Bolcom & Morris

A few weeks ago, I had the honor and privilege of attending both a master class and a recital given by mezzo-soprano Joan Morris and her composer/pianist husband, William Bolcom. I have been a fan of Bolcom & Morris for a long time, dating back to my discovery of Mr. Bolcom's first two volumes of Cabaret Songs back in the early 1990s, when I performed them on the In Series at Mt. Vernon College as part of a quartet. (That was an interesting "3Bs" program - usually the "3Bs" are Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, but in this case, it was Bizet, Brahms and Bolcom. I got to sing the Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes and the Bolcom songs, both of which were staged. But I digress.)

Besides performing Mr. Bolcom's compositions, Bolcom & Morris are known for their recordings of turn-of-the-century (20th) songs and works from the Great American Songbook. These pieces were a large portion of the concert they performed at Howard Community College on March 1. They also did pieces from the Cabaret Songs and a few pieces by those great art song composers, Leiber & Stoller. (Seriously, the guys who wrote "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Hound Dog" wrote these fantastic pieces. But more about that in a moment.)

Ms. Morris is a true artist in her delivery of the American songbook. Her performance was nuanced and authentic, with unique interpretations of the material that drew in her audience. Mr. Bolcom balanced her at the piano, playing with bravado or intimacy as the songs required. In the hands of lesser artists, a lot of the material could have been just a bunch of old songs, possibly perceived as corny by some people. This was not the case in this performance.

While I did not attend Mr. Bolcom's piano master class the previous evening, I did attend their joint vocal master class in the afternoon. As giving as they are as performing artists, they were equally so as teaching artists. Each singer was given their full attention and appreciation, and Ms. Morris was particularly adept at finding the right trigger to bring out a deeper understanding of the text for some of the singers.

After the master class, I went up to them to introduce myself and told them that I had discovered a bootleg cassette of theirs via a friend years ago, and that I had played it so often that it broke. These were the early days of the internet for me, and I really wanted to find out who wrote these songs, and since I knew that they taught at the University of Michigan, I checked out the website to see if I could find their contact info. I then wrote to Ms. Morris, and was surprised when I got a response from Mr. Bolcom telling me that his wife was on vacation, and that the songs were by Leiber & Stoller, and that I should write to them and tell them that Bill Bolcom said it was okay for me to have them. And then he gave me their address and fax number.

So I did just that and didn't hear anything back for a couple of months. And then, when I had forgotten about it completely, a package came in the mail with photocopies of hand-written music and a note from their secretary apologizing for the delay, but that Mr. Stoller (or Leiber - I can't remember which) had been out of the country and she had to wait for him to come back to get his permission.

The song that I was particularly anxious to have was a piece called "Humphrey Bogart," which is the only one of the packet that I've performed so far. I told Mr. Bolcom and Ms. Morris that the recording of that song gave me the idea for my cabaret show about movies and movie stars (that and Christopher Berg's "Poem," which begins with the line "Lana Turner has collapsed"). As a result, I had the beginnings of the show "Oh, to be a movie star!", which Ryan Cappleman and I performed together in Milwaukee as the inaugural show of our duo, MezzoPiano.

I thanked them for that and for all the wonderful music they have introduced or re-introduced in their 40+ year career. I'm hoping to be in touch with them and ... maybe make a road trip to Ann Arbor to coach with them?  

New Year, New Directions, and Keep Using Moisturizer

Of course, the term New Directions reminds me of Glee, and also of what I can only imagine was an intentional double-entendre. But I feel as though I'm taking some steps to do things differently.

First of all, I've decided that, for now, I'm not going to focus on developing my private studio. I'll take on students if they call and I can make it work. I'll build up my studio at Howard Community College and teach primarily during the day. But I don't want to be in the place I was in Milwaukee, where I had so many students that I didn't make time to practice, seek performing opportunities, and put myself out there to perform.

(The cynical part of me says, "It's not like anyone was coming to hear you sing anyway, even when you did." And that's true. But that is bitter, and I'm trying to put that behind me. So this is the last time I complain about that.)

So I recharged myself personally and professionally this past few weeks. I went to Jamaica a week, which was my personal recharge. And before that, I recharged myself professionally by going to NYC for the NATS/NOA Joint Workshop at the Roosevelt Hotel. I sang in a master class on belt (which I'll write about later), attended fantastic master classes by Andrew Lippa and John Bucchino, both of whom I spoke to (and I have Bucchino's card and might go up and coach his songs with him), and went to terrific sessions on finding the truth in your interpretations in auditions and performances.

