By the Seat of My Pants

Although I was wearing this lovely skirt.

To start off, when I got to the recording session, it turned out I was going to have to sing the piece once full voice, and a second time "like a lullaby".  I was a bit thrown, because I had not practiced singing the piece like a lullaby.  Miraculously, I was able to carry it off by singing pianissimo, something I would never have been able to do in that range even a year ago.

The other problem was that the engineer decided it would work better if he recorded the piano accompaniment separately, and then had me sing using it as a soundtrack.  This was challenging also, as I had not rehearsed that way, and had relied on the accompanist to cover for me if I came in late or early.

There is one spot that I have trouble with over and over (I wouldn't if I could drill it at home with an accompaniment) and so of course the fourth time I sang the A section with the prerecorded accompaniment (I had already recorded it twice for the regular version and once for the pianissimo version) I got off at that spot, and because the prerecorded accompaniment just galloped ahead without me, I asked to stop, just assuming that the engineer could either erase it and let me start again (at the beginning of the A section) or just splice in the first pianissimo version of the A section (because in Bach you don't ornament the reprise, so it would have been perfectly usable).  Anyhow, I am not sure what the problem was, but he said he was not sure he could erase and splice (I was reassured that was his problem not mine; the accompanist said he had never recorded a 6 minute aria without splicing somewhere).  So we left it that he would try to do this at his computer and if he couldn't, I could come to his studio some time after New Year and sing against the prerecorded accompaniment (and I would have it at home to rehearse with also).

I am rather surprised I have not heard from him (he thought the filmmaker would call or email him to discuss how things went), but maybe no news is good news.

I did write to the filmmaker the next day to thank her for asking me to sing.  Apparently she is going to enter the film in the Cannes festival in March, so this is quite an ambitious project.  I am not regretful that I didn't ask to be paid, though, because she is putting it together on a shoestring.  She will pay the accompanist, and that will suffice.

She wrote back to me and said that she had had a few screenings of parts of the film in Paris with live music (a choir is singing something in the film as well).  So I told her if she shows the film here, anywhere between DC, New York, and Boston, that I can get to on Amtrak, I will be happy to sing (with the prerecorded accompaniment, obviously). I suppose in that case I will ask her to pay for my transportation out of the film budget.  It will mean an opportunity to go somewhere which I have so few of (really none).

So now what's up next is "O Magnum Mysterium". I will be singing that in church on December 27.  I am quite amazed at how well I can sing all those high climaxes.  I can keep my mouth small and sort of drink them in backwards, without a lot of tension and push, which is a whole new experience for me.  I got my first taste of it when I worked on the Amneris/Radames duet and was able to easily wail out those B flats if I imagined myself going backwards on a roller coaster.

Of course there is always an underlying sadness that all this is too little too late.  I so want to cut and run with this and do nothing else and be young enough that it matters to the world out there, and that I can throw myself into the world out there because I don't have to take care of other people.  Really just one other person.  But I could never ever live with myself if I walked away from loving her and caring for her.  It just would be nice to have a peer relationship with someone like all those singers who are married to each other or to other musicians or, even better, to "mentor" figures like conductors and producers, and who have a "team" in a flurry around them fussing with every aspect of their lives.

The Show (or the Rehearsal) Must Go On, and It Did

I had one of the most grueling 24 hour periods from Sunday at 5 pm to the following Monday.  I had to take my partner to an urgent care facility because she was semi-comatose from not having eaten, and had a rapid heartbeat and a lot of mental confusion.  I took her there because she wouldn't go to the ER.  Of course the doctor at the urgent care facility called an ambulance and she went to the ER.  Because she had no real diagnosis (all test results were normal other than her rapid heartbeat, which she often has because she has a-fib) she didn't get admitted until 3 am, and even then was admitted to the observation floor.  I finally went home (it has probably been over 40 years since I have been out that late trying to get a cab - fortunately one of the nurses went out and got one for me as she is used to being out at that hour) but only slept for four hours.

Then it was up, go to her house, feed her cat, and back to the hospital.  I stayed there all day and then went home with her and saw that she had dinner.  After several meals, she seemed to be better.  Then I went home and slept for 10 hours.  The good news is that because she was an inpatient, Medicare will pay for her to get home care for several weeks, certainly more often than the once a week she is getting it now.

Yesterday morning I had my rehearsal for the recording and I sang well, which amazed me because when I warmed up at home I could feel how tired I was.  Not the voice itself, but my diaphragm and the whole infrastructure.  But singing made me feel better and really the only problems I had were with entrances, not anything vocal.  And the accompanist helped me with those.

Some bittersweet news was I heard from him that Little Miss (he knows her from the conservatory where he works) has landed a leading role in another one of the no-pay opera groups that rejected me.  So she is on the way to being launched.  Of course I am happy for her.  I want her to succeed, as so few do.  On the other hand I would be being disingenuous if I didn't admit that I am much happier now that she is off my turf.  There is really only one other trained singer in the soprano section who is there regularly and she does not have the level of confidence or (apparent) charisma that Little Miss has; for example she was genuinely happy that I was going to be singing the top soprano part in the Handel and that she wouldn't be singing it alone.  And she is also busy, so for example at the last rehearsal I was, in essence, the only person singing the soprano part in the Mendelssohn, which I am pretty secure with now, although it is still hard for me to sing as softly as required up in that range (and "choir softly" entails much much less volume than "aria pianissimo"!!)

Lastly, I regrettably will not be able to attend any funeral services for my neighbor.  They are all in Queens today and tomorrow.  I am sure she will forgive me.  When the Tenants Association Secretary sent an email about her passing, she gave her a lovely tribute, referring to what an honor it was to hear this woman "practicing her craft".  Lani (the singer who died) used to say things like that to me, although very few of my other neighbors have.  I wonder if that's the sort of tribute I will get when I die?  (I can't believe I am worrying about this!!)

I Will Be Recording!

At long last, I have a date to record the Bach aria "Hochster mache deine Gute" for my friend's short film.  It will be December 4.

It's been almost two years since we began discussing this, and it has worked out for the best, because now I am much more technically secure singing something in that kind of high tessitura, so I will sound good and won't strain.

Once it's recorded, I will be really excited about tracking the progress of the film, and who knows?  I may get to go somewhere!  The filmmaker lives part time in Nova Scotia and part time in Paris.

I had a bit of egg on my face last night at rehearsal when the choir director handed out a four-part Mendelssohn piece with a high-ish soprano part (meaning a lot of Gs) and because I don't really sightread, and had not only never practiced this, but had never even heard it, I was fumbling for notes, which is not conducive to good singing technique, which is all about having a physiologically based plan for what to do with each phrase.

Well, so now I have my work cut out for me.  Both the Bach solo and the choral piece would use the same type of high light approach (not the same thing as singing "off the voice" to whiten the sound), so my technique will stay consistent and I won't be switching back and forth.  It will represent a nice break from Carmen.  Venus will have to wait, now, although I have been listening to that scene and getting it into my ear.

I also spoke with the Director of Music Ministries about a Christmas solo.  It will either be December 27 or January 3.  I suggested the Lauridsen "O Magnum Mysterium", "Rejoice Greatly", and "Et Exsultavit".  He is supposed to get back to me in the middle of next month.

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.