Breath, space, vibrato

As the days here are more and more driven by voice practice I find less energy for travel-like expeditions. So the excitement recently is less in the beautiful landscape and more in matching the ring of one note to another or in waking up to find the air to be a little less dry than yesterday. My voice and body have had fun moments adjusting between 100 degree and 60 degree weather with absolutely no warning.

As decided in my last post, this has been a whole lot of Mozart for me. I reworked some old classics (Vedrai Carino & L'ho Perduta) and then learned and coached "Deh Vieni Non Tardar" (Le Nozze di Figaro) and "In Uomini" (Cosi Fan Tutti). Working on Susannah has been interesting because EVERYONE has an opinion on her and her aria. All of the sopranos have sung "Deh Vieni" and have a wealth of their own teachers' advice to offer. It seems that the lesson this aria has offered is that everyone else's thoughts need to measure up to a grain of salt in comparison to my own.

My coach wanted no cadenzas and a melodramatic recitative; my voice teacher wanted a nice B-flat with a quick ornamented scale to be added; and my stage artistry instructor wanted a very poised, stately presentation. My other stage artistry teacher thinks that Susannah is basically giggling about the comedy of her situation, while another soprano thinks that it should be overstatedly sexy. And so on (and so on (and so on (and so on))).

So- I've learned a lot from "Deh Vieni" and will continue to sing it, especially when someone pays me to. But until then, I'm turning to "S'altro Lagrime" from Clemenzo de Tito. Never heard of it? Exactly.

In other news: I sat in on a masterclass yesterday by the incomparable Barbara Bonney. Ahhh. Look her up if you haven't heard her before. She's the voice that gives me hope when I'm feeling small compared to all the big dramatic singers. This woman uses all of her resonance space and acoustical energy to fill the hall, and it's glorious! What's amazing about the many masterclasses I've attended so far (I believe that this was clinician number 6, though many clinicians offer over 12 hours of working time) the sentiment is the same. Breath, find back space, and vibrate on every note. Then, if the singer has that figured out; make sure your interpretation starts with the breath and that you diction is precise and accurate. Oh- and smile. It's a quick fix to lift your zygomatic muscles.

Meanwhile German classes are slowly becoming tedious with nominative/accusitive/dative cases. In class I slowly tread along with whether it's der or den or dem, but out on the streets I just say
"de-" and they tend to catch my drift.

I had a defining moment one day this week. I had been walking downtown and had stopped to use a restroom. The guard that gave me directions had given me a stern look for not pronouncing the letter "c" of "W.C." has sharply as a native Austrian would have. So I left feeling like an "auslander" (foreigner) when this woman beckons me over and starts talking to me in German. She asks me to take a picture for her and her friends, shows me how to use her camara and joins the pose. I count "eins, zwei, drei", take a good look and proclaim it good ( in German!) She thanks me and walks away. I consider this a sign that I am at home and that I don't look entirely out of place here. Seeing as I spoke only german, understood her, did what she asked and was relatively aloof (like all people here), I am telling myself that the woman had no idea that I was American.

This is disctinctly different from the woman who started cracking up at my translating Mass parts from German to English for a friend at the bus stop so she could understand what was going on. Imagine someone going "was ist SSSpeeerrit?"

I'll choose to remember the camara moment.

Long weeks call for long walks

Das Wochenende! Es ist Freitag! Das Wochen war sehr lang... so ich schriebe nur die Höhepunkts:

This weeks lessons were beautifully humbling. I started the week working on Oscar's aria from "Un Ballo Maschera" called "Saper Vorreste." It's a cute, short aria usually sung by coloratura sopranos early in their careers, but it's not so high that a soubrette can't do it. But through this aria, my coach recognized my difficulty with legato and my voice teacher came to the conclusion that I don't have a system of breathing. SO:

I sang hanging from my teacher's arms, I sang on my back, I sang through my nose, I sang running around the room while my acting teacher showed me cards with different emotions (I'm still not sure how you can throw a temper tantrum while feeling seductively worried.... but apparently it worked). I finished the week deciding to stick to Mozart classics (L'ho Perduta, Vedrai Carino, Deh Vieni non Tardar) until I have some of these issues figured out. Not to mention I have a number of songs to learn for my senior recital...

