I went last night to a recital my voice teacher was giving in Cambridge. She sang on a few of the sets, there were some duets with another singer, piano solos, other instrumental solos - a really nice variety of styles of music and of composers.
Most singers want to sing all over the world. Isn't that part of the deal? We work hard, try to look good, network, and are rewarded by a chance to see the world, sing in houses all over the place, meet exciting people, wear beautiful dresses (and if we are lucky make scads of money).
I sang a memorial service for a friend of mine who passed away about a month ago. There were more than 50 of us singing, and a number of instrumentalists, all commemorating her with beautiful music. That experience, and the recital last night, reminded me what the goal really is: to be someone with whom other people want to make music.
We all want the career. But I also want to know that I have people in my life with whom I can collaborate. When someone knows you inside and out there can be something very mystical and intimate about musical collaboration. I remember the first time I recognized the power of true ensemble work (7th grade band, believe it or not), that at some point we stop being ourselves and turn into something greater. The magic can happen with strangers, but when it is with the people you love it makes it so much more powerful.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Why do we live in New England, again?
Someone asked that question on the news this morning, in reference to the latest in this winter's parade of snowstorms. As much as I hate the cold and the mess of snow, I can answer that question everytime I read about an earthquake or tsunami or wildfire. If all we have to deal with here is some snow, I'll take it.
That said, this winter has been brutal. One of the intersections about 2 blocks from my apartment has a snow bank that is literally 12 feet out in the road. I wasn't sure I would make it up the hill from my slushy parking spot tonight because the hill was steep and starting to ice over.
I didn't have a good parking spot saved because my car had a sleepover with my mechanic last night. I took it in for the safety inspection yesterday afternoon and was told that my front brakes were too worn to pass inspection. He put my rejection sticker in the window and I drove right over to my mechanic and left the car there overnight.
He called me this morning all in a rage that I had even gone to Mike's for my inspection. "Don't even let that guy put air in your tires!" he said. "Don't leave him alone with your car!" But he fixed the brakes and replaced a few bulbs and called me around noon to say it was ready.
I walked through the snow over to his shop, and I remembered why snow can be thrilling. It was all fresh on the ground, and until I got down by the water it was falling softly and the wind was light. It's tempting to hang out inside during the snow, but going out I was reminded how amazingly white it is. In the city it turns colors of exhaust and smog before you know it, but in the few moments before that happens it is the white by which all other whites are judged. It's soft and beautiful. This afternoon I remembered what snow tastes like, and remembered living somewhere where the snow could be eaten. Even though we get used to it, snow is special every year. This is our seasonal crisis - not wildfires or floods or volcanic ash. It's inconvenient and every year we wait for this to end, but it's darn beautiful, as crises go.
That said, this winter has been brutal. One of the intersections about 2 blocks from my apartment has a snow bank that is literally 12 feet out in the road. I wasn't sure I would make it up the hill from my slushy parking spot tonight because the hill was steep and starting to ice over.
I didn't have a good parking spot saved because my car had a sleepover with my mechanic last night. I took it in for the safety inspection yesterday afternoon and was told that my front brakes were too worn to pass inspection. He put my rejection sticker in the window and I drove right over to my mechanic and left the car there overnight.
He called me this morning all in a rage that I had even gone to Mike's for my inspection. "Don't even let that guy put air in your tires!" he said. "Don't leave him alone with your car!" But he fixed the brakes and replaced a few bulbs and called me around noon to say it was ready.
I walked through the snow over to his shop, and I remembered why snow can be thrilling. It was all fresh on the ground, and until I got down by the water it was falling softly and the wind was light. It's tempting to hang out inside during the snow, but going out I was reminded how amazingly white it is. In the city it turns colors of exhaust and smog before you know it, but in the few moments before that happens it is the white by which all other whites are judged. It's soft and beautiful. This afternoon I remembered what snow tastes like, and remembered living somewhere where the snow could be eaten. Even though we get used to it, snow is special every year. This is our seasonal crisis - not wildfires or floods or volcanic ash. It's inconvenient and every year we wait for this to end, but it's darn beautiful, as crises go.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
The speeches are piling up, and I am in the weeds.
Here's some thoughts, more abbreviated than I had hoped, on the three speeches this week.
State of the City: Savvy self-promotion. Menino mentioned a lot of ways that the city got out in front of the economic crisis, working to reduce foreclosures and strengthen neighborhoods. He also announced that for the first time in decades Boston's population is over...600,000! We have got to be the smallest big city in the world. There's a real blessing in that, because the city government can focus on changing things block by block, school by school. They don't have as big a big picture. It's nice to live in a city where a major speech focuses on helping those who are struggling, rather than punishing them.