I'd like to write a bit about the last part, in particular regarding two sessions on the final day.

One was taught by Stephen Wadsworth, who is a well-respected opera director and teaches advanced acting techniques at Juilliard. He was also the Skylight's co-artistic director in the late 80s/early 90s - right after I left Milwaukee the first time, but we'd met numerous times and I'd sung for him. In fact, he remembered my face (which means my moisturizer must be working, because it had been 25 years since I saw him last!) when I spoke to him after his session.

His focus was on boiling down your material - musical theater song, aria or monologue - to a single sentence that had a universal message.

When I returned from NYC, I had an audition for Washington National Opera. I prepared two arias, one of which was "Seguidilla" from Carmen. So this was how I approached the aria, by creating this sentence:

"This is a person who wants freedom from an authority figure, and will use charm to manipulate that figure into giving it to her."

Then I translated that to:

"I am a person who wants freedom from an authority figure (Don Jose), and I will use my charm to manipulate him into giving it to me."

Later that day, I saw Nicholas Muni, another well-respected director at the head of the opera department at Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He spoke of the 5 magic questions that needed to be asked when preparing an aria. So I applied these to Seguidilla as well:

FIVE MAGIC QUESTIONS
1. What do I need/want at this moment (Goal)? My way and freedom. Maybe some fun.

2. What course of action would give me the best chance of obtaining it at this moment (Action)? Being sexy and teasing, making my jailer think it'd be worth his while to let me go.

3. What is the obstacle (Obstacle)? Don José, my jailer

4. What must I do to transform the obstacle (Tactic)?  Seduce him. Let him know how much fun we could have together if he not only let me go, but came with me.

5. What are the positives/negatives of success/failure (Stakes)?
Positives/success: Get my freedom, have sex
Negatives/failure: Stay in jail, be bored, no sex

I also applied this to "Voce di donna" from La Gioconda, my other audition aria. I worked on the Seguidilla more because that's what I intended to offer them.

And of course, they didn't ask for that one. But I still felt like I was more prepared and comfortable than I'd been in a long time. And rather than thinking of it as an experience where I'd be judged, I thought of it as a performance opportunity (another thing that Muni encouraged the participants to consider).

And Stephen Gathman of the WNO remembered me, even though I hadn't sung for him since 1996, when he was an assistant chorusmaster.

Yay for recharging my energies and yay for moisturizer!

A summer with no to-do list

I realized that it's been awhile since I did a to-do list. And then I checked my online to-do list and realized that it's been two months to the day. 

This is not like me. I have always been an obsessive list-maker. Shopping lists, to do lists, bills to pay, bucket lists - it's who I am. How on earth can I get anything done without one?

Well, I didn't really get much done. In part because the wrist tendonitis that plagued me from mid-April to early August, and was especially bad after the move was completed, didn't allow me to do very much. I couldn't really do any yard work, I couldn't do a lot of unpacking and organizing (crumpling up paper hurt), and it even hurt to write.

And I didn't really have that much to do - I had two students at Howard Community College, both on Wednesdays. They were pretty low-maintenance, so it wasn't like I had to do a lot of prep work.

I did a lot of traveling - I went to New York three out of the five weekends of June; the first weekend, up to Manhattan to see my dear friend Sorab Wadia on his closing weekend of Bunty Berman Presents off-Broadway and to see my I-wish-he-were-my-dear-friend Alan Cumming in his tour de force performance of Macbeth on Broadway. The second and third weekends of June I spent in Baltimore, enjoying the weirdness that is HonFest in Hampden on the 8th and spending my birthday (the 15th) with my BFF Carrie Widegren at the Penn-Mar Irish Festival (skip it) and just hanging out.

The following weekend Bill and I celebrated our tenth anniversary in the Finger Lakes in upstate New York, where we'd spent our honeymoon. We stayed in the same B&B and in the same room and drank some of the same wines - which we didn't like as much as we did ten years ago. Our palates have changed, I guess.

And then the final weekend of June, I went up to NYC on my own and saw my wonderful friend/former student/cabaret partner/studio pianist Ryan Cappleman and other friends in the off-Broadway production of Waiting: A Song Cycle. 

