I HAD to Repost this from the TIMES

I hadn't expected to post again today, but when I saw this article in the New York Times I had to repost a link to it here.

You can now only access the Times for free for one day (I actually have an account, as I have home delivery, but I lost my password and can't get them to email me a new one), but if you want to save an article, you can grab a "permalink".

There are two things at issue that I want to write about, one substantive and one "meta". First of all, it makes me feel validated to know that the experience I had that Valentine's Day of 2004, where I became "besotted" (a word from the Times article) with singing (and by extension, with a person whose influence has lingered and will linger always, I am sure), is one shared by other people of a similar age. What is odd, then, is that I haven't found more of these people. The oldest people I have regularly seen on the audition/meetup circuit are in their late 40s, I would guess, and they are extremely polished. I have seen a few much older men (probably my age) but they are still singing on the regional circuit (not hard if you're a baritone or a bass). I have not met any "rough diamonds" (that is really the best way to describe myself - I am not a total beginner nor am I someone with a "modest talent") close to my age. The singers who show up for those things who need technical work are all quite young.

As for what's "meta", I see that so far I have gotten no "likes" or any comments when I posted this article on Facebook. I seem to be always bouncing around between the "lesser of two evils" in that there are numerous singers that I know from "around" and although many of them have let me "friend" them on Facebook, they do not comment on anything I post, certainly not anything to do with singing. I dread, however, asking specifically for feedback because the last time I did that (re: my sound clips here) I got those nasty remarks from Peg. I do seem to have gotten help from some of the more experienced people on the Forum when I asked questions about finding people to sing with, which was a pleasant surprise. Speaking of which, although these people were helpful regarding how to put on an opera or other program, or how to start a formal group (that may be a bit ambitious for me at the moment), I still have not been able to solve my problem re: meeting other older people whose level of expertise is not a fit for our age (another good way to describe myself, because as I said, I am not a "beginner" - I probably have the technical vocal proficiency of someone in an academic vocal performance setting, albeit with a big, mature voice).

One thing I learned from this article is that the Juilliard extension division gives group voice lessons to older people. I may try to contact them to find out how to meet some of these students. If they are taking voice lessons in a group they probably are not at my level, but if they are of a similar age and level of "besottedness", it's a place to start.