State of the State: If reviewing a Menino address must by definition focus on content, Patrick's speeches allow us to savor his style. Every time I hear him speak I get goosebumps. The speech was short because Bush's was coming up, but was hopeful and had a handful of decent reform points. It takes a brave man to give a shout out to CORI reform.
Bush's farewell address: Self-aggrandizing, which was to be expected. His bit about good and evil in the world gave me goosebumps too, but not in a good way, in a scary way. What about the line between good and evil running through every human heart? Clearly not. He really thinks that American force was wholly in the right. Just because the actions against us on 9/11 were evil do not make our actions good. I also think the ideology of the Bush Doctrine is complete and total hogwash, which is why I have had trouble listening to any administration speeches on foreign policy.
In other news, I have had stomach trouble all week. I came up with a few guesses why this might be occuring:
1. I have stomach cancer
2. My pharmacist is poisoning my reflux meds
3. I have esophageal cancer
4. I have an ulcer
5. I have colon cancer
6. I am getting up in the night and eating sharp things in my sleep.
7. I have brain cancer that is making me THINK my stomach hurts.
State of the City: Savvy self-promotion. Menino mentioned a lot of ways that the city got out in front of the economic crisis, working to reduce foreclosures and strengthen neighborhoods. He also announced that for the first time in decades Boston's population is over...600,000! We have got to be the smallest big city in the world. There's a real blessing in that, because the city government can focus on changing things block by block, school by school. They don't have as big a big picture. It's nice to live in a city where a major speech focuses on helping those who are struggling, rather than punishing them.
State of the State: If reviewing a Menino address must by definition focus on content, Patrick's speeches allow us to savor his style. Every time I hear him speak I get goosebumps. The speech was short because Bush's was coming up, but was hopeful and had a handful of decent reform points. It takes a brave man to give a shout out to CORI reform.
Bush's farewell address: Self-aggrandizing, which was to be expected. His bit about good and evil in the world gave me goosebumps too, but not in a good way, in a scary way. What about the line between good and evil running through every human heart? Clearly not. He really thinks that American force was wholly in the right. Just because the actions against us on 9/11 were evil do not make our actions good. I also think the ideology of the Bush Doctrine is complete and total hogwash, which is why I have had trouble listening to any administration speeches on foreign policy.
In other news, I have had stomach trouble all week. I came up with a few guesses why this might be occuring:
1. I have stomach cancer
2. My pharmacist is poisoning my reflux meds
3. I have esophageal cancer
4. I have an ulcer
5. I have colon cancer
6. I am getting up in the night and eating sharp things in my sleep.
7. I have brain cancer that is making me THINK my stomach hurts.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
My double life, part 2
I wish I could say that my posting hiatus is due to making good on my resolution, and that I have been so busy seeing friends that I haven't posted, but that is not the case.
In about ten days my two year term as President of BOC ends, and I have been spending a lot of time working on the transition. I was asked to stay on the Leadership Team as the Public Relations Chair, and PR preparations for our upcoming show (Alcina, February 12-15!) have had me very busy.
My email inbox is bustling with emails about ticket sales, coupon codes, press releases, program ads, etc. Amid the flood of emails this morning I found one that made me sigh a little bit with longing: Call for Submissions: Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue.
Yes, I am odd for being so moved by that. But occasionally I think about what my life would be like if I didn't sing, if I hadn't had to choose a lifestyle that gives me the freedom to take gigs and lessons and be a part of the artistic culture. I would probably have a PhD in Theology, maybe Scripture in particular. I would have spent years in the library: writing, researching, learning. I love the world of academia, and I surely still have a foot there, but there are a lot of 'worlds' I dabble in, and I'm running out of feet.
I know that lifestyle would be just as taxing as any other, but one thing that makes it really attractive: You don't have to exhaust yourself tiptoeing around the feelings of oversensitive sopranos when it's just you and the New Testament Abstracts.
My third love, besides theology and singing: Municipal government. Commentary on the State of the City to follow!
In about ten days my two year term as President of BOC ends, and I have been spending a lot of time working on the transition. I was asked to stay on the Leadership Team as the Public Relations Chair, and PR preparations for our upcoming show (Alcina, February 12-15!) have had me very busy.
My email inbox is bustling with emails about ticket sales, coupon codes, press releases, program ads, etc. Amid the flood of emails this morning I found one that made me sigh a little bit with longing: Call for Submissions: Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue.
