I don't really know what else to call it.
The Good Friday service went well. It wasn't as exciting as I had expected (nor as well attended as usual) and when I got home I felt sandbagged by something I can only call "depression".
Is it because I am grieving over Abbie? I have not really felt like crying over her loss. Abbie was not a poignant, sympathetic, tragic figure, similarly to how my mother was not those things. Abbie really was all the things my mother was, only nicer: cerebral, direct, not suffering fools gladly, hating sentimentality. She was also someone who would always turn up and "do" if you needed her. My mother was all those things but she didn't know how to "make nice", which Abbie did. (My mother would have contemptuously dismissed that as "Southern").
In any event, the loss of Abbie is a loss and somewhat of a shock, but I don't feel sad. Since she had moved to the Left Coast about four years ago we had not seen her. And one blessing I now have is, after telling a church friend about my feeling of loss, particularly that I have now lost someone whom I always assumed would be there to be helpful when my partner died, this friend said that if she was "alive and mobile" (she is about 6 years older than I am) she would go to Maine with me to scatter my partner's ashes.
But I am feeling other losses as well. Yes, the Good Friday service went well, but once again it made me realize all the talent I am drowning in. Although there was one thing of note, a situation in which I surprised myself. The "boy soprano" woman I mentioned (she is not young; probably close to my age) sang really well, probably the best I'd ever heard her, and I was genuinely happy for her. I told her it was the best I had ever heard her sing, which is true. And she had the perfect voice for the plaintive "Agnus Dei". I think the issue is that however bitter and envious I often am, I am happy when someone my age, who is still working on her art, does well. Everyone kvells over the young talent. They breathe up all the air in the room whether they want to or not. So us older folks, who are by no means done and by no means a "finished product" want our moment too. Of course the new dramatic soprano was the star of the evening. Just because of her talent (she is certainly the opposite of a prima donna). The tenor with whom I have had a relationship that runs hot and cold (I was stunned last year when he complimented me on singing Maundy Thursday) made a fuss over her, talking with his wife on the street afterwards. On the other hand, her path forward may not be easy. She has a much bigger and more impressive voice than Little Miss, but she is less versatile and less surrounded by a clacque although she does have a supportive voice teacher. She is going to be singing a secondary role in a Wagner production somewhere. I just so yearn to be special, which I will never be.
Easter will be a vocal anti-climax. I opted to sing the alto part in "Worthy is the Lamb" from the Messiah. It is a bleeping octave below the soprano part. I think my teacher was right that the part was written for countertenors, not women. I probably could sing the soprano part (particularly since we are not doing the "Amen" at the end which has a phrase that starts on a high A) but I didn't have time to sing it into my voice and the dramatic soprano will be there singing it, so to coin a metaphor, it is stupid to put the two heaviest people on the same side of the boat. So, ironically, Easter, which is supposed to be a high point, will be a low point for me both vocally and otherwise, but then it will be over and I can go back to working on the "Drinking Song", which has a high A in it. And when I show up for warm up on Sunday I will make sure I have warmed up at home to an A just because I can.
In a more intellectual mode, I was interested to read a quote from Nadia Bolz-Weber in which she said that the message of the Resurrection is that it is an opportunity for people to be resurrected from the graves they dig for themselves. For me (someone who is totally skeptical about the "Risen Christ") this really resonates. Maybe I can rise from the grave I'm always digging for myself? I can never turn the clock back and be a teen or a 20something with a clean, glorious voice undamaged by cigarettes and alcohol, making my way undistracted. So I need to "get over it".
Showing posts with label choral music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label choral music. Show all posts
Saturday, April 20, 2019
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Choir "Gossip" and A Conundrum
Well, wouldn't you know? Only a few years have passed since Little Miss left and now we have a bona fide dramatic soprano (a 30-year-old training to sing Strauss) in the choir. Apparently she has been living in New York for seven years, but only just now decided she wanted to find a "home church". So we will see. She is very different from Little Miss. She is quite shy, and seems like a grownup (not a child bubbling over expecting - and getting - oodles of praise). I first saw her name on the solo list, which is fine. There is plenty of room for anyone who wants to sing a solo: there are probably 45 Sundays where at least one service has no choir singing and a few other special services (and the Spanish service). I don't really know why this woman wants to sing with the choir. It will definitely be good to have her singing on Good Friday, when we will be doing sacred pieces by Schumann. She is singing in the soprano section, so I am singing in the alto section, which makes sense because nobody in the alto section can make a big enough sound to sing with an orchestra. I just don't want to get stuck in the alto section not because I don't like singing low, but because (I have probably mentioned this before) although soprano parts sometimes go low, alto parts never go high, so singing alto all the time is like going to the gym and only exercising half my body.
A while back I spoke to the choir director and asked if there would be any solos in the Good Friday music and was told that there might be a sopranos solo that was not too high that I might sing. So what will happen now? Best scenario would be if the music contains both a soprano and an alto solo. Then everyone will be happy.
I think what bothered me so much about the situation with Little Miss wasn't how well she sang (although yes, it was gut-wrenching to know that I was less vocally polished than a 20-year-old; being less polished than a 30-year-old would probably smart less) but all the attention she got. To me that bespoke poor leadership as much as anything because particularly in a group setting whoever does or does not get solos, it is not appropriate to ooh and ah and gush over someone.
It is interesting also to see how different these two women's Facebook presences are. Little Miss's page is filled with videos of her (often posted by other people) shared and circulated everywhere and gushed over by family and voice teachers. On the other hand, the new dramatic soprano has nothing on her Facebook page but pictures of her wedding.
As for other solos, I will have something either on Maundy Thursday or the Sunday after Easter. So between that and wanting to make a big plummy "professional" sound on the alto part in the Schumann, I am going to work on my lower register for a while (the Maundy Thursday solo would probably be the Vivaldi "Qui Sedes al Dexteram Patris").
