), but I am benefiting greatly from breaking it all down.<br />
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</b><br />
<b><i>--------------------------------------Voice Lessons----------------------------------------------------</i></b><br />
I've only had a couple, but I would definitely say my new lessons with my new teacher are going very well. I definitely feel that I am in the right place for me vocally at this point in time. The teacher is extremely knowledgeable and I am enjoying the time spent in lessons immensely and I am also enjoying some of the good things that are happening vocally towards mastery.<br />
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All in all, exciting things are happening -- <i>if</i> -- <i>if</i> I can keep up the pace. The new schedule requires me to be on top of more things: reading e-mails from two different choir directors and two different board directors, supporting the fund raising for two different choirs, helping concerts to be successful by promoting them for two different choirs, managing a new protocol for setting up and getting to voice lessons, learning two sets of music and trying to remember which folder to bring to which rehearsal.<br />
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It seems like, with two choirs, the week comes around again so fast and I hadn't got a chance to work on my music. Or I've only had a chance to look at one or two key pieces.<br />
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I believe that during this time of transition I'll be all mixed up for a little while, but will eventually get it all organized and in place. There is a learning curve when new things are introduced into a schedule and I believe I can learn to manage what I've got. I will try it out for this year and see what happens. It's a lot of fun and it really keeps me on my toes.Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-1923325045923167032010-10-26T12:03:00.004-04:002010-10-27T23:25:15.766-04:00Gentleness in Singing<blockquote><span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: large;">There is nothing so strong as gentleness and gentleness is real strength. </span></blockquote><blockquote>(Francis de Sales)</blockquote>I once asked my very first voice teacher, “Do you have to be really strong to sing high notes?”<br />
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She answered, “Yes, but it’s not the kind of strength you think.”<br />
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I have always remembered that answer as something of a mystery. And finally in my life I’m beginning to understand the mystery.<br />
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Don’t manhandle your voice. A soft sigh is the way to great resonance and sound. This is what I’m discovering. A very gentle beginning will carry you very far.<br />
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Did you ever watch the classic scenario of a child with a toy that wouldn’t go? At first she tries to get the object to go every which way, and then at some point – when she can’t figure it out – she starts slamming the toy harder and harder and trying to force it to perform the desired action. The frustration becomes enormous and the effort grows greater and greater. The child doesn’t seem to understand that her method is wrong. She makes the mistake of thinking she is not powerful enough to make the toy work, and she concludes that she needs more strength and more and more force to achieve her ends, and doesn’t understand that what she really needs is a new approach.<br />
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I have been down that path and made that mistake as I’ve literally engaged in a wrestling match with my voice over the years in my attempts to master it. Buy nowadays I have been discovering that what I perceive as small is actually the key to getting big and beautiful sound. I think this “smallness” is what Jean-Ronald Lafond refers to when he writes on his blog about <a href="http://tsvocaltech.blogspot.com/2009/12/kashudo-little-voice-is-real-voice.html">“the little voice.”</a><br />
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I have recently been doing some exercises to find my falsetto voice. Apparently women have falsetto too but it isn’t as obvious because of women’s head voice. I always thought that falsetto, if I would bother to play around with it, would be something that would occur in my higher range. But I have been experimenting with finding it throughout my entire range, including the lower. In the process of doing these exercises, which I shall post in <a href="http://frescamari.posterous.com/">Frescamari’s Practice Room</a> at some point, after only a day or two I was surprise to find this soft little cooing voice.<br />
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This is a voice that many women singers may already be aware of, but I -- with my big loud voice, coming from a family that spoke very vigorously because we had to compete to be heard -- was not accustomed to nor familiar with this soft approach.<br />
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I have begun to use this little voice to sing songs. To my surprise, when I played the recordings back, the sound was big, resonant and beautiful. The wobble or distortion that often crept into my singing has receded, because the forcing that was causing it has ceased and my apparatus is responding to the more gentle approach.<br />
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I do find that I have to be very strong to use this voice. Even stronger, in fact, then when I mistakenly let loose all the other kind of strength that I had. The strength is hard to describe, and it is not what I thought it would be. I’ve heard some singers say it is isometric strength. At any rate, it is not for those that cower at the thought of using great effort. But it is finally an effort that is being used constructively, as opposed to destructively, like the child banging the toy to try to get it to work.<br />
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I am very excited about this discovery. It is leading me to a greater versatility.<br />
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Click <a href="http://frescamari.posterous.com/acquiring-gentleness-ave-maria-meditation-of">here</a> to hear some samples.Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-10252801847801213192010-10-13T19:40:00.000-04:002010-10-13T19:40:50.953-04:00Open My Mouth -- And Sing!The kind of singing I want to do is larger than life.<br />
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Like a lot of things that are larger than life, it doesn't feel natural when first put on. So, for a person who wants to feel natural, there can be a resistance to doing things the larger way.<br />
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When I was first learning Tai Chi forms, I learned a compact kind of form where the movements were small.<br />
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But then I moved on to learning a different form where the movements were longer and extended and took up more space. At first no one explained to me that the new form was bigger, so I was still doing it with the smaller gestures.<br />
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It takes a kind of boldness to use the larger gestures. It takes an openness and more strength. It takes more energy and commitment. It is a fuller use of self.<br />
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The reason the larger version is not comfortable or natural-feeling is because it is not within our repertoire of self-expression yet. We never needed our expression to be that large for our daily life. But something from a distance needs to be larger to be seen and heard.<br />
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I remember when I was in high school, our English teacher picked three of us from the class -- me and two of my girlfriends -- to paint a mural on the back wall of his classroom. Up until that point, I had drawn on small canvases. When I wanted to draw or paint a picture I used something close to 9" x 12." Now as I confronted the task of blowing up my vision and seeing something bigger, my brush strokes had to be bigger. I had to reach above my head and go all the way down to my feet with my paintbrush. I had to use my whole body to paint, not just my hand and arm and shoulder muscles. I had to work on a section while keeping a much larger picture in mind. I had to understand when I was painting detail that it was going to be a small part of the whole, even though it seemed so large in front of me.<br />
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It's one thing to draw a 1" circle on a piece of paper, or a 4" circle or an 8" circle. The bigger the circle gets, the larger the motion you have to use while holding the pencil. But when we were painting that mural, we might have to draw a 6-foot circle. Now a circle always comes out better when it is drawn with one or two big motions as opposed to chipped away at in choppy little sections. The sense of roundness is different.<br />
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I am finally starting to understand just how big the kind of singing I want to be able to do is.<br />
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Part of the detail work, a part of singing which seemed so small, is to get my mouth open. I must learn a larger way to form vowels, and work with a much larger space.<br />
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It is time to open my mouth now.Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-83986001434296575282010-09-30T12:00:00.000-04:002010-12-26T23:39:31.391-05:00Building From the Ground Up<b><i>Building My Running Form From Scratch </i></b><br />
Over the summer, I had the very interesting experience of transforming myself into a Barefoot Runner. It is a development in my fitness life that I had never previously imagined, and there was a gradual sequence of events that led to my taking this path.<br />
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I have had conversations with a number of advanced shod runners who are attracted to barefoot running and kind of want to try it, but who have invested so much time in developing their running mileage that they are understandably reluctant to go back and start all over again. And that <i>is </i>what they would need to do -- start all over again -- should they want to learn how to run barefoot.<br />
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Because in order to learn the running form that bare feet can teach us, we have to forget almost everything we know about running and start from scratch. <br />
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Something I'm learning about barefoot runners in general -- as I acquaint myself with this movement -- is that often they are people, like me, who encountered injuries, limitations, or struggles with running that brought them to give the ideas in the barefoot running movement a try.<br />
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I was in an optimal situation to pick up this new running form. I had been trying to get back into running after many years of non-running. I was starting fresh after having taken 6 months off for an injury to my foot.<br />
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So, I didn't have to sacrifice mileage and conditioning in order to go back and re-form my running. I completely understand why someone who competes and has the legacy of all that mileage would not want to go back and be like a beginner again.<br />
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<b><i>Building My Singing Voice From Scratch </i></b><br />
Well, just like in my barefoot running, I am in the position where I'm going to be, yet again, building my voice from scratch.<br />
