Conservatory Bound

2008-06-16T21:10:00.003-05:00

what a weekend! my sister graduated from college; I met up with an aunt and my cousin who I haven't seen in 10 years; and all of the insane travel related to thereof. I'm also settling into a really nice summer rhythm. I hope it can carry on into the school year so I'm not completely drowning in my schedule.

Today was pretty perfect. When I was walking home from visiting a friend - the weather was so clear and a beautiful temperature. I could see the moon in the distance as I crossed the bridge -- and as it was just dusking close to home, I saw fireflies! I haven't seen those in years! Enough to paste a spontaneous grin on my face.

Also, I've been totally addicted to Brigitte Fassbaender's singing. There's a set in the "Very Best of" Series (I already own the Mady Mesple (very underrated, in my opinion) and Edda Moser (ditto) compilations. Listening through on Amazon's little player, the Fassbaender one is probably just as stunning! It includes not only Suicidio, but O don fatale (in German), pieces from the Messiah, B Minor Mass, St. John Passion, and the entire Winterreise!! The last is absolutely stunning, the 1 minute snippets of each song that I heard.

Am now listening to her Schwanengesang. The thought of a Fassbaender Eboli rocks my socks. (And according to internet google groups man of letters (and recordings) Simon Roberts, her Azucena and Amneris are pretty great too).

But what I wanted to paste here in sharing (before getting back to school year recap in the next post) is Mirella Freni and Alfredo Kraus in a blockbuster duet from Puritani. YES PURITANI!

I knew that Freni did a very gorgeous recording (although with approximate coloratura) of the mad scene, here she is, singing this thing live! with lovely Alfredo Kraus. And holding her own every bit!

ahoy!

2008-06-02T09:33:00.004-05:00

It's been awhile since I've had both the time and inclination to write -- what a semester! But the next series of posts should hopefully bring everything back into relief.

I had started writing this blog to chronicle the sorts of things I encountered in switching into vocal performance. At the outset, I had consciously thought of the possibility of what to do once I did get into school and started attending. Looking back, I don't remember what I felt about my chances of actually getting into places that I applied. Of course I had my dreams, but that's not exactly something that's very rational.

In the same vein of preparing notes and keeping track of progress while applying (and getting ready for auditions), I had imagined my blogging activity would be a benchmark for my progress, development, and breakthroughs while attending school. I've been kind of remiss in keeping track of that, so hopefully this post will also be the beginning of a return to this approach (rather than simply the sharing of awesome found things on the internets..though that won't disappear. You're welcome or sorry depending on your stance).

Breakthroughs:

This first one is a two-parter. I've always had trouble with the [i] vowel -- all sorts of tightness and tension. The first breakthrough came when one of John's former students was in town on a production and came by to say hi. It just so happened that I was performing in the voice department recital and had a lesson afterwards. Ryan asked if I minded if he sat in on my lesson and helped with tongue-placement for the [i] vowel. Namely, making sure the tip of the tongue stays forward (almost even moving it forward to counteract the tendency to pull back on it) in order to encourage the base of the tongue to not clog the throat. Breakthrough 1. The next one came when I was doing exercises with my summer teacher, Ruth, just recently. The other component of stress came from the soft palate collapsing down as the back of the tongue comes up to form the vowel in some sort of sympathetic motion. Once I noticed this was happening, I could think about separating the two parts of my body to do different things at the same time. It's not perfect yet (obviously) but it's a much better, looser sound. The third breakthrough will happen when I can finally embrace the fact that the sound will just have to carry. It'll never be a "beefy" sound on [i].

Truth be told, the big sort of breakthrough of this semester has been developing a finer control of the soft palate so it doesn't just collapse all the time or jerk up or whatnot. This combined with a better connective, deeper support of last semester has smoothed my singing out immensely. Breakthroughs still in the wings include figuring out how "really" to sing up through the passaggio and into the high notes that I'm pretty sure I'll have one day. But they're just tantalizingly (annoyingly) out of reach at the moment. Bah!

Books Read:
Sort of filling out my other obsession, I picked up Julie & Julia in anticipation of waiting around in doctors' offices.

It's a fairly decent read, though the hyperbolic comparison of living in NYC to being in a Khmer Rouge camp (and similar comparisons of her middle-class life to truly desperate conditions) I find in pretty bad taste.

