Couch to Half-Marathon?

Today began training (again) for a half marathon. I'm already feeling incredibly embarrassed about my first day back:

I'm at my heaviest weight ever
I'm 45 years old and going through a mid-life identity crisis
My schedule during the next several weeks of training is going to be so brutal, I'm not sure I can finish
My knees, ankles, shins and even my abs were protesting the entire time I deigned to jog/walk 3 miles

And yet...maybe this is how everyone feels when they know they can't continue their sedentary lifestyle? Maybe all of us have a negative voice within us, telling us we CANT, we SHOULDNT. My doctor told me at my last appointment that I really should lose 20 pounds by my next birthday. Well. That appointment was 7 months ago, and here I am, having lost nothing. Yes, I had the cold of death over the winter months, but somehow my appetite wasn't effected. I'm sure my wine consumption during the chilly winter didn't help my cause either, but come on!

Small victory today: I did commit to running (well, walking/jogging) the 3 miles I'd planned to do. Made a small goal and achieved it. In the process of running, I felt as if my body had never done this before, and the reality is, THIS body had never done it before. 2 years ago I ran my last half-marathon with my sister and I was amazed and how terrible carrying extra weight can be. My knees could barely support my large new body, even though I emotionally had the muscle memory of my past, svelte self.

Small victory last night: I made "Warm the fuck up! Minestrone soup" containing lots of vegys, plus a yummy chicken sausage. NO pizza for dinner tonight. NO fast food on the way home. NO 6-pack of beer. I will treat my body to at least one vegy-dominant meal per day for the next 82 days, and then we'll see.

Wishing all of us out there who struggle, patience (yeah, right!) and the ability to see past today. It's not a sprint, it's a half-marathon.

"The evolution of Bertha" or "How to become a drag queen in less than an hour"

Part of the fun of singing in opera is the spectacle: costume, lighting, design, an MAKEUP. As a soubrette-type soprano, I've always been made to look 'pretty' onstage. My roles are mainly scheming maids (Susannah, Despina), children (Gretel), sassy leading ladies (Norina) but singing Bertha with Dallas Opera has opened new character possibilities for me in my performance and appearance! I couldn't help but share the evolution of a freshly scrubbed blond sans makeup, into my drag-tastic alter ego, Bertha.

First, no makeup. Not bad? This is what I look like most days

This was the fun, but scary-looking part: applying the base makeup, and the waxing down of the eyebrows. Here's what my makeup artist used on me to achieve this alien-type look http://www.makeupmania.com/products/Kryolan-%252d-Eyebrow-Plastic.html

Here, you'll notice my lovely painted eyebrows, outlined lips, my fetching wig-cap, but no eyelashes or highlighting yet. This is when I begin to first see how expressive my face can get! I wasn't even really trying to cartoon-it-up for this picture, yet, the makeup makes every tiny feature POP!

AHA! The wig and eyelashes really add something, don't they? When you're singing in a 2000 seat theater, definition with makeup can make or break a character's appearance. My makeup artist was told to 'avoid blending' because it softens a character, whereas Bertha ain't soft.

But you can't stop there, you've got to keep going! Add my second wig and a horrified expression, and you've got Bertha, or as I like to think of her: Berthissima! Again, every expression I make is doubled, or even tripled, by this excellent makeup design.

Here's Bertha, doing her best Norma Desmond impression...

...and finally, Sassy-Bertha. Bertha with a secret, or if you will, Bertha trying to look pretty and soft. Nope. Still frightening.








Well, I hope you've enjoyed stopping by! Next blog topic: deciphering knitting directions without a map.

Dallas, Texas...

Wow. It's been several years since my last post! Let's just say I've experienced some things since 2011...