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I am very happy to say that I have been accepted into the studio of a new voice teacher whose vocal approach and philosophy are very appealing to me. The daunting aspect of it, however, is that it will mean building up from scratch again.<br />
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Yes, I am 49 years old and will be starting from scratch -- yet again! But, hey -- like with the barefoot running -- I'm not going anywhere. And I really have nothing to lose.<br />
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I will add that the process of getting into the studio of this teacher was a personal growth experience for me. Having been let go from the other vocal studio left me feeling a bit deflated, and for a while I felt a little unsure whether I would be fortunate enough to find a new situation where I could learn at the level I desired to be taught.<br />
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But some advice I read by guest blogger, Blue Yonder, in her post<a href="http://avocationalsinger.blogspot.com/2010/08/guest-post-avocational-singer-attends.html"> "An Avocational Singer Attends a NATS conference"</a> inspired in me some courage to step up to the plate. In that post she had said,<br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">I do think it's important for us avocational singers to approach performance and training situations with the right attitude. I often have doubts and ask myself, "Do I belong here with these other singers who might be career-track? Can I cut it?" I realize now that I need to take the attitude: "I BELONG HERE!!!" Aim high and prepare to work hard--but once you get in, never question whether you belong in the program, regardless of whether you got in by audition, application, or just by putting your name on a signup sheet.</span></span></blockquote>Bearing this advice in mind, I decided to "go for it" and approach a high-level, well-known, very busy teacher whose studio included high-level singers on a career-track. I boldly signed up for a lesson with the teacher. The teacher asked me for a letter introducing myself. I was as honest as I could be at representing who I was as a singer, and I was delighted and surprised when the response I received was that the teacher would be most happy to confirm the trial lesson.<br />
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My first lesson was wonderful. The teacher asked me to tell my singer's story. I told the teacher that I write a blog about my experiences of being an avocational singer. I explained that my defining mantra was: "I've been trying to learn to sing for 25+ years and I'm not giving up -- even if it takes a lifetime." The teacher smiled and said, "Good for you!"<br />
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I sang "Auf dem Wasser zu singen," by Schubert in the low key. -- (To hear me experimenting with three different keys on this song, check out the <a href="http://frescamari.posterous.com/">Frescamari Practice Room</a> post: <a href="http://frescamari.posterous.com/trying-on-three-keys-auf-dem-wasser-zu-singen">"Auf dem Wasser zu singen in three keys"</a>) -- I chose the low key because I usually start with the low key and proceed to the higher one once warmed up well. I told the teacher that I had taught this to myself using recordings and that I did not know German. The teacher complimented me on the work I had done on the German and said that my enjoyment of that kind of meticulous drilling and work on the pronunciation, syllable by syllable, was going to help me as I built my technique from scratch with the teacher.<br />
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After singing the song, the teacher told me that there was no reason in the world why I could not achieve my singing dream.<br />
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I walked away feeling very optimistic about commencing on this next phase of my singing journey. I realize that it's going to take a lot of patience. I learned a lot about this kind of patience while going round and round on what I termed The Barefoot Mile this past summer (mentioned in <a href="http://barefootfresca.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-sixth-or-seventh-barefoot-mile.html">this post from Barefoot Fresca blog</a>). I reflected on this experience in my barefoot running blog post <a href="http://barefootfresca.blogspot.com/2010/08/patience.html">"Patience."</a> <br />
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As it turns out, something that may have seemed like a total diversionary side trip -- the excursion into barefoot running -- has developed a quality and frame of mind in me that will be needed as I start anew this next leg of my lifetime vocal journey.Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-19964024590075346492010-09-21T12:10:00.001-04:002010-09-21T12:15:07.694-04:00I Am A Choir SingerIn <a href="http://avocationalsinger.blogspot.com/2010/07/afterglow-westminster-choir-festival.html#comments">the post where I was giving a little account about my time at the Westminster Choir Festiva</a>l this summer, I mentioned the need to master my voice in such a way that I could sing well with a choir. A commenter, <a href="http://babydramatic.blogspot.com/">babydramatic</a>, said this: "Since for good or for ill, most of my singing will be in a choir (or as one of their featured soloists) I have needed to do this and have been largely successful."<br />
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"Since for good or for ill, most of my singing will be in a choir."<br />
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This could be the refrain of the avocational singer.<br />
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Most of my thrust in trying to master my singing voice has been with the idea of solo singing in mind. But more of my singing and performing time is spent singing with others in my women's choir, and now a second choir which I have just joined.<br />
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So, paralleling my work on my solo voice, has always been a gradually growing appreciation of the skills that are necessary to sing with an ensemble. Since "for good or for ill" most of my time will be spent singing with an ensemble, I have become interested in learning how to do that well and, most recently, learning how to do that well with higher level singers in a higher level choir.<br />
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To that end, after having experienced the Mozart's Requiem with orchestra in a beautiful performing space this past summer, singing alongside many experienced and professional level choral singers, I am expanding my singing realm by exploring the choral world. I have invested in a couple of books about choir: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Shaw-Reader-Dean-Blocker/dp/0300104545?ie=UTF8&tag=avocatio-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Robert Shaw Reader</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=avocatio-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0300104545" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> -- which I am currently reading and finding quite fascinating -- and, waiting on the shelf, is Shirlee Emmons' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Prescriptions-Choral-Excellence-Shirlee-Emmons/dp/0195182421?ie=UTF8&tag=avocatio-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Prescriptions for Choral Excellence</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=avocatio-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0195182421" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />. A new book I've spotted that is coming out will go on my wish list: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Solo-Singer-Choral-Setting-Achieving/dp/0810869136?ie=UTF8&tag=avocatio-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Solo Singer in the Choral Setting: A Handbook for Achieving Vocal Health</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=avocatio-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0810869136" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />.<br />
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I have noticed that a lot of singers who have music degrees have experienced a choir education in an academic setting along the way. "Oh, I sang that when I was in college." This higher level choral experience has been kind of a gap in my musical education,. As a kind of self-schooled -- home-schooled, if you will -- musician, I have to get everything piecemeal and makeshift and I don't always know what piece of the puzzle to add next.<br />
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As much as I love solo singing, and that is my passion and first drive, reflecting over my experiences has caused me to realize that I've been conditioned to be a choral singer for most of my life.<br />
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I still remember the first moments I became enchanted by the idea that two voices could blend in harmony -- that one person could sing different tones that blended with the melody of another and add depth and complexity to the music. It happened when I was in church as a little girl, sitting beside my mother. As the congregation sang, my mother always made up a harmony, and I always thought it was so cool and sounded so nice and I wondered how she did it.<br />
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Next, I experienced harmonic singing at girl scout camp around a campfire. The counselors would teach us different parts and the music we were all able to make together was very beautiful and satisfying.<br />
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When I came home form girl scout camp, I didn't want that singing magic to end, so I would teach my three sisters all the parts and we formed our own little choir in the home. We had hours of fun on car trips harmonizing like this together.<br />
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Singing in church choirs, singing in school, being selected to go to inter-school choral events, high school choir, all county and all state choir, and finally the choir award at graduation time.<br />
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Why didn't I see it all before? That I <i>am</i> a choir singer! It is part of my true singer-identity (and destiny?) I <i>love</i> harmonizing with others. I<i> love</i> music that was written for different vocal parts. It sprouted up naturally and organically and it was there all along and I hardly recognized it. It is <i>good</i> for an avocational singer to love singing with a choir!Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-77440537537626316032010-09-10T14:58:00.000-04:002010-09-10T14:58:29.328-04:00Auditioned for a New Choir and Got InI broke out of my comfort zone this week and finally took the step to audition for a second choir in our area. The audition went very well and I have been accepted in to the new choir. I have been wanting to do more singing for a while, and have been looking for a new challenge and this provides just what I need for the time being.<br />
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I have to thank <a href="http://thechoirgirl.blogspot.com/2010/09/artist.html">The Choir Girl</a> blogger for giving me the nudge I needed to make the move. I've been reading about how she challenged herself to up-the-ante of her own choir experience, and I was inspired to make the contact and get myself to the audition partly because of seeing how happy she was at being successful. She also gave me a few words of encouragement in response to some comments I made on her blog post.<br />
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I arrived at the conductor's home a bit nervous, but had brought along Schubert's <a href="http://avocationalsinger.blogspot.com/2010/08/something-new-singing-music-on-my-blog.html">An die Musick</a>, which I felt was now in good enough shape to use. I brought it in two keys, but ended up singing it in the higher key.<br />