I also picked up volume of Joseph Kerman's criticism written for the New York Review of Books, which I am adoring, despite his polemics in Opera as Drama. I find his reviews to be much more balanced. Though maybe it's just that I've grown up a bit, read a bit more. I'll have to revisit Opera as Drama and see what I think.

And as a lagniappe, I've (re?)discovered Brigitte Fassbaender! I don't know why I always had it in my head that it was a brusque, uneven voice.

Check out these youtubes for some awesome:

Suicidio

Una voce poco fa

2008-03-21T12:32:00.003-05:00

So I was sitting in the little food area at Costco and idly watching some of the cashiers, etc.

I noticed this one slender guy with a spring in his step that still seemed to be leaning on everything. Perhaps you've seen similar: closely cropped hair, polo shirt with collar popped, cartilage and lobe piercings. That sort of thing.

But still leaning on surfaces yet not looking totally goofy in the process.

Which reminded me what my mother was telling me about leaning the sound on something. When people stand unsupported, they start wobbling about, even if it's very minor. If they have something to lean on, it'll all be in one direction.

It's a useful visual image, actually -- really interesting in terms of vocalise practices in an attempt to smooth things out and present a more uniform sound. Speaking of, I've been taking a melisma from 'Der teurer' of Bach's SJP. Feels really good and I like that it doesn't start at the bottom and go up but rather starts in the middle, goes down, and then up, then down (so I can ease into the idea of preparing the space for the higher stuff at the beginning). Also, the high stuff comes later so it's a really nice breath control reminder -- and is honing efficiency on higher passages.

But, what this post really is about: parts of the William Klein film of the Messiah conducted by Minkowski.

I might have mentioned in passing once or twice that I'd like to bear Minkowski's children. And I'd also love to be involved in some crazy film project like this.

hiding out

2008-03-18T13:40:00.004-05:00

the dearth of posts here at CB recently are possibly attributable to class nuttiness leading up to spring break (on which we are currently! hiding out in the desert). More likely, it's a combination of that, the drain on energy that a more-than-full course load + 25 hour work week crammed into a weekend, uncertainty of what happens next, and possibly general seasonal affective poopery.

However, there are some bright discoveries -- chief among them the delicious produce at H-Mart in nearby Catonsville.

Oh, and my clear desire to one day raise pet/laying chickens/turkeys/ducks. Mmmm! There's something about little clucking birds that are extremely cheering. Obviously, that's probably not going to happen in the middle of downtown Baltimore. But someday...in the distance.

As far as school goes, things are going well. Really, well as can be expected. As a friend is fond of reminding me: "If you're going to overload yourself like that, at least be kind enough to your psyche to forgive it when it can't deliver the top quality that you're used to." As far as vocal instruction goes, I'm working diligently, but I could be working a bit harder. Which I imagine is a pretty good place to be. At least I'm not burning out on it.

Kind of the opposite, it's developing really quite well -- it's just a totally odd feeling sitting here with my still-forming technique and not really able to articulate, even to myself, mentally, why X isn't working. It's easy to see that X isn't working...but the functional reason? Well, I suppose that's why I have a teacher, eh?

And speaking of teacher, not for the last time, I am reminded that the strides I've made this year would not have been possible without this particular student/teacher setup. He's so generous with his energy and his time, it's almost embarrassing to be the beneficiary. And it's a nice incentive to make the most of it. Because, you know, who knows when he will retire.

But anyway, as the first year at Peabody draws to a close, I do have some questions weighing on my mind, and I'm not entirely sure what would/could answer them. But they are nagging all the same, and there's kind of no room for that right now. I've got my first "unveiling" at a voice department recital that I need to pull together and polish. This in this last week.

But what sort of post would this be without some youtube?

2008-02-28T02:38:00.002-05:00

whoah, this has been floating around on the intrarwebs for awhile now, but this is actually pretty decent sound and video (i.e., you won't have to turn the volume way way up to hear it).

Julia Varady (a house favorite here) sings Abigaille

This, on the other hand, you will, but it's probably worth it.

