random thoughts...

• I had a coaching with PK today for my upcoming St. Matthew Passion on Friday. It's my first St. Matthew, and it's quite a big sing for the alto -- 5 arias, a duet with the soprano, and some recits as well, of course. The pieces take me on a journey that runs the entire gamut of emotions. It's quite an amazing (if a little exhausting) experience! PK is a wonderful coach, particularly for Bach, and it was one of those experiences where I realized halfway through that there was absolutely nothing I'd rather be doing in the world at that moment than to be there, working on that amazing music with someone so completely passionate about it. It's quite a fantastic job that I have.

• It's my favorite time of year in Seattle right now -- the plum and cherry and magnolia trees are all blooming, and just starting to drop their petals so that a blanket of palest pink covers the ground under the trees. A few sunny, mid-60s days have started to creep in between the 50s and rain of early spring, and everyday there are new trees that have burst with that cheerful, light-green of baby leaves. I celebrated by getting my first pedicure of the season. :) Not really singing related, but fun nonetheless.

• I just received my final rehearsal schedule for the puppet opera. Turns out that I'll be playing a bit of recorder as well! I was a flutist in a former life, and I've played a little recorder, but I am by no means an expert! Hopefully the part will not be too difficult. :)

• Other than the puppet opera, I have a growing pile of music to learn on my piano right now, including a newly-added aria on my list for an upcoming audition, and some things I'm considering for a recital in the fall. Debussy's Chansons de Bilitis, and Mahler's Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen are in for sure, and I'm also looking at some Spanish songs, which I'll hopefully be able to use somewhere else in the fall as well. More on both of those things later.

• I finally came down with my first cold of the winter. It just squeaked in there before the equinox, so I guess it's also my only cold of the winter. It was bound to happen. The woman who is double-cast with me in the school-tour Barber was out for almost 2 weeks with a terrible cold, so I was in the van with 5 other people every day, going to schools full of children with early spring runny noses. During that time, I was also unable to get any swimming in, so it was no surprise when I started sneezing about a week ago. It seems to be about gone now, though. It was actually good timing -- my counterpart got healthy and made up some of her missed shows last week, and I had my first week in quite a while without any other rehearsals, auditions, or gigs, so I had plenty of time to rest and very little singing to do. Now that I'm healthy, it's back in to the pool tomorrow!

• That thing is happening to me right now that seems to happen every spring, where I suddenly find myself getting back in touch with long-lost friends and colleagues. It's one of my favorite things, catching up with old friends, so it's been fun!

I think that pretty much brings you up to date for the moment. A more in-depth post coming soon!

note to self...

Don't sing coloratura like I'm playing scales on the piano!

I've been working on Rossini lately, trying to gain some freedom in the runs. In a coaching the other day, BK stopped in the middle of "Non piu mesta" and said, "This is great. But, you know, you don't have to accent every 4th note of every scale! It sounds like a piano exercise." And I flashed back to the 15-year old me, who used to spend 30 minutes every day playing every major and minor scale in succession, 4 octaves in 16th notes, parallel and contrary motion, and accenting every 4th note! Of course, I didn't always play this way in actual pieces of music, but somewhere in me, I feel like that's the way scales are done. I've been thinking about my coloratura for months now, working on it with my teacher, talking to people about it, and everything helped a little, but nothing was really the answer. I guess I just had to hear it from a fellow pianist!

The result? I tried the run again, thinking all the way to the end in one long line, and ta-da!!!! Smooth, exciting, easy, long scale! Well, until I dissolved in to giggles at the end. :)