Thursday, October 01, 2009

Thursday

CRAZY week. But fun, and what is even more fun is that it is almost over! This weekend is going to be great...lots of friend things, and then, of course, the Ravens are playing the Patriots, and so, Sunday will be shot.

In practicing this week, I've noticed a couple of new things about my voice. My lower middle is SO loud these days, much more resonant than I remember, and it's such a great feeling to be able to really SING down there, instead of just fighting through the fuzziness that I had for so long. It's the classic problem for young sopranos...you sound pretty good up high, so you never bother to sing low, and then...one day, you realize: I have no middle and low voice, and my life sucks, and I will never sing Mimi and Suor Angelica and the Marschallin, not that I was going to any way, but now I've got to get my booty in gear, or my fondest dreams will be shot all to hell.

Now I really have trouble believing that even if I had been really working that part of my voice in undergrad, I would have been able to get the sound in that register that I am beginning to achieve. I think that it may just be one of those things that require age and maturity? I'm grasping for something to make me feel validated for being old...so go with me on this. Remember how your teachers always told you that bigger voices just need a little longer to settle in? I think they may have been right all along. Not that I'm a huge voice or anything, but I'm not small, and I have always felt like something of a late bloomer.

The first round of New York auditions are coming up, and besides arranging the transportation (carpooling with two other sopranos...now is that really a good idea??? :)), I've begun to really hone in on the spots that I'm not completely feeling fantastic about in a couple of my arias... just taking the phrase out of context, then putting it back in, and trying not to resort to the inefficient method of just singing through the whole aria over and over again. Which, frankly, especially with Je dis, really wears me out, and makes me long for vodka. My teacher assured me (and he has never been wrong) that this is the tried and true method for fixing my little problem areas. So far, it's working.

When I was in school, I tended to dread studio classes and rep classes when the other singers were allowed to just kind of make comments randomly and pontificate about each other's singing. It felt like there was something usually a little weird or not quite in the best interest of the person singing about it, in a lot of cases. A lot of times people were very nice, but the other part of it was that the only feedback I really wanted in that situation was from my teacher. That may have been bratty, but miraculously, now I find myself thinking that maybe it would be a good idea to put together a little audition evening thing with a few other singers I TRUST (oh boy) and spend time helping each other with ideas for interpreting and better communicating our audition rep. Maybe the pain is worth the gain?

Happy Thursday! don't forget to watch my fabulous NeNe on Real Housewives tonight!

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