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The song went really well, but during the little vocalizing we did beforehand to test my range, my middle voice was acting a bit funky, and it fell apart a little bit at the seams. The conductor was very knowledgeable about voice and knew what was happening and we were able to discuss the issue intelligently. Sometimes when I'm not warmed up enough, or when I'm nervous, or when I've skipped a few too many days practice, my voice will revert to the old imbalances. It doesn't take long to get it back together again, but I had trouble with it while I was in there. It's natural to feel a little disappointed when that happens, but I realize more and more that I just have to deal with whatever situation is present, and whatever difficulties are there and manage the situation with whatever skill and know-how I've managed to accumulate thus far. So, I wasn't really upset. I just dealt with it.<br />
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The sight-reading didn't go as well as I would have liked. The piece was deceptively simple-looking, but there were some tricky intervals. She said that I did "okay" on the sight reading. I'll settle for "okay" for now, but I want to improve that. I would love to sight read something someday and have it be a "wow!" That would mean adding a little more sight-reading practice regularly to my regimen.<br />
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I'm excited to start in this new choir. After having the experience with <a href="http://avocationalsinger.blogspot.com/2010/07/afterglow-westminster-choir-festival.html">The Westminster Choir Festival</a> this summer, I have been eager to be in a place that can stimulate my growth as a choir singer. I have seen that there is so much more. Singing with an ensemble is a skill, and I have learned that there is so much more to it than I had previously been aware.<br />
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Some exciting things about my new choir:<br />
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<ul><li>There will be composers coming to work their own compositions with the choir</li>
<li>There are in-reach programs that help the singers to improve their musical skills (such as site-singing workshops that I may just avail myself of)</li>
<li>There are many solo opportunities and there is a specific goal to help singers this way. The director of the choir specifically mentioned this while we were together.</li>
<li>The programs and music are wide and varied. Many cultures are explored and there is even an exciting Video Game concert.</li>
<li>There will be professional and higher level singers in the choir and it's always good, like I found out this summer at the festival, to be rubbing elbows (and resonances) with more advanced singers. That's always good for learning and growing.</li>
<li>The choir attracts "big" voices, and free, healthy singing is encouraged (no need to regularly squeeze my voice into the little choir boy box, except for a special effect or ornamental purposes).</li>
<li>The conductor is an excellent singer herself and really seems to know about voice. In fact, I spotted my favorite vocal book on her bookshelf behind her as she sat at the piano <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Discover-Your-Voice-Develop-Healthy/dp/156593704X?ie=UTF8&tag=avocatio-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Discover Your Voice</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=avocatio-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=156593704X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, by Oren Brown.</li>
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All in all I feel this is a very good step I'm taking, but of course it is adding to my roster of commitments and in the coming weeks it will be a challenge to balance the new time commitments with the other aspects of my life. I checked the performance schedule and the concerts for the all-women's choir I belong to do not conflict with the new choir. But it will be tough! I am bound and determined to keep feeding my family well. I will have to manage my energy levels carefully and watch for little wasted pockets of time. I will find out in due time if it's all too much, but for now I'm excited to take on the challenge and am expecting it to enhance my life.Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-83421436336646249282010-09-06T11:18:00.001-04:002010-12-26T23:38:59.647-05:00New-to-Me Information on Breathing -- Active and Passive Inhalers and ExhalersEverybody here knows that I am far from being an expert and that I like to share my explorations and discoveries with readers of this blog. I don't really understand breathing for singers in general, but from having striven to find my own answers for my own body, I've observed many things about my own breathing and made certain choices, while singing, that work for me. I'm not sure that I've "arrived" at a breathing solution yet. I think the development of breathing itself is part of the progression of using better and better breathing technique as one goes along. I believe that singer-breathing is an ongoing living component of singing that will change with time and growth, just like the other aspects of voice. I don't think the breathing is some kind of set technique that you put in place and just leave there. It is flowing, flexible, open to growth and freedom and increasing strength and efficiency. I have also slowly come to believe that due to the variables in individual physiology, there may be more than one answer for singers about breathing.<br />
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Well, in the course of my ever and on-going quest to understand and grow, I was doing a little research (for a possible future blog post) on how high heels and their effect on posture might impact a singer's breathing technique. As so often happens when one is out there googling away, I found many interesting sites to get sidetracked on.<br />
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One site I discovered led me to some new information about breathing that may be of interest to singers. It was on the web site of recorder-maker, <a href="http://www.adrianabreukink.com/ADRIANA/HOME">Adriana Breukink.</a> She had an article that described different kinds of recorder players and how they breathed, <a href="http://www.adrianabreukink.com/ADRIANA/INHALEROREXHALER">"Inhalers and Exhalers."</a> The "inhaler" recorder players were active and energetic in drawing the breath in, and passive in exhaling the breath. The air flowed freely through the recorder. The "exhaler" recorder players allowed the breath to fall in passively -- or kind of renew itself automatically, I guess -- and energetically blew through recorders with active and engaged exhalation. She says that these two breathing types may necessitate different recorder designs.<br />
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There is a link from that page to a German page on <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_561931554">"</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://www.hagena.info/1.html">Terlusollogie ®"</a> The page was in German, so I had to use google translator to get me an English version to read. This page is about the observations that there are different breathing "types" constitutionally, and it seems to claim that these types are imprinted at birth.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">There is a little test on the page to determine whether one is an "Inhaler" or "Exhaler."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">I did not take the test -- later for fun, maybe -- because just from my observations over the years, while running and while trying to sing, and while just observing my breath and doing yoga breathing exercises, I think I am an active inhaler. This is why I have noisy breathing sometimes, I think.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;">The Terlusollogie web site mentions this being something imprinted at birth, but up to this point I had explained my breathing pattern to being overweight. I had conjectured that it took more energy to take a breath in because it was being weighed down by a layer of fat, but that the same layer of fat had caused me to exhale passively because all I had to do was relax and the weight would apply the pressure for the air to leave the body. Right or wrong, I have focused a lot of my breath management work on learning to use muscles in exhaling in order to better control the outflow.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;">I have observed this pattern as a runner too. In my early days of being a runner -- and those were days when I was a "normal" weight -- I had trouble breathing. I would gasp for air and have a lot of fear that I wasn't going to get more air in soon enough. I would immediately collapse after having taken a breath, and the air would whoosh out quickly as I just allowed the forces to expel it, and then I would inhale vigorously to get more oxygen in there quickly. I have spent many years trying to work on rhythmic controlled breathing while running. This may be related in some way to my breathing style, or it may have some contribution to the formation of my breathing style. Hard to tell which comes first, the chicken or the egg.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">There is probably something valid about going "against" type to learn more about one's body and breathing, but in the end, my hunch is that the more natural one to one's self is going to be the winner for free and beautiful singing.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">I find this information very interesting. I think the application it has for singing is that it opens the mind for the singer to consider that there is a constitutional variable in the strategies one will adopt for breath management while singing. This can have consequences in many ways. If one is working with a teacher who believes strongly in breathing a certain way, that teacher's method may work with people who are wired to use breath that way, but confusing for people with a different breathing type. I think there is the potential for a singer, unaware of these possibilities, to spend many years trying to force her breathing into one prototype, and cause a lot of frustration and tension because she may be working against her natural structure.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Amongst many other things I started wondering about -- taking this inhaler/exhaler-types theory in mind -- I began to wonder if different voice types might be like the different recorder designs she mentioned and if the breathing type matched the instrument in some cases. For example, do dramatic voices require a more active exhale? Or, should knowing that you are naturally a passive exhaler necessitate your doing specific exercises to strengthen and coordinate the muscles for more active exhalation? Or vice versa?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;">In the end, this information fits with a holistic view I am forming of my life, including my singing voice. As I've mentioned here, I have become very interested in barefoot running. The philosophy of letting my bare feet tell my what my running form should be has been crossing over into my singing. Just as I "listen" to what the nerve endings in my feet, and any pain or discomfort I have while running barefoot, is telling me about how to set my feet down and lift them as I run, so too there are things my body is telling me about how to sing that I want to listen to more carefully.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;">For many years my singing training has been from the "outside-in." Trying to apply what teachers describe to my body. But from barefoot running -- not discounting the valuable input from knowledgeable people with experience and insight -- I am learning to listen to what my body is saying. The natural way I am inclined to breathe is one thing I might want to listen to as I further hone and master the abilities of my instrument.</span></span>Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-83606003236600280812010-08-31T18:36:00.000-04:002010-08-31T21:12:47.096-04:00Something New -- Singing Music on my Blog -- "An die musick" by SchubertMany of you Avocational Singer blog readers have gone for visits to <a href="http://frescamari.posterous.com/">Frescamari's Practice Room</a> to sit and listen in on all my experimentations and voice discovery missions. I first invited everyone to come over to that virtual practice room in <a href="http://avocationalsinger.blogspot.com/2009/10/welcome-to-my-vocal-studio.html">this post, where I compared visiting my practice room to visiting a painter's studio</a>.<br />
