Upcoming shows, and musings

I’m sitting in the sunshine listening to Die Fledermaus, for which I’ve just received the DVD for next year’s show. I’ve been cast in the chorus which should be fun. The only problem is I only have a chorus score, and to be honest most of the music I love the most is in the principal parts. Which means I’m going to have to shell out for a full score – sigh! The chorus don’t do a lot in Fledermaus but it should be a fun production, and I’ll get to hear some great singers!

A frustrating thing about being a beginning singer is not getting to sing some of the awesome duos and trios and quartets out there in the musical and operatic world. I can learn the parts, but until I can coerce find someone to sing them with, I just have to sing along with the soundtracks. Sigh.

Another frustrating thing is how there is a bundle of amazing music that I’m just not suited to sing! For example, Defying Gravity from Wicked. This is a show which has just bloomed in popularity in the last few years- and deservedly so. I caught in in 2005 in Chicago with one of my best friends. We were stuck for ideas what to do and wandered up a street which declared itself to be the Broadway of Chicago. We wandered into a theatre and saw there was a show on that night. So we booked tickets. We expected a pretty good show and a fun night out…

At half time we turned to each other, our mouths hanging open and our eyes shining  - ‘BEST SHOW EVER!!!’ I believe we declared. It truly was an amazing show, and I’m delighted it’s continuing in its popularity. If you ever get a chance to see it please please do!!  It’s not just awesome music, the story rocks, and the staging is truly impressive. Here’s a link to Defying Gravity if you haven’t heard it yet (where have you BEEN?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g4ekwTd6Ig

I also recommend ‘Popular’ which is hilarious. Again, something I’d love to sing, but requires a second person!

I’ve just spent some time sorting through some photos I had taken last week and getting my online casting profile sorted. I’d love to get some extra work next year. I’m happy with the photos and excited by new possibilities!

Here are some things I plan to do next year:

• Start dancing lessons ASAP!
• Work extra hard on my singing. I want to get that nice full sound that pops in and out to be my default sound!
• Find some people to sing duo/trio/quartets with!

Happy holidays everyone, I hope that 2010 brings us all exciting challenges!

Things I love Thursday (musical edition)

Ola! I love the Things I love Thursday idea that Gala Darling started, so I thought I would add it to this blog, but give it a musical flavour

• I got into the musical that I auditioned for on Sunday! I will be in the chorus hurrah! Come see me next April in ‘Curtains’ the Broadway murder mystery musical!
• Christmas carols – there was a moment outside the theatre last week as a group of five of us sang them acapella and the guys were playing round with the bass lines and there was harmony, and it was AMAZING.
• Singing silly songs to myself in offices
• Having my singing teacher enjoy my rendition of ‘Ich Liebe Dich’ at my lesson yesterday

Now here are two of my favourite Christmas carols for you to enjoy!

In Dulci Jubilo

Carol of the bells sung by ‘Celtic Woman’: ( I usually like it acapella, but this is a cool performance and the fiddle sounds great).

Flailing! Flailing!

Back now, audition was fine

Some scales to warm up, which were good. Then I used the previous auditionee’s CD because we were singing the same song, and it was a bit fast and tricky for the pianist (it is really fast!) It was mostly fine, except for the last note which started out OK then in the middle went all *BLARK* and I cracked. Just tired voice.

Then the dancing. Oh the dancing. It wasn’t (in the end) as bad as I thought. Though when the choreographer started out, and did some kind of kick step while gesturing with her arms and twirling I came very very close to saying ‘um thanks all, but really, I can’t do that, see ya!’ Fortunately I have not yet walked out of an audition or performance before I have finished and I didn’t want to start today. So I stuck it out. I asked to just see the feet again – I so can’t just pick up arms and feet at the same time Then I tried to add the arms in once my feet vaguely knew what they were up to. I think it is the kind of dancing I could definitely do with some practice, so that’s OK. There was a dancer in my audition group, who would be making grimaces when she didn’t extend her arms properly, where as my worries were more like ‘ow I hit myself in the head with my arm! How did that happen?’ ;P Not really, but the difference was clear!

Yeah, so audition was not so bad. There are a heap of girls auditioning, so I’m not too sure about my chances, but I’m glad I went and stayed. I freaked myself out so badly last night when I couldn’t get to sleep, couldn’t remember my words, hadn’t printed my audition form… I was quite tempted to ring up and just not do it. But the thing about performing is you have to keep trying for things. Because this show would be awesome fun to be in, and the music sounds cool. Sometimes it pays to ignore the little flailing voice in your head.

The Christmas show that finished last night was awesome. Here is a couple of photos of our beautiful set that was up in TWO DAYS. That is some kind of mad genius level of awesome.

