A Musical Fetus

sigh.

2011-08-21T04:33:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh, I am bad at keeping up with this. Suffice to say I'll post something when I have something to say (and don't have an assignment due midnight hanging over my head!!). Soon. Really, really soon. xx

Oh wow... pretty boys singing

2011-07-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

On Monday the 25^th July 2011 it was a privilege to hear one of England’s best choirs perform in St Johns Cathedral, Brisbane. The Tiffin Boys Choir from Tiffin School, Kingston upon Thames in Surrey performed a largely 20^th Century repertoire featuring music by Britten, Finzi, Debussy and Faure, with an interesting bracket of close harmony as light relief in the middle.

It is no wonder that the choir produces so many fabulous singers considering the repertoire that the boys are exposed to from the young age of 11. It is an expectation at the school that every boy sings in one of their many choirs, and it is common that in a boys first term at Tiffin School he will have performed with the rest of his class in an interschool singing competition, sung an oratorio with the London Mozart Players, performed at the Royal Albert Hall in a Christmas concert and taken part in an opera at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. At Tiffin singing is a celebrated part of the school culture, an activity participated in every day. Many of the boys I spoke to after the performance will be studying music in the coming year, some with choral scholarships to conservatoires, Kings College and St Johns College, Cambridge. It certainly makes a case for singing to become a more valued part of the school curriculum in Australia, where there are very few schools with similar opportunities. The boys have sung at the Royal Opera house in every season since 1993 in repertoire ranging from Wozzeck to Carmen, but the core of their repertoire is the traditional “Cathedral-style” music for SATB all male choirs. The regularly perform to full houses in St Martin-in-the-Fields, Temple Church and St James’s Piccadilly.

The singing was simply stunning. Faure’s Cantique de Jean Racine was sung with near perfect pronunciation and enunciation, and with a splendid legato line. Debussy’s Trois chansons de Charles d’Orleans showcased the remarkable maturity of the voices and a full rich tone, especially in the forte sections. The soloist Kieran Brunt was especially stunning in the second movement, which the director Simon Toyne described as a display of “teenage indolence”. Britten’s The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard used dramatic dynamics and silences especially well to effectively tell the story. If anything, one could have wished for more facial animation and engagement in the singers bodies and postures. The close harmony brackets by side group “The Tiffinians” was more than a little incongruous within the program, but their rendition of the Postman Pat theme song was charming and certainly produced some amusement for the audience. The Tiffinians also gave some of the older boys a chance to showcase their skills as soloists (though their were a couple of slightly dubious American accents thrown in which would perhaps have been best avoided, but were no doubt a side effect of listening to the original versions and learning aurally). The combined performance of Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb was perhaps the only disappointment of the evening, but considering that it was put together in the space of days with limited combined rehearsals and no practise in the building it was very good, and a particularly remarkable showcase of the brilliance of organist Gavin Roberts.

A wonderful evening of music, and a reminder of what incredible things can be produced with early exposure to wonderful music and performers, and an ethos where music is simply accepted as a necessary part of life.

P.S I have to write these reviews for Uni, so I thought I might as well blog them. Sorry this one is so dry. But seriously as I was reading the program and talking to the boys, I couldn't help wondering how much a better musician I might have been by now had I had similar experiences to the Tiffins. I thought I was lucky, growing up a music teacher's kid, singing in church choirs from the age of four, but it's nothing compared so singing in all these operas with artists like Renee Flemming, and being at a school where singing is something that everyone just does as a matter of course, that is celebrated, rather than something that is stigmatised. While I loved that my old school choir gave kids who couldn't fit in anywhere else a place they felt safe, it didn't help the reputation of other members of the choir. I can hardly imagine what that sort of school might be like. I don't know that there's anywhere in this country that offers those sort of opportunities. Talking to the boys made me remember how much I want to travel ASAP - in fact I even went home and put $50 in my new savings account!1 It starts here :)

sometimes, i think i overthink

2011-07-16T05:32:00.000-07:00

I know I said I wouldn't post for a while, but I'm just procrastinating from packing for a few minutes.

