Ups and Downs

Sometimes I wonder if it's even worth writing anything here - no one comments. But maybe someday my luck will turn and this will be "discovered" (much more likely than that I will be "discovered" as a singer).

I had a reasonably good lesson Tuesday. My teacher said yes, he would be interested in doing a concert of duets at the nursing home, maybe next Spring. We could do things from Aida, Trovatore, and maybe Gioconda. I will see if the woman I interfaced with there would be willing to have me back.

He also thinks focusing on some of these Bach alto pieces is good. There's less stress involved and it will enable me to perform "chamber music" which is a less crowded market than opera and also it's part of the mission of the Lutheran Church where I sing to produce chamber music concerts.

As for choir happenings, I'm definitely on for the Tiffany Windows service, probably with the Mozart "Laudate Dominum" but I'm open to other ideas. And the choir director said yes, it would be nice to squeeze in the Duruffle "Pie Jesu" during Lent with his wife on the cello.

I do think, however, that I may have to scrap the idea of trying to sing the top women's part in "Abendlied" (Rheinberger). There are 3 women's parts but they're marked SAA not SSA so he didn't automatically put me on the middle part. It doesn' have any high notes - only goes up to a G - but the whole thing sits between the C above middle C and that G and is sustained pianissimo (what kills me is an E flat that you have to hold for 10 counts). The middle part involves sustained singing from the G above middle C to the C above middle C, which is easier. I tried singing the top part yesterday and my throat got very tight. I will learn both parts and ask my teacher. It's funny. In opera I am perfectly happy to be a mezzo (although I wish I were one with an easier B flat and B natural). I don't have "soprano envy". But in the choir it's always the high soprano(s) who get attention. They are the stars because particularly in an avocational setting, people are wowed by the fact that anyone can sing up there. The untrained sopranos struggle with an A, for example, which is probably why I was put in the soprano section to begin with. But for example in a piece like "Abendlied", those women with smaller voices can take breaths in the middle of notes and no one will notice. I either have to sing a note or pass on it but if I take a breath in the middle of that E flat, for example, everyone will hear it. I suppose what I mean is that in a choir if you're not either a soprano or a tenor singing a very high note or a bass singing a very low note there's no "wow" factor. And I'm a "wow" factor kinda gal.

I'm writing here about singing but I'm also in a state of mortal terror because on June 12 the State Legislature is voting on rent stabilization again, and with a Republican-controlled senate it is very scary. I could be out on the street when my lease is up, now when I'm so vulnerable with a seriously reduced income. On the other hand I will be 62 when my lease is up so I may have some protections. Or maybe New York City (which would renew those laws easily but doesn't have the power) will threaten to become the 51st state, which might not be a bad thing.