Tip of the tongue…

So I don’t forget what I did today – worked on my new song and focused on using the tip of the tongue for consonants. It’s amazing how much over-effort I use to make some sounds when I could just shift my tongue slightly.  Using the tip of your tongue helps you keep the same space at the back of your mouth to produce sound.

I was chatting with a friend from the show about how your body just sometimes seems to make all the wrong kinds of effort to help out when you hit a difficult note. (Quick! She’s coming up to a high A! Choke off her air! Tie her tongue in knots! TENSE THAT JAW!! Slouch dammit slouch!) That’s why you learn techniques, so you can gradually replace your body’s automatic reactions with things that make more sense. Sometimes you have to teach your body to do nothing extra at all, which seems completely contrary to all instinct.

The song went well today, so next week I will start learning a new song – I should point out, when I say ‘I’m starting a new song’ it doesn’t mean the old one is completely good to go. In fact, we are going to revisit one I learned months ago as well as get a new one, because the old one will benefit from the skills I picked up in the song I just did.

New song will (hopefully) be Porgi Amor from (you guessed it) The Marriage of Figaro. It’s all about *spinning* the high notes out beautifully. No doubt I will tell you how that goes soon!

Have a listen to Renee Fleming sing it. She truly has that effortlessly beautiful sound.

(singing starts about a minute in, but the intro is interesting too )

Figaro, new song, brain like pudding.

Seriously, my brain is like some kind of porridge, with maybe some brown sugar, cream, and maybe some dried apple pieces…mmm delicious. What was I talking about?

I am looking forward to the show. Honestly though, right now, I am looking forward to finishing the show. And then having a lot of sleep. And just singing.  Show is going to look fabulous though, why not come and see us? My tap debut is back in! I’m in the back row and last time I tried it I just ended up shuffling and throwing my hands up at the appropriate moments, but I promise to have it right by opening night!

What else have I been doing…

I went to see ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ last weekend, out at Days Bay, in a beautiful garden setting, sung by a who’s who of up and coming Wellington singers.  It was completely delightful and charming. Figaro is my favourite opera, so that didn’t hurt – but it was all played so hilariously, and sung so gorgeously by the hugely talented cast. Even my dad loved it and he hasn’t been to the opera before!

In the interval we picnicked in the gardens and had a glass of bubbly.

I want to write more coherently about this whole experience, but the aforementioned porridge has the upper hand today. It was lovely and beautiful, and made me want to sing so much. If you want to read about it from people who actually make sense, check out: http://middle-c.org/2010/03/figaros-marvellous-marriage-in-days-bay-garden/ and http://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=2921

Both of those sites do excellent reviews of music and theatre in Wellington if you haven’t discovered them already. 🙂

What else did I put in the title to remind me what I wanted to post about? Oh yes, new song. I told you about Silent Noon right?  Well, managed to actually sing that well the other day, so I have a new song! It’s a NZ song based on a Katherine Mansfield poem – the Sea Child. Quite haunting, very ‘NZ’ feeling. I don’t know how to describe that to you. I like quirky little pieces like this song. Can’t find a recording of someone singing it, but here is the text:

The Sea Child (Katherine Mansfield, 1910)

 

Into the world you sent her, mother,
Fashioned her body of coral and foam,
Combed a wave in her hair’s warm smother,
And drove her away from home

In the dark of the night she crept to the town
And under a doorway she laid her down,
The little blue child in the foam-fringed gown.

And never a sister and never a brother
To hear her call, to answer her cry.
Her face shone out from her hair’s warm smother
Like a moonkin up in the sky.

She sold her corals; she sold her foam;
Her rainbow heart like a singing shell
Broke in her body: she crept back home.

Peace, go back to the world, my daughter,
Daughter, go back to the darkling land;
There is nothing here but sad sea water,
And a handful of sifting sand.

What do you think it’s about? I’d love your opinion 🙂

Woah, I’m a slacker!

Well, no not actually. I lied to you in the title!! I’m actually ridiculously busy, but since I’m busy with things I enjoy, I can’t complain!

Rehearsals for the show are going well. Apart from the usual costuming horrors (clarification: the costume folk are great, the costumes are great – I, however, remain a sausage shaped nightmare to clothe).

Anyway! Bought myself a score of the Bach Mass in B minor – bliss! I got trapped in Arty Bee’s for quite some time when I discovered the music section.

Also new song sooo beautiful: Silent Noon by Ralph Vaughan Williams (you may know his Lark Ascending). So evocative of a summer’s day, spent with someone you love, in perfect silence.

Have a listen to Ian Bostridge singing it. I was going to try to find a woman but he sings it so expressively I want you to hear it. 🙂