How far ahead in my career should I be thinking. It's easy to get bogged down. Do I worry about how single events might affect my long term, or do I let myself go and enjoy student life?

I've had a lot of trouble dating outside the performing arts. Maybe it's because I have issues with dating tone-deaf people (why, why, why do they always insist on singing along?), maybe it's because I like guys who are passionate about something, and know what they want. But I think more than that, it's because so many guys my age don't seem to really understand commitment. I don't mean their commitment to me, I mean my commitment to music. I joined my first choir when I was four, and my mother is a music teacher. I grew up with the understanding that if you say you'll do something - for instance be part of an ensemble - then you attend all events for that group, unless you give more than three weeks warning, or there's a death in the family. Even if it's not a group I particularly love singing with, or repertoire that I find interesting, I made a commitment and have to be there. So why is it that guys (and some friends for that matter) think it's not a big deal to miss rehearsal "just this once"? The same goes for practising my solo repertoire. I can be a bit of a slacker, so disciplining myself into finding that hour and a half of practise time every day is important to me, so that I don't slip into old habits. But this is hard, really hard, when everyone seems to be encouraging me to skip practise, and when my neighbours complain about me singing too loudly, and my family feels it disrupts their study. ARGGHH. Ok, rant over. Almost.

I have a big decision to make. I've spent the last five or so years umpiring netball, and am now capable of doing it to a high level. I get jobs by word of mouth, particularly with my reputation for being reliable. However, due in part to some politics at my club, and partly to the fact that whenever I get near to being accredited for my training, I seem to manage to break a limb or two (seriously, I've been on crutches or in a sling every six months for the last four years), I've never been officially "badged". My big problem is that yelling for seven hours every Saturday is not helping my vocal training at all. My singing teacher hates it, and every singer I mention it to does the "judgement face". But I love the game, and I really enjoy umpiring, and it's something I'm good at. I've just come back to netball after tearing a ligament and muscle in my knee but I haven't started umpiring yet. Offers are starting to flow in, but I feel like this might be a convenient time to quit umpiring. I could still coach some junior umpires, but it's too late for me to get my badge this season. This means that if I quit now instead of umpiring next season until I have my badge, if I come back to umpiring I won't be able to get the level of work I've become used too, because I can't rely on word of mouth. But I don't want to keep holding myself back vocally, and continue increasing my potential for nodules or something equally nasty.

Goodness. I just do not know what to do.
xx

I am the world's most disgusting fountain

2011-07-15T02:29:00.000-07:00

My goodness. I hate being ill. Especially when I have to work in the freezer section from 6-10am three mornings in a row. And I know that it's just a cold, and I should really stop complaining (I sometimes wonder if maybe being a singer makes me a hypochondriac) but I really do feel like ass. I googled myself some natural cold remedies but all it really came up with was the usual stuff. You know the drill: rest, hydrate, lemon and honey, garlic, olive leaf extract (I'm not brave enough to drink the hard stuff), and of course steaming (my favourite by far, my portable steamer is my god). It also came up with some inventive yoga poses to draw blood to the vocal chords. Who would have thought?

I'm unsure whether it's a good idea to sing with a cold. I did an internship with an opera company last year and they told me that you should get used to singing sick so you know what extra effort you have to put in to produce good sound. I'm more inclined to think that the effort to try and get my blocked sinuses resonating is likely to backfire and turn my brain to jelly. But I do have a performance in a week that I need to prepare for. I'm procrastinating by just doing light scales and watching The Marriage of Figaro on repeat and writing out my texts and translations in coloured marker to stick up in my bathroom. Ahh the joys of visual learning...

