Music thoughts of this week
The soloists were at the OMG Requiem (my name for the ALW Requiem) on Sunday evening, providing new sources of energy just as the choir was, well, needing some. The soprano and tenor both have ginormous voices, very appropriately so for the triple-fortes that Sir Andrew has written in some places. I already knew that we wouldn't be having a boy, but rather a mezzo, and it gave me an opportunity to adjust to the different quality that that will bring to the performance. In a way, I'm disappointed in the compromise -- but it's also nice to have a reliable, adult voice on that part. I would like to say that everything ALW cut from other works ended up in the Requiem, but I think one could actually say that about almost everything he wrote -- what is "Another Suitcase" doing in Evita, anyway? In other news, I'm going to have a hard time not laughing, dancing, or otherwise losing my composure during the Hosanna, with its fake-Latin rhythms. The Requiem seems to be grieving the death of Latin culture for a moment there.
In Monday's band rehearsal, I found myself thinking a thought that I haven't fully been able to articulate, so here is the half-baked version: you can tell any story you believe. Virtually all of the music I program is of a narrative or at least linear form, and I encourage the instrumentalists to think of themselves as collectively telling a story, both to encourage looking at a melody as having a shape and a "point" (as in, "get to the point, Edith") and to encourage listening to one another while playing. Where certain sections were not coalescing, I encouraged folks to have more conviction in the story they were telling. It helped.
Last night's voice masterclass was exciting. I am singing a duet ("Sweet and Low") from Utopia, Ltd with another student in the studio, and we ran the duet for the first time only minutes before the masterclass. It was exciting to sing with a pianist and with another singer. The recording session from a week and a half ago was all-male and it was also good to sing with a soprano; I made a mental note that I should not write an all-male cast musical, both for produce-ability and to have a larger palette of voices. I found myself, while singing, finding that I am always thinking about the next difficult thing I have to do, rather than simply doing what I'm doing right now. Sing the note you are on -- this is the key to many doors, and not just in singing.
Anyway, I totally want to do the Frederick/Mabel scena ("Stay, Frederick, Stay" through "And Here is Love!") at some point with this soprano. A mezzo who was there suggested that four of us team up to do the quartet ("You're Gonna Love Tomorrow") from Follies, which also has me salivating.
In Monday's band rehearsal, I found myself thinking a thought that I haven't fully been able to articulate, so here is the half-baked version: you can tell any story you believe. Virtually all of the music I program is of a narrative or at least linear form, and I encourage the instrumentalists to think of themselves as collectively telling a story, both to encourage looking at a melody as having a shape and a "point" (as in, "get to the point, Edith") and to encourage listening to one another while playing. Where certain sections were not coalescing, I encouraged folks to have more conviction in the story they were telling. It helped.
Last night's voice masterclass was exciting. I am singing a duet ("Sweet and Low") from Utopia, Ltd with another student in the studio, and we ran the duet for the first time only minutes before the masterclass. It was exciting to sing with a pianist and with another singer. The recording session from a week and a half ago was all-male and it was also good to sing with a soprano; I made a mental note that I should not write an all-male cast musical, both for produce-ability and to have a larger palette of voices. I found myself, while singing, finding that I am always thinking about the next difficult thing I have to do, rather than simply doing what I'm doing right now. Sing the note you are on -- this is the key to many doors, and not just in singing.
Anyway, I totally want to do the Frederick/Mabel scena ("Stay, Frederick, Stay" through "And Here is Love!") at some point with this soprano. A mezzo who was there suggested that four of us team up to do the quartet ("You're Gonna Love Tomorrow") from Follies, which also has me salivating.