Audition

Tomorrow I have an audition. Things I’m worried about re. the audition:

• New song I haven’t sung for people before. Argh words. Which is ironic because it’s all about how words are stupid and annoying.
• I failed to print the audition form because I’m not working in an office anymore and forgot to go find a printer.
• I have to dance in the audition.
• It is at 9am tomorrow.
• I’M TIRED AND I CAN”T SLEEP SO INSTEAD OF SLEEPING I’M BLOGGING ARGH CAPSLOCK OMG.

Things I’m happy about re. the audition:

• I like my song.
• Um.
• The other show I was in tonight was really cool and we raised money for charity. OK this one doesn’t have anything to do with the audition, but I’m going to take some of the happy from it and use it for auditioning.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

The flipside of singing fit – singing tired

Whoo. I am tired, not so much sleepy tired, just voice tired. I got to the end of my singing activities last weekend, which was a concert for my singing teacher’s students, and realised there is a certain point where your voice just croaks! It was OK, I was happy with most of the song, but boy am I trying to take care of my voice this week.

Things to do when singing tired:

• REST!
• Drink a million litres of water
• Go to the bathroom a lot (you don’t have to do this, but you will due to aforementioned million litres of water)
• Do lots of sobbing/crying warm ups to stay relaxed
• Use your body muscles even more than usual when singing

The plus side is that I’m getting even more aware of what muscles I need to use when singing, because I can’t get away with sloppy technique when my voice is tired.

In other news, the Christmas show opens tonight and all proceeds go to the organisation Birthright. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for kids. It’s sounding good, and the set is amazing! The set also went up in about two days which is truly awesome.

Singing fit

Ahhh crazy singing times, how I love you.

Thus far this week I’ve had two shows, a singing lesson, and two rehearsals. Today I have a quick rehearsal for my singing teacher’s concert tomorrow, then the final show! Next week (starting tomorrow) one singing concert, three rehearsals, four xmas shows, and an audition! At some point I also need to properly learn my audition song. So this kinda explains the paucity of blog entries? I’m not too worried. As long as I’m not blogging about singing because I’m actually singing, that seems about right to me!

All this singing has got my voice in good shape. It means I take a shorter time to get properly warmed up, and when I start singing I sound better quicker! Loving it!  It does mean I need to keep hydrated all the time, which I’m not always good at. As I type this I’m reminded I’ve had two cups of coffee today and not much else. Oops.

I would love to be singing this much all the time. Well maybe not all the time. Maybe I need a week off here and there! I must make that a goal for 2010.

Audiences and finding energy

Audiences are a strange beast. We’ve had some amazing audiences for the current show, they’ve danced in the aisles, they’ve cheered, they’ve booed (but in a good way), they’ve gotten WAY more into audience participation/singalong than I could have ever imagined! And then there are those other audiences, where a few people seem to be getting into it, and the rest of the audience seem…well…dead. Actually dead. Corpses ahoy. Often when you get feedback from these audiences, turns out they really enjoyed it, just in a…corpsey…way.

Part of my bit for this show has some audience response built in to it. I can do it without the response, but it means playing it a bit differently, and it takes a while to get back in that mindset. Performing often feels like an energy exchange; I throw my energy out there and the audience throw different things back. What they throw back affects the way I play the lines, facial expressions, and so on. So the night the audience seemed mostly dead was really draining! When you get nothing back it’s like funnelling energy into a black hole. You come off stage feeling snarky and blah.  Also, hecklers.  Bah. Audiences are part of the performance, but they are NOT the performers. Hush yourselves little hecklers, and go get a role on stage if you really feel the need to have all the attention. It’s different for a show which is set up for heckling, like stand-up maybe? Not having done it myself I really don’t know!

Other things I have done this week other than perform: sign myself up with a talent agency. Maybe I can get some work as an extra here or there. Call a photographer about getting some nice photos done for my casting profile. I’ve been having a few days where I felt totally uninspired about where I was going in life, so I took some steps to make things happen. Feel better now.

Confessions? I have not sung today. But I will sing tomorrow, so today can be my break day

 

I got troubles…

Singing has been hard this past week. I’m not sure why. I think it’s probably a combo effect of many things:

1- I’ve been stressed about other things.

2 – I’ve been hopping and jumping between singing styles and registers on a daily basis.

3- I’m quite tired from performing.

I remember that a friend from university had a similar problem with her technique when she started learning from a different teacher. Her technique went out the window and she felt like she didn’t even know how to sing anymore. This friend has a completely gorgeous and full sounding voice, so I didn’t really understand what she meant at the time. I thought, ‘Oh silly Jj, you have a lovely voice!’  Now I kinda see what she meant.