What I certainly should not be doing is going camping for four days in the mountains with some mates, where it is likely to be both pouring with rain and bloody freezing. But heck, I'm crazy (or irresponsible) like that. I know I should be looking further ahead, but what's the worst that could happen? Maybe I'll develop pneumonia or some equally terrible disease and sing myself with terrible beauty into my grave a la Boheme. But then lately I've been thinking I'm more of a Musetta really. Anyway, I'll probably chat to all of you imaginary readers next week.

xx

P.S, I was an extra in a music video for one of my favourite local bands on Monday. I spent an hour standing behind the lead singer staring at an imaginary asteroid. Should I put this on my performance resume? Most of what I got out of it was the realisation that I'm really, really not an indie kid.

give a little love to the second best man for the job

2011-07-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to see Doctor Zhivago (http://www.drzhivago.com.au/) at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Based on the book by Boris Pasternak with music by Lucy Simon, it tells the story of Doctor Yurii Zhivago, on one had a family man and a sensible doctor, on the other a poet struggling with his love for the alluring Lara. Passing from the last glorious moments of Czarist Russia into the tyranny of the Russian Revolution, the audience follows Zhivago as he fights his nature to do his duty by his wife and country.

Doctor Zhivago was written for Anthony Warlow (I'm no musical theatre buff, but even I know that name!) after Lucy Simon watched him in rehearsal for The Secret Garden. So it was understandable a little disappointing to be greeted upon entering the theatre with the news that Warlow was sick and out of action, and the role of Zhivago would be played by his understudy (for whom I now wish I'd checked the name). He was wonderful. It was real lesson as a student to see how professionally he pulled the role off. It must be a daunting task, knowing that the whole audience is thinking things along the lines of; 'He's good, but he's no Warlow', or 'What a disappointment'. All you can really do in that sort of situation is get on stage and make the part your own. It's so easy to unintentionally mould your voice into a copy of someone you admire. However, you can never truly emulate someone else’s sound. Far better to do as this understudy did, and sing the part with your own individual voice.

The other lesson I took from this understudy was that even if you’re disappointed about not getting picked for the primary cast, you still have to dedicate yourself to learning every gesture, every note, and going through the effort of truly putting yourself into the character, the same as what you would do if you were primary cast. That’s professionalism. As someone who’s understudied before, sitting through hours of rehearsals (especially those involving lots of Mozart recitative) can be tedious when you don’t get to sing a note. But it’s so important to pay attention to everything that happens as if it is directed at you.

Learning lessons every day :) xx

How Many Divas Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb?

2011-07-07T23:24:00.000-07:00

Is diva behaviour dead? Not if you go to university. Of course, it can't be as outrageous Birgit Nilsson vs Franco Corelli spat. For those who don't remember; after Nilsson out-sang Corelli on a top C in Turandot Corelli took his revenge by biting her ear instead of kissing it in the Act III love duet. That night Nilsson wired the house manager: "Cannot sing. Have rabies."

So we don't go around biting people at university. Particularly not tenors, because like most tertiary level music courses we don't have nearly enough males to risk making them not want to sing duets with us. What we do have however is a surplus of sopranos, especially young ones, meaning that there usually aren't enough roles to go around. Most of the time roles are assigned rather than auditioned which does make for a heck of a lot of jealousy when you miss out. How does this diva behaviour and jealousy manifest itself?

1) Selective friendship. When we had our first prac class everyone had to sing. It gave the teachers a chance to hear us again, and the students got the chance to size each other up. My main competitors in first year were S and V. S; a pretty girl with olive skin, curves and a ghetto booty, and a large rich voice. S's musicianship is strong theoretically, but she hasn't been singing seriously for long, and I heard quite a lot of tongue root tension in her sound. She can also seem very bossy and condescending which drives people off and at first made me want to stab her in the eye. V: red hair, indie glasses and a long term boyfriend. She has a lovely baroque soprano voice, which can at times become a little thin or nasal, but the top notes float beautifully. At first, instead of trying to be friends with either of them I chose to hang out with Z and A, weaker voices, not really competition and girls I'd known before. I am so lucky. I have a strong friendship group outside music which grounds me, and so I have no need to develop friendships in the music course beyond the acquaintance stage. So when Z and A started to cut me out of the friendship it stung a little, but didn't really wound me. It wasn't a big deal, just two girls who started to reference things that they did together without me, and make a an effort to hang out separately from me. But that's ok, because in the end it has been far better for me to start to make an effort with S. She's a little bit lonely and needy, and just waiting for someone to bounce musical ideas off and be good friends with. I like her company, and our voices compliment each other. Make friends with the competition, make an ally. S and I practised together for a big auditioned duet last semester and got it. But this sort of victory leads to the next stage of divadom.