1. I've started sewing. In December of 2012, I got the flu. BAD. I had purchased a sewing machine on a whim while shopping with my sister on Black Friday, and it had been sitting in my apartment since then. Because of my flu, I ended up spending a lot of time in my 4th floor walk-up, with nothing to do but watch tv, and perhaps, set out and acquire a new skill. My first projects were abject failures, BUT; eventually, I got the hang of it! Here are some of my early projects:

2. I've embarked upon a full-time teaching position at a very prestigious university (if I do say so myself!) and continue to take gigs as a professional singer. Right now, I'm performing "Bertha" in Dallas Opera's Il barbiere di Silviglia and it promises to be a hilarious, and extremely well-sung production! Pictures will follow...but for the time being: http://dallasopera.org/season/

3. I've taken up knitting again. When I was singing Papagena at NYCO years ago, I found myself with a lot of time on my hands while waiting backstage. A colleague of mine was an avid knitter, and I just picked up the habit from her (check out her blog at http://knitone.biz/blog/ ) I will say that I think I'm better at sewing childrens' clothes than I am at knitting or crocheting, but time will tell, no? Here is my very first cabled project! It will eventually turn out to be the sleeve of a sweater for my older niece...

I hope that future posts will include actual patterns and pattern numbers, so that other people like me can google stuff and find it easily. I'm currently working on Butterick 'retro' 5748, which is an EASY pattern, but only if you know your measurements.
http://butterick.mccall.com/b5748-products-22646.php?page_id=371&search_control=display&list=0

What I really should do is put out my own line of short-waist patterns, for the rest of us out there...

So, I hope you enjoy the new installment of my blog. I'm just an amateur, so please be kind!

This is how it happens...

When one decides to go back to school while still maintaining a full-time performance schedule, AND becomes an Aunt all in the course of one year, things like blogging tend to fall to the wayside. Now that I have some, 'free-time' I thought I'd get back into it and do my best to update this here blog.

Being back at school this past semester has been an eye-opener. For one thing, I learned that as much as I thought I had a handle on scheduling my life, I found myself seriously lacking in this department as of late. Negotiating a professional singer's schedule is hard enough: our gigs are booked years or months in advance and through the course of our experiences in the business, we recognize how long it takes to learn a given role. What happens then, when you're assigned a 20 page paper and never wrote one before?! Does this take days, weeks, months? Yup. In the course of my Spring semester (pun intended) I discovered that while some papers write themselves, others can go on, and on, and on...Towards the end of this academic year, I realized that learning a subject is one thing, and writing about it is a different beast entirely. On page 65 of my tomb of a thesis, I was given a great piece of advice: "Wind it up." We can't do it all, be the final word on a subject, or even seek to be the very first person to discover or relate an issue in a document, all the time. Sometimes our passion for a subject (in this case, physical injury in professional opera singers/non-laryngeal) can overtake our lives, both professionally and personally. So, I'd like to take this opportunity to say to all my friends:
I'm sorry I haven't seen you in months. I miss you.

Now I find myself in sunny South Carolina, for the Spoleto Festival USA, in Charleston. This environment is so wholly different than what we North-easterners have been experiencing for months. This town is warm and friendly, the buildings are utterly historic and charming, and of course, the beach is mere minutes away. The picture featured in this blog is of the "Pineapple Fountain" in Waterfront Park. Last night I had a front row seat to a breath-taking blood-red full moon, rising over the Charleston Harbor. Ahhh. Working on an opera as dark as The Medium is made emotionally tolerable by this picturesque southern town- did I mention the food? Wow. So far I've sampled the She-Crab soup, Shrimp Po-Boy, grits, BBQ sauce of many kinds, and local micro-brews. All yummy stuff, and I still haven't had my big Southern breakfast yet...I'm willing to take suggestions.

Quick plug: performances of Gian-Carlo Menotti's The Medium will begin on May 28th, and run through June 10th, so if you find yourself in the Charleston area, I recommend you come to this amazing show. See http://www.spoletousa.org/ for more information...

Happy New Year!

Here we are, 2011!

There's always so much pressure on having "the best time" on NYE, that I decided to go for broke and run a 5K instead...Total cost, $20 for registration, and a slight ache in my knees the next morning. To be honest, it didn't seem like a daunting task, except for all the black ice on the pavement, and the freezing temperatures I experienced after the run was finished. The reward: a fantastic fireworks display in Prospect Park, and the satisfaction of knowing that I ran/jogged my way into 2011- starting my commitment to health anew, again.

