I had a really odd double bill yesterday: a workshop at the North American Jewish Choral Festival (http://www.zamirfdn.org/index.php?p=7) plus the new Harry Potter movie. But there was a certain Old Testament feeling linking the two events.
First I went on Fandango and ordered my tickets. Since I had promised my kids the movie as a reward for accompanying me to my gig I couldn't risk not getting in. I picked a movie theater in Fishkill, NY so that we would be halfway home when it was over.
Then we drove up to the Hudson Valley Resort and Spa in Kerhonkson, NY. The weather was perfect and the views stunning. We arrived in time for lunch (cod, pasta, latkes, salad, cookies and fudge brownies) and set up for a whirlwind hour and half Western Wind workshop presentation. BZ, EZL and I each took a group of singers and taught them a piece (or in my case two). My group did nicely. We worked for a hour and then got back together to sing for each other. And then it was suddenly over. The kids had time to browse the lobby, which was full of Jewish tchotchkas for sale. They got an object lesson in the difference between Jewish culture on the one hand and Unitarian upbringing with an awareness of Jewish background on the other.
We bundled into the car and drove to Fishkill. I wanted to get there in time to pick up the tickets and see if the line for seating was so long that we would have to eat sandwiches while we stood. But there was almost nobody there. The kid at the ticket booth snickered at me when I asked how long the line might get. So we went to Charlie Brown's Steakhouse, next door, and ate. They had a veggie burger, so M was happy, and a regular beef one, which pleased J. I ate a plate of stuff from the salad bar, mostly artichokes and mushrooms on lettuce.
HP6 was... like all the others. Dark. Threatening. And based on the same "they tried to kill us, they lost, let's eat" formula as much of the Bible, not to mention the previous 5 books. This time of course the ending was tragic (for AD), with an appended attempt at peaceful resolution. Draco Malfoy has grown into a mighty handsome young man -- if only he could display facial expressions other than a sneer or a snivel. Harry has become a fine-featured poetical type, and Ron a big bruiser. Jim Broadbent did a terrific guest star turn as Slughorn. The kids loved it. I am over the whole extended franchise by now. Two more movies, sigh!
We drove home, listening to the Beatles. Classic.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Time to let my mind wander
Yesterday -- two gigs in two states, separated by The City.
First the wedding, in Garden City, NY. I HATE driving on Long Island. I know most of the tricks and dodges, but the traffic snarls anyway. I wasn't late, amazingly. We rehearsed at 2 (a choir of 6, with organ) and the service started a little past 3. Nice music (Ubi caritas, Ave verum, Ave maris stella). The officiant was a bishop, a round, jolly man in a big shovel hat. The church was huge and even with the sound system turned up it was hard to make out his words amidst the reverb. I pondered the issue of gay marriage for a while as I listened to the language of the Catholic wedding ceremony, driven as it is by the issue of "issue." The parents got ovations as they exited: they had done their job and gotten their kids hitched so that they could have kids and get an ovation upon completion of their task and so on. Where do other types of union fit into that model? Or to put it another way, I can see why two lovers of any stripe would want the legal protections of marriage but why would they want this sort of communal sendoff, at least in this format and with this language? (I know, services can be tailored to fot the need.) As you can see, there was a lot of down time between anthems!
Then I drove to Millburn, NJ for a Western Wind rehearsal at LC's house. PC had made curry, and a pie concocted from cherries soaked in Frangelico stirred into chocolate mousse. In a chocolate graham cracker crust. That did in fact justify the two hour trek on the LIE, under the East River, across Midtown, under the Hudson, and through the used-sneaker-making district of New Jersey. We got some useful rehearsing done, although breath support was an issue on top of that meal!
First the wedding, in Garden City, NY. I HATE driving on Long Island. I know most of the tricks and dodges, but the traffic snarls anyway. I wasn't late, amazingly. We rehearsed at 2 (a choir of 6, with organ) and the service started a little past 3. Nice music (Ubi caritas, Ave verum, Ave maris stella). The officiant was a bishop, a round, jolly man in a big shovel hat. The church was huge and even with the sound system turned up it was hard to make out his words amidst the reverb. I pondered the issue of gay marriage for a while as I listened to the language of the Catholic wedding ceremony, driven as it is by the issue of "issue." The parents got ovations as they exited: they had done their job and gotten their kids hitched so that they could have kids and get an ovation upon completion of their task and so on. Where do other types of union fit into that model? Or to put it another way, I can see why two lovers of any stripe would want the legal protections of marriage but why would they want this sort of communal sendoff, at least in this format and with this language? (I know, services can be tailored to fot the need.) As you can see, there was a lot of down time between anthems!
