CLASSICS FOR A CAUSE!

Classics for a Cause 

Benefit Concert and Senior Recital

Alexa Weeks

Featuring the Ashley Hall Red Choir

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Church of the Holy Communion

218 Ashley Avenue

Charleston SC 29403

"The Audition"

Considering all the posts I have created regarding the imminent and ever terrifying "audition", I thought it appropriate to post this documentary. It is awesome! It delves right into the realities of auditioning for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. It's scary and exciting stuff! I loved it, and I  connected with the characters. Plus, the singing is amazing. I really loved how relatable some of the characters were. There were engaging in one of the most stressful and scary endeavors of their lives, yet, I easily related to them on a personal level. It's a full length documentary, but if you have time, try to watch and see what it's really like when the stakes are that high in the real wold of opera!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UO0zB77I5U

News!

Well, after all those auditions, I am very happy to say that I have been accepted everywhere! I was accepted to Eastman School of Music, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, Oberlin College and Conservatory, NYU Steinhardt, and Mannes. Now I have to re-evalutate the programs and teachers and make my decision. I know it will be a hard decision, but I am very blessed to have options! This part of my journey is almost over!

Singing for your Supper: What They Don't Teach in School about an Opera Career

I recently read Singing for your Supper: What They Don't Teach in School About an Opera Career. It was written by Dan Montez, a former opera singe and stage director. As the title suggests the book delves into the secrets and intricacies about a career in opera. From the voice itself or schooling to money, finances and lifestyle, this book reveals it all. It actually starts out with the more basic vocal details and builds to encompass things needed to learn a part, such as preparing a score as well as acting, eventually building to the business side as well as personal things such as how to make contacts,  lifestyle, etc. 

I will talk about the vocal side first. Something he says in his introduction is, "Your success in becoming a professional classical singer is based on your innate talent and natural singing voice than it will be on your personality, tenacity, desire and hard work."I have been saying this all along. As I have researched the singers who have become famous or professionals, of course they had beautiful natural talent, but how did they manifest to produce a beautiful career. He continues in his chapters to reiterate the importance of wanting it enough and being passionate enough to be able to work hard. Passion itself doesn't necessarily take you anywhere, but the passion can fuel the motivation for hard work and persistence, which can result beautifully and successfully. 

In Chapter 3 he talks about legato and vibrato techniques for singers. He opens with a question, "Is there a difference between vocal technique used in a choir and vocal technique used in opera singing?" The answer should be an obvious resounding yes, and any classical singer should know that. Of course in a choir everyone should blend. However, everyone's voice are not the same, so obviously some sort of modification is being placed on the voice to blend with one's neighbor, which is the exact opposite of what should be done by a solo singer. Usually, solo singers aren't advised to spend heavy amounts of time in choirs. However, Montez suggests that blending is not the worse thing for a solo singer to do to his or her voice in a choir. Rather, he says that the changing of vibrato and legato techniques for choirs is the most detrimental to an aspiring solo singer. 

In regards to vibrato, voice oscillations on a pitch, he says that one of the biggest misconceptions by young singers is that they are stuck with the vibrato they have. Meaning they are stuck with the rate at which their voice oscillates on a pitch as well as the amplitude. However, he suggests that it is completely controllable, and even in the last 50 years, after the "Golden Age," we have learned more about control of vibrato. It will take many hours and intense focus, but one can learn to control one's vibrato, and it is all in the breathing, which is all in the diaphragm. About a year ago, my voice was getting a little wobbly and heavy, at least for someone my age, and the cause was simply a lack of proper breathing before singing a phrase. As long as my breathing is healthy and under control, I no longer have even a hint of a wobble. He states that vibrato control is essential for interpretation of music. One can have a huge effect on a phrase by adjusting one's vibrato. 

In Chapter 4 he talked about vocal registration, which I found very interesting. He outlined that different "schools of teaching" (ie: italian, german, french, etc.) all have different ways of acknowledging and dealing with vocal registrations. Some do not even recognize the existence of vocal registrations, the breaks in one's voice. Montez concludes that the Italian school has the most natural and efficient way of dealing with register breaks: by almost letting them be obvious. They don't modify vowels like the German school or increasing laryngal spacing, they just let the singer cleanly sing through the break. As a singer, I naturally know where my voice changes and breaks. The voice is divided into three, the middle one or passageway being the "passagio." The passagio usually starts around C or D and ends around F or G. 

Vocal registration brought him to another important point: the different classifications of singers. An example is a dramatic tenor versus a lyric tenor. They both have the same range, but a lyric tenor has a warmer more graceful sound with a strong but not heavy timbre. A dramatic tenor on the other hand has an emotive, powerful, dramatic and heroic sound. Montez points out that often people receive roles because of the type of voice they have. If everything is the same in interpretation, range, finesse, and stamina, sometimes a lyric tenor will be chosen for a song that fits a lyric voice, and sometimes a dramatic tenor will be chosen for a song that requires a dramatic voice. Those are things the singer itself has no control over. There are many roles for all types of singers, and any kind of singer can be successful. Sometimes it's hard to recognize though that some things are not under your own control. 

This is just what the first part of the book includes, I will be post again soon about other aspects outlined in the book!

Cecilia Bartoli

             

             I read the book, Cinderella & Company by Manuela Hoelterhoff, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for the Wall Street Journal. It is about the professional career and life of Cecilia Bartoli as well as other opera characters including Pavarotti. One reason I chose to read this book is because of the character Despina from Cosi Fan Tutte. The song “In Uomini, In Soldati” is one of the arias sung by Despina, and it is also an aria I have sung too many times too count, in too many venues to count, from Miss South Carolina, to Carnegie Mellon. Well, Cecillia Bartoli is definitely the  most famous Despina there has ever been. Several chapters in the book were dedicated to her role as Despina. 