Young young Isabel Rey singing for a Caballe masterclass

two thoughts

2008-02-16T22:32:00.003-05:00

briefly, because a dinner of empanadas awaits me and I shan't keep them lonely:

1) I had a great conversation with someone (sparked by a good night at the opera) about art not as objects, but rather the relationship between that object its context. This was doubly interesting since I seem to be having a series of such revelations about things, particularly voices and performances. Voices that I hadn't particular feelings about have become instead, very appreciated. And it has to do with context, both within the setting of the voice and my own positionality. It's interesting to think of voice not as some object that is put together, like flowers on a table in a setting or in a vase -- but rather, as a painting thereof because you can't extract it from its setting that way, despite its recognizability (well, sometimes).

2) Earlier in the week I also went to a Handel lecture given by Ellen Harris, whom you may remember from a previous post. She talked about the intersection of the profane and sacred music of Handel's italian output, though it seemed more centered on certain observations about treatments of floridity in these works. Central to her examples is the oratorio "Il Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno" in which Beauty (Bellezza) must choose between Piacere (Pleasure) and Time and Good Counsel (Tempo e Disinganno). In this work, Harris argues, floridity and virtuosity is used to depict something alluring yet dangerous, and because of the librettists insertion of Handel into the scenario in Piacere's palace, a specific kind of virtuosity is employed.

In any case, the work ends with this scene sung by Bellezza. Isabel Rey (who sounds better than last I encountered her, though even in that setting, she sounded better with repeated hearings) and accompanied by Marc Minkowski, whose babies I want to bear.

i'll have something more sometime soon

2008-01-27T17:48:00.000-05:00

but for now, let me just say that youtube user "lochness11" posts awesome stuff. to wit:

school, take 2

2008-01-16T01:09:00.000-05:00

The new school year has kicked off, and it's already crazy with all sorts of busy-ness. Suppose it's just as well to jump right in, right?

This'll be kind of short, but progress is coming along with vocal development. I feel much more mixed about it than I should because it's not developing in the specific order I'd like it to (but it's doing all kinds of nutty [good] things in many unplanned or unforeseen ways). More (or less) on this later.

However, this post is more about a trip I took to Durham, NC to visit a great friend of mine. During this trip we discovered that Foster's and the Q shack are incredibly tasty, for different reasons, and that the L word really is a good show with male eye candy (who would have thought?).

Though maybe it's just me...

Now, back to sleeping. And Haydn songs.

2007-12-28T05:14:00.000-05:00

ok, so twice in a day. in fact in so many hours, but... really?

2007-12-28T04:26:00.000-05:00

I once, in the throes of early post-adolescent passion, wrote 30 love poems for someone.

We used to have cookouts around a fire with new friends.

I sang Samuel Barber and he played guitar.

We used to get slices of pie at the coffee shop and try to goad each other into flipping the bird; I kept score.

The last time I saw him, he had grown a soul patch and ditched the baseball cap he always wore, which had inadvertently emphasized his ears. I missed it.

I drove him home through the dry summer air, pocked with lightning and sad neon. He asked me not to forget him as he hugged me tightly.

I haven't, but I don't know where he is now.

So much for love, huh?

2007-12-24T22:58:00.000-05:00

I am now home for the holidays (mmmmmm!) and my sister just "made" me (because really, I didn't protest very much at all) watch the first National Treasure in preparation for the National Treasure movie that just opened.

I now confess I have a mildly massive geek-crush on Justin Bartha, the guy who plays geeky Riley Poole. Here are some blue eyes (of which I am usually not such a fan) to keep dreaming about:

2007-12-21T14:26:00.000-05:00

on wednesday, i had my last final. it was a singing/performance final for english diction, which must have been nervewracking for the two students who weren't voice majors. i can only imagine -- and they acquitted themselves just fine.

however, one of my classmates just got out and knocked out a song by Richard Hageman, Do Not Go My Love. It was the first time I heard her sing and it was such an amazing fit, vocally, temperamentally that I couldn't help but start crying.

at least it was a more or less "pretty cry."

i think it really hits home the point of singing things that you do really well, because it's just so much less effective if you sing something with more of a "name" or "cachet" and leave much to be desired.

in any event, finals are over and it's just work this weekend, packing, and then getting on a plane home, where I'll eat, dig up some music, learn german, eat, sleep, and eat. delicious!

life changes

2007-12-12T16:52:00.000-05:00

so in addition to moving house, i recently attended a [stunning] masterclass given by Leon Fleisher.

I didn't really know what to expect -- I'm not even sure if I expected anything other than to hear people play and to hear Leon Fleisher give whatever advice he could.