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I chose the Posterous site for my virtual practice room because it was a convenient way to store mp3 files for free and it was simple to get the files posted, by merely e-mailing the files. Posterous would automatically embed the files in a player, so the work was done for me. I will continue to devote time and attention to the ramblings and scribblings and trial and error of that Internet practice room. It serves as a kind of online practice journal for me and I have benefited greatly from posting my practice mp3 files there and commenting on them. From the looks of the numbers (thousands) of visits, it seems that people enjoy browsing through some of the stuff I've got up there.<br />
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However, I have wanted to be able to post a file once in a while on <i>this</i> blog. I just needed some time to do some research and tinker around and figure out how to embed a player. I have created a little test blog to play around with this technical stuff and have been busy experimenting over there.<br />
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I think I have figured out how to neatly and easily embed a little player so that I can, once in a while, put up an mp3 file right on the blog, so you will not have to take the little cyber-journey over to the practice studio. This would have been great to do when I was pursuing <a href="http://avocationalsinger.blogspot.com/2009/12/24-italian-arias-in-24-weeks.html">the 24 Arias in 24 Weeks project </a>(which I have not abandoned entirely yet -- I'm just splitting the sessions up -- having completed 10 of them in 10 weeks last winter. I think I may start another 10-week session this Fall. If you are a new reader and don't know what I'm talking about, 10 of 24 Italian Arias I learned in 10 weeks are posted in <a href="http://frescamariperform.posterous.com/">Frescamari's Performance Space</a>, another posterous blog.)<br />
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So, to test out my new mp3-player-embedding abilities, below I have embedded this morning's rendition of "An die musick," by Franz Schubert. To help me learn this song, I purchased a book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Soprano-Schubert-German-Lieder/dp/1596154918?ie=UTF8&tag=avocatio-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Music Minus One High Voice Soprano, Vol. 1 Schubert German Lieder (Book & CD)</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=avocatio-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1596154918" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, and have used the CD that came with it for accompaniment. I have done most of the work on this song by myself, since <a href="http://avocationalsinger.blogspot.com/2010/08/grieving-loss-yet-another-voice-teacher.html">I am between teachers right now</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://frescamari.posterous.com/my-first-schubert-lieder-from-soup-to-nuts-te-0">Some other work I did on this song</a> leading up to what I've got today can be found in Frescamari's Practice Room.<br />
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So, here it is, my progress thus far on "An die musick" in an embedded player right on the blog:<br />
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<br />
<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3523697345-audio-player.swf?audioUrl=http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/11/6/2639828/Prac%2010Aug31%20An%20die%20musick%205%20acc.mp3" height="27" width="320"></embed>Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-26442770670025751872010-08-23T20:08:00.001-04:002010-08-31T21:13:28.326-04:00Classical Vocal Repertoire and a Book of Glinka SongsI interrupt my regular blog posting to bring you a spontaneous post. I know I just wrote a post about <a href="http://avocationalsinger.blogspot.com/2010/08/parental-musical-influences.html">parental musical influences</a> and I do hope you all get to read and enjoy that post, but I am just feeling so good about a music book that arrived in the mail today and I wanted to share the experience with you.<br />
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Remember a few posts ago, when<a href="http://avocationalsinger.blogspot.com/2010/06/first-steps-schubert-lieder-follow-up.html"> I told you that the organist from my church, who is Russian, wanted to do a recital with me?</a> Well, in that post, I mentioned that he loved the Russian composer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Glinka">Mikhail Glinka</a>, and he encouraged me to explore this composer. He said he would help me with the Russian language.<br />
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Well, why not?<br />
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Well, here's why not. Isn't singing in Russian kind of advanced? Isn't singing in Russian something you do after you've established your international opera career and have a recital schedule around the world and a recording contract? Isn't singing in Russian something you do for your thesis project in graduate music school? Does a little struggling avocational singer such as myself <i>ever</i> sing in Russian?<br />
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To make a long story short, I figured Russian was <i>way</i> off my radar, considering the fact that I don't know any other languages except Spanish yet, and I just figured that it would be years and years and years before I got to Russian, and being that I'm older and all, I just figured maybe Russian might be for another lifetime or something. That's the way I perceived it, at any rate. We all know how faulty our perceptions can be, however. But, in a similar way as to how we have to give our voices freedom, and not constrict them or try to mold and shape them to what we want them to be, we also have to give our repertoire development and education freedom to develop and grow the way <i>it</i> wants to. If a pianist comes into my life who would like to collaborate on some music and can school me on Russian stuff, I'm not going to say I'm not ready for that. It's an opportunity and it's the way the larger musical forces of the universe are kind of guiding me to a new area of exploration, enrichment and study.<br />
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So, I set about to get my hands on some Glinka music. I didn't have great luck finding a collection of Glinka songs from my usual Internet sources, so getting some was either going to involve getting myself to a good music store or library -- like the Juilliard store or the <a href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/lpa">New York Public Library for Performing Arts</a> -- <i>or</i>, as I wrote about in <a href="http://avocationalsinger.blogspot.com/2010/06/first-steps-schubert-lieder-follow-up.html">that same blog post</a> -- challenge myself by doing something I'd wanted to do for a long time -- calling Glendower Jones, owner of <a href="http://www.classicalvocalrep.com/">Classical Vocal Repertoire</a>.<br />
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I have to admit that I have a fear of calling people on the telephone. They even have a psychological term for people afraid to make phone calls -- <a href="http://www.startribune.com/jobs/career/11436856.html">"Call Reluctance."</a> It's usually connected with a career in sales, but it revolves around being afraid of self-promotion. I've written on this blog before about how I didn't continue to pursue a career in theater because of this <a href="http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/tag/fear-of-self-promotion/">distaste for self-promotion</a>. One time I even bought a book to try to help me get over my fear, back when I had a little scrapbooking hobby business. I can't find the book I had back then but it was something along the lines of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rather-Have-Canal-Calling-Second/dp/0970273134?ie=UTF8&tag=avocatio-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">I'd Rather Have a Root Canal Than do Cold Calling!</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=avocatio-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0970273134" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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Anyway, you'd think that if you were not a professional singer, you would not have to do any cold calling or self-promotion, and that one of the perks of being an Avocational Singer is that you'd have an easy life, right?<br />
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Wrong!!<br />
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Avocational Singers have to do scary icky things too if they want to grow and be all that they can be.<br />
<br />
So, after exhausting many possibilities, it seemed that the musical forces that be were setting me up to make that scary phone call to Glendower Jones. Now, people who have phone fear are afraid of rejection. It doesn't matter what kind of rejection. Just rejection in general. Rationality does not come into play. If it did, it would not be scary, because our intellect would tell us that the worse thing that could happen when we call the music book store would be "No, I'm sorry, we don't have any Glinka."<br />
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Actually, no, for the person with these kind of fears, the worst thing that could happen would be for them to say, "NO! We don't have any Glinka, and never never never bother me again!!!" in a really mean scary voice.<br />
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Okay, well, back to the task. So, my task, if I <i>really</i> wanted to proceed on, was to make this phone call.<br />
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And I bet you all know what happened. Glendower Jones was one of the kindest and most wonderful of professional people to call on the phone. He was extremely knowledgeable and helpful, just as I'd heard from all kinds of singers that he was.<br />
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He had a complete volume of Glinka songs, of course, and he took the order and sent it.<br />
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Now the real treat is that the book came today and it was a beautiful volume, one that any singer would want to have in his/her collection. Here's a picture:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmdAZ8ih7uT57_UTPBCmGMXmN7gY3Ae9i4ZHcpgdfg_cT_WLV84cJzGIhQY_jyDyI_XAFFRm_zTfxsAFS1z03rdDXcR-V0MGuhPIOexcTWwQGxGijtM0le3EOcEH0uQk03R6Am9jxYqEM/s1600/Glinka+Songs+0063.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmdAZ8ih7uT57_UTPBCmGMXmN7gY3Ae9i4ZHcpgdfg_cT_WLV84cJzGIhQY_jyDyI_XAFFRm_zTfxsAFS1z03rdDXcR-V0MGuhPIOexcTWwQGxGijtM0le3EOcEH0uQk03R6Am9jxYqEM/s320/Glinka+Songs+0063.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