German classes are going well- though incredibly quickly. I have a new sheet of vocabulary everyday in German I and seem to complete another tense every day in German 2. (We finished simple past in two days.)

A couple of us went to an Organ concert on Sunday in the Cathedral. This is an incredibly cultural experience not only because this beautiful organ gets played every day, but because a large crowd of people show up to hear absurd organ works every week.

I had an epic (or comical) encounter with some sort of winged beatle in my room. After many attempts to "show" it to the window, I turned off my light, left the windows and the doors open and read out in the hall until it had left. Of course it hadn't, but at least it wasn't on my bed anymore.

The majority of my thoughts, when not practicing, have to do with the differences between performing and directing. As many of you know, I often head out to perform and find myself in the director's position. In order to describe the angst which the differences between these two career paths provide, I have come up with a few (hopefully comical) analogies for other occupations which seem similar but are not. So- the differences between directing and performing can be likened to the differences between:

-Archetecture and contracting

- collecting keys and making keys

- photography and framing

- reading a book and writing a book

- drinking milk and milking cows

This list could continue for a while, but the point is that setting aside my inquiries about career paths has been quite difficult. Especially when faced with the many, many, MANY talented singers here. (The many talented singers also do a good job of lighting the fire under a certain area to get to the practice room.)

So today, in order to regroup myself, I took a three hour walk. I headed towards the mountains, got there, and came back. I am currently scrutinizing the presence of a sun burn and drinking milk out of the carton because I don't have a cup. Ahhh. Time to shower and then- yep, you guessed it: practice.

Saturday!

Today was the first day that I could sleep in as much as necessary. So I slept till around 9am and then read/lounged for an hour. This proved to be much needed because my practice session before noon (when the country's quiet hours begin) went very smoothly.

Today Natalie, Emma, Rachel Felstein (a graduate student from Mannes School of Music in Manhattan) and I went in search of a pool. The heat of this week has proved to be quite the energy-sucker. I use these terms because my mind has even slowed to the pace of molassas. 99 degrees was not my expectation for a town in the Alps...

The pool we traveled to was, of course, closed for construction. So Natalie and I journeyed on to a Lake in Thal while Emma and Rachel headed back for another local pool.

The "Thalsee" is just west of Graz proper, up in the mountains- or are they tall hills? We took public buses all the way there- another excellent feature of European life. We swam in a rather murky, but entirely refreshing lake. I don't think I'd ever experienced the muddy bottom of a lake before, but once I just chose not to think about what might be in the water it was incredibly peaceful. The mountains surrounding us were just tall enough to create scenery but leave a wide panorama of the sky. The sun wasn't beating down, but rather creating a comfortable warmth outside the water. Natalie and I laid on a pier after crossing the lake for the first time. She fell asleep while - I wish I could say philosophized about the world and its inhabitants but- I enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere: watched two kids feed the ducks, saw many couples head out for a swim, and considered it funny that a man woke up from a nap along the border of the lake in order to do a number of yoga positions.

Ahhhh. (Both to the peace of the lake and the new-found head resonance above my passagio.) I like it here :)

Also- we found the place where Arnold Schwarzeneggar proposed to his now wife, where he went to elementary school, and the area where he grew up. They have a mini shrine to his success with one of his first weight-lifting benches.

We also say a Church in Thal made almost entirely of mosaics, glass, pebbles, and colorful paint. I will have to go back to take hundreds of pictures for my mommy!

The Mariatrost Basilica tomorrow!

Maerchen

M(a)rchen (with an umlaut) means "fairy tale" in German. Today I sang in a castle in a formal gown and then had a reception with all the other singers and instrumentalists on the balconys of the castle's courtyard. Amidst beautiful slopes, a manicured garden, and peacocks (no really- peacocks), one could consider this experience a fairy tale.

In reality, the former part of my day felt more like a dream! I had a full day of classes: German 1 and 2, a diction coaching, a rehearsal of Die Fledermaus choruses with orchestra, a discussion with my coach about living and working as a musician in Germany (over ice cream, of course) AND A LESSON! I've been waiting for a lesson since my arrival last Tuesday and if was everything I could have hoped for.