I suppose the saddest thing isn't this or that individual, but that because of where I live, every year a new tidal wave of elite singers gets vomited up from conservatories all over the country, so no matter how much better I sing with each passing year, I can't get off the ocean floor.
A while back I spoke to the choir director and asked if there would be any solos in the Good Friday music and was told that there might be a sopranos solo that was not too high that I might sing. So what will happen now? Best scenario would be if the music contains both a soprano and an alto solo. Then everyone will be happy.
I think what bothered me so much about the situation with Little Miss wasn't how well she sang (although yes, it was gut-wrenching to know that I was less vocally polished than a 20-year-old; being less polished than a 30-year-old would probably smart less) but all the attention she got. To me that bespoke poor leadership as much as anything because particularly in a group setting whoever does or does not get solos, it is not appropriate to ooh and ah and gush over someone.
It is interesting also to see how different these two women's Facebook presences are. Little Miss's page is filled with videos of her (often posted by other people) shared and circulated everywhere and gushed over by family and voice teachers. On the other hand, the new dramatic soprano has nothing on her Facebook page but pictures of her wedding.
As for other solos, I will have something either on Maundy Thursday or the Sunday after Easter. So between that and wanting to make a big plummy "professional" sound on the alto part in the Schumann, I am going to work on my lower register for a while (the Maundy Thursday solo would probably be the Vivaldi "Qui Sedes al Dexteram Patris").
I suppose the saddest thing isn't this or that individual, but that because of where I live, every year a new tidal wave of elite singers gets vomited up from conservatories all over the country, so no matter how much better I sing with each passing year, I can't get off the ocean floor.
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Calm After the Storm
Now we have new music to work on.
Ironically, one is a piece by a little known 20th century composer named Booth (he used to be the music director at the church in the 1930s) that was inspired by Lohengrin. I would never in a million years guess that the piece was written in the 20th century.
It is absolutely gorgeous, but the soprano part involves way too much sustained high singing for this mezzo. We're only talking about Fs and Gs, but it's a page that sits up there with noplace to take a breath. The alto part is in a decent rage (goes up to an E flat). So I told the choir director that I would sing alto on that piece. Ideally (and I only thought of this after the fact), with the current assortment of singers, the piece should be sung SATB as written with the second sopranos dropping down to the alto part for the last page. This would be fine if there will be a high soprano or two to sing the top part. I have no idea who will be there that day. The irony is that I easily could have sung the soprano part in the Mendelssohn because it moved around and there were piano interludes between the parts that were sung.
Basically the problem (for the choir as a whole) is aside from the handful of trained lyric sopranos (who don't sing regularly) what the section has is me (a trained mezzo) and a group of women with no training. I can sing higher than any of them except one, and none of them can sing legato, so they need someone to hold the part together, sort of the way egg holds certain cooked dishes together (odd metaphor, I know). So it's fine if the part doesn't sit high, then I can play that function. Otherwise not, although it's rare for there to be a piece in so high a tessitura that I can't sing it particularly if I can sing full voice. (The alto section already has at least one, maybe two, women who sing with a nice line, they just don't have a wide range.)
Of course the upshot of all this is that high sopranos (and of course men) are highly prized and women with lower voices are not.
In any event, this is a beautiful piece of music.
So now it's back to working on my birthday concert. This will be an opportunity for me to do a variety of different kinds of things that I don't usually: sing nonclassical music, research some of the songs and come up with things to say in between the sets, and connect to the audience through the spoken word.
I can invite 10 guests. Whether my partner is one of them I guess remains to be seen.
Ironically, one is a piece by a little known 20th century composer named Booth (he used to be the music director at the church in the 1930s) that was inspired by Lohengrin. I would never in a million years guess that the piece was written in the 20th century.
It is absolutely gorgeous, but the soprano part involves way too much sustained high singing for this mezzo. We're only talking about Fs and Gs, but it's a page that sits up there with noplace to take a breath. The alto part is in a decent rage (goes up to an E flat). So I told the choir director that I would sing alto on that piece. Ideally (and I only thought of this after the fact), with the current assortment of singers, the piece should be sung SATB as written with the second sopranos dropping down to the alto part for the last page. This would be fine if there will be a high soprano or two to sing the top part. I have no idea who will be there that day. The irony is that I easily could have sung the soprano part in the Mendelssohn because it moved around and there were piano interludes between the parts that were sung.
Basically the problem (for the choir as a whole) is aside from the handful of trained lyric sopranos (who don't sing regularly) what the section has is me (a trained mezzo) and a group of women with no training. I can sing higher than any of them except one, and none of them can sing legato, so they need someone to hold the part together, sort of the way egg holds certain cooked dishes together (odd metaphor, I know). So it's fine if the part doesn't sit high, then I can play that function. Otherwise not, although it's rare for there to be a piece in so high a tessitura that I can't sing it particularly if I can sing full voice. (The alto section already has at least one, maybe two, women who sing with a nice line, they just don't have a wide range.)
Of course the upshot of all this is that high sopranos (and of course men) are highly prized and women with lower voices are not.
In any event, this is a beautiful piece of music.
So now it's back to working on my birthday concert. This will be an opportunity for me to do a variety of different kinds of things that I don't usually: sing nonclassical music, research some of the songs and come up with things to say in between the sets, and connect to the audience through the spoken word.
I can invite 10 guests. Whether my partner is one of them I guess remains to be seen.