I felt really unproductive this summer, but I wasn't, all told. I just wasn't obsessing over everything that needed to be done. I think I needed that time to collect my energies to prepare for my new life. 

And now that I'm here - the house is sold, I have a job, and I have a studio to market - I'll be returning to my list-making ways, but hopefully allowing enough time for spontaneity and life to creep in.

Chrissie has REALLY left the building (for good)

Last weekend I was back in Milwaukee, emptying out the house, which is now occupied by the new owners. Technically, we still own the house - they're renting from us till closing.

While I was there, I got to see a couple of performances (my husband said, "Are you there to bring stuff back or are you just going to see shows?" I said, "Both").

Friday: Oliver! at UW-Waukesha, choreographed by and starring the wonderful Ryan Cappleman. I don't really like the show, or at least, I haven't liked the show in the past. Ryan did a great job choreographing the show and he was a fantastic Fagin. His "Reviewing the Situation" had so many layers I hadn't thought of. His characterization was really unique - I saw a bit of Gollum in it (in a good way). It was a great show, overall (although I still think that Bill Sykes is a character that has no redeeming qualities and I don't understand why everyone puts up with his crap).

Saturday: Les Miserables, Greendale Community Theater. This was a revelation. I've only seen Les Mis done by high schools (MUHS, Tosa East & Pius) and the movie. I wasn't sure what the full show was actually like. This was an amazing and wholly professional production that I think Skylight is going to have to live up to when they do it in the fall. Studio representation included Lissa DeGuzman as Eponine, who was lovely. She sang and portrayed the role beautifully - flirtatious, noble, heartbreaking and courageous. Kat Geertsen was also a terrific addition to the ensemble. Friends of mine in the production were the fabulous Doug Clemons as Enjoiras, Robby McGhee as Thenardier, and Mara McGhee in the ensemble. I would've gladly seen the show again before I left and I kind of wish I did because on -

Sunday: I saw Don Giovanni, presented by East Side Chamber Players in the Pius XI HS Black Box Theater.

The DG was good, as was the Leporello. All the other singers sang pretty well. But -

I wish I'd seen Les Mis a second time instead. Although DG was free. Free is good.

And on Monday, I cleaned up, packed up and took myself out to dinner at Café Hollander to use their free WiFi.

Tuesday - got up early, went for a run and then loaded up the poor damaged MINI and hit the road. And 15.5 hours later (!!!), I arrived at home (there was a lot of construction).

I miss all my students terribly. And I hope you will all keep in touch. I may come back to town time to time and give a workshop or two. If I do, I will let you know. Please keep following the studio page and my blog to see what words of wisdom and silliness I have to impart. :D

I will survive (I did survive)....

Once I was afraid, I was petrified....

And that once was this past Thursday at about 3:10pm EDT, somewhere in Indiana. As I was traveling westbound on I70, I suddenly became aware of a red and white panel looming at my driver's side. It was a CVS truck who was changing lanes on top of my MINI Cooper. I honked... I think. I might just have screamed obscenities, I'm not sure which. Whatever it was, it caught the driver's attention in time for him to avoid crushing me, but he did make contact with my driver's side door, and more seriously, caught his wheel into my wheel well, tore off the cover, and left a big wheel imprint on my car with a HOLE in the body.

I'm okay. I managed to get control of my car and not hit the guardrail or go over the bridge. I didn't start crying till later, when traffic went down to one lane and I was crawling along at 3 miles per hour with a semi in front and in back. Then I got hysterical. And fortunately, the driver behind me saw that and backed off.

It was a very bad day.  I’ve heard of “wait for the bus,” but this is ridiculous. (Somatic Voicework™the LoVetri Method inside joke)

But I, remarkably, survived. And will live to sing another day, and teach another day, and be grateful another day.

And I hope all you find something or someone to be grateful for.

Seminar Summary and Doing Better

Yesterday I attended Jeannie LoVetri's seminar. It was the closing event at the 2013 Contemporary Commercial Music Institute Somatic Voicework™ the LoVetri Method program at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia.

Since I am certified in all 3 levels of the program, I attended a post-certification program on Speaking and Singing with the Same Voice, taught by Joan Melton. I've already discussed how wonderful this was. I had not attended Jeannie's seminar before, and decided to do it this year - honestly, for political/networking reasons. And as the final day of the post-certification program ended, I was pretty much ready to go home and was regretting having signed up for another day's work.