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<br />
<div>The hardcover book felt soft and smooth to the touch. It came protected by a sturdy cardboard enclosure, and the invoice was printed on a cream-colored paper that was heavy and smooth.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Since our phone conversation had gone so well, I was brave enough to mention an Argentinian composer, whose songs I had searched for and been unable to find. Mr. Jones, as a response to that conversation, had enclosed with my order a sheet, on the same creamy paper, a list of available titles from that composer.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I ended up really liking doing business "the old fashioned way," without the impersonal filling in of Internet forms.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I was delighted by the entire experience, and feel that by pushing past my fear, I reaped a great benefit of now having a great source from which to purchase my music.</div><div><br />
</div><div>In the end, I've realized that having a passion for something forces me to grow. When you really have an interest and you really love something, scary obstacles might delay you temporarily, but the desire to explore, find out and see eventually wins out overcomes the fear. One gets to the point where in order to continue on, you have to face the scary monster and it is that desire to see it through that helps you take the growth step.</div>Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-84721832994654187352010-08-23T15:00:00.000-04:002010-08-23T15:00:01.962-04:00Parental Musical InfluencesI'm sitting here in my kitchen with my book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pronunciation-Guide-Lieder-Anthology-Library/dp/1423413024?ie=UTF8&tag=avocatio-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Pronunciation Guide for the Lieder Anthology</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=avocatio-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1423413024" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=avocatio-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1423413024" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> open in front of me as I wait for the CD practice mp3 files to load import into my iTunes for my personal practice use. (I find it easier to find and control the practice from itunes than from a CD player.)<br />
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Anyway, with the book open on my lap, I've been sitting here sounding out the German for <a href="http://frescamari.posterous.com/learning-schuberts-auf-dem-wasser-zu-singen-p">"Auf dem Wasser zu singen"</a> syllable by syllable. It is slow, laborious work. It is being done without the benefit and advice of a knowledgeable coach or teacher at this point, but there is great value in what I am doing, even though it is quite a struggle. But we all know that this is the kind of struggle has big payoffs sometimes, so I am patient with it.<br />
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In walks my daughter to heat herself up a little snack. I hear her repeating the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_palatal_fricative">"ich laut" sound</a> -- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 15px;">[ç] -- </span>as she's pressing the buttons on the microwave. She's picking up the new sound very spontaneously and easily (like a child without decades of muscle memory programmed in). In fact, she barely realizes she's doing it, like when you find yourself humming a little tune that's got into your head and you're scarcely aware that you are humming. I stop and we talk for a minute, and I tell her that is a sound that's in the German language which we don't use in English. She is interested for a second, but I am gaging how much I can tell her before she tunes out.<br />
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"German's a weird language," she says, as she takes her snack out of the microwave.<br />
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I resist the urge, as a parent, to capitalize on this "teaching moment," by embarking on a lecture about languages. I've ruined too many moments of true and natural interest in my children by trying to get too much in on these little opportunities. So, I restrain myself and content myself with that little exchange and release her to go have her snack in the other room.<br />
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But in my heart I am happy. Because I know that these little moments add up. I know what it feels like to look back on childhood and remember the little moments that stand out and stayed with me when I became a grown-up (Am I a grown up yet? I'm still waiting for that to happen.)<br />
<br />
How many times have we read a book about some accomplished masterful singer, and the first chapter almost always tells us all about the musical household they grew up in?<br />
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I have engaged in some reflecting in recent years on how my musical interests came about from the influence of my musical mother. I have vivid memories of her practicing the piano or organ in the living room, rehearsing with our local community theater group or having wedding singers over the house to practice songs for weddings. It was her involvement in these things that brought me into the world of music. At the time I had not realized what was happening exactly, but it was as natural as learning to walk or to talk, and I find it fascinating that it can happen like this. It is a beautiful example of how the life of an avocational musician makes waves in time and space, and makes the world a more musical place.<br />
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So, I don't know what little memories will impress myself on my daughter when she is all grown up. Maybe this moment in the kitchen when she picked up the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 15px;">[ç]</span> sound and learned what it was will be one of those memories.<br />
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I don't want to ruin what is natural by coming in and trying to force or manipulate the situation. In fact, I'd prefer to not even be conscious of any effect my pursuit might be having. I will just continue to pursue my passion and leave those other effects up to the greater scheme of things.Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-38809247378738796142010-08-16T07:53:00.002-04:002010-08-31T21:40:28.993-04:00Guest Post: An Avocational Singer Attends a NATS WorkshopWell, dear readers of this blog, I have a little something different for you today, and something that I hope you find informative and enjoyable. One of the avocational singers I have come to know through this blog, Blue Yonder, has graciously agreed to share her recent experiences attending a NATS (<a href="http://www.nats.org/">National Association of Teachers of Singing</a>) Workshop.<br />
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Blue Yonder is a lyric soprano who has been a commenter on this blog for many a post, and some of you may have already learned a lot from her astute comments. I recently learned that she had attended her local NATS workshop and I thought you readers might be as interested as I was to hear about it, and whether it was a comfortable environment for an avocational singer.<br />
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One of the reasons I started this blog was to help us avocational singers find each other on the Internet and share our experience of being high level singers with a passion to master the vocal instrument, yet not on a career track. I have been so happy to have heard from quite a few of you, through comments on this blog and in my e-mail.<br />
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I hope you will all benefit to hear about Blue Yonder's experience.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">-------------------------------------------------------------------</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">Blue Yonder Attends a NATS Workshop</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">-------------------------------------------------------------------</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">As a high-level amateur, it's always a challenge to find the right kind of training opportunities for my level and goals. Consequently, I was delighted to learn about a performance workshop held this summer by the local NATS chapter and advertised on their website. It is a week-long program consisting of morning coachings followed by afternoon masterclasses in acting, bodywork, and diction,and culminating in a recital. Each participant brought in two pieces to coach for this program.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">My first minor concern about attending was whether I could hold my own in a summer program like this. The program is non-auditioned, but I did not know what level of participants it would draw and whether I could keep up. My fears were unfounded. Ages varied from 16 to 40-something, and levels ranged from performing newbies to very good conservatory students working on master's degrees. I landed pretty squarely in the middle. Also, other avocational singers were in attendance.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">The program itself was intense (for me) and enriching and positive. Every day, we sang one or both of our selections for our peers and the program faculty. We had access to well-reputed coaches with whom I never imagined I would get to work, being an avocational singer. The singers were nice people and I enjoyed getting to know them and hear about where they are in their journey. The masterclass teachers were generous with their time and expertise. They were fully engaged in working with each singer, regardless of level.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">Actually, I love the masterclass/workshop format for three reasons. First, you get practice performing a selection and working on it in front of an audience. Also, you get exposure to lots of different repertoire inside and outside of your fach. And lastly, when there is diversity in the level of singers, you get to learn about the different issues faced by singers at different levels, and how to address those issues given an individual singer's particular strengths and weaknesses.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">Overall, I would say that this workshop and the other local NATS events are great opportunities for the avocational singer to gain performance experience and training. I've felt welcome at the events I've attended so far, and the local NATS festival even has an "Avocational" category for participants.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">I do think it's important for us avocational singers to approach performance and training situations with the right attitude. I often have doubts and ask myself, "Do I belong here with these other singers who might be career-track? Can I cut it?" I realize now that I need to take the attitude: "I BELONG HERE!!!" Aim high and prepare to work hard--but once you get in, never question whether you belong in the program, regardless of whether you got in by audition, application, or just by putting your name on a signup sheet.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">I'll close with a couple of my favorite learnings from the workshop:</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">1.</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"> Italian texts require a surprising amount of detailed diction work. One must go through the aria or song with a fine-tooth comb and make sure all of these points are addressed</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">a)</span></b></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"> Vowels - Pure (non-dipthongized) and Italianate (e.g. American "a" versus the considerably brighter Italian "a")</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">b)</span></b></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"> Consonants - Can the listener distinguish whether any given consonant is a single or a double?