Potentialness
Sorry for the post lull. Midterms and other scholarly baggage stormed my week.
I am ever so proud of myself. I got a sore throat and defeated it in record time. I started feeling it Monday afternoon and diligently took Vitamin C, Multivitamin, and grapefruit seed extract. It had peaks Tuesday and Wednesday mornings (don't you hate how sore throats feel the worst right when you wake up?), but by Wednesday evening, my throat felt great. On Thursday, though, I found myself with a bizarre hoarseness which robbed me of a portion of my range. That was gone by the next day. I suppose actually getting enough sleep (which I am!) helps a great deal.
First, choir updates. Now, I was immediately captivated by Vaughan Williams's "The Cloud-Capp'd Towers," but the other two Shakespeare songs have really grown on me. I don't think I like either quite as much, but their glories become more transparent with each singing. We worked on some King's Singers Folk Songs, too. I tried the low baritone solo in "Migildi, Magildi," which went pretty well, though I ran low on air after attempting to sing too much on one breath. Silly me. Oh, but although I was afraid of it (I was still hoarse), I held a piano "high" D and it wasn't strained or anything (the "ooh" vowel may have been some help in this department). My voice is so weird these days. More on that later. Anyway, we read "Lamorna" (meh) and the beautiful "O My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose," of which I approve most highly. Yesterday, Bev brought out her ubiquitous spirituals--"There's a Man Goin' Round," "Let Me Fly," "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" (in which Merrin sang a GLORIOUS solo), and "Deep River." They're fun, but I don't find most of them enormously musically satisfying (barring the penultimate).
I had two lessons with a fairly short interval between them, as I'll be gone this Friday through all of next week (yay, Feast of Tabernacles and Colorado!). The lessons seem to oscillate between infuriating and qualifiedly encouraging. On Friday, after the exercise / vocalise portion, we worked on the Finzi "Come away, come away, death." I couldn't get my D's in shape, and he wouldn't let me forget it. At least he complimented a couple phrases and told me to sing the rest more like them. I could stand more compliments still, though--he hasn't said anything about my runs or non-vocal tract musical or linguistic abilities. Sigh. Then I had a lesson on Tuesday in which I sang the other Finzi ("Fear no more the heat o' the sun") and, unexpectedly, Fauré's "Claire de lune." The former went pretty well, though there are few fun high-lying phrases and some legato issues to work on. The latter is going more and more smoothly phrasing-wise, but I'm not getting the E's quit right. Last semester, in Duparc's "L'invitation au voyage," I felt like I was spinning some pretty glorious long E's, but I can't remember how well-produced they were. Sounds like I need to to a bit more practice room experimentation. So, as it turns out, he's having me try the E's in head voice. HEAD VOICE. He said it sounded good in what I thought was falsetto (yes, I know there's a difference; however, I didn't feel like I was using a full, good head voice). I'm having a really difficult time believing his ears now. While I'll acknowledge how my mid-high range has already improved, my way-high range has just gone to crap. Maybe that's because I'm forcing myself to use muscles in my abdomen I haven't really developed too well. Also, most obnoxiously, when I get throat tension, what I hear is, "Why on earth would you think to do that? Nobody but you tenses up there. I have no idea how you got that problem. Weirdo." Obviously, that's not exactly what he says, but he makes it seem like high stuff comes absolutely easily to everyone else (because absolutely everyone knows how nobody's ever had high range problems and that it's always easy as 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058 ... to sing up there). Still, he complimented one phrase in particular and said it was essentially exactly right.
Well, Decca put up a special site for Renaaay's upcoming Homage CD. I was absolutely floored by the campy images. I think she gets it. So, I'm slightly concerned by a couple things (Gergiev bending to her will chief among them), but she does know pretty well what she's doing. Apparently, she started considering Tosca after preparing and recording the aria, but she totally realized it would be too heavy for her (ahem, ahem, Ms. Gheorghiu). I haven't had an opportunity to listen to the clips yet, though--I suppose they'll be the real pre-owning acid test. Or I could just refrain and wait for the whole thing. Whatever.