It's consistently amazing what happens when people become so intimately knowledgeable (particularly on the teaching end) in different fields. The best, I think, develop some sort of underlying architectural sense for what is not quite meshing, which often have tectonic and far-reaching effects -- and other times, involve miniscule detailing but finish off a product in such a way so as to be essential, detail or no.

Fleisher was incredible at fixing things that are apparent at a listener's level but are rarely fixable from that direction. Instead, the changes need to be approached (according to Cornelius Reid) functionally. Why is this phrase drooping? If it is something that a music lover can hear and identify, that doesn't mean said music lover is necessarily able to fix it just by pointing out the symptom.

It was pretty great to watch. Also, got an interpretive idea that I'm now mildly obsessed with applying to a particular piece I'm working on. Mmm. May share if anything comes of it.

ok, now must get ready for choir concert. boo.

2007-12-05T20:51:00.000-05:00

I've become somewhat obsessed with Steve Reich's piece Piano Phase.

As I understand it, it's a work written for 2 pianos (though Reich has also given latitude for other instruments such as marimba, etc -- and has apparently said that he prefers this performed by percussionists rather than pianists). The pieces consists of twenty-three different musical ideas that are to be played for a duration as determined by the performers. They are instructed to begin playing each idea in unison, then one of the two should begin relaxing the tempo while they other keeps strict time so that the music begins "phasing" out of time, creating a particular kind of euphony that is intense.

Here's a performance with choreography that is breathtakingly and agonizingly beautiful.

There are times when I cannot be absolutely sure that the video speed is kept constant, such is the power of this performance to seemingly stop time. It feels that time itself is manipulated in this piece which is astounding.

music with cojones

2007-12-04T23:23:00.000-05:00

Apropos of a comment left by Alex (not me -- of the Wellsungs) at Maury's, I really dig it when performers (conductors, singers, directors -- ya, i think they should be lumped into the performer category. If nothing else, they're performing the more traditionally recognized performers) really give no quarter to the idea that early music is super-decorous and/or limp.

How's this for a shot in the arm:

It's so magnetically sung, and in some ways, I can see the argument for anachronistic stylistic choices in her singing, but it sounds fervently Mozartian still! Wonder of Wonders.

Also, just because she was in the same clip (though unsinging), I'm totally blown away by the disparity between Kasarova's speaking and singing voice.

i'm alive

2007-11-30T20:12:00.000-05:00

or at least I think I am. This has been a nutty nutty week, but I shall spare you the details.

The big picture is that I have moved into a gorgeous (4th floor) apartment with a good friend of mine from school. It's beautiful. Ok, and gorgeous, but you knew that. It looks transfigured after the clean-up job the management company did after we took our first look.

It seems like it's a smaller management company, so you get some of the personality of individuals, but with a more business-appropriate standardization (none of the, say, crazy landlords that try to steal your security deposit). In the case of our apartment, the choices came down to the floor tile used in the bathroom, the carpet throughout the apartment, and the wall/ceiling colors.

They're all very neutral and picked to be appealing to most everyone, but they are not drab. The carpet is a muted caramel color and is padded exceedingly well so it's very soft. The walls are painted a diffuse off-white color that picks up the color of the carpet, really unifying the space. The kitchen/bathroom tiles are similarly well-chosen.

In any event, it's also been a trying time because it is end of term in addition to the financial squeeze and time crunch of moving. But, that is over. It was definitely an exercise in trying to put aside the frustrations of things not working and instead focusing on a) what is working and maintaining it and b) what is the first source of what isn't working (rather than just symptoms).

I just put my finger on the source of vocal trouble, at least -- the time crunch has eaten into the time that I've been putting into really developing vocally and keeping the gears all oiled and lined up (such as they can be in this technique-building stage). The fact that I haven't been able to do that (or rather, chose not to with the limited time that I had) meant that I, instead, had to focus on how to make specific performances work.

Note to self: always make time for the basics!

moooooving!

2007-11-28T18:33:00.000-05:00

The past week or so has been a flurry of crap. Good and bad crap -- I think it'll end up being good crap retrospectively, but currently it's just...crap. crap crap crap.

But on the bright side, the week (and term) is (are) almost over AND tomorrow I get to bond with a Budget Rental truck and move my possessions to my new living environment.