</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">c)</span></b></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"> Vowel clusters - Can the listener hear all of the vowels in the cluster? Is the correct one stressed and/or lengthened, if applicable?</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">d)</span></b></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"> Text underlay - If the text underlay is ambiguous, match syllables to the notes in the manner that is the "most Italian" (observing Italian speech inflection and important words)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">e)</span></b></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"> Inflection - Would a native Italian be convinced by your speech inflection? (alternating stressed-unstressed syllables - think of the stereotypical Italian accent)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">f)</span></b></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"> Open/closed vowels - Are the e's and o's pronounced correctly as open or closed, depending on the word? (this one is debated by the experts)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;">2.</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"> 100% dramatic commitment is not just a native talent that no one else can acquire. It is something that I can practice and improve. As part of my practice regimen, I want to start doing dramatic readings of aria/song texts in a 100% committed, uninhibited way. Then I want to practice singing them with so much dramatic commitment that there's no room for thoughts about technique, mistakes, etc.</span></span>Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-64165973306144446412010-08-06T17:52:00.000-04:002010-08-06T17:52:45.485-04:00Grieving a Loss -- Yet Another Voice Teacher is GoneI wasn't sure if I wanted to write about this, but since it is part of my avocational journey, I must. So, here goes:<br />
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I recently received word from my voice teacher telling me that she would no longer be able to accommodate my lesson time in her studio.<br />
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One reason I didn't want to write it, was because I feel embarrassed to admit I was rejected and not one of the more desirable students. I had thought I was doing pretty well, and was finally beginning to put together a technique. I was working hard towards my goals, and I was excited about the progress I was making. I felt that I had momentum going and was not prepared to come to a screeching halt unexpectedly like this.<br />
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I had hoped that this new thrust would be the one to take me to a point, at long last, of a basic mastery of my vocal instrument. I say "basic" because mastery is a lifetime pursuit that is never fully attained due to the truth that there is always more. But I have always believed there would come a point where technique became secure enough and awareness of the ins and outs of vocal issues became such that a singer "arrived" at a moment where she didn't need a teacher any more -- at least not every week -- except for a basic tuneup once in a while.<br />
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I have been very slow and long to get to this point, as I've noted on this blog. But in this late time of my singing life, I have finally sensed it on the horizon.<br />
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But now I have a temporary setback in that I am without a teacher.<br />
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This journey cannot be undertaken without a guide.<br />
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Here is how I'm feeling right now. I feel like a person who had wanted to climb a giant mountain and had hired an experienced guide to help navigate the way to the top. Just when I got to the point where I could see some peaks, the guide can no longer continue the journey and must leave me there out on a ledge. I feel stranded and alone on top of a cliff, close to the mountain top, but without a guide.<br />
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So, I sit on the little ledge. First, I just cry. "Oh, whatever shall I do now? What will become of me?" But since that isn't really going to resolve the issue, once that indulgence has passed I have to sit and think of my options. First I have to make a decision, sitting there out on the snowy ledge by myself. Do I still want to try to get to the top of the mountain or do I want to give up?<br />
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If I give up, I can just find my way back down to the comfy lodge at the foot of the mountain, go in and order a glass of wine, and sit curled up by the fire reading a nice book. That would be very comfortable and nurturing. No tough things to go through. No scrapes and bruises from grabbing onto rocks. No feeling exhausted from the exertion of effort. No getting discouraged. No rejection. No disappointments. Lots of comfort and "peace." I can watch the young people come in breathless, with their rosy cheeks and talk about how wonderful the view was from the top.<br />
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But if I decide that I still want to try, then there's work to do. I must begin the work of trying to find a new guide to help me get to the top. As I make the rounds of the mountain guides, many of them might discourage me. "Why don't you just take the nice little bus tour up with all the other older folk? You shouldn't be exerting yourself at your age." Or "Why don't you just admit that your body isn't made for mountain climbing and just take the cable car up?"<br />
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But I have to pick myself up and get out there and make the rounds. Make the rounds until I find someone skilled who is willing to help me the rest of the way, and won't abandon me mid-mountain.<br />
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Finding a good voice teacher is a lot of work. There is a lot of asking around, gathering of names, and then the legwork of getting to sample lessons . Sometimes this work has to be done when you have a low level of confidence in your mission. There are so many questions. Will the teacher want me as a student, or find me undesirable as the other teacher did? The kind of mission I'm on -- older avocational singer who's not giving up -- is one I have to sell, or at least find the right kind of person who would get on board with me and help. I can't do this if I'm not feeling like I'm believing in my mission myself.<br />
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So, the <i>first</i> work I have to do, before I make one phone call or set one foot on the pavement, is to find a way to believe in myself again. This is the task that will help me get the job done. A way I've used to achieve this in the past is to pray and renew my spirit, so that's what I'll be doing as a precursor to getting out there to embark on a new fresh stab at getting to the top of the mountain. The clock is ticking, but it's still not too late for me to get there.Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-46059344606871185832010-08-02T10:36:00.000-04:002010-08-02T10:36:57.698-04:00My Visit to Opera New JerseyI am going to be brave and write about my experience attending the opera a couple of weeks ago. The reason I say "brave" is that I don't really know too much about opera. As a natural extension of my interest in singing, I have been dragging my husband to see a few performances in the past couple of years, and I have been enjoying exploring this interest.<br />
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Since I do not have the qualifications to review a production from an educated standpoint, I can only give my impressions as a fledgling fan.<br />
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My husband asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. Since my birthday fell on the eve of <a href="http://avocationalsinger.blogspot.com/2010/07/afterglow-westminster-choir-festival.html">my participation in the Westminster Choral Festival</a> in Princeton, NJ, I searched online for something to do in Princeton. I found that there was an opera company there, <a href="http://www.opera-nj.org/index.html">Opera New Jersey</a> and on the night of my birthday they would be performing <a href="http://www.opera-nj.org/performances/donpasquale.html"><i>Don Pasquale</i></a> by Gaetano Donizetti. I asked my husband to come down with me for the night and kick off my week at the choral festival by taking me to dinner and to see this opera.<br />
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This would be the fifth opera I would attend, and it was going to be the first one somewhere besides the Metropolitan Opera.<br />
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Up until now, I have been thoroughly preparing myself for each performance I was planning to attend. When paying the hefty prices for the Met, I have wanted to get the most out of the experience that I could. So, I would obtain a recording of the opera and listen so that I would know the music. I would study the libretto and the commentary on the opera along with its history. I would read about the singers whom I was going to hear, and also listen to some of the arias by various singers on youtube.<br />
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This time, however, I was so busy preparing for my trip, studying the Mozart Requiem score, entertaining friends, packing up my daughter for her week away at Grandma and Grandpa's, that I only had time to read a brief synopsis of <i>Don Pasquale</i>, and by the time we got there, I didn't know much about it at all and had never heard any of the music.<br />
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I found out that there is such a thing as an opera you don't have to "prepare" for and can just sit back and relax and enjoy. Opera NJ made this possible for me by their absolutely wonderful production. The opera, <i>Don Pasquale</i> is a perfect one to have this experience with because it is just a lighthearted very fun comedy that almost seems like a funny musical theater piece. Of course the beautiful music and the highly developed singing voices take it a step way above that.<br />
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It's not so much that I would like to tell you about the opera itself in that I wanted to exclaim how wonderful a job Opera NJ did on the performance. I told you above that this was my fifth time at the opera and I liked this experience way more than I did my experiences at the Met.<br />
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For one thing, the house, <a href="http://www.mccarter.org/home.aspx?page_id=1">McCarter Theater</a>, which is just steps away from the <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/main/visiting/travel/trains/">Princeton Train Station</a>, is elegant, charming, and intimate. I felt really comfortable just being in the place. A man on line for the men's room at intermission -- who came across as being much more experienced opera-goer -- told my husband that this theater experience was more like what it feels like in the many small opera houses of Europe. I loved the deep rich colors of the seating and curtains, and the cozy feeling of sitting together with all the audience. It felt like we were all friends who had just had a nice dinner together and had moved to the drawing room for an evening of pleasurable entertainment provided by our host.<br />