Friday, October 9, 2015
Hard Work Pays Off
Last night was, for me, a small triumph. The choir picked up the Handel for the first time, and as there were three women's parts, the choir director started out assigning the top alto part (which has a range of about five notes - it's not low, but it doesn't go anywhere) to second sopranos, but then noticed that there would only be one woman left to sing the top part. She is a trained singer (mostly musical theater) and sings with a nice line, as well as having a solid high B flat. So I offered to sing it (does this mean last night? does this mean for real?) because I had learned it at home. It is not high. It has a lot of melismatic singing going back and forth to a G which is in solid operatic mezzo territory. The phrases require top-notch breath control, but there are plenty of instrumental interludes to recoup.
Because it was a new piece of music, it was not riddled with bad habits (like the soprano line in the "Halleluia Chorus"). This type of singing is something I do well. In the past I would have been terrified that I was going to sound too loud, so I would have sung with a raised larynx in a "spread" position, which would have sound strident, not to mention left me terrified that I was not going to make it. This time I just sang with my real voice: dark vowels, larynx down, palate up, mouth not too wide open, to "mute" some of the volume. I did not get tired. I can easily sing this on a Sunday morning after a few runthroughs (just on "oo" if necessary) and not get tired.
I mean if some "real" sopranos show up, this may have been a flash in the pan. There is a pair of twins with trained light lyric soprano voices (one used to sing professionally) who show up sometimes on Sundays to sing music that they know, so if they can "help out" I may be bumped downstairs, but the point is I proved (to myself mostly) that I could sing this without being nervous or getting tired.
It's too bad that even the middle women's part is so boring, though. I have sung Bach alto parts, even ones that are really too low to showcase my voice, which I have liked, because at least there was something to sink my teeth into, mostly long melismatic phrases requiring good breath control. But the lower women's parts in this piece really have nothing to offer. The issue is not only the limited range, but the fact that the lower parts don't require singing for as long as the higher part, so it's all very "utilitarian".
Well, if nothing else, this has lit a fire under me to learn the solo version of Lauridsen's "O Magnum Mysterium". It has a number of Gs. And as I will be scheduling this with the Director of Music Ministries, who seems to have more eclectic taste in vocal colors than the choir director, it may fly. But it would have to be late in the season, ideally on Mary Sunday (which has a number of names). Otherwise I will look at "Bereite Dich Zion". That's an "alto" piece, but it's not low and it is showy, as most Bach solos are. Cuz, yanno? I'm a showy kind of gal.
Because it was a new piece of music, it was not riddled with bad habits (like the soprano line in the "Halleluia Chorus"). This type of singing is something I do well. In the past I would have been terrified that I was going to sound too loud, so I would have sung with a raised larynx in a "spread" position, which would have sound strident, not to mention left me terrified that I was not going to make it. This time I just sang with my real voice: dark vowels, larynx down, palate up, mouth not too wide open, to "mute" some of the volume. I did not get tired. I can easily sing this on a Sunday morning after a few runthroughs (just on "oo" if necessary) and not get tired.
I mean if some "real" sopranos show up, this may have been a flash in the pan. There is a pair of twins with trained light lyric soprano voices (one used to sing professionally) who show up sometimes on Sundays to sing music that they know, so if they can "help out" I may be bumped downstairs, but the point is I proved (to myself mostly) that I could sing this without being nervous or getting tired.
It's too bad that even the middle women's part is so boring, though. I have sung Bach alto parts, even ones that are really too low to showcase my voice, which I have liked, because at least there was something to sink my teeth into, mostly long melismatic phrases requiring good breath control. But the lower women's parts in this piece really have nothing to offer. The issue is not only the limited range, but the fact that the lower parts don't require singing for as long as the higher part, so it's all very "utilitarian".
Well, if nothing else, this has lit a fire under me to learn the solo version of Lauridsen's "O Magnum Mysterium". It has a number of Gs. And as I will be scheduling this with the Director of Music Ministries, who seems to have more eclectic taste in vocal colors than the choir director, it may fly. But it would have to be late in the season, ideally on Mary Sunday (which has a number of names). Otherwise I will look at "Bereite Dich Zion". That's an "alto" piece, but it's not low and it is showy, as most Bach solos are. Cuz, yanno? I'm a showy kind of gal.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Looking Up-ish
I feel I owe it to readers to let you know that things don't look quite as bleak as they did on January 2, despite the murderous cold.
I went back to choir practice yesterday (over my partner's screaming objections; she thought I should stay home because of the weather) and it was less ire-provoking than I feared. Yes, we are singing yet another spiritual by Moses Hogan that is all about a high soprano showing off, with a few nice bits for men, and women with lower voices doing nothing but singing the same two or three notes over and over again, but we are also singing two pieces that I really like.
I have to make clear that my utter loathing of Hogan's choral works has nothing to do with race or musical snobbery and everything to do with being sick of women with lower voices being treated like second class citizens. Didn't the man ever listen to Marian Anderson?
Anyhow, as we are supposed to sing the piece in two weeks, little Miss will no doubt show up on the Sunday (she is not available on Wednesday nights any more, which makes her look even more like a prima donna, although I know that is not why she is doing it) and sing the solo (which overrides the entire piece).
Now that we have the schedule for Epiphany I contacted the Director about singing the Nin song in the Spanish service and I listed Martin Luther King Sunday as one of the dates I was available (the other being February 1 when our choir is not singing). Then either I can be excused from singing that piece altogether or I can just grunt my way through it (all it requires; I think the range for the second sopranos goes from middle C to the D toward the top of the staff, and there are no opportunities for lovely sustained singing for us) knowing that I will have something to look forward to, as the Spanish service is afterwards, at 12:30.
