Well, I must admit, today was a huge milestone for me. For the first time, I had the strength and courage to stand up at an audition and perform one of Donna Anna's arias "Or sai che l'onore" complete with full recitative. Poor audition panel didn't know they were in for a 5 minute recit!
It has been a long road for me since I first began my voice training with my master teacher Michael Trimble. But since the very beginning, he sensed deep in my voice and being, a quality that he deemed perfect for the role of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. Do NOT let the sound of the arias fool you. For a large, rich voice like mine, they are some of the most difficult arias to sing. That's Mozart for you! Michael keeps telling me... you will not be ready until you can sing Donna Anna. So, three years of swimming, yoga, clarinet, hiking, jogging, anything to get more breath and strength all working towards one goal.... to get through those blasted difficult Donna Anna arias.
This was the third opportunity that I have had to audition for Donna Anna over the last few months. The first two... I chickened out. I was scared that I wouldn't get through them. I would get tired out and embarrass myself by pooping out at the end of the aria. But today... today I decided... this will be the beginning. The beginning of the endless auditions for Don Giovanni that I will embark on until SOMEONE gives me a chance to sing Donna Anna. And I will keep swimming, and breathing, and studying, and it will get easier and easier. And one day, I will own this part and become world famous.
I think I am finally beginning to identify myself as a soprano. It is still hard to believe after a ten year career as a mezzo. I even had doubts today at the audition and offered Prince Orlofsky on my audition list. I know, I know. That confused the pants off of them. Why would you sing Donna Anna and then offer Prince Orlofsky? they wondered. Well, because I can do both extremely well and I want it to be your choice. Oh boy. I think there is nothing more odious to an audition panel than having to choose. But they were generous in their praise. Saying that I had a true mezzo color in my Orlofsky yet the Donna Anna fit my voice and sounded so "easy". Ah the irony. I am glad that I could make it sound easy and hide the work! When they asked if this was a sudden fach switch, I almost laughed to myself. Switching from mezzo soprano to heroic soprano assoluto definitely does not happen over night. I fact... I have many many more years still to go I am sure.
So what is the lesson in all of this? Finally I can see my work paying off. If there ever was a "milestone" to prove that I was getting better, stronger, and acquiring more technical skills, today was that proof. I made it. I got through it. I sang the entire recitative and aria. To many, this may not sound impressive. But I know and my teacher knows how much patience and work it has taken to achieve this seemingly small task. And the truth is... I would make an amazing Donna Anna, but it is still not "easy". It will never be effortless, but it can definitely be more secure the more breath and stamina I get. The other truth is... Prince Orlofsky is a piss and a grumble to me. I could do that role in my sleep. So was it right to offer both at the audition? Probably not. But I did it because I didn't want to choose. I want to be the Soprano Assoluto who can stand up and sing all the heroic soprano music, the dramatic coloratura music, the lyric mezzo music and the dramatic mezzo music. The trouble with that is that no one will believe that it is possible and they will want to doubt me.
The advantage to working on some of the greatest arias ever known to soprano voices is that it makes singing mezzo music so easy and secure. The trouble with this is that I have become addicted to the challenge of the prima donna roles. I want to push myself to sing music that is difficult and accomplish it. So that is why I want to do both. Sing soprano music to challenge myself to the max and sing mezzo music to feel completely secure. But I cannot keep offering both. Pretty soon, I am going to have to decide per audition which identity I will represent that day. It is already tough singing both fachs. But both fachs in one audition...? well, that is just plain insolence ;)
To quote my dear friend and amazing soprano Lisa Mandelkorn, "What other singer do you know who can sing the Countess AND Cherubino??" Yes Michael Trimble, whatever were are doing, we are slowly finding my true potential. And this is only the beginning. What will the world think when they finally hear the real me? Will they believe it? Will I be able to stick it through to find out? Lord only knows that I will do my best. And then the real problems begin. Once a soprano can sing everything... what does she choose to sing? Um.... how about... anything she wants to!
~VR
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Silence is a Virtue
I begin this blog with a subject that is very torturous for me as well as for many of my opera singing colleagues I am sure. It seems only just that after hundreds of thousands of dollars in voice lessons, thousands of hours of training, swimming, yoga, clarinet playing, and everything else that is meant to provide the body with the strength and wisdom that it needs to keep the voice healthy, the need for "vocal rest" would be obsolete. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. As chatty and social as I am, the hardest lesson to learn is that sometimes I must be absolutely silent.
Every voice has a unique strength. Some are more hardy than others. Some singers can bellow away night and day and still be fine to sing and sing some more! I am finding that with my voice, it is more tender. This is no fault of my singing technique, as I can have two hour lessons piping out high Db after high Db and be clear as a bell for the remainder of the week. What it boils down to is learning how to pace myself.
