I Have Returned!

Friday September 17th, 2010

After a couple of months away from the blog, I have returned!

The rest of my Summer was a busy one indeed. After my vacation in Santa Fe, I returned home to continue with appointments with my dentist and ENT. I had several visits with each. My teeth have been cleaned, dental work done, and I now have braces. I have had a tonsillectomy and have pretty much recovered.

Both the dental and ENT work were done to improve my appearance and general health. Both of which are important to my career.

Last week, I returned to rehearsals with Coro. I had received lovely e-mails from members of the choir while I was in the midst of all the medical and they were glad to see me upon my return. We had an excellent rehearsal.

This concert set includes:

Guillaume Dufay (August 5, 1397? – November 27, 1474)

"Missa Sine Nomine"

"Ma Belle Dame Souverainne"

"Alma Redemptoris Mater"

Johannes Ockeghem (1425-1497)

"Alma Redemptoris Mater"

"Salve Regina"

Antoine Busnois (c. 1430 – November 6, 1492)

"Votre Beaute/Vous Marchez"

3 different Kyrie's

Guillaume de Machaut (c.1300-1377)

"La Messe de Nostre Dame"

I think that I am doing a couple of pieces, as well. :-)

Keep you posted on that.

Trecento: Early Flowers of Polyphony

This afternoon is our final rehearsal for our first performance of the "Trecento" music set. This concert will be repeated at the Berkeley Early Music Festival in June 2010. We might get a few minutes of a break before the concert begins at 7pm.

Pedro Memelsdorff will be attending. The group is a little nervous since he is considered by many to be the world's foremost expert on the very music we will be performing. Many of the tunes will will perform tonight, his ensemble, Mala Punica, has recorded.

We are doing some very interesting pieces by Landini, Jacopo, Firenze, and Ciconia. There are now only 22 pieces on the concert.

My clothes are ready to be donned and I begin warming up once I finish up here. I leave in about 2 hours to head out into the unusually heavy rain to drive the 42 miles to the venue. Sometimes the rain makes for a small crowd at events and sometimes, it bring people out in droves. It will be interesting to see which it is this time.

Concert Week

It's Sunday. Only a week until Coro's preview concert.

The week ahead will be extremely busy with the concert coming up next weekend. I have several rehearsals in preparation for it between now and next Sunday, April 11th. As I mentioned in an earlier post, there is an immense amount of music and only one short piece is somewhat easy. Not only are the individual parts challenging, but the ensemble aspect is quite a challenge all in itself.

I have also been offered, and I have accepted, an opportunity to sing with an ensemble in south bay in September. I am slated to sing Vivaldi's, "Cum Dederit" from "Nisi Dominus, RV 608" and a cantata or other large work of my choice in an all Italian concert set. Pretty awesome. I am considering Pergolesi or Scarlatti for the larger work. There are to be multiple performances of this set of Italian works around the bay area.

That invitation was very exciting.

Here is Andreas Scholl singing Vivaldi's, "Cum Dederit":

A Cool Peformance

I have had several totally awesome long term voice teachers over the years. I have had lessons with even more. There's one in particular that I want to plug in this moment:

Anna Carol Dudley.

In January, Anna Carol performed the last of her bi-annual birthday recitals. She is still performing, but she decided that the birthday recital idea had run its' course.

I just received word that Anna Carol will be performing next week. Even though this performance is in direct conflict with my own, I have to tell you about it. She will be performing as the "guest artist" in San Francisco City Chorus' performance of G.F. Handel's, "Semele". There will be another soprano performing the title role of Semele, but Anna Carol will be singing "Oh Sleep, Why Dost Thou Leave Me?".

Why?

Anna Carol sang it in the American premiere performance of "Semele" as a staged opera, in UC Berkeley's Hertz Hall in 1962.

This is what Anna Carol has to say about this exciting appearance:

- In 1962, Handel's opera, Semele, was given its premiere American performance here in Hertz Hall. After the original London performances more than 200 years earlier, Handel wrote a revised version, to be performed as an oratorio. That version had been performed in the U.S., but not the original opera version, until our performance.

I sang the role of Semele. If you want to see what I looked like, you can go to the upper foyer of Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley campus, and face the wall which shows many pictures of faculty members (I was a graduate student's wife, not a faculty member). The first photo in the top line just to the right side of the organ shows a scene from the performance. Having been taken up to Heaven by Jove, I am high on a platform, singing "Endless, pleasure, endless love Semele enjoys above."

The San Francisco City Chorus is performing an oratorio version of Semele, next Friday, April 9, at 8 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, Dana and Durant. In recognition of my having sung the American opera premiere in Berkeley, I have been invited to perform a cameo role, singing "Oh sleep, why dost thou leave me." There will be a repeat performance Sunday afternoon in San Francisco, 3 p.m., Lakeside Presbyterian Church. -

This will surely prove to be a fabulous moment not to be missed!

