Are there any coaches in your area that you could work with in your
teacher's absence? Specifically, to refine your performances of arias or
songs that you feel pretty good about vocally, but which you feel need
more polishing musically/interpretively.
Also, are there translations you could be doing of aria or song texts?
Is there an opera role or song cycle you'd like to learn? What a good time
to start!
My teacher goes on vacation every August, so I'm left with 3-4 lessonless
weeks every year. I find this an ideal time to work on vocalises with that
tape recorder I usually avoid the rest of the year. It's a time for me to
really begin to focus on incorporating all I've been learning during the
year without any new input, in terms of technique. I also use this as a
time to revisit old repertoire that I haven't touched for at least a year
(and sometimes 4-5 years) - just to see how much easier and different
these pieces are now, given the technical development I've made since I
last worked on them. I was absolutely stunned to discover how easy some
arias are now - e.g., "D'amour l'ardente flamme", "Geliebter, komm", "O
don fatale" - that were absolute "killers" beyond my reach only a year
ago. What a good feeling!
Karen Mercedes
............................
NEIL SHICOFF, TENORE SUPREMO
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
My Own Website
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
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+ To hell with life as snug as hand in glove. +
+ - Ho Xuan Huong +
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