Singing for my supper

...where I'm hard at work on my next performances . I'm blessed with talented and delightful colleagues, staying with lovely people in a warm "college town" community which has me entirely charmed, and we've even had beautiful weather! Life is good. It's funny that my last post was about preparation... because sometimes all of that goes right out the window and you just have to roll with the unexpected instead! I arrived here to discover that the translation was getting some last-minute tweaking which, in the case of my role, resulted in a LOT of changes (probably about 75% of the entire part). The changes themselves are very much for the better and in and of themselves small and seemingly minor, but having spent quite a lot of time practicing a completely different set of words, both my memory and my voice are confused! As our supportive (and, in the case of the text, apologetic) director said, "It changes the process". It sure does! That said...

People outside the singing world often wonder exactly how one goes about preparing an operatic role. Many think that it all happens in rehearsals, yet nothing could be further from the truth! The preparation process may sometimes have begun YEARS before a role is even performed - most of us have "core repertoire" that we learn and work on even without any kind of offer in sight, the idea being to have them learned and ready to go in case somebody wants to hear them, or an oppportunity to "jump in" to a gig at the last minute emerges. A lot of time and energy goes into deciding repertoire both for auditions and "roles in preparation"; most singers have one list of "wishlist roles" (the roles they really want to sing and feel are best suited for their voices and temperament, usually the leads in operas from where their audition repertoire is drawn), and another comprised of roles they "should" know (usually easily-marketable repertoire t...

I've had several monster posts on all sorts of subjects kicking around my head recently, but somehow real life seems to keep the thoughts in my head instead of flowing out my fingers onto the screen. Soon, I promise. In the meantime, greetings from H1N1 central. I admit it: last spring, I pooh-poohed the hyperbolic alarm over swine flu as the usual media irresponsibility, but after 5 days of living with it - my daughter, not me (yet) - I have to say that it really is a whopper. She is currently heading into the worst phase of the illness, which starts out as "ordinary" flu. But after a day or so of seeming recovery, it turns into a brutal pneumonia. We're not quite at that stage yet, but she's certainly having the relapse today, frighteningly going into a near-hypothermic state tonight (apparently one of the body's defenses is to LOWER temperature as well as to cook the infection out with a HIGH fever). So, back to the vigil tonight - my husband and I are w...

I find transitions are always popping up to be negotiated both as a parent and as a singer. Moving from one phase to the next, from one place to another, from musical style to style, from supporting role to lead, from one group of people to a completely different cast sometimes in as little as a matter of hours, not to mention the scheduling variations (and conflicts!) as one switches worlds between the domestic tranquility (?!!!) of motherhood and the sometimes emotional hurly-burly of performing. This autumn is shaping up to have some previously unencountered adjustments to navigate. My own schedule and expectations were so badly derailed by external forces earlier this year that I was forced to transition into what felt like a completely different lifestyle than I have experienced in a long, long time: instead of bound by external schedules and commitments, I was pretty much completely on my own timetable for the first time in many, many years. Sure I had plenty to do, but it was...

... that until this week I didn't even know was there. Ok, so it's not exactly the Pacific (or even the Atlantic coast), but it's got sand, tides and saltwater, and is only about 15 minutes from home! We had a good time. (click image to see slideshow)

Currently, I'm prompted to reflect on the two foods which I have long considered perfect. The first is toast. Is there a more versatile food? Meal, snack, pick-me-up or just because, toast always holds its own. Toast with butter, toast with jam, toast with cheese, toast soldiers under egg, toast with cashew butter... the list goes on. Toast after a long winter's walk, providing the perfect warm pick-me-up after being out in the cold. Toast for breakfast with a cup of tea or coffee. Toast easing us back into health after a bout of illness. Toast as a meal; toast as a snack. What's more perfect than that? Well, in summer, the answer is this: In our house, blueberries take over in July. I'm the truly violet one in the family (there are rumours that I turn a delicate shade of purple some time in August), but my husband and daughter also enjoy them, if not with quite as much gluttony as I do. My mom buys them in bulk at Costco and makes care-package deliveries (sometimes ...

It's been a fascinating month. My daughter was asked to join the chorus of a local light opera company, and watching her find her way through her first semi-professional appearance has been interesting and enlightening indeed. One curious thing is that everybody(myself and my husband included, I'm sorry to say!) has made an assumption of prior knowledge simply because she's our daughter: she already osmotically knows all those complicated staging processes, scheduling conventions and company protocols, right? Not necessarily....! For sure, she's had experience onstage in her childrens' groups and a great deal more exposure than many her age, but the specific nuts-and-bolts of mounting a full production in professional adult theatre.... she's never needed to know that before; in many ways, it's been a brand new situation and she has had to learn a lot. We've all had to remind ourselves that, like any other young person, she's needed certai...