Day in the Life

It's been a while since I've actually blogged about what a day here is like, so I figure it's about time I give that wide angle lens view.

Today, I hopped out of bed around 9 and dashed to the library to battle with the copy machine. It finally relinquished my slides, and I slid into my 19th Century Opera Singers class about 5 minutes late.

First up to present was M, who told us all about the development of the baritone voice type in the nineteenth century in Europe. Initially, people thought baritones were just basses with a high range on top. Then, as the century progressed, people came to separate out the baritone voice from tenor and bass. Later, individual fachs - specializations within the voice type - emerged. (Dramatic baritone, lyric baritone, etc.) M showed us how composers used these new voice types and helped define them by the operas they wrote.

I presented next. My paper is on two American opera singers in the late nineteenth century. So that I avoid boring you to tears, I'll just say that the high-level premise is that they represent two divergent yet equally valid paradigms of success in America at that time.

K gave her talk last. She is examining Carmen and the original singer who created the role. This woman was particularly responsible for the uncensored sensuality of this role, something a bit scandalous in nineteenth century France at the Opera Comique. There's also a colorful anecdote told about her fainting in the wings, having pulled the death card in the tarot card scene. When she came to, she supposedly said "Bizet est mort!" and he was.

My next class was Bibliography - how to use the library. Today was focused on contemporary music and jazz, so we examined a few modern reference books and periodicals. I learned that there are special magazines and journals devoted solely to computer/electronic music. The other interesting point is how primary sources differ for jazz vs. classical music. In classical music, if you want to write an article, you go back to the original score or to letters written by the composer or publisher. In jazz, your primary source material is the recordings themselves - what is heard - because so much is improvised. It is also a 20th-21st century art form, so the original recordings for Brubeck are more available than those for Bach ;)

At 12:30, I ran across to meet a professor, crossing through the lobby of the school where a small wind and brass ensemble was performing. They filled the echoing space with gorgeous music, and many people were loitering with their lunches, soaking it all in. I opted for lunch at the coffee shop next door and encountered A, a friend from the UK.

A is absolutely hilarious. He could easily be a standup comic instead of the amazing pianist that he is. Maybe a Victor Borge act is in his future. ;) He told me some great stories about meeting with the people who sponsored him to come to the US. All of his fellow grant recipients were en route to study medicine or get their MBAs from Harvard. They all showed up in "The Black Suit", while he arrived in "powder blue with gold shoes and a scarf." "You're so Bohemian," they all told him.

A also talked about shepherding a group of 10 year olds on a choir field trip from the UK to the US. Evidently, choir schools in the UK are often comprised of upper class students. So when they arrived in the US, one bright pink suitcase was left on the carousel. "Whose suitcase is this?" he asked. "Oh," said a little girl, "doesn't someone collect them for us?"

After delicious laughter and lunch, I ran to the practice rooms to warm up and run through my music. I started with the Messiah recits, and things felt a bit tight, so I moved to my Figaro recitative for my Opera Workshop class since that sits a bit lower. Some memory and expression work meant that time passed very quickly, and it was off to studio class.

Studio class is where all the students in my voice teacher's studio perform for each other. We're broken into two groups. Half go one week and half the next. Today, due to illness, we only had two classmates performing (instead of the normal six.) One sang "Porgi amor" in this huge, beautiful, gorgeous voice. She's playing the Countess in the spring production. I still can't believe that I get to sit five feet away from people and hear them sing like this! The second person who sang did two pieces: one from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and then a Lee Hoiby piece based on a Walt Whitman poem. He is transitioning from a baritone to a tenor, and he has a major voice - beautiful, rich, flowing. Incredible.

Immediately after studio class, I ran to Opera Workshop where we worked on our recits. Recitative is often thought of as the introduction to a piece, especially in Handel or Mozart operas. The recit. has great flexibility; you can speed up or slow down as you want. You are supposed to infuse it with an almost speech-like character in its flow. I think its purpose was originally to move the action along before getting to the main aria. Because recits are so stylistically different, they often scare singers. But they can be incredibly fun if you learn how to do them.

In our black box theatre classroom, the stage is already up for next week's opera productions. So we actually got to stand upon a platform to perform for each other. We each stood up with our scene partners and performed the recits. The professor gave us feedback along the way, working with different parts: "You need to be more slimy there. Take more time!" "This should be under your breath, as if you're saying "Oh s***"" "Let it move here!" "You need to rush in and think that something is really the matter with these two women. It's like they've slit their wrists and are lying in a pool of blood!"

After two hours of class, it was off to home for a quick dinner and a few emails before running back to school for our three hour dress rehearsal for Friday's choral concert. We were in the large theatre on campus, which has the most incredible acoustics. We stand on black risers on this lovely acoustically reflective stage with a full orchestra in front of us (complete with harp) and only our conductor separating us from the red seats and the crystal chandelier out in the hall. We're singing the Bach Mass in C Minor, Schumann's Requiem fur Mignon, and the Brahms Schicksalied. Our soloists are absolutely incredible, and it takes all my effort not to get lost in their singing and forget my own entrance with the soprano section. The soprano soloist is in my voice teacher's studio, and she has a rich, lyrical voice. When you hear her, it's like satin ribbon is being pulled from her - such a smooth, vibrant and clear yet round and warm sound. The alto is like cream. And the others are gorgeous, too.

Tonight, it's a few emails accompanied by hot apple cider and then off to sleep! Tonight, I'm awarding myself nine hours of sleep because I've been shorting sleep for the last week. So looking forward to this!
~Hope