With the New Year, comes the pressure to make some resolutions and better ourselves. In past years, usually by February 15 or so, I'd give in to my old ways and throw the resolutions out the window. THIS year, I decided to make some resolutions that should be easier to stick to:

1. READ 15 BOOKS.

That is, 15 non-musical, non-singing-related books, ranging from old classics to new literature. (I got a "Nook" for Christmas, so I'll not only be using my new toy, but make a promise to read some stories I've always heard were great, but never made the effort to read) First book? "Half broke horses" by Jeanette Walls- it has a very promising beginning!

2. GO VEGETARIAN ONE DAY A WEEK.

Ok, this one could be tough. I do love meat and chicken. The point of this resolution is to not only become more aware of my eating habits, but to expand my understanding of the food chain, on a larger scale. Lets face it- its all too easy to grab a ham sandwich on the way out the door, or nab a pepperoni slice at my favorite pizza joint down the street. Smarter choices= healthier Me.

3. SCHEDULE THINGS IN ADVANCE.

Too often I find myself missing important events (a show I wanted to see, a road race I could have run) by procrastinating writing it down in my planner, and making the effort to get up and go. Even meals! If I know I'll be on the road and going out for a lavish dinner with colleagues, why not plan the rest of my meals that day accordingly? How about vacations? I received another wonderful gift this Christmas- a spa package at one of my favorite NY spas. I plan on sitting on this gift until I know I'll need it (sometime this coming February or March, when my work schedule will certainly be causing some undue stress)

4. BE MORE PROACTIVE, PROFESSIONALLY.

Without revealing too much, I'll just say that its easy as we age to rest on our past laurels. Warming up and/or practicing can fall by the wayside in lieu of everyday errands and activities, however; I was asked recently about the time in my life when I was singing and feeling my best, and lets just say, with a few small tweaks, I'll be there again soon.

5. SPEND MORE TIME WITH FAMILY and FRIENDS.

'Nuff said.

Happy New Year everyone!

I got it covered....

Kind of.

I realized this morning, that I've been going non-stop since about September 1st. Some major life changes have occurred, and it's taken me 'a minute' to get into the swing of things.

This economy has bit the arts pretty hard. Shows are being canceled, reassigned, and moved from season to season. After having found my own 2010 season a little light on opera, but full of concerts/recitals, I decided to make lemonade out of my abundance of lemons: I'm back in school! Although I once enrolled as a Master's student at Juilliard, I dropped the degree, wanting to perform with the then JOC program. I had no regrets at the time, but now that I'm, ahem, older, I'm find myself missing that particular piece of paper- the one that can open other kinds of doors, and prove me to be a more informed and up-to-date voice teacher. It was funny indeed, when admissions asked me if I'd like to have a performance emphasis, along with my Vocal Pedagogy focus- I wouldn't have the time! To be honest with you, I don't see how today's music-focused graduate student finds the time to complete the course work, satisfy the choral and operatic requirements, your research papers while still maintaining their own extra curricular activities. I suppose that's why you see so many YOUNG grad students- they've just got more energy, and have already been in the mind-set for school for at least 4 years. For me, I find the psychological shift from full time professional singer, to full time student AND full time professional singer somewhat confounding.

The first day of class, I was obviously the oldest one in the room (save the professor) and found the lecture hall chairs a wee bit, er, confining. Give me a full desk and chair, I say. A light bulb went off in my head, when our illustrious professor asked us to go around the room and announce just how long we'd all been studying privately. I heard many "1 Year", "3 Years"...and Jennifer, how long have YOU been studying? Well, let's just say my number was over 15 years, and less than 30. I rationalized that I may have been studying privately longer than some of my colleague have been alive. I suppose at one point or another, we all have a moment like this, whether you're in school or not.

