Performing
I sing. Funny that a voice like a fog horn. A tuned fog horn of course. But still very loud and distinctive. I have done a number of shows over the years with lead roles and chorus roles, for amateur and professional companies. So I really can sing. I even do the national anthems from time to time at sporting events or graduations. Lame I know but work / life doesn’t always leave the kind of time needed to focus on a production.
Performing is an interesting dangerous experience. Your in darkness most of the time and there are lots of things and people moving around. Lots is happening and there is no margin for error.I love to perform. I love opera. Opera is the penultimate of performance art; Dance, Makeup, Music, Singing, Staging, Sets, etc. I used to joke that I performed to wear tights and makeup. I don’t I perform to perform. I love it when people come up to me at some point afterwards and tell me how the performance made them feel or impacted them.I’ve had directors very nervous about bringing me into a production. I think there is a general fear I’d fall into the orchestra pit or worse… Although I can’t imagine worse than falling into the pit. Musicians are beasts, well at least from a singers perspective.
How it works for me is the marks on the stage that you learn when your staging a production. You stick to your marks and your good to go. Basically by using the context and memory mapping tricks I’m safe and sound and can participate in a full on production.
I have to tell you I really messed up on the weekend. I missed my Que. to go on the ice when I was anthem singing at a hockey game and I almost slipped on the ice going to sing and coming off from singing. There were some good laughs afterwards.
Preparing for an opera is a lot work. When you get a libretto and a role you have to take each piece of music you are performing and translate it word by word learn the pronunciation, phrasing the meaning the message of the statement. Learn to sing the music then learn your acting role and your ensemble role. Finally your costuming and makeup. Its a lot of energy and time. I generally prepare with a team. A voice teacher to make sure my instrument is working. A voice coach to learn the music. A language person to learn the language of the piece. In addition to the other cast members and the production team.
For me learning the music is a ton of work. I scan the libretto and enlarge and print each line of the music so I can see it. This process on its own is a lot of work but facilitates the rest of the process.
I love singing and performing. If you ever get the chance to hear me let me know what you think.
How it works for me is the marks on the stage that you learn when your staging a production. You stick to your marks and your good to go. Basically by using the context and memory mapping tricks I’m safe and sound and can participate in a full on production.
I have to tell you I really messed up on the weekend. I missed my Que. to go on the ice when I was anthem singing at a hockey game and I almost slipped on the ice going to sing and coming off from singing. There were some good laughs afterwards.
Preparing for an opera is a lot work. When you get a libretto and a role you have to take each piece of music you are performing and translate it word by word learn the pronunciation, phrasing the meaning the message of the statement. Learn to sing the music then learn your acting role and your ensemble role. Finally your costuming and makeup. Its a lot of energy and time. I generally prepare with a team. A voice teacher to make sure my instrument is working. A voice coach to learn the music. A language person to learn the language of the piece. In addition to the other cast members and the production team.
For me learning the music is a ton of work. I scan the libretto and enlarge and print each line of the music so I can see it. This process on its own is a lot of work but facilitates the rest of the process.
I love singing and performing. If you ever get the chance to hear me let me know what you think.
About the Author: kyle
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