It's Not Just Vocal

I have spent the major part of the past 8 years working on my vocal technique (no mean feat with a voice the size of mine, beginning again in my 50s after a 23 year hiatus) but of course there are other aspects to being a singer, many of which I have sorely neglected.

These are the things that young conservatory students work on while their voices are incubating and they can't really handle much except simple art songs or the "yellow book" (AKA "24 Italian Songs and Arias").

There's the dreaded solfege, which enables you to sightread.  And music theory, which helps you understand key signature and chord structure.  And languages.

My French is quite good - at one time I could not only sing in French but also read quite advanced material (e.g. Madame Bovary).  In any event when I sing in French I know what I'm singing and my pronunciation is excellent.  And I know Italian because I spent years looking at opera libretti - and because I know French.  German is another story.  I would really like to study German.  We sing a lot in German at this Lutheran church and also I know in my heart of hearts that my days singing grand opera are numbered (except in small doses) and that my forever repertoire will probably be the Bach alto and soprano 2 solos, many of which are in German.  I suggested to someone at the church that it might be nice if we had German classes there, so who knows?  Maybe I planted a seed.  I certainly can't afford to take a class.  Living on basically half a salary and partially supporting another person I can just about pay for my voice lessons (and with the Requiem coming up I will have to pay the pianist, not just for the performance but for regular rehearsals for several months).

I think this is on my mind now because I was sailing along with the Requiem and suddenly I got to the "Lacrymosa" and hit a brick wall.  It's not hard to sing, but not only is it full of accidentals but also there's a whole section where the soprano is singing on the off beats (probably not the correct expression) and I and the men are singing a melody.  You'd think that this being true I would have an easy time of it, but when I tried to sing with the recording I got completely lost.  It's particularly hard because the soprano is singing very high and I am singing very low.  But I refuse to be defeated.  I need to find a way to conquer this before rehearsals start, because even if I work alone with the coach, it won't help because she isn't going to be singing high B flats! So I took up the score and marked up those two pages with a ruler, with every beat and half beat drawing a line from the soprano line to my line.  And today I sang through each measure very slowly playing her part and singing my part.  So I just have to trust that my ear will never fail me.  If I hear it enough, in whatever format, I will learn it.  The other problem is that the recording is not in strict tempo, nor should this piece be.  I never have any problem learning Bach alto parts, because Bach is in strict time. So if I count and sing, I can keep my place against the recording.  Which reminds me.  Someone suggested that I get a conductor as well as a pianist.  Well, I certainly can't afford to pay one.  There is a man at church who is a choral conductor.  I might ask him first, if I need a conductor, and second, if he would be willing to do it for free.  He might be willing to as a fundraiser for the church and also to get experience with this piece.