We are singing two pieces that I like. One, called "Adam Lay Ybounden" has some nice climactic "high" singing for the sopranos (meaning Gs, which are easy for me) and the other, Dominic Argento's "Gloria" will have something really special for me. I took a look at it and offered to sing the top alto part (it has four women's parts), which regularly goes up to an E and an F sharp. Also the altos do a lot of singing on their own as a group, so that is a venue in which I can shine and sing with my glorious big mezzo voice in a range that is not limited to my lower passaggio break and below (where most alto parts sit), but in fact sits mostly between the middle and the top of the staff where my voice is the strongest and I find it easiest to sing. And the sopranos often sing all together, often in a high range with words. It makes sense that for this piece the ranges are higher than for most choral pieces, because it apparently is from an opera called The Masque of Angels (which I had never heard of). If I sing in an opera chorus I would be singing the top line on the alto staff, because opera chorus parts more accurately mirror opera voice fachs. (I also see that there is a mezzo role in the opera. I am going to see if she has an aria.)
Anyhow, so this has cheered me up quite a bit.
I also had a fabulous voice lesson Tuesday despite having had a bad asthma attack that day. My teacher said that the high As and B flats I sang in my lesson were the best he had ever heard. And Seymour is going like gangbusters. I have to make a mental note to sing like that always, including with the choir, unless I am singing something marked pianissimo.
And we have a pianist for our May concert: the pianist who played for Carmen. I think after the concert is over I am going to work on finding another venue for that Carmen piece. It has legs, I really believe it does, and it is relatively short. I just have to find audiences other than the kind of people who go to hear music at Lincoln Center or Juilliard all the time.
Lastly, I think the weather is looking good for next Thursday, which is when my partner and I are supposed to go be evaluated for the Alzheimer's chorus. I have no idea what, if anything, will come of that, but we will see.
I went back to choir practice yesterday (over my partner's screaming objections; she thought I should stay home because of the weather) and it was less ire-provoking than I feared. Yes, we are singing yet another spiritual by Moses Hogan that is all about a high soprano showing off, with a few nice bits for men, and women with lower voices doing nothing but singing the same two or three notes over and over again, but we are also singing two pieces that I really like.
I have to make clear that my utter loathing of Hogan's choral works has nothing to do with race or musical snobbery and everything to do with being sick of women with lower voices being treated like second class citizens. Didn't the man ever listen to Marian Anderson?
Anyhow, as we are supposed to sing the piece in two weeks, little Miss will no doubt show up on the Sunday (she is not available on Wednesday nights any more, which makes her look even more like a prima donna, although I know that is not why she is doing it) and sing the solo (which overrides the entire piece).
Now that we have the schedule for Epiphany I contacted the Director about singing the Nin song in the Spanish service and I listed Martin Luther King Sunday as one of the dates I was available (the other being February 1 when our choir is not singing). Then either I can be excused from singing that piece altogether or I can just grunt my way through it (all it requires; I think the range for the second sopranos goes from middle C to the D toward the top of the staff, and there are no opportunities for lovely sustained singing for us) knowing that I will have something to look forward to, as the Spanish service is afterwards, at 12:30.
We are singing two pieces that I like. One, called "Adam Lay Ybounden" has some nice climactic "high" singing for the sopranos (meaning Gs, which are easy for me) and the other, Dominic Argento's "Gloria" will have something really special for me. I took a look at it and offered to sing the top alto part (it has four women's parts), which regularly goes up to an E and an F sharp. Also the altos do a lot of singing on their own as a group, so that is a venue in which I can shine and sing with my glorious big mezzo voice in a range that is not limited to my lower passaggio break and below (where most alto parts sit), but in fact sits mostly between the middle and the top of the staff where my voice is the strongest and I find it easiest to sing. And the sopranos often sing all together, often in a high range with words. It makes sense that for this piece the ranges are higher than for most choral pieces, because it apparently is from an opera called The Masque of Angels (which I had never heard of). If I sing in an opera chorus I would be singing the top line on the alto staff, because opera chorus parts more accurately mirror opera voice fachs. (I also see that there is a mezzo role in the opera. I am going to see if she has an aria.)
Anyhow, so this has cheered me up quite a bit.
I also had a fabulous voice lesson Tuesday despite having had a bad asthma attack that day. My teacher said that the high As and B flats I sang in my lesson were the best he had ever heard. And Seymour is going like gangbusters. I have to make a mental note to sing like that always, including with the choir, unless I am singing something marked pianissimo.
And we have a pianist for our May concert: the pianist who played for Carmen. I think after the concert is over I am going to work on finding another venue for that Carmen piece. It has legs, I really believe it does, and it is relatively short. I just have to find audiences other than the kind of people who go to hear music at Lincoln Center or Juilliard all the time.
Lastly, I think the weather is looking good for next Thursday, which is when my partner and I are supposed to go be evaluated for the Alzheimer's chorus. I have no idea what, if anything, will come of that, but we will see.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Alleluia! It's Over
I don't have time to write much, but I realized that I hadn't let readers know how I made out with Alleluia. It went amazingly well. I was able to sing the first high A in a light head voice that I had never been able to carry up that high before (A flat had always been the limit, at least recently since my voice has gotten so much bigger - or rather since its real size has been unveiled) and, thanks to the paucity of sopranos and the large number of people on the lower parts, I was able to sing the stringendo section in the middle (with the two high A naturals) full voice. I didn't sing the two measures leading up to the two high As but I am not apologizing. If it had been a mezzo aria (e.g. something by Donizetti) there would have been a tradition in place to be silent, even if notes were written.
So now it's back to other things.
I sang through the Saint Saens piece, which is very easy to sing; the point for me is to be secure in relation to what I am doing in relation to the accompaniment. I could not find the piece on You Tube, and as a primarily auditory learner I am always nervous about trying to sing something I haven't heard, but plunking the accompaniment on the keyboard will have to be good enough.
Then I went back to the Requiem. Singing "Liber Scriptus" feels easier. And really, the only thing in the entire Requiem that I am at all nervous about is that big climactic A flat in "Liber Scriptus". Now that I have changed where I am breathing in the a capella section of "Lux Aeterna" (that goes up to a G) I find that very easy to sing (it's just like singing soprano with the choir) and everything else is in a very easy range. I might not be heard in the lowest sections of "Recordare" but that only involves three or four measures.