For performance dates, times, locations, etc:

http://www.sfcitychorus.org/

New Stuff

It's been an interesting week for the studio thus far.

I bought a 2TB drive for the computer. I partitioned it to have several different versions and copies of my running system so I can easily run programs on separate partitions that create conflicts for one another. This will open up the other drives for storage purposes. Audio files really need their own drives. I ordered 8GB more memory, as well, and I'll be picking that up.

Ooooo! Shiny!

I purchased this very cool toy. I'm waiting for it to arrive. It's a new mic. It simulates AM sound. Yes, I know, you can get this by manipulating the EQ, compress like mad, and adding some effects. But this thing is cool. It'll be a while before it gets here, but once it does, I'll let you know how it sounds.

http://www.placidaudio.com/the-copperphone/

I also got the program, "Things". So far, I haven't done anything with "Things" that I don't already do with "iCal". I absolutely love "iCal". But my relationship with "Things" is new and we are just starting to get to know one another. I am reserving judgement.

http://culturedcode.com/things/

Upcoming Coro Concerts

Wow! I hadn't realised that it had been so very long since I had posted to the blog.

We are working on 26 songs for Coro Ciconia's next concert. It concerns me since it makes the performance much longer than audiences typically prefer. I have a firm belief in, "leave them wanting more". I'm sure that we will trim the program and focus on the best sounding pieces.

This concert set will be performed on April 10th, 2010 at St. Alban's Epicopal Church in Albany, CA. It will be repeated for the Berkeley Early Music Festival on June 8th at the Berkeley City Club.

The following evening, we will present a completely different set of music, the "Western Wind Mass" by Taverner, at the same location.

As seems to be rather typical of altos, I am currently experiencing some sort of sinus/ENT malady. For the longest time, I thought it was just me, but apparently, this is common among altos. We are prone to issues in this area. It would be great if someone in medical research did a study on it. Perhaps it's somehow connected to why it takes altos longer to warm up before singing.

Coro Ciconia Dates

"Trecento: The Earliest Flowers of Polyphony"

April 10th, 2010

7 pm

St Alban's Episcopal Church

Albany, CA

June 8th, 2010

5:30 pm

Berkeley City Club

Berkeley, CA

"Western Wind Mass"

June 9th, 2010

5:30 pm

Berkeley City Club

Berkeley, CA

Alto Pride

In polyphony of the Early Music periods, every line is important. Altos were featured greatly. Many of the lines in Early Music polyphony that are marked as soprano lines today, were actually alto lines. The re-labeling of these parts beginning to occur during the Classical era.

Once we entered into later periods, particularly starting in the Classical era, the alto line in choral music became more like what seems "an after thought" for many composers. Creating parts that are terribly boring, or conversely, alto lines that "fill in the gaps" of the chordal and/or rhythmic structure without having much of a line of their own, that verge on the unmusical. The "catch-all" line.

You know the joke: "Altos are just sopranos who can read."

Well, no.

Yes, there are a few modern composers who write real lines for us, but altos have never really regained their position in choral music in any kind of widespread way.

However, now, alto sections are littered with the remains of sopranos who have been "demoted" because they have lost their high notes, or who never trained to have any.

Yes. I said "demoted". That is the word I have heard used time and time again in regard to this common practise. It's negative propaganda. As if being an alto is somehow, a lesser position, rather than a voice type. And that negative propaganda has certainly led to that widespread mindset and perpetuation of "after thought" alto lines in compositions. And that propaganda has certainly effected the numbers of altos who are putting it out there.

I'm An Alto

A contralto, really. Not a mezzo. Not a soprano without a range. A real alto.

It's not so easy to be a true alto. Throughout my career I have encountered literally dozens of people who refuse to even use the word, as if mere utterance of the word itself would somehow cause the earth to open up and swallow them. I have had my bio changed after submission to read "mezzo soprano" in programs, countless times, for reasons that still elude me to this very day. The message has been sent time and time again, that for some reason, being an alto is wrong.

How can it be wrong? I am what I am.

As educated as most musicians are, it astounds me that so many think that the alto voice isn't actually a real voice type. Voice type isn't about range, it's about quality within a range. A soprano who has lost their top notes doesn't magically become an alto by virtue of a limited range. But this seems to be how this is viewed.

I have a 3 octave singing range. Not merely 3 octaves of notes I can voice. I am an alto. I am in the middle.

Altos are like air; we are mostly invisible and largely taken for granted. Sopranos and baritones covet our solo music.

It's not easy to be an alto. But it's absolutely wonderful.