Making Plans

So happy to be writing about this rather than about being unhappy.

I asked my teacher what to work on next, and we decided to go with French opera excerpts.  That repertoire doesn't take as much oomph as Verdi, but I can still use a big sound.  So it's sort of in between the sound I use for church solos and the sound I used for Azucena.

I will look at the scene from Werther and the scene from Hamlet. I am not sure if I will have the stamina to do both, but that depends upon which part of the scene from Werther I decide to do.  The part after "Va" is what is difficult because there are at least four or five sustained high As.  The earlier part is easier.  I could do the earlier part of the scene, with Sophie (that's the part with the two arias), and the scene with Hamlet (a bit more dramatic than the scene with Werther but not as high), and finish off with the duet from Samson et Dalila that ends with "Mon Coeur".  If I cut it off before the screaming match with the high B flat it's easy sailing and I can have fun.

I need to be less "wimpy".  The problem is I have limited energy, so I really have to pace myself.  It really is a tug of war.  My vocal technique continues to improve but I am getting older and weaker (if nothing else, I am definitely getting shorter, and the fact that my spine is compressing means I have less strength around the midsection).

Well, I have about a year to decide what to do about this concert - or whatever.  I think there's a venue I can use if the Spanish woman (it's a small performance space in her apartment building) is willing to "sponsor" me.  So this means that she has to like what I am doing.

As for other things, I got the Bach aria transposed down and it is easy to sing in the lower key.  I made the mistake of telling the filmmaker that it cost $45, so she thought I was hitting her up for money.  I hope I cleared things up.  I explained that I would only ask her to pay for it if she got a grant to make the film.  I needed to get it transposed so that I could see if I could sing it.

As for church solos, I am in a bit of a quandary because the choir director just had a baby so I don't want to bother him about solos.  I gave the music for "Domine Deus" and "Laudamus te" to the violinist and suggested two dates (for the "Domine Deus" - the "Laudamus te" would be for the summer).  I will check back with him at the end of the month.  By then the choir director will be settled down a bit.  In other news at the church, they apparently disbanded the other choir (for people who like to sing but don't have much training, some of whom don't read music at all) because not enough people were showing up.  But they have not increased our choir's schedule (we sing three Sundays a month and at all the holiday services).  So I wonder what is happening to all those empty anthem spots?  A call for soloists hasn't gone out, the way it does in the summer when there is no choir.  When I get a chance to talk to the choir director I may ask about this.

I just can't lose faith in myself.