This morning at choir practice I was talking to someone who has managed to get together a small group to sing early music. They don't make a lot of money (he still has a "day job") but the endeavor has really taken off and the four of them travel all over the country giving concerts. So in addition to having ready made opportunities to sing (or not really "ready made", since they have to plan them, but, rather, "logical" if they're following a long range plan) they also get to do the kind of "fun" things people do when they travel to perform.
Then this man was telling me about another man from the choir who had left his job as a well-paid lawyer to work in the theater. (I'm not sure in what capacity - possibly as a director or choreographer.)
So what am I lacking here? Why can't I dream up something? Both my mother and my partner have always been lukewarm about my obsession with singing opera and keep asking me "why I don't want to do what Barbara Cook does?" I mean, ok, Barbara Cook is sui generis - there will never be another Barbara Cook, but what they mean is why don't I work up a cabaret show? The reason I don't is that I want to sing opera. That's what I love. OK, I know I'm too old to be cast by anyone else in a leading role, also that most of the leading roles I want to sing probably require more stamina than I will ever have given my age, my mostly sedentary lifestyle, and my jumping into the game late. Also many of those roles require a note or two that I'm not comfortable with. But there's nothing stopping me from singing scenes from all those operas, the scenes that don't have too many scary high notes, and that can be sequenced with easy things to sing like the Habanera or "Mon Coeur" in a concert.
I suppose, ironically, the repertoire that suits me best is oratorio. (I say "ironically" because my parents were militant atheists.) What's great about oratorio is I can sing with my big operatic voice without having to go to the ends of my range, or needing a lot of stamina. Even most of the soprano arias don't go scarily high (something that surprises people is how well I sing "Rejoice Greatly", which, in fact, only goes up to an A flat). But since I'm not a paid church singer (or a "name" of any kind), the likelihood of my getting to do much of that sort of thing other than the odd solo at my current choir gig is unlikely. (Maybe do a pocket "Verdi Requiem" - no chorus - some time as a special Lent program? That had been on my wish list but other things are ahead of it in the queue.)
But really none of that differentiates me from the herd. I'm just another mezzo, older than most who are still in the game, with a limited range, not a whole lot of stamina, minimal musical training, really nothing but red hair and a lot of chutzpah.
The problem is nothing "gimmicky" really comes to mind. I don't like rock or pop, don't write my own songs (and wouldn't want to), and am stumped when I try to come up with a one woman show - not a cabaret show, but maybe a little autobiography and a few arias.
Is the problem really that I lack imagination?
No comments:
Post a Comment