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Another thing I <i>loved</i> was that the orchestra was so present in front of me, and I could watch the instrumentalists. I could observe every draw of the violin bow, and watch the conductor preside over the experience.<br />
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The voices of the performers were of a high quality. I enjoyed the voices more in this intimate setting than I did at the Met. At the Met, even with very good seats pretty close to the stage, everyone still seemed smaller. Here, I couldn't believe how clear the voices were even though there was a substantial orchestra so close between me and the singers.<br />
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To be honest, I had expected, going in to the performance, that the voices I would hear in this smaller company might be less masterful or beautiful than some of the famous names at the Met, and I learned that this is a wrong prejudice to have had. I probably just picked up this notion from the marketing and the way our culture dictates what is supposed to be good. It filled me with great pleasure to hear really fine singing at this little production, singing that I felt was every bit as good, if not better even, than what I had heard on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.<br />
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And it was not just I who thought this. At the choir festival later that week, I ran into a woman who had seen Opera New Jersey's production of <i>Don Giovanni</i> that same weekend, and she had a similar story to tell. She also thought the production was more enjoyable than ones she had attended in Manhattan. In fact, she told me that she had stopped going to the Met altogether.<br />
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The sets were really wonderful. I was aware that they were not quite as "grand" as what I had seen at the Met, but they were so well-suited to the space and were as charming as the theater itself. In fact, this performance seemed to integrate so well and match the setting and feel of the entire theater space. And I felt that was part of what was so well done about this production -- the opera knew it's space and knew who it was as a performance piece in that space.<br />
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I was incredibly impressed with the <i>acting</i> of the singers. They told the story with their bodies as well as their voices. There was a lot of visual joking and I felt that children would enjoy this performance, should they not even understand a word.<br />
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I also enjoyed the performance of the chorus. Each and every choral member had a distinct personality and character and the acting of even these "lesser" roles contributed to the story and helped us understand exactly what was going on, and what it was like to be employed under these circumstances in the household of Don Pasquale. In one scene where they were singing about the new activities of Don Pasquale's new wife, it was clear that some of the servants, the younger ones, viewed all the hustle and bustle with breathless glee, and that some of the older ones thought the whole thing a great nuisance. Each singer portrayed a character who would react to the happenings in a unique way and not all the same, while maintaining a unity of ensemble. I thought it was perfect and that these lesser cast members were very talented.<br />
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All the lead roles had marvelous voices and wonderful acting interpretations of their roles. I could write paragraphs of how much I enjoyed each one of them so I hope that I am not insulting by focusing on just one lead in particular. I was enchanted by <a href="http://www.avapine.com/">Ava Pine</a>, who played Norina. She pulled off the authority, mischievousness, lovableness, humor of her character so well. As I sat back and enjoyed her performance and singing, I thought of the times I'd fantasized about being an opera singer, and I knew that there was no way I would be able to capture all the nuances of a character as well as this singer did, at least not without many more year of study and experience, and perhaps never at all. She was sophisticated, clever, sparkly, and very lovable and her singing was strong and beautiful.<br />
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I also loved the way the stage actions were incorporated into the interpretation of the music. I'm trying to remember a specific after two weeks, and there is one point I remember where Norina was singing a particular phrase and pouring herself a glass of lemonade at the same time. While singing the phrase, she raised the pitcher so that the stream of lemonade into the glass matched the music she was producing. The thing that was great about it was that it was not gimmicky or extraneous to what was going on, nor put in as a mere cheap trick to delight the audience. The action helped establish the playfulness of her personality -- a gesture that brought us far along getting to know her -- and was musically appropriate. It was also executed so naturally that it looked easy, but I was aware that to sing the difficult passage, and perform the lemonade pouring accompaniment was no easy feat just to pull off, much less look as natural as it would be in real life. Ms. Pine accomplished it masterfully. She made it look simple and easy.<br />
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Another example of the type of place where the action was integrated with the music was where the fluttering feather duster of the maid dusting off the bookcase seemed a natural illustration of the fluttering of the violins (a tremolo? -- sorry to lack a better musical vocabulary to describe). It happened in a way where it was hard to say if the music had suggested the action, or if Donizetti himself had been inspired by such an action to convert into music. At any rate, the interpretation of it was delightful.<br />
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These are just a couple examples of many such actions that were incorporated with the music throughout the entire production. Each one of these actions brought out the musical phrases and the appreciation for Donizetti's music, and I applaud the insight of the stage director and conductor, <a href="http://www.pinnaclearts.com/artist.php?id=223">Michael Scarola</a> and <a href="http://marklaycock.com/">Mark Laycock</a> for incorporating these little touches.<br />
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Besides these little actions that so helped me appreciate the music, there was another great scene where Ernesto was wandering forlornly through a park, singing about his lost love, and there was present on stage with him a street musician, playing the trumpet. The music being played by the horn player in the park was actually being played by the horn player in the orchestra, but it was accomplished in such a way that the horn player on stage looked very much like it was his music we heard.<br />
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The horn player acted as a sympathetic "listener," and musical partner to Ernesto's aria, reminiscent of that objective but sympathetic observer character such as Bert in Mary Poppins, or the fiddler on the roof who accompanies Tevye. I did not know this opera, so I did not know if it was a convention written in to the libretto, or if this was a unique interpretation of Opera NJ, but I had a feeling it was a unique interpretation, and in my very humble opinion, it worked really well.<br />
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To sum things up, I am definitely going to try to get over to see more performances by this little opera company. I felt there was something so right about the idea of this high quality intimate way of presenting opera in a community. How wonderful, I thought, for artists to spread themselves out in these little companies, bringing these kind of productions to the little communities of our country. It makes more sense to come together for theater this way, providing rich entertainment for each other on the weekends as we go about our daily lives. Something much better than the isolation of sitting home watching TV or on the Internet, and providing jobs for people who love to make music.Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-68612674425798786032010-07-27T09:44:00.002-04:002010-07-27T09:47:07.930-04:00Afterglow: Westminster Choir FestivalThis is a quick post just to let you know that I'm exploding with stuff I want to talk about in the coming weeks after experiencing many wonderful new ideas and concepts at the <a href="http://www.rider.edu/886_17314.htm">Westminster Choral Festival</a> at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ.<br />
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I attended this continuing education festival and took it for credit. As part of that I had to journal about my experience there, so I will be taking from my journal and picking out stuff I think other avocational singers out there might be interested to read about.<br />
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I was exposed to some new concepts, such as "count singing," and a few other ideas about choral voicing and sound, but I would like to have time to do a little google research so I can better talk about these things with you.<br />
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All in all, I came off this choral festival week more excited about choral singing than I ever have been before. I think one of the main reasons is because of the exciting, vibrant, creative choral director, Dr. Joe Miler.<br />
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What I loved the most about working with Dr. Miller was how free and healthy he wanted the voices to be, and how, even though he was directing a group, he somehow imparted great care and respect for the individual voice and was able to somehow guide the individual so aptly while leading a giant group. There was space for everyone in his choir -- "big" voices, "little voices," "pingy" voices, "breathy" voices, etc... He knew what to do with all those sounds and colors and make them work together.<br />
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It was possible for me, as a "big-voiced" singer to feel great freedom while singing in a choir, something that I usually don't experience. I often feel like I am sitting in a little confined box, holding myself back in order to blend. There are definitely many things I've learned with this "holding back" kind of singing. It has been a challenge over the years to find ways to master my voice so that I could sing in that little box in a healthy way, and it has not been without value to try to do so.<br />
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However, the experience of being able to feel less confined while singing with a group, and the feeling of my own free resonances melding with the other resonances in the room was really wonderful and left me renewed and invigorated about choral singing.<br />
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In the next few posts I'm probably going to be recapping some ways I've grown after this choral festival. I hope you will join me in the days to come as I share some of my experience with you.Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-49709796817817166792010-07-20T21:31:00.000-04:002010-07-20T21:31:27.494-04:00Reporting from the Westminster Choir FestivalI don't have much time to blog right now, because I'm being kept very busy participating in the Westminster Choir Festival, which I wrote about in my previous post.<br />
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I am enjoying myself immensely. There is so much singing and so much talk about music. For a person with a music degree, who studied in music school, this might be all "ho-hum" and "yawn." But for an avocational singer who has not experienced this level of choral study, it is dreamy.<br />