I was also pleasantly surprised at how well I am making out singing against the recording (or rather, against the soprano; anything else is no problem). That is one huge benefit I have gotten out of five years singing with this choir. Being one of three (sometimes only one of two or only one of one) second sopranos on numerous occasions has helped train my ear to hear harmonies and improved my skills in that area dramatically.
And I'm really hoping I have made a vocal breakthrough. I think when I started studying with this teacher (or re-started, rather) I was not using my whole voice, I was using the voice I had had in the 70s when I was singing roles like Cherubino. Then when I began singing with my whole voice it felt like it had a lot of weight to it and I had trouble with higher notes (I mean I had always had trouble with anything higher than an A but As themselves had always been easy). Now I'm hoping that has passed and that I am able to sing lightly with my new larger voice (if that makes sense). Some people think it's odd for me as a mezzo to like singing soprano in a choir (well, I don't really have a choice as there are 7 ot 8 altos and only four other sopranos) but I find that it helps keep me technically on my toes and has done worlds for my ability to sing a real pianissimo in my upper range.
So now it's back to other things.
I sang through the Saint Saens piece, which is very easy to sing; the point for me is to be secure in relation to what I am doing in relation to the accompaniment. I could not find the piece on You Tube, and as a primarily auditory learner I am always nervous about trying to sing something I haven't heard, but plunking the accompaniment on the keyboard will have to be good enough.
Then I went back to the Requiem. Singing "Liber Scriptus" feels easier. And really, the only thing in the entire Requiem that I am at all nervous about is that big climactic A flat in "Liber Scriptus". Now that I have changed where I am breathing in the a capella section of "Lux Aeterna" (that goes up to a G) I find that very easy to sing (it's just like singing soprano with the choir) and everything else is in a very easy range. I might not be heard in the lowest sections of "Recordare" but that only involves three or four measures.
I was also pleasantly surprised at how well I am making out singing against the recording (or rather, against the soprano; anything else is no problem). That is one huge benefit I have gotten out of five years singing with this choir. Being one of three (sometimes only one of two or only one of one) second sopranos on numerous occasions has helped train my ear to hear harmonies and improved my skills in that area dramatically.
And I'm really hoping I have made a vocal breakthrough. I think when I started studying with this teacher (or re-started, rather) I was not using my whole voice, I was using the voice I had had in the 70s when I was singing roles like Cherubino. Then when I began singing with my whole voice it felt like it had a lot of weight to it and I had trouble with higher notes (I mean I had always had trouble with anything higher than an A but As themselves had always been easy). Now I'm hoping that has passed and that I am able to sing lightly with my new larger voice (if that makes sense). Some people think it's odd for me as a mezzo to like singing soprano in a choir (well, I don't really have a choice as there are 7 ot 8 altos and only four other sopranos) but I find that it helps keep me technically on my toes and has done worlds for my ability to sing a real pianissimo in my upper range.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Alleluia Take 2
First, note to self: remember to quickly go into "compose" mode to make the paragraph breaks. With the new blogger, double "enter" doesn't work.
I had a lesson yesterday and my teacher told me that indeed my problems during that dreadful practice session had been caused by my overdoing singing "oo" with a smile. He said I should only do that as an exercise, which helps place my voice properly, but that I should not do that when I am singing. Using the relaxed "o" position and sometimes imagining I am drinking the sound in with a small mouth seems to help. During the rehearsal I was able to sing the difficult passages numerous times with minimal mishap. I didn't sing as well at the very end when he asked us to sing the piece through (after rehearsing other things) but I didn't disgrace myself. There are several passages I don't sing, which is noticeable, because even singing softly my voice has a different timbre from other people's, but that's tough nuggies.
He also mentioned a "Music Sunday" (not a church holiday) and asked for volunteers for solos. I asked about singing the "Laudamus te" from the Bach B Minor Mass again and he said he thought it was too long, so I suggested the Saint Saens piece "Thou O Lord Art My Redeemer". I gave him the music and he said he would take a look at it. He also said he might want to give opportunities to people who don't usually sing solos. If you only look at individual solos, I probably sing more than most people, on the other hand this is no longer true if you count solo sections from choral pieces, which I rarely sing, because except in Bach and Mozart, where there are solos for each voice part, most of the choral pieces have solos for high sopranos, high tenors, or low basses, but rarely for midrange and lower women's voices. But I would not be offended if he gave the solo spots to other people as long as they were from our choir and not "professionals" brought in from outside.
I also mentioned singing "Qui Sedes" (also from the B Minor Mass) during the summer. I told him I had the oboe music as well. He said he didn't know if he could get an oboist, but maybe I can sing it just with him on the organ.
On another subject, my hairdresser came to my house a few days ago to give me a perm. I am not crazy about it because she cut my hair too short and it didn't really curl enough, but I got a lot of compliments on it yesterday. She also brought her new Ipad and took a series of photos, which I like. I am posting the best ones here.
Not only am I determined to hold my own against the "real" singers when they talk about singing, I am also determined to hold my own against them in posting my own glam shots, when I can find people to take them.
Not bad for someone who will be eligible to collect Social Security in a little over two months!
I had a lesson yesterday and my teacher told me that indeed my problems during that dreadful practice session had been caused by my overdoing singing "oo" with a smile. He said I should only do that as an exercise, which helps place my voice properly, but that I should not do that when I am singing. Using the relaxed "o" position and sometimes imagining I am drinking the sound in with a small mouth seems to help. During the rehearsal I was able to sing the difficult passages numerous times with minimal mishap. I didn't sing as well at the very end when he asked us to sing the piece through (after rehearsing other things) but I didn't disgrace myself. There are several passages I don't sing, which is noticeable, because even singing softly my voice has a different timbre from other people's, but that's tough nuggies.