After a long concert singing 6 arias and 3 duets, it seems only fitting that a singer would desire some quite vocal rest. However, if you mix in a little indulgence (including wine and excess talking) and then pair it with a 7:00am vocalize session the next day, a church solo, and a rehearsal for Strauss's Vier Letzte Lieder that afternoon, you are asking for trouble. Oh yes, and a trip to the Sounders soccer game and a 3 hour ferry ride home (someone did NOT jump off the ferry.... but we all needed to wait for 3 hours just to be sure). This 1am arrival time probably didn't help the matter much.
So bottom line is this. The voice can withstand a lot of singing with excellent technique and breath. What it CANNOT stand is all the other crud we put it through afterwards. There is a reason operas are not performed on consecutive evenings like musicals are. The opera voice needs a little pampering and R&R after a big performance. So be kind and treat yourself with care.
My 3 days of silence were amazingly challenging. I wanted to give my voice a chance to recover nicely as I have an important competition / audition weekend coming up and I want to be as fresh as possible. The funniest thing is how people reacted when they realized that I was not speaking. It is as if they thought I had a disease. They gave me strange looks and walked the other direction. And the best is when, as soon as I "motioned" that I was not talking, some people start to go quiet and mime to me as well. haha... I can HEAR! I am just choosing not to speak at the present moment.
Surprisingly, it gives the mind a chance to quiet down. Being an observer is an interesting position to take. As a "talker" I usually have a gajillion things racing through my head that just MUST be heard by someone.... But when you make a vow of silence, all of a sudden I realize how unimportant my observations are. Or, rather, how unimportant it is to share them with others.
Sometimes the voice is tired from faulty singing. This is definitely something that needs to be addressed. But at times, when it is fatigued after singing a lot of extreme music, it may just need a good dose of silence. Then again, some of the best opera singers in the history of opera singing have been quiet people. Why waste your voice on anything other than amazing, heart wrenching singing? This is quite an idea indeed. I do not think that I will ever be a silent person. But perhaps I do not have to talk quite SO much. It will give me more time to listen and breath!
I guess that is why this was the most appropriate topic for my first blog post in Diaries of an Aspiring Prima Donna. There is so much I want to say! Perhaps if I write it down, then my mind will be satisfied and my voice saved.
~VR
Every voice has a unique strength. Some are more hardy than others. Some singers can bellow away night and day and still be fine to sing and sing some more! I am finding that with my voice, it is more tender. This is no fault of my singing technique, as I can have two hour lessons piping out high Db after high Db and be clear as a bell for the remainder of the week. What it boils down to is learning how to pace myself.
After a long concert singing 6 arias and 3 duets, it seems only fitting that a singer would desire some quite vocal rest. However, if you mix in a little indulgence (including wine and excess talking) and then pair it with a 7:00am vocalize session the next day, a church solo, and a rehearsal for Strauss's Vier Letzte Lieder that afternoon, you are asking for trouble. Oh yes, and a trip to the Sounders soccer game and a 3 hour ferry ride home (someone did NOT jump off the ferry.... but we all needed to wait for 3 hours just to be sure). This 1am arrival time probably didn't help the matter much.
So bottom line is this. The voice can withstand a lot of singing with excellent technique and breath. What it CANNOT stand is all the other crud we put it through afterwards. There is a reason operas are not performed on consecutive evenings like musicals are. The opera voice needs a little pampering and R&R after a big performance. So be kind and treat yourself with care.
My 3 days of silence were amazingly challenging. I wanted to give my voice a chance to recover nicely as I have an important competition / audition weekend coming up and I want to be as fresh as possible. The funniest thing is how people reacted when they realized that I was not speaking. It is as if they thought I had a disease. They gave me strange looks and walked the other direction. And the best is when, as soon as I "motioned" that I was not talking, some people start to go quiet and mime to me as well. haha... I can HEAR! I am just choosing not to speak at the present moment.
Surprisingly, it gives the mind a chance to quiet down. Being an observer is an interesting position to take. As a "talker" I usually have a gajillion things racing through my head that just MUST be heard by someone.... But when you make a vow of silence, all of a sudden I realize how unimportant my observations are. Or, rather, how unimportant it is to share them with others.
Sometimes the voice is tired from faulty singing. This is definitely something that needs to be addressed. But at times, when it is fatigued after singing a lot of extreme music, it may just need a good dose of silence. Then again, some of the best opera singers in the history of opera singing have been quiet people. Why waste your voice on anything other than amazing, heart wrenching singing? This is quite an idea indeed. I do not think that I will ever be a silent person. But perhaps I do not have to talk quite SO much. It will give me more time to listen and breath!
I guess that is why this was the most appropriate topic for my first blog post in Diaries of an Aspiring Prima Donna. There is so much I want to say! Perhaps if I write it down, then my mind will be satisfied and my voice saved.
~VR
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