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!

Day 2 - Talkin' Shakespeare

So today's class covered:

• Session II New information and experiential work connecting the technical trainings of actors, singers and dancers

Specifically, we began the day with Ashtanga-based yoga with sound. 

THAT WAS SO COOL. 

I have done yoga before, including a particularly annoying experience with Bikram yoga (there was a Groupon, and I don't mind heat) where the teacher made me feel totally uncomfortable because certain physical limitations (knees) kept me from being able to reach back and touch my heels while leaning backwards. I had pretty much decided that I simply couldn't do and didn't enjoy yoga.

Till today. As I mentioned yesterday, the experience of moving while making random sounds was incredibly liberating vocally. Sopranos who have never been comfortable in their lower registers suddenly found Mother Earth. Mezzos who have had issues getting through the upper passaggio (that would include me) were able to access whistle register pitches with no limitation. 

Today I experienced ease getting into poses that have been impossible for me before (although I still cannot reach my heels, but it didn't matter). Doing specific yoga poses while yelping and whooping and whimpering like a puppy felt organic in all aspects.

After our morning break, we watched a DVD of scientific research done by Dr. Melton showing the activation of the abdominal muscles in a variety of classical and non-classical styles. Again, IT WAS SO COOL. 

And in the afternoon, Dr. Melton passed out three Shakespearean sonnets and we discussed iambic pentameter, standard American practice for performing Shakespeare, and phrasing. Like yesterday, we stood in a circle and read the sonnets, although this time not playing and deconstructing the text, but rather going for the appropriate diction, shaping of the phrases, and using the language to convey the humanity of the characters.

When my love swears she is made of truth,

I do believe her, though I know she lies,

That she might think me some untutored youth

Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.

Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,

Although she knows my days are past the best,

Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue;

On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed.

But wherefore says she not she is unjust?

And wherefore say not I that I am old?

O love's best habit is in seeming trust,

And age in love loves not t'have years told;

    Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,

    And in our faults by lies we flattered be.

-- Sonnet #138, William Shakespeare

(Did I mention that it was SO COOL?)

Vocal Play and Deconstructing

Today was day 1 of my first post-certification course after taking Level III of Somatic Voicework™ the LoVetri Method in 2011. The course I chose to take was SPEAKING AND SINGING WITH THE SAME VOICE, taught by Joan Melton. Joan is a powerhouse - she is a pianist, a composer, a vocal coach, a voice scientist, an author, and an all-around force of nature. Everyone who has taken her course has raved about it, so I decided that I was going to do it. Even though I can ill afford it right now, with only two students through the end of July and my private studio not starting up till after Labor Day, I decided I could ill afford NOT to do it.

It's a three day workshop, and this is what we covered today.

• Session I Foundational aspects of technique: Alignment, Breath Management, Range, Resonance, Articulation, and Connection, or the Acting dimension, as outlined in One Voice (Waveland 2012)

We launched right in to making sounds and movements coordinate. These were not necessarily pretty sounds or pretty movements - they just were. They were functional exercises to tap into how the breath works, how to explore range, how to find where sounds live in your mouth (a passion of mine), and feeling how those are manifested in the body. 

In the afternoon, we did an exercise that I found eye-opening. We took a poem and all of us were asked to walk around and speak the poem, all simultaneously, while walking around and exploring the important words and stresses in the poem. Then we came back and got in a circle. Each person took two lines of the poem and read them, exploring ways of interpreting the words and the text in a manner that didn't necessarily have to be "poetic" or even related to what the person before you had done. After that, we did it again, but this time with just one line.

We took words and deconstructed them, making sounds on each phoneme and physicalizing them, and then putting them together as a word, not necessarily interpreting the word but reveling in its individual sounds.

And it made me re-think a project I did in 2000. I sang on a program called Variety 2000: The Soul Turned Inside Out. Three hours of expressionism and surrealism. It included film, instrumental music, theater, vocal music, and adult puppet theater (!!!). The piece I sang was Yehuda Yannay's "Incantations," with a text by W.H. Auden.

The poem, from his collection The Age of Anxiety, was:

Lights are moving

on domed hills

Where little monks 

Get up in the dark.

Though wild volcanoes

Growl in their sleep

at a green world 

Inside their cloisters,

They sit, translating

A vision into

The vulgar lingo

Of armed cities

Where brides arrive

Through great doors

And robbers' bones

Dangle from gallows.

Yannay had completely deconstructed the text. The first line was set as follows (approximating here):

"Lights ... a ... a a a a a aaaaa .... aare ....mooooooooooooooooo .... ooo.... ooo ... ving" (interspersed with atonal punctuation from the piano). The remainder of the first stanza was set similarly.

The 2nd and 3rd stanzas were completely deconstructed and put into boxes on a page. Wherever your eye fell, that's what you sang. Sometimes it was with your hand over your mouth, or humming in the middle of a syllable, or yelling or whispering, or just being silent (the pianist had a similar page, requiring her to play inside the piano with mallets, fingers, slamming the keys). This is referred to as aleatory or chance music.

And then the final stanza was set similarly to the first. 

I got great reviews for this piece! (I was paid pretty well for it, too.) But I did not like the piece. I did not like that the poem had been shredded and the text serving Yannay's composition, rather than his composing serving the text. It was not something I had ever experienced, and until today, not something that I ever wanted to re-experience.

But now I want to go back and play with it. And find a way of interpreting it that might be personally rewarding for me (and hopefully an audience) instead of just fiscally and professionally rewarding. I'll need to find a pianist who wants to deconstruct and play with me as well (which I don't think will be a problem).

If you'd like to see what we did today, here's a video of Joan Melton in action in a similar workshop at the University of Michigan in 2010. 

I'll cover Day 2 tomorrow!