He also mentioned a "Music Sunday" (not a church holiday) and asked for volunteers for solos. I asked about singing the "Laudamus te" from the Bach B Minor Mass again and he said he thought it was too long, so I suggested the Saint Saens piece "Thou O Lord Art My Redeemer". I gave him the music and he said he would take a look at it. He also said he might want to give opportunities to people who don't usually sing solos. If you only look at individual solos, I probably sing more than most people, on the other hand this is no longer true if you count solo sections from choral pieces, which I rarely sing, because except in Bach and Mozart, where there are solos for each voice part, most of the choral pieces have solos for high sopranos, high tenors, or low basses, but rarely for midrange and lower women's voices. But I would not be offended if he gave the solo spots to other people as long as they were from our choir and not "professionals" brought in from outside.
I also mentioned singing "Qui Sedes" (also from the B Minor Mass) during the summer. I told him I had the oboe music as well. He said he didn't know if he could get an oboist, but maybe I can sing it just with him on the organ.
On another subject, my hairdresser came to my house a few days ago to give me a perm. I am not crazy about it because she cut my hair too short and it didn't really curl enough, but I got a lot of compliments on it yesterday. She also brought her new Ipad and took a series of photos, which I like. I am posting the best ones here.
Not only am I determined to hold my own against the "real" singers when they talk about singing, I am also determined to hold my own against them in posting my own glam shots, when I can find people to take them.
Not bad for someone who will be eligible to collect Social Security in a little over two months!
Monday, May 14, 2012
Alleluia
Every year in the Spring my choir sings a piece by Randall Thompson. Every year I am on the soprano part (his soprano parts don't sit high, they just go high, as in up to at least one high A or A flat that, in my voice, of course, have to be sung pianissimo)and every year it's a battle.
This year we are singing his Alleluia. We sang it for the choir director's wedding several years ago. Actually, I find this piece easier than most of the others because the high parts move. Most of his other pieces have a sustained high note that you have to reach from a large jump - something not easy for me to do softly.
Rather amazingly, I managed to get through the entire piece several times last Wednesday without choking. I was one of only two sopranos there so it was pretty hairy. I will have to say that most soprano choral parts in that range are much harder to sing than most solos (e.g., the soprano line in the Halleluia Chorus is much harder to sing than "Rejoice Greatly") probably because it's assumed that if it's a piece of choral music not every person has to sing every note. In this Alleluia I certainly don't, although as a matter of pride, I was able to sing all the high As, just not necessarily the phrases before.
After doing so well Wednesday, I had quite a scare Friday which I don't even want to mention here for fear it will jinx me. I was very tired, and I also think I had been misusing some new exercises that my teacher had (quite coincidentally) given me at my last lesson. He had me singing "oo" with a little smile instead of puckering my lips. This was helpful in the context of the exercise but I don't think it was helpful when I started singing. I seem to be able to manage best if I put my mouth in an "o" position and make sure I keep my larynx down. The hardest phrase is one toward the beginning that goes up to a high A and the whole thing has to be sung pianissimo. I have decided just to sing "aw" and keep my mouth in that position with my larynx down.
There's always a possibility that the choir director will tell me not to sing certain notes/sections because they're too loud, which is fine with me. There's never any point in singing alto in these Randall Thompson pieces (as I sometimes do in Bach) because first of all we have more than enough altos and second, most of the soprano part is in a middle register and requires a lot of breath control, which are two assets of mine.
So the point is, as always, that I have to sing my best, mind my ps and qs, and not get panicky, which causes my larynx to rise.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Easter Message
Yesterday was Easter, a time of new beginnings, whether you associate it with the risen Christ or just with the Goddess Estra and her sacred rabbit. And for Christians, Easter is a season not a day (which means we can sing Easter music for several weeks) so I might as well take advantage of it.
First I want to say that I feel bad about my previous post, in that it is not usually in my nature to disparage other performing artists (unless they're famous - then I suppose it's fair game). I was even thinking of editing out some of the remarks I made in my last post on the other hand that was how I was feeling at the moment.
The issue with Good Friday wasn't how well any particular person sang or didn't. The issue was that the situation was not handled fairly. It was handled as if this other group provided the professional singers and we provided the choir, which didn't even do as much singing as we normally do on Good Friday. In two pieces were were just backup to soloists, which is not normally what our choir director likes, in fact I learned at a lecture about Lutherans and church music recently that they believe the "communal voice" is more important than the individual voice, which is why choral music usually trumps solos and hymns sung by everyone trump choir anthems. (For example my singing soul mate - another woman who began serious study of classical singing in late middle age - sings in an Episcopal church and if she has a good solo at the ready it will be substituted for a hymn slot, something that we would never do.) So the format of this Good Friday service flew in the face of that precept and for what?? OK, that other choir is paid and we are not, but - and this is what prompted me to get snarky - we have several professional sounding singers, myself included, certainly in that range, who sound as good as they do so how dare people assume that it's ok to treat them like the stars and us like the background? They didn't even give us a chance to either 1. audition for some of the solos that they wanted to include or 2. offer to come to extra rehearsals so that we could sing some of the contemporary music (which was intertwined with the Bach) either as a choir or as a solo quartet?
In any event, I just have to let this go. I am not angry because I was aware of another singer's flaws. Goodness knows I have plenty of my own. I am partly angry at myself because I think I could be a paid church singer if I weren't too lazy to learn how to sightread or read key signatures.
I don't even think there's any point in saying anything to the choir director. He is very sweet and has been very supportive of me (and everyone). If I feel underappreciated I can cut back on some of my involvement there and try to audition for some paying gigs at least on the big holidays.