2)The rumour mill. How else do you quietly take down the competition? While you hear them sing the solo you wanted, you quietly and professionally critique it to yourself(well, with professional sounding words anyway). Then you and the other sopranos who don't get the solo collect each other's opinions. Mix in a dab of whatever hint you may have heard from a teacher about them. Then, when the person asks you what you thought you can say something along the lines of; "I thought it was lovely, but (one of the other singers) had some interesting comments). Has (teacher) ever talked to you about (technical issue)?" This implies tat not only are other students negatively commenting on her singing, but that the teachers were also being indiscreet about it. And because you've all shared your opinions other students will say similar things. Undermine their confidence, make them over practise.

3) A little bit of a bad influence. Make your suggestions so she over practises. Offer her something with dairy on the day of her big solo. Don't tell her if her makeup has smudged, or suggest she ups the makeup intensity and make her look a little clownish. Take her out the night before, and let her drink some of your vodka, so her throat is numb tomorrow.

These are just some of the things that go around. Overtly competitive or diva-like behaviour is frowned upon (Kathleen Battle is a good/bad example of that), but some of these more subtle measures are just part of the game. Everyone smiles and says no if you ask if university is at all bitchy or cliquey, but it's a lie. I've made a conscious effort not to buy into this behaviour. It's tough when everyone else is doing it, and I know you have to have a competitive streak and a tough skin to survive in the performing world, but I think that in such a small course, super competitiveness is unproductive. So I just let them take out my competition for me, work on my elephant-thick skin and rely on my friends outside the course to ground me.

xx

p.s, sometimes this grounding can get a little harsh though when you're all wrapped up in singer-town. I'm singing the role of the countess in marriage of Figaro, and I was whinging to one of my non-musical friends about how much I would rather sing Susanna's part in the "Letter Duet". She replied; "You're just grumpy because you don't get to sing the highest notes and show-off." True... but OUCH!!

Why I'm Blogging

2011-07-04T23:23:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I will ever be professional musician. Someone once told me that 1% of Bachelor of Music graduates end up in full-time paid employment. Perhaps it is even more risky as a singer, knowing that your voice will not truly start to take on it's true form until your mid to late twenties. So starting out feels a whole lot like jumping off a roof into a swimming pool with your eyes shut, armed only with a whole lot of hope that maybe, just maybe you might hit the water instead of the bricks. But heck, Lady Macbeths, Jenufas, Isoldes, Juliets, Toscas and Aidas all have to come from somewhere right? And why shouldn't it be me?

I used to try and keep a diary to pin down my thoughts about life and music and such things, but I've never really succeeded for more than a week. So I'm hoping that by posting these things in the public forum instead of hiding my thoughts under my bed, I might be compelled by the thought of an audience to try and continue crystallising what I think and learn along the way.

My last singing teacher before I started university told me not to let passing the auditions get to my head. She said; "You're just a musical fetus still, for all you learn there's still a truckload more, there will always be someone better than you, working harder than you, and unless you step up your game you won't continue to develop. There's only so long you can rely on pure talent for, and there won't be so many people pushing you and trying to help you develop now. You need to step up your game, or you will never make it in the real world." And so this is me, just trying to push myself into becoming a better musician.

xx