I'm told it looks faboo (I haven't seen it yet since they've fixed it up)!

WOO. Moving.

mockumentary?

2007-11-24T08:15:00.000-05:00

courtesy of MFI and musings re Brewer and Vanessa, I discovered this.

I have to admit that I giggled a little bit when the woman from the Post-Dispatch (I think) says "she's a star." It just seemed a mockumentary-type moment a la Christopher Guest movies.

2007-11-23T01:34:00.000-05:00

Turkey day is freshly over and I just discovered this: more interesting articles/writings/interview material with Meredith Monk

Here is an excerpt to whet the appetite:

FRANK J. OTERI: [...] Do you consider yourself a composer first?

MEREDITH MONK: Yes.

FRANK J. OTERI: Why?

MEREDITH MONK: Because the heart of my work is the singing. I think of my work as a big tree with two main branches. One main branch is the singing and it started from my solo work, exploring the human voice and all its possibilities. That's been a very strong discipline for over 30 years, working with my own instrument and discovering all the different possibilities.

and another:

MEREDITH MONK: [...] after being in New York for one year and doing a lot of performing in different galleries and churches and places like that, I really missed singing a lot, straight out singing, so I sat at the piano and started vocalizing. There was a one day sometime in 1965 when I realized, in a flash (...it really was a flash experience...), that the voice could have the kind of fluidity and flexibility of the body, say, like the articulation of a hand. That the voice could be an instrument and that I could make a vocabulary built on my own voice the way that I had in movement. In movement, I had had a lot of limitations physically. That was to my advantage on a certain level because I had to find my own idiosyncratic way of moving. In some ways, technical limitations are good, because you have to find your own way.

Incidentally, anybody know how I might get in touch with Ms. Monk? I understand she teaches voice but am not sure how I should go about exploring the possibility of study...

to make do

2007-11-21T13:28:00.000-05:00

sometimes we must make do with what we have. and sometimes we realize we have more that's valuable than anybody would have guessed, even ourselves.

I sense that a little bit with Ms. Cathy Berberian, a particular hero of mine if you're late to the party :)

2007-11-20T21:47:00.000-05:00

thought

2007-11-18T08:25:00.000-05:00

I feel I have been making great progress on fundamental technical issues so far this semester, and while working hard has been a big part of a it, just as important, I think, has been the approach that my teachers has taken with me.

It reminds me of what I read once about Jan DeGaetani's teaching style. One of her former pupils was being interviewed about his own teaching (he was being awarded something for his teaching excellence) and he spoke about DeGaetani's approach. He recalled that sitting in on her lessons, he realized that although she saw all the things that needed to be fixed, she didn't address them head on. Instead, her approach was roundabout, by "the back door" (his words, not mine!), seemingly unconnected to the problem at hand. But lo! the problem would be addressed just as surely as if it had been mentioned explicitly.

creepy

2007-11-16T20:55:00.000-05:00

I just saw two performances of Britten's The Turn of the Screw. The two casts are directed in two different readings of the famously open-ended story by Henry James.

Now very intrigued and will probably do some digging into both opera and story (which I had read, but in hiiigh schooool so long ago).

In preliminary stumblings, I found this, a video version featuring, among others, Helen Donath as the singing voice of the Governess:

Of course, I also have to share more upbeat Donath!

hee hee thong

2007-11-15T18:38:00.000-05:00

Alright, so it's no golden triumphal thong, but in some ways, it might be even better. OperaChic should be pleased (that is, if she isn't already familiar with this!)

nostalgia

2007-11-14T23:59:00.000-05:00

for the first time in i don't know how long, i felt nostalgia for the last time i was in school.

yesterday, i had followed a friend of mine to sub for a choir conducting job he did at the hospital. (yeah, it was surprising to me.)

anyhow, it was a fun time (i figure if med students have enough desire to spend 1.5 hours a week in a choir rehearsal, they really like doing it), but when i exited the hospital, i was forcibly reminded of so many occasions in the past when i had done so.

i had spent a semester volunteering in the ER on saturdays. it wasn't always a good time, but them's memories. and, the medical school film society showed lots of really great movies, so i spent many a weekend night with a close friend going to screenings there.

so i stepped out on the street and -- it sounds hokey -- but i almost forget when and where i was.

really struck home a favorite expression i read once (in a comic book of all places): elsewhen