             Cecilia Bartoli was born in Italy, and consequently she rose to stardom a bit differently than many American stars. She rose to prominence in her early twenties, much younger than most opera singers. In this profession reaching professional success and widespread appeal isn't usually achieved until the thirties. She was a star before she sang at the Met. Since she was immensely popular before her debut at the Met, her debut could be planned. She was to be in Cosi Fan Tutte, however, many assumed she would be singing the more titular role of Dorabella, one of the sisters. She wanted to sing Despina. Many people were confused by her choice, but she was an enormous success. Cecilia is superb at facial expressions and energy, and her Despina stole the show. She has always been my inspiration for the character of Despina, and it was very informative to read about her experience. 

        Cecilia Bartoli has an unusual timbre to her voice. She is categorized as a coloratura mezzo-soprano, but she has sung roles and repertoire for soprano as well. She is very popular among concert goers today for her lively stage presence. 

She will stop at nothing to be innovative or try something new. For example, in one scene, Despina is disguised as a notary and has to have an accent. 

“”My accent. What should I do? I want to try something different. Some other accent.’

‘How about this: why don’t you try talking Italian like an American?’ Guarino offered. 

‘Hmm.. It’s a very good idea I think. What an idea. i am going to try it!’” (p. 92-93). 

This excerpt is just one example of how Cecilia was dedicated to the originality of her characters, especially Despina. 

As I begin to prepare what I would like to perform for my final concert, I think of how Cecilia has inspired me. I have always performed, “In Uomini,” but now I would like to explore Despina’s other aria, “Una Donna.” Both arias involve high volumes energy and humor. I think reading about Cecilia and studying her performing style. Thanks to Youtube, I can watch her and study her acting and singing choices, which are often not obvious, meaning, she usually choses paths and avenues that some might not understand at first. When analyzing different performances of her singing, “Una Donna,” I noticed times when her singing became very soft in order to make an acting point or choice. It is simply inspiring to hear and see her perform, and I think that is why she is so acclaimed, celebrated, and loved. 

Audition 6

Last weekend I had my sixth and final audition at Mannes School of Music in New York City. At that point I had no apprehension about my audition. It was my sixth audition, and I just was ready to do and be done. I arrived at Mannes at 8 am to take a theory test. It was hard. They administered the same test to graduate as well as undergraduate students, so that made me feel a little better about bombing it. However, I have had no formal theory lessons, and there is so much more I need to learn. This test was evidence of that for sure. 

After the theory test, we had sight singing and aural skills evaluations. I sight sang...okay. It could've been worse, but it also could have been better:(P.S. another thing I need to perfect in college). I got the intervals I had to sing right at least. But it was okay. I spoke to the woman about it, and she agreed with me that college is the place to learn all of those vital skills, if they haven't already been learned. 

After the tests, I went to warm up. Mannes had current students showing us around and answering any potential questions. As I began to warmed up, I could sense that my voice was tired, but I know well enough now that I can sing through it. I warmed up the lower part of my voice the most, to get the rhaspyness out as well as an phlegm. I ran through all of my pieces, and "Notre Amour" was feeling much better in my voice, so I was hoping they would chose that one. 

Once I finished warming up, I met my mom in the lounge area. She was talking with three other families whose children were also auditioning. It was great to talk to all of them about the other schools to which they had applied, which ones they liked the best, which ones they liked the least, and how they were going to make their decisions. It's easy to get caught up in the competition and fear that everyone is better than you, but meeting and talking to these people made me realize how similar we all are. We are all afraid of failure, and part of us will always be wondering if we really know what we are doing. We were all good support for each other as we went into the concert hall to perform for the panel. 

I caught a glimpse of the concert hall before I walked in. It was spacious and beautiful. There was a stage facing the judges. When it was my turn, everyone wished me luck, and I walked confidently to the stage. There was a panel of seven again. They welcomed me to sing my choice first, and I obviously sang "In Uomini" again. The judges were very responsive, which was great; I got into my character, and sang as well as I could, enjoying the acoustics of the space. When I finished, they said thank you, and then chose "Notre Amour." Yesssssssss, I thought. They told me I probably wouldn't be singing the whole thing. All the better, the ending was feeling a little rough anyways. Well, I began to sing, and I sang it with as much emotion and lyrical litheness as I could. They stopped me after my third verse. They had heard enough. They thanked me, and I thanked both the judges as well as the accompanist, and I proceeded down the stairs of the stage. 

Then, it happened. I fell. Not just fell, wiped out. Not only in front of the judges and accompanist, but someone had opened the door allowing all the other applicants to see my fall. I was actually in pain, and felt the reality of a large bruise forming in the near future, but I made a joke. "Haha! I meant to do that to get your attention!" I tried to laugh it off, and after the judges had gotten over their initial shock of me falling, they laughed with me. One man assured me they couldn't forget that. Another woman whispered, "This has never happened before." Yet another, "Warn the other girls." "No, warn everyone." Well, at least I had made a statement, as well as potentially saving the lives, or at least pride, of my fellow applicants. 

I got up and walked out, thanking the judges one more time. I couldn't contain my laughter at myself. Everyone told me I sounded great, which was sweet. I was done. No more auditions. At least I went out with a bang! 

Now I wait. For all six of them.