Jonathan Retzlaff is an associate professor at Vanderbilt University. He is a vocal technician, meaning he'll spend time on vocal "technique" during your lesson and leave the particulars of acting and diction to your vocal coach. We hit the ground running and I loved every single one of our 45 minutes together. This is the reason I'm here! So, when I return to the states with a resonant, more consistant, legato sound, most of the credit will go to him.

Der hochschule

Today began the "regular" schedule here at AIMS. All of the orchestra members are here, so the chorale will meet at a regular hour (as opposed to 11AM on Sundays) and rehearsals for concerts begin. Weekly voice lessons, stage artistry, diction, audition techniques and vocal coachings also began today.

Mondays through Thursday will be packed for me. I'm attending daily german for both level one and level two. Level one to have a strong foundation on the basics and level two to move forward and keep a fire in my belly to get better. I also have three one-on-one diction lessons this week- two in german and one for both french and italian. It is sufficient to say that this, plus the masterclasses, and endless seminars, I'll come out with a full notebook!

I also stopped by the "operetta room" today. Two lovely ladies are in charge of the operetta concerts here and they basically pick out songs for you, have you learn them and then decide if they want you to perform them or not. They assigned "Leise erklingen Glocken vom Campanile" to me. (a Barcarole song that translates to: softly the bells of the bell tower of Venice ring out). It's beautiful, floaty and fairy tale like. In other words; I'm in love! I get to return to their room tomorrow to sing it for them and get a little coaching on it. (I'll then take it to my German diction coach, a reserved, academic brittish woman with perfect German, on Wednesday to make sure I sound relatively authentic.)

Hopefully I'll be cast to sing something while I'm here, but either way, I'll be plenty busy!

Fortunate as the experience is, the schedule means my sightsinging will be held off until at least Saturday. I've posted a picture I took at the top of the Schlossberg as a reminder that I AM in Graz, not just in a big University building!

Hearing video

Here are links to a video of my hearing performance:

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh-h2bY1524

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=446392565228&comments&ref=notif

Hearing

- stretch

- breakfast

- warm up vocally

- do hair and make-up

- run pieces

- get dressed

- arrive at performance space

-wait calmy and patiently, reviewing the word for word translations of each aria

-SING.

-feel like a huge event has passed and there's no other point to the day.

Except there is!

I went to Mass (thinking that a Saturday Mass would naturally be a Sunday Vigil. Haha- got that one wrong. I'll be waking up at 7 tomorrow for the real liturgy. Ah well, it's was a lingual experience.)

I saw the dolls come to dance at the "Glockenspiel" (I finally found it!) At 6pm the Glockenspiel plays and all the Church bells and Carillons play for about 10 minutes. It's like you can hear the angels in heaven. No wonder people eat so much ice cream here- it's like paradise!

I took a long walk with Natalie- along the Stadtpark and the River Mur.

Gelato: Weiss Truffel (white chocolate truffle. When I was little I loved white chocolate mousse at TCBY and I have now found my "grown up" equivelant.)

When I figure it out, I'll post the recording of my hearing. It's nearly the end of week one- I can't believe it! But this week starts coachings for voice and diction. I got both the teacher and coach that I requested so on Monday the real games begin.

Freitag- der Tag fur lernen Deutsch

I got up early this morning to attend a more difficult German course. The majority of the course was conducted "auf Deutsch" so it was a bit of a stretch, but I'm definitely going to stick with this class. I came out with a large amount of new vocabulary, grammar, and a fire in my belly to get down to studying... so I did!





I picked up "Lieblings stucke" a novel a bought from a bookshop the other day ( along with "Die rote Guitar"- a childrens book about a girl that wants to make music :) I started reading and understand only about every third or fourth word, but every time I return to a paragraph I understand more. I also started going through the exercises in my text book in order to catch up with the rest of my class.





I had a rehearsal with Tatyana A. (don't even try to guess, her last name is unbelieveably beautiful) for my hearing tomorrow- wish me luck. This is the last round of auditions which will decide what I actually get to perform with the Orchestra which arrives on Monday.