Then I drove to Millburn, NJ for a Western Wind rehearsal at LC's house. PC had made curry, and a pie concocted from cherries soaked in Frangelico stirred into chocolate mousse. In a chocolate graham cracker crust. That did in fact justify the two hour trek on the LIE, under the East River, across Midtown, under the Hudson, and through the used-sneaker-making district of New Jersey. We got some useful rehearsing done, although breath support was an issue on top of that meal!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Ich hab' im Traum geweinet
This is just intolerable. But I have to manage it.
I agreed to sing Schumann's Dichterliebe on August 3rd at the Summit Music Festival. The Summit Music Festival is in residence at Manhattanville College. Manhattanville College is where I taught for the past 7 years and find myself no longer employed, due to a series of events that would be hilarious if the result were not so upsetting. And so I find myself trekking onto a campus where I no longer feel myself to be welcome, and on top of it all ran into two former students of mine today, who seemed delighted to see me....but they are now somebody else's students. Indeed, they were part of the search process for my replacement. One of the candidates for the job, an old CityOp friend of mine, called me for the scoop on the job, not realizing that he would be auditioning to take my place, not to be my colleague. That was awkward. I explained the situation to him, being as fairminded as I could manage while still calling down the furies.
Two more rehearsals and then the performance. Then I think I have to shut this door.
I agreed to sing Schumann's Dichterliebe on August 3rd at the Summit Music Festival. The Summit Music Festival is in residence at Manhattanville College. Manhattanville College is where I taught for the past 7 years and find myself no longer employed, due to a series of events that would be hilarious if the result were not so upsetting. And so I find myself trekking onto a campus where I no longer feel myself to be welcome, and on top of it all ran into two former students of mine today, who seemed delighted to see me....but they are now somebody else's students. Indeed, they were part of the search process for my replacement. One of the candidates for the job, an old CityOp friend of mine, called me for the scoop on the job, not realizing that he would be auditioning to take my place, not to be my colleague. That was awkward. I explained the situation to him, being as fairminded as I could manage while still calling down the furies.
Two more rehearsals and then the performance. Then I think I have to shut this door.
Friday, July 3, 2009
The Week at Smith
Too busy to write!
Some random events of the week....
Tuesday morning. I was conducting a rehearsal of the large group piece, O Clap Your Hands by Orlando Gibbons, when there was a commotion in the Choir 1 Bass section. One of our participants had started to faint and been helped to the floor by the people around him. Someone called 911 and the stricken man was taken off to Cooley Dickinson Hospital, where they found nothing much wrong, maybe dehydration or interaction of meds.
We had moved from the stage to the recital hall downstairs while our unwell baritone was waiting for the ambulance, so we put away Gibbons for the day and moved on to the ritual of calling the groups -- each facilitator calling the names of the participants with whom s/he would be working using an icebreaker question, such as what is your favorite flavor of ice cream. But this time EZL asked, "when do your think the rain will stop?" and got a range of answers that identified who was an optimist or a pessimist. One person said "tomorrow" while another thought "when it starts snowing." I asked "which Michael Jackson song would you pick as cantus firmus for a mass setting?" which seemed a good music nerd question for a workshop like this!
My group is large -- 13 people. 9 women, 6 of them altos. I have spent the week pulling odd voicing combinations out of my hat. It has rained every day and the sky seems permanently threatening.
Some random events of the week....
Tuesday morning. I was conducting a rehearsal of the large group piece, O Clap Your Hands by Orlando Gibbons, when there was a commotion in the Choir 1 Bass section. One of our participants had started to faint and been helped to the floor by the people around him. Someone called 911 and the stricken man was taken off to Cooley Dickinson Hospital, where they found nothing much wrong, maybe dehydration or interaction of meds.
We had moved from the stage to the recital hall downstairs while our unwell baritone was waiting for the ambulance, so we put away Gibbons for the day and moved on to the ritual of calling the groups -- each facilitator calling the names of the participants with whom s/he would be working using an icebreaker question, such as what is your favorite flavor of ice cream. But this time EZL asked, "when do your think the rain will stop?" and got a range of answers that identified who was an optimist or a pessimist. One person said "tomorrow" while another thought "when it starts snowing." I asked "which Michael Jackson song would you pick as cantus firmus for a mass setting?" which seemed a good music nerd question for a workshop like this!
