My Recording Angel

As I mentioned in this post a friend of my mother's who is a sound engineer offered to make a recording of me singing 8 arias (4 new ones, and a do-over of 4 old ones) free of charge.

Today, when we had lunch (at an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn that's been there since I was in High School - his treat) he said he would also pay the pianist not just for the recording but for two rehearsals.

All I will have to pay is to have the CD duplicated and for packaging. There's a man at the church who did that so he can give me some advice.

So today I emailed the pianist to start making plans.

I also am pleased with how my practice session went. I worked on a Bach cantata that we are singing Sunday for Reformation Sunday (I am singing the alto part which is fine) and then tackled a piece called "in Dreams" by Earnest. That is one of those choral pieces where the soprano part is not terribly high (the way some soprano parts are in Bach) and the alto part is quite low, but then the soprano part goes up to an A flat, which of course means I have to sing it pianissimo. I worked on it today and was able to do it. I do have bad memories of strugging with similar issues in a Randall Thompson piece, which I wrote about at length here but I hope I can put those aside and just be where my technique is now.

Lastly, I went through the Kryrie from the Verdi Requiem. I think the mezzo solo part in this work suits my voice perfectly - I just need to learn it. As I am mostly an "ear learner" what I did was plunk the part until I knew it, then sing it, then plunk it and sing along while the recording was on, to hear how it fit in with the whole work. I got through it and ended up in the right place. So this is a good start. I want to be spot-on with all the solos so that if the Pastor says I can use the church next March I will be ready to roll.

Also, the coloratura in the choir (whom I will call our "prima donna"; I am definitely the "seconda donna" so I need to "try harder" LOL) is going to sing one of the soprano solos from the cantata we're doing on Reformation Sunday. (Hits self on head. Next year I will be on top of this and see if whatever we're doing has an alto solo and get my bid in early.)

Lastly, it's never too early to start thinking about Christmas Eve. I copied the mezzo solo from the Saint Saens Christmas Oratorio a while ago. It's slow and it's short so I am going to see if I can ask to sing it on Christmas Eve at communion.