On the Right Track

Why is it that I always forget that if I want to sing well in this new fach that I've sort of fallen into, I have to monitor every note I sing and everything I do, particularly what I eat and don't eat, how much rest I get, and how much (and how) I talk.

For the past several weeks now, we haven't had any gas to cook with (details over at "the other place" because it involves money and an adversarial relationship). So my main protein staple, fish, is impossible to cook for myself. It's a bummer because now that I'm an underemployed freelancer, I had been trying to cook at home to save money. I do live around the corner from Gourmet Garage, which has a lot of prepared foods that are not that expensive, but they haven't had much fish. So I was eating a lot of ravioli and manicotti with cheese. Eating this high a percentage of carbohydrate really saps my energy. It's not something I would notice if I weren't singing material written for a voice (like mine) that's huge and requires major support, but I can really tell when I don't have that extra oomph (and with out it, sweetie, those B flats ain't happening). Anyhow, yesterday I really lucked out and bought some prepared tilapia (I know a woman I respect enormously, both re: singing and nutrition says tilapia tastes like papers towels, but nevertheless, I really like it)and had it for lunch two days running and last night I had some more tilapia (cooked from scratch) at my partner's house.

I also have been sleeping better since the little dachshund isn't in danger of death, just needs to be confined and not handled (which is very hard for everyone).

So today I cautiously attacked "Chi ti salva". First I just sang that section and that note was ok-ish. Ditto singing beginning with "Ma s'io ti salva, giurami". Then I started from the very beginning of the scene ("L'abborita rivale a me sfuggia"). I watched every single note and allowed myself all breaks. One important thing I have to do is not be lazy about the recits. If I am lazy either by singing too bombastically or too softly, my larynx is not in the right place. So in any event I got through the first B flat just barely (it was straight, and not held for one second more than the note value) but I decided to move on and of course in the reprise it was glorious, ditto when I made myself sing again from "Chi ti salva".

So how do I sing like that all the time??? I wish I knew. I will have a big confab with my teacher about it Tuesday. We can focus on this because since I liked how the Judgment Scene sounded I can give it a rest for a few weeks.

Then I did some work on the Dalila and Daddy duet, again, not letting myself get funky with it.

I don't know where my bad habit of getting "funky" (by which I mean singing too loud in the chest register, dropping the volume suddenly here and there, like a jazz singer, playing with the words in ways that are not vocally healthy) came from. I never sang jazz or pop, just Gilbert and Sullivan. Possibly it's because very early on, when I was a heavy smoker, I sang easy things (meaning nothing that went above an F or F sharp) and fooled around with the sex, the drama, the comedy, whatever, and people were forgiving because I was young and svelte and had a lot of chutzpah. So it's easy to slip back into that sort of pattern particularly singing Dalila, who has very little to sing that's vocally challenging other than two exposed high B flats and a bit of monologue in the Third Act.

I was very pleased with how I handled this issue in the Judgment Scene - namely, observing the dynamic markings to a T and that's it!! No getting "emo" as the young people say. So I need to revisit the score of Samson et Dalila and look at the dynamic markings in the same way. The roulade (AKA the "battle cry") in the duet is sounding more under control.