Yes, I am odd for being so moved by that. But occasionally I think about what my life would be like if I didn't sing, if I hadn't had to choose a lifestyle that gives me the freedom to take gigs and lessons and be a part of the artistic culture. I would probably have a PhD in Theology, maybe Scripture in particular. I would have spent years in the library: writing, researching, learning. I love the world of academia, and I surely still have a foot there, but there are a lot of 'worlds' I dabble in, and I'm running out of feet.
I know that lifestyle would be just as taxing as any other, but one thing that makes it really attractive: You don't have to exhaust yourself tiptoeing around the feelings of oversensitive sopranos when it's just you and the New Testament Abstracts.
My third love, besides theology and singing: Municipal government. Commentary on the State of the City to follow!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
My only resolution
I only made one resolution for 2009, and that is to see my friends more often. There are a number of wonderful people I know in the city and I let myself get so busy and frazzled that I rarely see most of them. If you want to be added to my social calendar, just let me know!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
One statistic that was missing from my New Year's Day post was 2008 miles run: 529. That was with some long dry spells, so I am hoping this year will be even higher. I decided, against my better judgement, to run the New Bedford Half Marathon which was my first halffy in March of 2006. Since then all of my races have been in October, which is great because I can train during the summer when I have lots of time and the weather is lovely. This current plan means training all winter, which I kicked off last week.
The first week of training for me is always dismal. I seriously consider, every time, whether or not I am actually incapable of running. Today I did 6.25 outside and it was surprisingly un-miserable.
The first week of training for me is always dismal. I seriously consider, every time, whether or not I am actually incapable of running. Today I did 6.25 outside and it was surprisingly un-miserable.
Friday, January 2, 2009
TV Funhouse
If any of you have ever seen the ads for the Converter Box Coupons and thought “who is the person that needs one of those?”, I have your answer: I am the person who needs one of those. When I first moved into my apartment I didn’t have a television, but after a few months I decided that a home without TV, phone, or internet was too ascetic even for me, and I took a freebie set from a friend who had bought this television before our freshmen year of college. You do the math. The set is deeper than it is wide.
After today, however, I can say that I was the person who needed a converter box. My coupon came in the mail and I headed over to Target to buy one. There have been a bunch of things I needed so I went for broke today, buying belts and trash bags and a few pieces of furniture. I had been agonizing over a TV table (my set had been sitting on an overturned crate for more than 2 years) so I bought one today from Target’s “furniture in a box” line. I got it off the top shelf into the cart and then shimmied it from the cart into the back of my car.
Luckily I hit a little traffic on the way home, so I had plenty of time to figure out how I was going to get this box out of the back of the Jeep and into my apartment. With snow on the ground. And without a parking space near the house.
I ran through my mental list of everything I own that is on wheels. The box wouldn’t fit in any of my wheeled luggage, I don’t have a trash can on wheels, the bike wouldn’t work for obvious reasons. I don’t own a handtruck, which is always a great disappointment to me. By the time I had double parked on a wide street near the apartment, I realized I only had one choice: open the box in the back of the Jeep and carry everything in piece by piece.
I neatly opened one end of the box in order to slide components out one at a time. I removed the Styrofoam at the end of the package which immediately crumbled into a thousand pieces all over the car. Through the disintegrating foam I saw that everything in the box was bound together. I had to flip the box over and open it the long way, then slide the bindings off (without any sort of blade – something else that I should keep in the car).
Around this time one of my upstairs neighbors came out of the apartment. If he had offered to help at this point it would have been fruitless, with bits of TV table scattered all over the car, and my ridiculous ideas manifested right alongside them. I was way past “hey can I give you a hand with that” so I buried my head in the backseat of the car until he and his girlfriend walked by.
The tendency to get really creative in hopes of doing things on my own is one that has obvious familial roots. I was thinking today about a few of our odder do-it-yourself projects (the most memorable of which involve a winch and the tree closest to the barn) and I realized that one of the many benefits of living way out in the woods is that no one can see how weird you are. When we pulled the dents out of the door of the Malibu and left it looking like it had been chewed up we at least had some privacy. Here in the city, when I decide to get all MacGyver on a box from Target there are dozens of people who can see me from their windows.
After a few trips I had everything in the house, so I found a parking spot and got down to work. I now have a TV stand and have all of my equipment hooked up. The table is a little big, but most grown-up furniture is in my dollhouse-sized apartment. Let me tell you: the converter box is amazing! I had forgotten what ABC looked like ever since I moved the bunny ears to the far side of the apartment, and now it comes in clear as a bell. All of the network stations do, and I also have one new station that hadn’t come in over analog: Worship Music Video. I can’t say I expect to watch a lot of Twila Paris videos on 68.4, but it seems more than coincidental that I would start receiving a sacred music TV station.