My group is large -- 13 people. 9 women, 6 of them altos. I have spent the week pulling odd voicing combinations out of my hat. It has rained every day and the sky seems permanently threatening.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Teen Workshop at Smith
I haven't written for a long while. Writer's block, depression, disenchantment with blogging? All of the above most likely. My blog got me into trouble because I wrote something I thought was complimentary about another teacher at the college where I used to teach. And I am writing the words "used to teach" as a result of the maestrom of bad feeling that ensued. I love college teaching, and I am in mourning for my position. I got a little classroom teaching fix this past weekend at the Western Wind workshop at Smith College. I have been facilitating at these workshops for nine years. But this time I got to work with our teenage participants, which is a whole different feeling from a regular workshop group.
Our focus is on forming amateur singers into small ensembles and showing them how to work on their own, without conducting. The teens (seven girls and a boy with a changing voice -- what a good sport he was!) need a different level of involvement, and I was pretty much as happy as a clam working with them. OK, a clam who spent all weekend explaining things! Together we learned:
Alleluia ( a canon by Boyce)
Erev shel shoshanim (Israeli song, arranged by me)
Sigh no more, ladies (R.J.S. Stevens)
Lidia spina del mio core (Monteverdi)
At the seminar Saturday night I had my colleagues Laura and Michele hover behind to prop up the kids when they strayed from the key -- which wasn't too often. By Sunday's concert they were pretty much getting it on their own. The work was hard and repetitive but the results were rewarding.
Our focus is on forming amateur singers into small ensembles and showing them how to work on their own, without conducting. The teens (seven girls and a boy with a changing voice -- what a good sport he was!) need a different level of involvement, and I was pretty much as happy as a clam working with them. OK, a clam who spent all weekend explaining things! Together we learned:
Alleluia ( a canon by Boyce)
Erev shel shoshanim (Israeli song, arranged by me)
Sigh no more, ladies (R.J.S. Stevens)
Lidia spina del mio core (Monteverdi)
At the seminar Saturday night I had my colleagues Laura and Michele hover behind to prop up the kids when they strayed from the key -- which wasn't too often. By Sunday's concert they were pretty much getting it on their own. The work was hard and repetitive but the results were rewarding.
Karma Balance
I got two emails in a row. One was a rejection for a conducting job I had applied for. The other was this (identifying info deleted):
"Hi, Richard! I'm in [name of hospital] with my Grandma [xxx], who studied organ in Julliard before leaving to work in intelligence in WWII. Afterwards, she was a piano teacher and church organist - classical music always playing in the background of her life. A couple of days ago, she started to hum and then sing the lyrics for Kashmiri Song and I'll sing These (sic) Songs of Araby, that she recalled from her 8th grade graduation. (Amazing, isn't she?) Anyway, I did an itunes search and found these songs on your album and we have been truly enjoying them. Just wanted to let you know and thank you for your contribution to her comfort during this time in her life. All the best on your life and your career!"
Measured in pure money the tradeoff is dire -- I did not get a steady part time gig with an income in the low five figures while bringing in exactly $1.98 in mp3 sales. But measured another way it felt glowingly good.
"Hi, Richard! I'm in [name of hospital] with my Grandma [xxx], who studied organ in Julliard before leaving to work in intelligence in WWII. Afterwards, she was a piano teacher and church organist - classical music always playing in the background of her life. A couple of days ago, she started to hum and then sing the lyrics for Kashmiri Song and I'll sing These (sic) Songs of Araby, that she recalled from her 8th grade graduation. (Amazing, isn't she?) Anyway, I did an itunes search and found these songs on your album and we have been truly enjoying them. Just wanted to let you know and thank you for your contribution to her comfort during this time in her life. All the best on your life and your career!"
Measured in pure money the tradeoff is dire -- I did not get a steady part time gig with an income in the low five figures while bringing in exactly $1.98 in mp3 sales. But measured another way it felt glowingly good.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Buying "Rent"
I took in the Hastings High School production of Rent yesterday evening. Make that Rent -- the School Edition. The main pruning that had been done was of F words. Otherwise the show was close to its Broadway size and scope. High school students in downscale East Village chic, heavily miked.