The seminar's direction was decided by each participant. Jeannie asked, "What do you want to know?" and we all made our requests. Some people wanted to be warmed up by Jeannie, some wanted to discuss working on the high belt mix, some wanted to know how much chest was too much, one person wanted to know how to teach a rock scream, and I wanted to see SVW™ principles implemented with male voices. We did all these things, and I gained tons from it.

But we started out with a brief lecture by Jeannie and this is what I took away from it (somewhat paraphrased):

Like 12-step, it’s one day at a time. There are some days that you don’t do it (practice, sing, exercise, stay sober/straight), and you acknowledge that you didn’t do it and you try to do better. It’s a reflection on the state of your life, not your voice. You don’t have a bad voice - you’re just not working on it. 

So I acknowledge that after about 2 months of eating pretty healthfully and staying away from fast food, I didn't do it last night (curse you, Wendy's). And I will try to do better.

And my house and studio are not fully functional yet. I acknowledge that I have to spend some time in getting it to where it needs to be so that I can teach here in the fall. And I will try to do better.

And I have a beautiful voice and I haven't been working on it. And I will try to do better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjdipLGUl00

Day 3 - It was a SCREAM! (Quite literally)

• Session III Techniques for extended voice use, phrasing for speaking and
  singing, and opportunities for individual performance coaching

In the morning, we started out with yoga poses and making sounds. It was terrific. Then we spent some time laughing, crying, calling and screaming. All of which were done to find the physical response to the different sounds and to find healthy ways to do things that you have to do on stage when you need to. There's not always time to go into Method Acting to conjure up the right mood for a good laugh, a good cry, or screaming your brains out. You have to know how to do it when the director asks for it and when the role calls for it. And be able to repeat it as needed.

In the afternoon, we discussed the prior day's master class with Broadway music director David Chase. Joan gave us a comprehensive list of things we (and our students) need to know:

Rules for auditions:

1. Be not only on time, but a little ahead of time. CALL if you’ll even be two minutes late! Respect one another’s time. The theater is a team. Communication and promptness is essential.
2. Never go into a rehearsal (or any official activity) with gum in your mouth. 
3. The way you take notes is important. Don’t make excuses. Take responsibility.
4. Respect the articulation required for different styles. Musical theater requires greater attention to consonants. 
5. Do your research - who is your character singing to? Where is he/she from?
6. Be easy to get along with.
7. The decision is often made within the first 30 seconds of entering the room BEFORE YOU EVEN SING. How you enter the room, look at the pianist, look at the panel, relate to the pianist... you can blow it before you even sing.
8. How you react to suggestions in an audition plays a large part in whether or not you will get cast.
9. Have your slate prepared: “I am X and I’ll be singing Y.” Be flexible enough to go with the format established by the house/panel for whom you are singing.

Comments

1. Gestures - they must seem organic and natural (again, depending on the style - there may be some stylistic stock gestures). Some people had the same gesture happening over and over and over.... and it meant nothing.
2. Movement should not be done for its own stake. Emotion is a response to action. 
3. Tell a story. An actor needs to want something. What do you want??? And make it immediate and specific.
4. It’s not what the actor feels; it’s what the audience feels as a result of what the actor does.
5. Don’t settle into the character too quickly. Find the flexibility to be able to go with what the moment brings. (Or what they ask for - “Night and Day” as a serial killer? OK!*)
6. Phrasing - find the operative words and phrases
7. Cuts didn’t show anything. There should be a beginning, a middle and an end. 
8. Commit to what you’re saying.The words can’t be a vehicle for your great sound. It has to be more than just that.
9. The actor who listens on stage is the most interesting actor on stage. Not necessarily the one who is speaking.

I am so glad I did this post-certification workshop and Jeanie's seminar the next day (today) - which I'll write about tomorrow.

*David Chase DID ask a young man singing "Night and Day" to try it as a serial killer. It was weird - but it was effective. When the guy sang it straight the first time, it was not particularly impressive. When he sang it the second time, it had an edge to it - and I suddenly visualized him as Jud in Oklahoma! Now, I can't recommend someone should go in with that song in that style - but it might be an interesting exercise when you're working through various interpretations!