I need to ratchet up my work on my oratorio solos, as well as my opera repertoire. I will never be competitive in the latter because I am too old and probably don't have the stamina to sing the roles that my voice is most suited to (I would have if I had begun doing serious work on them even in my early 40s) but I can still sing arias and scenes in concert or even throw together something like I did with Samson et Dalila.
I am looking at the alto solo from the Bach Easter Oratorio. It's sung by Mary Magdalene, which of course is right up my alley because she's part of my "brand" along with Dalila, and it's magnificent. We would have to make cuts in it, of course, so I might pass on it for now but it's a good thing to learn. In the summer there's more leeway but I couldn't sing this in the summer because it specifically refers to the Magdalen at Christ's tomb - it's not just a jolly Easter piece like "Rejoice Greatly".
I also had bought another book of oratorio arias and found something by Saint Saens called "Thou O Lord Art my Protector" which I will look at and there's also the song about Jesus at Emmaus called "And Their Eyes Were Opened" by Charls Raymond Cronham.
So my project for today is, after I log in enough work hours, to review all three of these pieces. I can put the Verdi Requiem aside briefly, then once I have an Easter solo spot I can go back to it until it's time to think about a summer anthem. I really would like to do "Qui Sedes" with an oboe.
In other news, yesterday I managed to sing through the entire soprano part of the Halleluia Chorus twice. The second time I didn't make it up to the A on "He shall reign" (actually all I sang was "ah" on all the high parts) but I feel I have mastered some of the skills required, which was a good thing, as I was alone on the part with the two First Sopranos - the two other Second Sopranos decided to sing alto.
First I want to say that I feel bad about my previous post, in that it is not usually in my nature to disparage other performing artists (unless they're famous - then I suppose it's fair game). I was even thinking of editing out some of the remarks I made in my last post on the other hand that was how I was feeling at the moment.
The issue with Good Friday wasn't how well any particular person sang or didn't. The issue was that the situation was not handled fairly. It was handled as if this other group provided the professional singers and we provided the choir, which didn't even do as much singing as we normally do on Good Friday. In two pieces were were just backup to soloists, which is not normally what our choir director likes, in fact I learned at a lecture about Lutherans and church music recently that they believe the "communal voice" is more important than the individual voice, which is why choral music usually trumps solos and hymns sung by everyone trump choir anthems. (For example my singing soul mate - another woman who began serious study of classical singing in late middle age - sings in an Episcopal church and if she has a good solo at the ready it will be substituted for a hymn slot, something that we would never do.) So the format of this Good Friday service flew in the face of that precept and for what?? OK, that other choir is paid and we are not, but - and this is what prompted me to get snarky - we have several professional sounding singers, myself included, certainly in that range, who sound as good as they do so how dare people assume that it's ok to treat them like the stars and us like the background? They didn't even give us a chance to either 1. audition for some of the solos that they wanted to include or 2. offer to come to extra rehearsals so that we could sing some of the contemporary music (which was intertwined with the Bach) either as a choir or as a solo quartet?
In any event, I just have to let this go. I am not angry because I was aware of another singer's flaws. Goodness knows I have plenty of my own. I am partly angry at myself because I think I could be a paid church singer if I weren't too lazy to learn how to sightread or read key signatures.
I don't even think there's any point in saying anything to the choir director. He is very sweet and has been very supportive of me (and everyone). If I feel underappreciated I can cut back on some of my involvement there and try to audition for some paying gigs at least on the big holidays.
I need to ratchet up my work on my oratorio solos, as well as my opera repertoire. I will never be competitive in the latter because I am too old and probably don't have the stamina to sing the roles that my voice is most suited to (I would have if I had begun doing serious work on them even in my early 40s) but I can still sing arias and scenes in concert or even throw together something like I did with Samson et Dalila.
I am looking at the alto solo from the Bach Easter Oratorio. It's sung by Mary Magdalene, which of course is right up my alley because she's part of my "brand" along with Dalila, and it's magnificent. We would have to make cuts in it, of course, so I might pass on it for now but it's a good thing to learn. In the summer there's more leeway but I couldn't sing this in the summer because it specifically refers to the Magdalen at Christ's tomb - it's not just a jolly Easter piece like "Rejoice Greatly".
I also had bought another book of oratorio arias and found something by Saint Saens called "Thou O Lord Art my Protector" which I will look at and there's also the song about Jesus at Emmaus called "And Their Eyes Were Opened" by Charls Raymond Cronham.
So my project for today is, after I log in enough work hours, to review all three of these pieces. I can put the Verdi Requiem aside briefly, then once I have an Easter solo spot I can go back to it until it's time to think about a summer anthem. I really would like to do "Qui Sedes" with an oboe.
In other news, yesterday I managed to sing through the entire soprano part of the Halleluia Chorus twice. The second time I didn't make it up to the A on "He shall reign" (actually all I sang was "ah" on all the high parts) but I feel I have mastered some of the skills required, which was a good thing, as I was alone on the part with the two First Sopranos - the two other Second Sopranos decided to sing alto.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
We Interrupt our Regular Verdi Programming to Bring You Some Randall Thompson
Well, it's back to good old Randall again. He sure knows how to throw a curve ball to choir sopranos. Every piece of his I've sung, except the "Alleluia", which moves quickly, despite the high tessitura, has a high A in the middle of it that needs to be sung sweetly. Sure it's marked "forte" in the score but that doesn't mean an Amneris forte, it means as loud as your average sweet voiced choir soprano can sing, which for me isn't even piano it's pianissimo.
Over the years I've fooled around with different pianissimo techniques and most of them work up to an A flat but that's it. Somehow, miraculously, I was able to find a little duckbill mouthed way to sing one of dear Randall's A naturals in a piece called "The Last Words" but that was several years ago and for whatever reason my voice is now louder and freer and making it smaller seems harder. Also, I think I've become inhibited now that we have a real conservatory trained coloratura in the soprano section. When it was just me and the untrained sopranos (snark, snark) it was really a toss-up: me being obnoxiously loud or the sound getting "tinny" up there.
