Singing for my supper

ex·pec·ta·tion 1. the act or the state of expecting: to wait in expectation. 2. the act or state of looking forward or anticipating. 3. an expectant mental attitude: a high pitch of expectation. 4. something expected; a thing looked forward to. 5. Often, expectations. a prospect of future good or profit: to have great expectations. 6. the degree of probability that something will occur: There is little expectation that he will come. 7. Statistics . 8. the state of being expected: a large sum of money in expectation. I would add 9. The high level of consistent achievement assumed the minimum base line after a great opening and lavish reviews. Once the glow had worn off after Sunday afternoon , I realised that we were faced with an interesting challenge for our our second (and final) performance nearly a week later: how to recreate the magic which had happened, even though I think we all knew that the "something" which had made it so exceptional was one o...

New Dawn (planted in the autumn and thus a baby, but seemingly happy in its first spring)

Yesterday's concert was the kind of experience we all dream of having onstage: it was one of those occasions where everything just took off. The chemistry was there not only among the singers, but between stage and pit (in this case, stage and stage since it was an operatic concert performance with the orchestra behind the singers!), and between audience and stage too. It was an honour beyond measure to share the stage with colleagues - ARTISTS - such as these, and to know that I was part of the small moment of musical history being made. The minute-long ovation in the middle of the performance was indescribable - I feel like a rank n00bie all over again admitting being intoxicated by an audience reaction, but I think this was pretty special, and certainly like nothing I've ever experienced before! Cheering, screaming, stamping, thunderous applause.... Even our leading lady said she was taken slightly by surprise by the spontaneous passion the audience returned to us at tha...

"I never could get the hang of Thursdays", says Arthur Dent in Douglas Adams's Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. This past Thursday was a perfect example. While working on this production is a complete, utter and absolute thrill and joy, Thursday was THAT rehearsal (hereafter known as TR). I have noticed over the years that EVERY production seems to have one rehearsal where nothing feels right: it can be something vocal, it can be memory, it can be a piece of staging that won't work the way it needs to, or perhaps some kind of tension on the set (not even necessarily involving me) that makes the day uncomfortable. While this is never fun, I find I'm always slightly relieved when TR hits, because I've learned over the years it's an invevitable part of the process and is actually a very positive thing in the long run. TR almost always prompts everybody to go home and think about how things can work better; I know for me personally it's usually the...

in rehearsal for my next performances, thus not much time to write. But I can say I'm a very lucky person indeed to be able to sing in a great house with artists of the highest calibre AND come home - to my own home and family - every night. This week is pretty much as good as it gets on the "having it all" front!

I read the most wonderful quote yesterday: "One of the supposed virtues of gardening is that it teaches humility. The plants are going to do what they are going to do." I've recently discovered a passion for growing things. The elderly previous owner of this house had obviously neglected it in latter years, and when we moved in it was essentially a jungle of overgrown weeds; we had made some modest efforts to keep the nameless - and aggressive - vine which grows in these parts in check, but doing the full job was on the "eventually" list. Last year, since I was going to be at home for the entire summer, I decided "eventually" had arrived and it was time to come to grips with the project. Well, what started out as "getting the weeds cleared" turned into "wouldn't it be nice to plant that area for real?" and before I knew it I had borrowed a friend's rototiller, was poring over catalogs, learning all I could about the pla...

Gig tonight. The soprano and I turned up with THE SAME CONCERT GOWN (well, nearly - very slight differences, but not many!) . Solution: we wore the same gown for our (comic) duet and worked it to the max, and then I swapped into my alternate choice for the remainder of the program. But still... what are the chances?!

Now that I've jumped into this blog thing with both feet and am spending some time link-chasing and reading more sites, I'm noticing a trend: there are a lot of singers and musicians out there who are also shutterbugs! I had no idea this was such a sideline for so many. I first began taking pictures as a teenager when I was horseback riding - I was DETERMINED to learn how to take pictures of my friends jumping at shows, so I saved and invested in a Pentax ME Super and a Tokina 70-210 lens and started snapping away. I never DID learn to use the camera on manual, instead preferring to rely on its automatic aperture-priority opinion on exposure, but it did start a lifelong love affair with taking pictures. Alas, that camera was stolen in an apartment burglary when I was at conservatory, and for too long after that I made do with a hand-me-down point-and-shoot. It was ok, but one day I woke up and thought, "I need a real camera again". I was dirt poor at the time, but sc...

I love rehearsing. Performing is wonderful too, of course, with its different kind of energy and buzz and that genuine excitement of being in front of an audience. And practicing of course has its place and satisfactions: when it's on track and going well it can be an almost meditative experience but, when things get frustrating, it can also lead to near-penitential acts of self-obsession, self-analysis and self-criticism! Kidding aside, that process is important since the analysis and critical faculty are vital to continued improvement and just plain "problem-solving" when working out the kinks in particular passages, but it's so solitary that it can sometimes lead to tunnel vision.... But rehearsal combines the best of both worlds: the "roll up your sleeves and get to work" aspect of practicing combined with the same kind of stimulation from other singers and musicians as performance, made even better by both the opportunity and encouragement to e...