Well, enough is ... too much. Tschau!
I am ever so proud of myself. I got a sore throat and defeated it in record time. I started feeling it Monday afternoon and diligently took Vitamin C, Multivitamin, and grapefruit seed extract. It had peaks Tuesday and Wednesday mornings (don't you hate how sore throats feel the worst right when you wake up?), but by Wednesday evening, my throat felt great. On Thursday, though, I found myself with a bizarre hoarseness which robbed me of a portion of my range. That was gone by the next day. I suppose actually getting enough sleep (which I am!) helps a great deal.
First, choir updates. Now, I was immediately captivated by Vaughan Williams's "The Cloud-Capp'd Towers," but the other two Shakespeare songs have really grown on me. I don't think I like either quite as much, but their glories become more transparent with each singing. We worked on some King's Singers Folk Songs, too. I tried the low baritone solo in "Migildi, Magildi," which went pretty well, though I ran low on air after attempting to sing too much on one breath. Silly me. Oh, but although I was afraid of it (I was still hoarse), I held a piano "high" D and it wasn't strained or anything (the "ooh" vowel may have been some help in this department). My voice is so weird these days. More on that later. Anyway, we read "Lamorna" (meh) and the beautiful "O My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose," of which I approve most highly. Yesterday, Bev brought out her ubiquitous spirituals--"There's a Man Goin' Round," "Let Me Fly," "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" (in which Merrin sang a GLORIOUS solo), and "Deep River." They're fun, but I don't find most of them enormously musically satisfying (barring the penultimate).
I had two lessons with a fairly short interval between them, as I'll be gone this Friday through all of next week (yay, Feast of Tabernacles and Colorado!). The lessons seem to oscillate between infuriating and qualifiedly encouraging. On Friday, after the exercise / vocalise portion, we worked on the Finzi "Come away, come away, death." I couldn't get my D's in shape, and he wouldn't let me forget it. At least he complimented a couple phrases and told me to sing the rest more like them. I could stand more compliments still, though--he hasn't said anything about my runs or non-vocal tract musical or linguistic abilities. Sigh. Then I had a lesson on Tuesday in which I sang the other Finzi ("Fear no more the heat o' the sun") and, unexpectedly, Fauré's "Claire de lune." The former went pretty well, though there are few fun high-lying phrases and some legato issues to work on. The latter is going more and more smoothly phrasing-wise, but I'm not getting the E's quit right. Last semester, in Duparc's "L'invitation au voyage," I felt like I was spinning some pretty glorious long E's, but I can't remember how well-produced they were. Sounds like I need to to a bit more practice room experimentation. So, as it turns out, he's having me try the E's in head voice. HEAD VOICE. He said it sounded good in what I thought was falsetto (yes, I know there's a difference; however, I didn't feel like I was using a full, good head voice). I'm having a really difficult time believing his ears now. While I'll acknowledge how my mid-high range has already improved, my way-high range has just gone to crap. Maybe that's because I'm forcing myself to use muscles in my abdomen I haven't really developed too well. Also, most obnoxiously, when I get throat tension, what I hear is, "Why on earth would you think to do that? Nobody but you tenses up there. I have no idea how you got that problem. Weirdo." Obviously, that's not exactly what he says, but he makes it seem like high stuff comes absolutely easily to everyone else (because absolutely everyone knows how nobody's ever had high range problems and that it's always easy as 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058 ... to sing up there). Still, he complimented one phrase in particular and said it was essentially exactly right.
Well, Decca put up a special site for Renaaay's upcoming Homage CD. I was absolutely floored by the campy images. I think she gets it. So, I'm slightly concerned by a couple things (Gergiev bending to her will chief among them), but she does know pretty well what she's doing. Apparently, she started considering Tosca after preparing and recording the aria, but she totally realized it would be too heavy for her (ahem, ahem, Ms. Gheorghiu). I haven't had an opportunity to listen to the clips yet, though--I suppose they'll be the real pre-owning acid test. Or I could just refrain and wait for the whole thing. Whatever.
Well, enough is ... too much. Tschau!