At yesterday's choir practice I held my own throughout a Bach piece in quite a high tessitura (it basically went back and forth between the C above middle C and the G below high C). For whatever reason, maybe because the piece moved, I had no trouble with it at all. (I can sing "Rejoice Greatly", remember?) My nemesis seems to be sustained legato singing at the upper reaches of my range in a context where I have to sound sweet. An Amneris roar, I've got. Coloratura up there, I've got. But not a nice float.
My main interest in conquering this is twofold: first, it's a challenge. This is a skill that I want for its own sake. Whatever I do with it. And even if I fail with this note, whatever I've sweated for will stand me in good stead with something else. I also want to overcome nerves and inhibitions. I want to be able to do this skill as well as I can do it, sitting down in that roomfull of people. I don't want to panic and have my larynx rise like I'm going to choke.
The article by Jane Eaglen that I referenced in this post has stayed with me. If I drill that page with the high A over and over and over (there's another page with the same progression going up to an A flat that gives me less trouble) something will surface. Either that, or the choir director will tell me to sing the alto part or to sing the soprano part minus that note. Which wouldn't be the end of the world. If I ever got a paying job in a choir it would be as an alto section leader anyhow, I just find the challenges of singing soprano are more apt to help me learn new skills that I can use with my opera rep, as long as I don't squeeze my larynx in the wrong way.
So here's how I've fared so far: trying for a tight "oo", which is just like an exercise I do in the studio, makes the note too loud. It's actually "small" in the context of my general singing, but it's way too loud for the choir. The big cottonmouth doesn't do well up that high. On an A flat, yes. On an A natural, no. So I'm going for an open mouthed scoop, then crescendoing immediately into the descending scale so that I don't choke because I can't keep that position for very long. And I must have that downward progression down cold!! It's chromatic and very difficult and it's easy to end up on the wrong notes, which I must not do.
In other news, plans are more or less moving forward for my Fall concert although my teacher is getting cold feet again. He says he doesn't want to commit to it because he doesn't know how he'll be sounding or feeling. Well, if he backs out I can find some other people. It just makes me feel a lot of despair over not having a peer group. Most people my age who sing are winding down, either vocally or psychologically. So once again I feel between an rock and a hard place: young people who are learning, older people who are winding down, and amateurs who are really amateurs and can't sing the kind of music I can. So I feel very alone and at sea again.
Part of me is touched that the man I spoke of in this post was willing to help me organize and market my concert but part of me just wishes he would have invited me to sing something in one of his concerts so all the work wasn't on me.
Over the years I've fooled around with different pianissimo techniques and most of them work up to an A flat but that's it. Somehow, miraculously, I was able to find a little duckbill mouthed way to sing one of dear Randall's A naturals in a piece called "The Last Words" but that was several years ago and for whatever reason my voice is now louder and freer and making it smaller seems harder. Also, I think I've become inhibited now that we have a real conservatory trained coloratura in the soprano section. When it was just me and the untrained sopranos (snark, snark) it was really a toss-up: me being obnoxiously loud or the sound getting "tinny" up there.
At yesterday's choir practice I held my own throughout a Bach piece in quite a high tessitura (it basically went back and forth between the C above middle C and the G below high C). For whatever reason, maybe because the piece moved, I had no trouble with it at all. (I can sing "Rejoice Greatly", remember?) My nemesis seems to be sustained legato singing at the upper reaches of my range in a context where I have to sound sweet. An Amneris roar, I've got. Coloratura up there, I've got. But not a nice float.
My main interest in conquering this is twofold: first, it's a challenge. This is a skill that I want for its own sake. Whatever I do with it. And even if I fail with this note, whatever I've sweated for will stand me in good stead with something else. I also want to overcome nerves and inhibitions. I want to be able to do this skill as well as I can do it, sitting down in that roomfull of people. I don't want to panic and have my larynx rise like I'm going to choke.
The article by Jane Eaglen that I referenced in this post has stayed with me. If I drill that page with the high A over and over and over (there's another page with the same progression going up to an A flat that gives me less trouble) something will surface. Either that, or the choir director will tell me to sing the alto part or to sing the soprano part minus that note. Which wouldn't be the end of the world. If I ever got a paying job in a choir it would be as an alto section leader anyhow, I just find the challenges of singing soprano are more apt to help me learn new skills that I can use with my opera rep, as long as I don't squeeze my larynx in the wrong way.
So here's how I've fared so far: trying for a tight "oo", which is just like an exercise I do in the studio, makes the note too loud. It's actually "small" in the context of my general singing, but it's way too loud for the choir. The big cottonmouth doesn't do well up that high. On an A flat, yes. On an A natural, no. So I'm going for an open mouthed scoop, then crescendoing immediately into the descending scale so that I don't choke because I can't keep that position for very long. And I must have that downward progression down cold!! It's chromatic and very difficult and it's easy to end up on the wrong notes, which I must not do.
In other news, plans are more or less moving forward for my Fall concert although my teacher is getting cold feet again. He says he doesn't want to commit to it because he doesn't know how he'll be sounding or feeling. Well, if he backs out I can find some other people. It just makes me feel a lot of despair over not having a peer group. Most people my age who sing are winding down, either vocally or psychologically. So once again I feel between an rock and a hard place: young people who are learning, older people who are winding down, and amateurs who are really amateurs and can't sing the kind of music I can. So I feel very alone and at sea again.
Part of me is touched that the man I spoke of in this post was willing to help me organize and market my concert but part of me just wishes he would have invited me to sing something in one of his concerts so all the work wasn't on me.
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