After a Masterclass on support and Alexander Technique (I learned how to stretch the back of my neck and am challenging myself to leave with the ability to touch my chin to my chest. That's going to take some time); another masterclass with Gabriele Lechner (the fabulous diva that can sing in any fach); and rehearsal for the AIMS chorale (where we're leaning the Austrian National Anthem), Natalie and I went for a nice long walk. We cound a beautiful pond amidst a park. The park has running trails up to the top of it's mountain, hammocks, swings, a cafe and ton of beautiful places to sit. We found an obstacle course that was closed, but being adventurous we climbed up and took advantage.


Saturday features my hearing, meeting with our assigned pianists, a meeting with a Graz native, Werner Hass, 5pm Mass at the Cathedral (in German- ack!) and another rehearsal with the chorale. Whew! bring on the busy schedules!

Inspiration

I've heard about 20 singers so far here at AIMS. All are talented, most a hard workers, and many have a solid handle on technique for all their registers. The whole package, though? Only a few. The whole package usually isn't encountered until someone is amidst the start of a career. But today, a 22 year old from Texas named Elizabeth had the whole package. She sang "Donde Lieta" a Puccini aria and I got goosebumps. (I also got a little envy, but I can't even consider keeping it because she's the sweetest girl who works hard for what she's got.)

It feels nice to hear someone so talented who sings with such natural expression and doesn't have a bunch of "technique tools" in the way.

I took a three hour walk today, rehearsing German phrases in my head and asking 4 people "Wo ist der Glockenspiel?" (I was actually wondering where it was, this isn't a joke.) I visited "der Dom"- a rather famous Cathedral with ancient paintings and the like. I've posted a picture of the organ and am hoping to catch one of the many organ concerts. I heard someone practicing on my way out and it was astonishingly good.

My practice session went well, but I'm mostly just reveling in the fact that Elizabeth is my next door neighbor, and I get to be her friend :)

Grüß Gott! Or early mornings make for long days.

So in beginning German classes they always teach you "Guten Tag" and then the optional "Guten Morgen" or "Guten Abend." They might even tell you that "hello" pronounced "hall-oh" with a sing-song lilt is acceptable. Well, in Austria EVERYONE says "Gruss Gott!" Which I think is great because it translates to "greet God." The Austrians have a good perspective: there's God in everyone. And THAT is how I started my morning. By greeting the man who opens the doors of our building at 5:30am.

I awoke to a bright day, three hours early, with absolutely no desire or ability to sleep. So I got up, put on jogging clothes and told my lungs to do their best (they're still complaining about the many hours on airplanes.) I went up and down lovely streets, jogged through one of the many central parks, and took a picture of the Grand Opera House. I lost track of where I was for about 4 minutes; there is no grid to this city, you either know where you're going or you don't. But then I looked up to see the clock tower or the "Schlossberg" mentioned in my first post and found my bearings.

The destination of this morning exercise was a local farmers market. I have been excited to visit this market for a month now, having found it on a map online. Of course, it didn't dawn on me that I didn't know any food names, but I held my chin up and entered the square. I walked all the way around, greeted the nicest looking women, from whom I bought some apples for a whopping .5 Euros. And then the owner of a stand I was eyeing REALLY wanted to help. I asked, "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" and he laughed. Hmmm, well, I'll take one of these, then... I got a fresh carton of raspberries from him and considered my first trip a success. This fruit I'll add to my organic gronala in my fridge, I'll take it out for a meal one day and feel super travel-savvy.

Today I had my first German class. For an overacheiver like me, it was a bit painful. We learned the following:

Ich heisse.... Wer heissen Sie? (I am called.... What's your name?)

Ich bin auslander, und sprechen night gut Deutsch. Bitte, langsam. (I am a foreigner and don't speak German well. Slower, please.)

Yep. I'm hoping to switch into a higher level if tomorrow isn't a bit more intense.

The highlight of the day? (except practicing, because let's be honest, I'm here to sing) 5 hours in a masterclass with Gabriele Lechner. I got to here some of the other participants sing from somewhere other than their dorm rooms (usually in unheard of registers). It was a nice variety of students my age, graduate students and continuing ed. professionals- all were very talented. The clinician, though stood them all up. She could sing anything. Floated high pianissimo notes, heroic tenor phrases, dramatic mezzo runs, you name it. And she did it well. There's 5 more hours tomorrow and you better believe I'm excited.

Roberta Cunningham also gave a fascinating class on breath management and support. One day down and I feel like I understand this whole "singing" thing better than I did last month.