The energy of the music and the lyrics is undeniable. But the running gag of Roger trying to write Musetta's Waltz slyly skirts the issue of harmonic interest: Puccini used a lot more chords than Jonathan Larson! And the amplification had the paradoxical effect of distorting the words and making them just as hard to comprehend as if the singers had been using natural acoustics. Except -- the musical lines lie far too low to be projected without mikes. And the strain of 2 and 1/2 hours of shouting took its toll on many of the lead actors' throats. It is an irony far beyond the thought of the writer that the verismo dramatic style of the original La Boheme has been scuttled for a post-modern stylization while the highly trained singing of a century ago has been traded for verismo, as in real-life, vocal production. The most untrained-sounding voices, made audible by electronic means, are now highly prized. Some of the kids in the show sounded like they had some tone in their tone. Some had raw material of promise. And some didn't get microphones and just moved their mouths (Mimi's drug dealer was essentially a mime part!). As a voice teacher I must confess I recognize the future when I see it. But I feel sad for the passing of singing with overtones, in tune. End of rant -- on this topic!
Next rant -- the ending. Mimi goes through her death scene... and resurrects! A vision of the dead Angel sends her back. And all rejoice and the opera ends happily. It feels as false as the rewritten Shakepeare plays from Queen Anne's time (Othello with a handkerchief found, Lear with a happy reunion). The show does not stick with its convictions and yields to the market-driven need for a feel-good conclusion. It's not as if Mimi doesn't have AIDS anymore (Roger, too). It's not as if one or both of them might not die in the unwritten Act 3. But the cast gets to sing an uplifting ballad and send us on our way. It was exactly as annoying as the ending of Spring Awakening. And the fact that Angel died -- heavy-handed symbolism of drag queen as otherworldly emmissary/OK to kill the femme part of the gay pair -- the second Act is full of predictable, sell-out events.
Sorry, this is not being a review but rather a rant or two. I did enjoy the musical far more than the movie. And the boy who played Roger looks like he has real potential: killer good looks, strong voice (as far as I can tell through the sound system). Angel was played by a boy we know from our UU Society. he was excellent, carrying off his drag with strength and pride -- and two impressive jumps up onto a table.
The energy of the music and the lyrics is undeniable. But the running gag of Roger trying to write Musetta's Waltz slyly skirts the issue of harmonic interest: Puccini used a lot more chords than Jonathan Larson! And the amplification had the paradoxical effect of distorting the words and making them just as hard to comprehend as if the singers had been using natural acoustics. Except -- the musical lines lie far too low to be projected without mikes. And the strain of 2 and 1/2 hours of shouting took its toll on many of the lead actors' throats. It is an irony far beyond the thought of the writer that the verismo dramatic style of the original La Boheme has been scuttled for a post-modern stylization while the highly trained singing of a century ago has been traded for verismo, as in real-life, vocal production. The most untrained-sounding voices, made audible by electronic means, are now highly prized. Some of the kids in the show sounded like they had some tone in their tone. Some had raw material of promise. And some didn't get microphones and just moved their mouths (Mimi's drug dealer was essentially a mime part!). As a voice teacher I must confess I recognize the future when I see it. But I feel sad for the passing of singing with overtones, in tune. End of rant -- on this topic!
Next rant -- the ending. Mimi goes through her death scene... and resurrects! A vision of the dead Angel sends her back. And all rejoice and the opera ends happily. It feels as false as the rewritten Shakepeare plays from Queen Anne's time (Othello with a handkerchief found, Lear with a happy reunion). The show does not stick with its convictions and yields to the market-driven need for a feel-good conclusion. It's not as if Mimi doesn't have AIDS anymore (Roger, too). It's not as if one or both of them might not die in the unwritten Act 3. But the cast gets to sing an uplifting ballad and send us on our way. It was exactly as annoying as the ending of Spring Awakening. And the fact that Angel died -- heavy-handed symbolism of drag queen as otherworldly emmissary/OK to kill the femme part of the gay pair -- the second Act is full of predictable, sell-out events.
Sorry, this is not being a review but rather a rant or two. I did enjoy the musical far more than the movie. And the boy who played Roger looks like he has real potential: killer good looks, strong voice (as far as I can tell through the sound system). Angel was played by a boy we know from our UU Society. he was excellent, carrying off his drag with strength and pride -- and two impressive jumps up onto a table.
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