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Now, the description of this festival did not indicate that one had to have any particular credentials. It is, of course, considered "adult continuing education," so there may have been a presumption that applicants to the festival work in the field of music and desire further knowledge and study within their fields. However, although I didn't really have an idea who to expect would be at this festival, I had not quite realized that I would be the least credentialed person in the choir.<br />
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I am surrounded by music teachers of all level from primary school to university level, and by many people who conduct their own choirs and who have come to learn from our conductor, Joe Miller.<br />
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Whether I "belong" here or not, I am having the time of my life and learning gobs and gobs, just soaking it all in. I am getting to observe and hear the intricacies of choir directing and conducting on a deep level. There are conducting master classes and discussions about choices made in assembling and working with a choir. Today we had a fantastic explanation of how Mr. Miller voices a choir, complete with examples -- provided by the members of the Westminster Chamber Choir -- of how he "hears" voices and seats the choir into a formation where the overtones and undertones, partials and various other whats-its -- the many frequencies produced by the human singing voice -- are enhanced and complemented and reinforced in a way that optimizes the sound.<br />
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This is very exciting for me, and, although I had doubts in the beginning about my ability to keep up with the intense pace, it seems I've reached just a good enough level to stay in the race, if barely. But enough so that I can enjoy the experience and feel relatively competent while participating.<br />
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At the end of this exciting week, we are having a concert. The Westminster Chamber Choir will perform an intense work by David Lang, <a href="http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/sound_insights/works/commissions/art_detail_TheLittleMatchGirlPassion_commissions.html">"The Little Match Girl Passion"</a> and the festival choir will perform Mozart's Requiem.<br />
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If you are in the Princeton, NJ area you can hear this wonderful concert. It will be performed Friday, July 23 from 7:30 - 10:30 pm at Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall on the Princeton University campus. (Wow, a 3-hour concert. That's a big one!)Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3218245155700209375.post-31330571392803186322010-07-02T16:45:00.000-04:002010-12-26T23:53:00.371-05:00Athleticism and MusicWay back when I first began to learn about how the world works, I never connected music with athleticism. Not only did I not connect them, they each seemed to belong in totally separate compartments, and in fact, one even at times seemed to preclude the other.<br />
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In high school, I belonged to the social status group that had been dubbed the "band squirrels." Band squirrels hung out down the "band hall." The band hall door was locked when we first arrived at school in the morning, but we sat down on the floor together outside the band hall door and fooled around until the music teacher arrived and opened up the door. By the time he arrived, there was only a few minutes left before the bell rang and we had to all get to our homerooms, but nevertheless, we spent those few remaining minutes -- every single morning -- "down the bandhall."<br />
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Most of my elective high school classes and extracurricular activities centered on music. I was in concert band, marching band, jazz band, chorus, and any other musical activity that came about. Most of my friends were into music as well, and -- as I recall -- most of them did not seem very athletic to me.<br />
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For one thing, being involved with sports conflicted with musical activities. We had marching band practice outdoors in the Fall and would not have been able to play soccer or field hockey. Then in the spring was school musical rehearsals, and there was no way I was going to jeopardize having a part in the school musical -- no siree -- by belonging to some extracurricular sports team.<br />
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There were a few students who juggled sports and music, but they were not really considered "band squirrels." They were kind of well-rounded kids who were doing a little bit of everything, but one could see they had a conflict of loyalties and they would miss practices and not really feel like one of the regulars. They also usually didn't play their instruments on as high a level as the "band squirrels" did.<br />
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Overall, the "jocks" were a completely separate world of people from the band squirrels, and it appeared as if one precluded the other.<br />
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I remember, however, when I first branched off to explore some athleticism. It was toward the end of my junior year of high school that I started thinking that perhaps it might be a good idea I should explore a sport. I decided to join the track team.<br />
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It's not that I had not been athletic at all. No, that was not the case because athleticism was highly valued by my parents and we had been encouraged in every way to develop various sides to our athletic natures. I was an avid and accomplished golfer, the junior champ down at our country club. Our family took regular family bike rides together. We had all been given extensive swimming lessons and I was a strong swimmer, and had even enjoyed perfecting some beginning diving. We had all studied gymnastics in grade school and I had basic gymnastic skills -- cartwheels, limbers, splits, walkovers, back walkovers.<br />
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But I think because music was a stronger interest, I just did not go out for teams. I was also really afraid of ball sports, and didn't think very fast on my feet, so I did not fare well in group sports.<br />
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I'm not sure why I chose the track team, but I think it was because my dad had been a big track star in high school, and my younger sisters were following in his footsteps and making a name for themselves on the track team.<br />
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Well, there are a lot of directions I could go with this. I could get sidetracked and start talking about all my adventures in learning about track, but I will save that for my new blog <a href="http://www.barefootfresca.blogspot.com/">Barefoot Fresca</a>, and stick to the point I am getting at here regarding athleticism and being a musician.<br />
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Track introduced me to running and running introduced me to the cross country team where I developed more into a runner. This seemed to be a separate part of me from my musician side. In fact, being on the cross country team did make it more stressful to be in marching band that year. I had to run from one practice to the other and my plate was definitely full my senior year.<br />
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But they still seemed like separate lives. My athletic/running life -- and -- my musical life.<br />
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In recent years, however, I made a big connection between athleticism and singing. It was on the day that the realization hit me, "Oh my gosh! singing is athletic. It's athletic! That means I can develop it!" that I really began to find my way as a singer.<br />
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But still, for a while after that realization, singing seemed like it's own separate form of athleticism, still a bit disconnected from other athleticism in my mind. It was athletic because it involved muscles, exercising, strengthening, flexing, coordinating muscles that took practice and developed along the same kinds of principles as other athletic activities. But I still didn't understand that my entire instrument was athletic and that other kinds of athleticism would feed into and be essential for developing my full potential as a singer.<br />
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The first connection to other athleticism was the thought that doing ab exercises might help me master breath management needed for singing.<br />
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I did a little research, asked some singers, and most seemed to think that separate ab development, overall, helped a singer. There were some people who protested that the ab activity of singing was particular and specific to singing, and that the only way to develop that ab capability was to sing -- which is true. Then there were a few voices who seemed to think separate ab development would be detrimental to singing if it created too tight muscles. But overall, it seemed logical to me that the stronger, healthier, more developed the ab muscles were, the better off I'd be, and I began to do some extra ab work as part of my training as a singer<br />
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Well, that was the beginning and this has led to my philosophy, which I have written about here a lot, that some kind of athletic training must be part of my development as a singer.<br />
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Now it seems that my interests from way back have come full circle and I participate on Facebook group called <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=146911716239&ref=ts">The Athletic Performer</a> founded by my friend and fellow blogger, Robin, who also writes a <a href="http://theathleticperformer.blogspot.com/">blog</a> by the same name. The group is full of singers and musicians who include athletic cross training as part of their singing life. The leader, Robin, seems to epitomize the ideal of the theory, because she is a highly evolved athlete -- marathoner and triathlete -- and a master of a gorgeous singing voice as well, who is progressing very well in her professional singing career right now.<br />
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Another member of the Athletic Performer Facebook group has written recently on her blog, The Liberated Voice, about how important it is for singers to pursue athletic disciplines in her article:<a href="http://www.claudiafriedlander.com/the-liberated-voice/2010/06/the-vocal-athlete.html"> The Vocal Athlete</a><br />
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I have started a new blog, <a href="http://www.barefootfresca.blogspot.com/">Barefoot Fresca</a>, to write about my parallel athletic pursuit of running, but there are times, because of how my singing is now linked with my running, where the topics will weave in and out from one another, and principles and philosophies gleaned from one discipline will apply to the other.<br />
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Don't be surprised if you see some weird barefoot running videos show up amongst the practice files in <a href="http://frescamari.posterous.com/">Frescamari's Practice Room</a> as my two endeavors, athletics and music, start to come together and no longer be contained in separate compartments.Avocational Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15322495001387001602noreply@blogger.com0