No ice cream today, but free dinner, so it's all good :)

Orientation to beautiful Graz (and beautiful people)

After settling in this morning, I had a lovely lunch with Emma and Natalie when I caught up with their European adventures. Excited to start my own, I went out to discover this city I'll be living in for the next 6 weeks.

A group of girls and I caught a streetcar, or trolley, into the Historic center of Graz. At the top of a steep mountain is a fort and a beautiful clock tower. (Pictured top left of post). There is a marker on one of the outlooks which points to all of the major cities on the horizon. Belgrade, Zagreb, Venice. Not to mention the beautiful and varied architecture of Graz itself.

I walked down the stairs pictures above, ate a lovely "apfel" from an organic grocery and then headed out with Natalie and my neighbor, Elizabeth for more adventures. We saw huge groups seated at outdoor eateries watching Netherlands beat Uruguay in the World Cup. (Can't explain how exciting it is to be here with Spain, Germany and Netherlands as the top contenders. July 11th will be an exciting day.) We entered an "abend Kirche", or night chapel, with a most beautiful Tabernacle. We visited the blue island- a bridge/cafe/playground in the River Mur and finally walked by the Kunsthaus- a modern art museum that looks like, well, a bladder. Look it up, I'm not joking.

And finally, we enjoyed gelato. In Austria. Which means it's as good as German ice cream and real Italian gelato. I had huge scoops of chocolate and white chocolate-coconut. How much? (wieviel?) 2 Euros. Take note America. I expect an upgrade of ice cream taste and cost on my return.

Tomorrow begins German classes and master classes. Let the whirlwind begin!

The journey begins- for three whole days...

Thank you, Dad. That’s all I really have to say, but I might as well offer a quick look at my travels.

When did I leave for Austria? July 4th. Really patriotic, right? What you should know, though, is that the best way to see Independence Day celebrations is to leave the country- physically. I watched upwards of a thousand fireworks shows in the comfort of a cushiony chair (you know how the first hour on an airplane always seems okay, and then it slowly sinks in that it’s not comfortable? I hadn’t reached that point yet). Waiting to take off (for an hour while the pilot did paperwork), there were five shows along the Baltimore Harbor and as we flew up the east coast it was as though everyone was up wishing us well on our journey with pyrotechnics. Awesome start to the trip.

Looking forward to five extra hours in London, I had intended on getting out in the fresh air, finding a park nearby and eating at a café. Of course those plans went out the door due to the paperwork delay. So instead, sitting in the overcrowded Terminal 3, I watch the departures board, which continuously bumped my next flight later by a few minutes; plus a few minutes; plus a few mintes; etc.

At first, I just saw this as an opportunity to study up on music. But as an hour passed in the gate- where no internet could allow me to check in to my next flight out of Vienna, I felt my heartbeat slowly but surely increase. Once we're on the plan, we’re sitting on the runway and the captain comes over the phone to let us know that we might not be taking off for an hour. Or maybe ten minutes. No really, an hour OR ten minutes. (it ended up being about 25 min. on top of an hour and a half of deliberation)

So we touch down in Vienna at 5 to7 and I’m supposed to be departing (having claimed and rechecked my baggage) in 30 minutes. Right. Long story short I spent 3 hours silently accepting that I would not be getting to my destination in time to have a key to my room. Chatting with my father online, verging on tears, I finally thanked the Lord that I have such an amazing dad that could reserve a room for me in a hotel miles and miles away. I won’t go in to the fact that my taxi driver and I couldn’t understand each other, I walked into the glass of a revolving door to find that it was locked and the hotel receptionist took a whole lot of convincing to confirm that I had a reservation. I was settled in bed at 1:30am Graz time, trying to convince my heart rate that the travels were over.

Day one over. Day two started with another taxi ride accross Graz to the Studentheim, where all the AIMS participants are staying. I found Natalie, practicing in the hall practice room and Emma joined us there. (Both Natalie and Emma study at Mason- I can't tell you the excitement of all three of us getting into the opera program.) Now that I'm settled, I am finding a hundred things to do between the German lessons, practicing, voice study and performances. So I'm going to get to it!

Prayers, please. Goodness knows I said enough prayers for an entire herd of cows to travel safely across the Atlantic today. Thank you, Dad.