It hit me when I went to singing lesson this week and started doing a couple of quite simple folk songs to sing at a retirement home early next year; ‘O waly waly’ and ‘My love is like a red red rose’. Neither of them go particularly high or low, they sit nicely in the middle of my range. Unfortunately it is the middle of my range giving me the most problems at the moment! I sounded waffly, breathy, and basically like someone who has just started learning to sing. It was SO FRUSTRATING. Thank god my teacher is awesome. She didn’t waste time querying what was up, she just worked on it bit by bit to find a good sound again. Not there yet, but I have tools to work on it.

I guess that’s the key to fixing it. Keep working, keep trying, and go back to basics when you need to.

Concert coming up, I’m going to sing Ganymed, which was one of my audition pieces. I want to sing it really well, hopefully my family can come hear me.

I’ve been playing the piano a bit this week too, it’s relaxing and takes my mind off my singing troubles. Mustn’t let it become a procrastination tool for not practising though.

I’m excited that friends and family are coming to the next couple of shows, better make sure I rock it!

Audition advice

Auditions are going to be a recurring theme for me I think. Which is not unexpected – after all, auditions are a crucial part of any performer’s life. I find different types of auditions to be more difficult than others. Straight singing of a prepared song? Not a problem. Cold reading? Fine. Prepared monologue? Could be better. Improvisation? Kill me now.

Other things I need to work on are voice projection when speaking (I can DO it, I just feel like a dick when I do it in auditions for some reason) and being just a bit more extroverted with my demeanour, particularly in group auditions.

I find the best way to approach an audition is as a whole performance, not just the singing and acting bits, but the bits surrounding that, like entering the room, saying hello, remembering what the names of the director and things are if they introduce themselves!

**Note to self: THIS WOULD BE GOOD NOT JUST AT AUDITIONS. I’m completely hopeless at names, even to the point of forgetting them while I’m still talking to the person. Me: Hi! I’m Regan. Some-guy-called-Dave: Hi Regan! I’m Dave! Me: Hi! It’s nice to meet you…uh…Andy?**

I also like to create a little imagining for myself that I’m already in the show, so I talk to the director as if I’m a valued cast member whom he/she already loves working with.

And, possibly most importantly, take every audition seriously. Whether you know the panel or not (and in Wellington, I likely will know at least one person on it), and whether the show is big or small, treat it as important. It’s respectful, and I think a performer should always be respectful of a show that they want to be in. (After all, why would you be auditioning if you didn’t want to be in it?)

Hopefully I will look at these notes before my next audition and keep getting better!

Anyone else have any advice to offer?

Oh, and this is an encouraging  thing to read from the POV of audition panel members: Morgue’s blog

Updates on shows and auditions

Well I got into both of the shows I auditioned for a couple of weeks back: the Christmas sing along show out at PLT, and Die Fledermaus which the GnS society are putting on next year.

The Christmas show will be fun – it’s a lot of carols and sing along goodness! Also I get to be a soprano again, which is just such a nice relief. It’s been so good for me singing other parts, low and middle, but it is tiring and I have to concentrate with every note, not just to sing it in tune, but to sing it so I don’t sound like a dying buzzard. At least with soprano I can just work on sounding my best without the other distractions.  My goal for next year may be to just get my middle ‘blend’ area working properly.

Die Fledermaus should also be fun, but it will be a lot of work for a chorus appearance in just two acts… I may have to track down a full score and start learning some of the solo bits for my own benefit.  It also doesn’t start rehearsing until May next year!

I’m going to audition for ‘Curtains’ also out at PLT in a few weeks. It will be on in the first part of next year. A murder mystery musical apparently! Sounds like fun.

The show I’m currently in is pretty much sold out except for about 4 or 5 seats, this is pretty amazing! And it is going really well. We opened on Thursday last week, and have had 3 nights. Last night’s audience was amazing. They danced, they sang along, they rapturously applauded everything. I think the whole cast had an audience-crush by the end of the night. We wanted to take them home with us! Seriously, walking on stage was like being a rock star! This is what we do it for.

Oh, and my current delight is that in the Christmas show I get to sing ‘O holy night’ with two other women, and I get the high harmony, and it’s my favourite carol…basically: SQUEEEE!

Things to work on this week: Keeping my vocal chords relaxed and hydrated. I’ve not been doing this much singing for a while, I need to take care of my instrument!

I’ll link you here to my favourite trio from Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss II) in English:

4 and a bit minutes but worth a listen, particularly after halfway through. If you can log into the Naxos database at Wellington libraries I heartily recommend looking it up and having a listen to other bits of the music!