For self-honesty and inspiration, no one beats this glorious mezzo. I was about to write a recap of how I did today and realized that I should give myself a grade for how I've done so far. (She said a week but I don't think it's been that long for me.)
I would give myself a grade of C plus, but with some slack for mitigating circumstances. Just when I was seriously trying to address myself to singing, I had to deal with a crisis with my partner and the ensuing endless conversations (some in person, some on the phone, some over email) with social service agencies. Not much has come of it, but she is feeling better and I just have to detach.
I was not able to practice every day. Tuesday I had a (less than wonderful) voice lesson, Wednesday I had two long conversations with social workers and decided to pass on practicing, Thursday I had a struggle with the bloody B flat again, Friday I had therapy and went to stay with my partner and Saturday I was at her house all day doing chores. Which brings us to today.
As a result of endless mental exploration, and some conversations I have had online with other singers (at least thanks to this blog there are a few who take me seriously whether or not I have been to a conservatory, know how to number the notes in a scale, or have sung/will ever sing anywhere for money)I think the problem with that passage is I have been making too much of a deal out of that high A. An A is a natural climax note for me and my best arias and scenes always have one that I can showcase (e.g., "Acerba Volutta" from Adriana Lecouvreur and the Judgment Scene from Aida). But if I have to sing a B flat a few seconds later, I have to just toss that phrase away. Save the big breath/support setup for the B flat, don't waste it on the A.
So this evening I sang the section by itself (check). Then I went back to sing the whole aria from the beginning (not good, the note came out as a scream probably because I panicked - this is very hard for me not to do) but I hung onto the sucker and if this happened in a performance I would - I hope - just move on to the next thing. I sing the rest of the scene very well.
To continue with today's check-in, after that fiasco I went back to the section "la mano convulsa stenda", which leads into the first high A on "Mi vendica" and got through to the section with the B flat. I may have taken too long right before, but it sounded fantastic. And I think I have a gesture to go with it that will help me. Then I moved onto the rest of the scene that went like a house afire (bad analogy considering the subject matter) and then moved on to the Aida trio. I now can sing that (the recording I have, with Callas and Simionato, takes the tempo awfully fast) with all the rapid fire words. Then I had a gilled salmon sandwich. When I'm done writing this I am going to move on to the Aida/Amneris duet which I love!!!!! I get to chew up the scenery and sing two big climaxes on A flats, which are easy peasy.
Something that needs to go on the agenda (good for a day when I don't want to sing, during tv commercials at night, or what you will) is speaking the words to that Trovatore scene. If I get tongue-tied with the Italian (even in the aria there are words/phrases I get mixed up) that can derail me. We are going to use books on music stands, but particularly for a difficult aria, I need to have every word memorized so I can focus on other things. I already know the Aida scenes by heart, words and all, because I have been imagining myself singing Amneris since I was about 25 (but didn't tackle her until I was 59).
Oh, and as for the title of this post? It's only thanks to the T storm that I had this day at home to practice - and work. I've gotten behind with my work-for-pay also because of all the time I've spent with social services.
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