Overall, I've adjusted well, but I do find myself a little sleep-deprived. This last 3 weekends I've been performing in Boston, and Philadelphia- with another recital in Philly this weekend. Any older student knows, when you enter the class room, your 'real' life doesn't matter. You're in the same boat with everyone else, papers are still due and no one cares that you were up until 2am memorizing Tin Pan Alley lyrics for your impending gig...Even those married students need to find a balance with their significant other, pets, and extended families. We've all got stuff to do, so one just has to buckle down and get the job done.

Some highlights of this, my first semester balancing full-time student/professional status, have been:

Raising a ton of money for the Sing For Hope Foundation, at their annual gala, honoring Tony Bennett (see photo above!)
Returning to the Gardner Museum for our Tin Pan Alley programs (with Randall Scarlata and Laura Ward)
Finding out I'm going to be an AUNT
A last minute day-trip upstate to partake of sun, apples, and cider dougnuts
Returning to Stony Brook University to direct the Fall opera scenes
and oh, getting a "check PLUS" on my musicology paper....

Are all women like that?

The answer is, sometimes- if you're singing "Cosi fan tutte", they are! Yup, this week I embarked on an operatic journey through Cosi fan tutte, along with Jennifer Peterson's group, Opera Mission (http://operamission.org/), the talented Dramaturg Cori Ellison, Director Ned Canty, Musicologist Bob Kingston, and a fabulous cast and orchestra. This experiment in reading through Mozart's opera was held at the Gershwin Hotel in NYC, and each participant generously donated their time and talent over the course of 4 evenings. Of course, not every musician could attend all 4 evenings (me included!) so the rotating cast and pick-up orchestra was different each day.

So, why do it? One could argue that our 4 evenings(each,3 hours long) might have been better spent by really delving into the musical subtleties, character development, concert staging etc...instead of flushing out the score with individual preparation (ahead of time) in front of a live audience. Well, selfishly, I wanted to learn the role of Despina and this performance afforded me the opportunity. However, I ended up learning much more about the score due to Cori, Ned, and Bob Kingston's insights- more than I would have, simply by attending a pre-concert lecture.

As we rehearsed, Jen Peterson might interject a theoretical factoid, or Bob would get up and show the audience a facsimile of Mozart's original handwritten score (complete with mistakes, additions, and rewrites!)- also, Cori and Ned would add their own two cents, related to the libretto or character development. I had an interesting moment last night, in fact, when Ned described his background in the theater, specifically related to Shakespeare: in his experience working with Shakespeare, characters playing a deception will inform the audience, either before or after, that they'd been lying. (ie. Iago literally tells the audience in aside, "...I'll pour this pestilence into his ear" when describing how he'll lie to Othello) whereas in the case of Da Ponte and Mozart, their deception is more veiled behind the dulcet notes of the Act II duet "Fra gli amplessi". Ferrando, as we know, has been unsuccessful trying to woo Fiordiligi- but triumphs during this scene with Fiordiligi's words "Hai vinto" (you've won). I've always thought of this scene as one of the 'true' moments of love being expressed in this opera. The music is SO sublime, the counterpoint a perfect reflection of their two souls. HOWEVER- in the recitative immediately following the scene, Ferrando is cavalier. Last night, Jen P. opted for a tempo in the duet that was faster than what I'm used to and I suddenly heard the 'lie'- it is FIORDILIGI who instigates the re-iteration of the words "Abbracciamci" (Let us embrace each other) and "Sospirar" (sighing). She bought the lie, so all Ferrando has to do is confirm what she wants to hear. Incredible.

So, I guess the read thru was for people like me: opera lovers who thought they had their minds made up about the story of Cosi- but was proved wrong. There are always new insights to behold, and old themes that deserve revisiting. I really hope that Opera Mission decides to tackle another opera in this way. Not only was it fun for me to participate, but to view the audience's pleasure at seeing opera in a small space, in a casual environment. "Musik ist der Heilige Kunst" it's true, however: for every piece of music performed, there still had to be a rehearsal period. This performance enabled those who don't usually get to see behind the scenes, a taste of what putting on an opera really entails. Thank you Opera Mission!