After today, however, I can say that I was the person who needed a converter box. My coupon came in the mail and I headed over to Target to buy one. There have been a bunch of things I needed so I went for broke today, buying belts and trash bags and a few pieces of furniture. I had been agonizing over a TV table (my set had been sitting on an overturned crate for more than 2 years) so I bought one today from Target’s “furniture in a box” line. I got it off the top shelf into the cart and then shimmied it from the cart into the back of my car.
Luckily I hit a little traffic on the way home, so I had plenty of time to figure out how I was going to get this box out of the back of the Jeep and into my apartment. With snow on the ground. And without a parking space near the house.
I ran through my mental list of everything I own that is on wheels. The box wouldn’t fit in any of my wheeled luggage, I don’t have a trash can on wheels, the bike wouldn’t work for obvious reasons. I don’t own a handtruck, which is always a great disappointment to me. By the time I had double parked on a wide street near the apartment, I realized I only had one choice: open the box in the back of the Jeep and carry everything in piece by piece.
I neatly opened one end of the box in order to slide components out one at a time. I removed the Styrofoam at the end of the package which immediately crumbled into a thousand pieces all over the car. Through the disintegrating foam I saw that everything in the box was bound together. I had to flip the box over and open it the long way, then slide the bindings off (without any sort of blade – something else that I should keep in the car).
Around this time one of my upstairs neighbors came out of the apartment. If he had offered to help at this point it would have been fruitless, with bits of TV table scattered all over the car, and my ridiculous ideas manifested right alongside them. I was way past “hey can I give you a hand with that” so I buried my head in the backseat of the car until he and his girlfriend walked by.
The tendency to get really creative in hopes of doing things on my own is one that has obvious familial roots. I was thinking today about a few of our odder do-it-yourself projects (the most memorable of which involve a winch and the tree closest to the barn) and I realized that one of the many benefits of living way out in the woods is that no one can see how weird you are. When we pulled the dents out of the door of the Malibu and left it looking like it had been chewed up we at least had some privacy. Here in the city, when I decide to get all MacGyver on a box from Target there are dozens of people who can see me from their windows.
After a few trips I had everything in the house, so I found a parking spot and got down to work. I now have a TV stand and have all of my equipment hooked up. The table is a little big, but most grown-up furniture is in my dollhouse-sized apartment. Let me tell you: the converter box is amazing! I had forgotten what ABC looked like ever since I moved the bunny ears to the far side of the apartment, and now it comes in clear as a bell. All of the network stations do, and I also have one new station that hadn’t come in over analog: Worship Music Video. I can’t say I expect to watch a lot of Twila Paris videos on 68.4, but it seems more than coincidental that I would start receiving a sacred music TV station.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
2008 by the numbers
I would love to write some eloquent wrap-up to my year, but recently realized that I am not 100% sure which things happened in 2008 and which were another year. I took a look back over my planner to see exactly what this young musician did with her year.
Roles learned: 4
Roles performed: 3
Requiems (requia?) sung: 2 (in the same day)
Auditions: 22
Auditions out of state: 4
Church gigs (as a singer): 76
Church gigs (as a conductor): 44
Rehearsals (as a singer): 79
Rehearsals (as a conductor): 55
Personal days off from work: 2
Blood donations: 1
Dentist appointments: 2
Voice therapy sessions: 8
Voice lessons: 21
Coachings: 14
Cosi fan tutte scenes: 2
Recordings: 2
Concertos learned: 1
Arias learned: 7
Miles driven for music-related events: 2000+
That's an adequate snapshot of my year - and I'm tired of counting things. To more music in 2009!
Roles learned: 4
Roles performed: 3
Requiems (requia?) sung: 2 (in the same day)
Auditions: 22
Auditions out of state: 4
Church gigs (as a singer): 76
Church gigs (as a conductor): 44
Rehearsals (as a singer): 79
Rehearsals (as a conductor): 55
Personal days off from work: 2
Blood donations: 1
Dentist appointments: 2
Voice therapy sessions: 8
Voice lessons: 21
Coachings: 14
Cosi fan tutte scenes: 2
Recordings: 2
Concertos learned: 1
Arias learned: 7
Miles driven for music-related events: 2000+
That's an adequate snapshot of my year - and I'm tired of counting things. To more music in 2009!
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