Today was A's Children's Choir performance, and watching these children and young adults singing at a high standard with excellent choral technique, all I could think was: this is where I came from; this is how I started. I admit it, I sat through most of the concert crying my eyes out both moved and nostalgic. How could I have known in my choir days that performing would eventually become my LIFE (and for how many of them may this be the beginning of something bigger than they can currently imagine)? In high school, I was fortunate to work with prominent US choral conductor Linda Allen Anderson, quite possibly one of the most extraordinary musicians and people I have ever encountered. Demanding, dynamic, and passionately committed both to the music and her students, she seemed capable of creating musical excellence out of rawest materials and against all the administrative odds (looking back with adult eyes and knowing what challenges she faced I still wonder how on eart...

My cast was interviewed by the local paper last week, and I was surprised to find myself answering the question, "What are some of your favorite roles?" by describing with great enthusiasm my previous role, a role which at best could be called secondary (and at worst - and in a different kind of production- a complete throwaway). But, to my surprise, this small supporting role which before we started rehearsals I had expected be a "paycheck" gig (and little more) turned out to be a genuine inspiration artistically and, in some ways, a personal turning point. Since this show was uniformly good with excellent singers and an easy camraderie among the entire team it seems almost unfair to single anybody out, but one of my colleagues in particular demonstrated how important it is to go beyond "good enough"; to say it was a powerful reminder of just how important it can be is an understatement. This is a singer who plays leading roles just as often as not a...

Home again. Hit the ground running since yesterday was A's birthday (10 years old -when did THAT happen?!) and I also have the final week of college commitments to fulfil, including final lessons, student recital, juries and scholarship auditions. I did, however, find time to make A's cake (something I try to do every year): She had a lovely birthday despite it being a school/work day, and is certainly enjoying her new Flip video camera (thank you eBay! Gotta love less-than-half-price New In Box items that ship exactly as described!). It's a pretty cool little camera, actually - super easy to use straight out of the box (it even comes with batteries preinstalled!) and she is having a BALL with it. In the meantime, today I start preparing my next two gigs, so there's still plenty to keep me busy singingwise as well. If I'm honest, I actually prefer being busy, and the calendar this spring actually lined up very nicely to give me just enough time between gigs (it can ...

that make Opera-Mommy-ing tricky. 12 noon, just as I was getting in the car to drive to the theater for a 2pm matinee, my phone rings. "Mama? Mary [the lady she was staying with last night] needs to talk to you for a minute". Turns out that Mary had to take her two young nieces to the airport and A wanted to go along to say goodbye (she's good friends with the two girls, who visit their aunt regularly). So far so good, but because A wasn't ticketed, she wouldn't be able to go through security with them. Mary couldn't reach my husband (who was playing the organ at his church gig) so the only thing left was to call me. In a city 600 miles away. Er.... I was most assuredly NOT ok with the possibility of leaving A sitting at the airport waiting on the other side of the gate while the other three went through security, so we had to come up with something. (She's a sensible child, but airports are just too fraught, and there's no doubt we live in a wo...

If only I'd received this email from my colleague BEFORE going downstairs! I just came back upstairs from breakfast. It seems I caught them in the middle of a rush. I was early enough to get some food though. At the end of the line, there were about 4 people waiting for coffee; it seems the pot had run dry. Not wanting to be in the way, I went on to my table. On the way, I said to the waitress, “I think you’re out of coffee over there.” She said, “It’s still frozen.” With a giggle in my voice, I asked the next stupid question: “How can the coffee be frozen?” “They didn’t leave it out to thaw last night,” said she.

So, last night was the opening. Really, it couldn't have gone any better, and the audience seemed to enjoy it. But it was a very curious experience as a performer, if only because the evening was so SHORT. This opera is usually paired with a companion and, without a "second act", it felt uncommonly truncated; I felt like I was leaving the theater after the first intermission rather than at the end of the show! Also, my (small) role does most of her stuff just before the curtain falls - this means that I put out my biggest surge of energy and dramatic angst at the END and then have nowhere for it all to go! It's definitely a different experience than tracing a dramatic and vocal arc across an entire evening's "emotional journey" onstage. But it all went fine and we now just have to keep our concentration and energy together for two more performances. Three in a row isn't so bad for my role, but I know it's hard for the tenor and soprano, sin...

I admit it: I'm a closet geek. Ok, maybe not even a CLOSET geek - I loves me my technology and make no bones about it! Most gigs I give myself a little "treat" in that regard, and this one appears to be no exception :) So yesterday, when preparing to pick my husband up from a neighbouring city airport (he's flown in for a day to come and see the opening), I decided it was time to indulge in something I've been considering for months now (and even more so after my first week here where I spent much of the time getting lost): a simple GPS system. A bit of internet research and I decided on this . I can't BELIEVE that I have waited this long to jump on the GPS bandwagon - it's an amazing device, and has already justified the (modest) splurge by getting me safely to and from said neigbhouring city without so much as a single moment of "Aaack! I'm lost! What do I do NOW?" panic). And I will never again have to rely on ask my husband to navigate!...