Hello all! I just wanted to relate my experience yesterday at my "Chicago
debut" recital ;-)
It was a concert of music set to texts of Shakespeare. There were 2 other
sopranos, in addition to me, and a baritone, along with 2 actors who did
readings and monologues. It went basically well. My big piece was "Nun eilt
herbei" from The Merry Wives of Windsor by Nicolai. I also sang 2 english
songs, 1 duet and 1 trio. The aria went really well and I felt really good
about it. The trio, which was written especially for the 3 sopranos on this
concert, was FABULOUS (set on the texts of the witches from Macbeth). The 2
songs were alright, although I lost a little bit of support on the lower notes,
and I heard my voice shaking a little bit.
I got great feedback afterwards. My teacher was there and was very proud. He
told me that he had never had a student come so far so fast, and that he was
amazed by what I could do under the pressure of a performance (which is always
different than a lesson.) Even the other sopranos said they couldn't believe
how far I'd come (technically) in such a short period of time. This is all
good.
The ODD thing was that when I heard myself on the tape (granted, it wasn't a
great tape) it sounded NOTHING like me. People have told me that my voice has
gained a richness that was never there before. But I haven't listened to my
voice in about a year, and it was so DARK. It was really bizarre. I think it
is basically good, but not at all what I am used to hearing. It isn't a huge
voice, but it was certainly audible throughout the whole range, but it is so
much darker than I hear it in my head, and so much darker than I had ever heard
it on recording before. I could also hear all the little points where I lost
some support. These never used to be so obvious before, but I guess as one
uses more support and less tension, things become more obvious. (Does this
mean I have to support ALL the time? Aaargh!) ;-)
Anyway, it was a pretty good experience. The best thing about what I am doing
at the moment, is that I don't feel such a disconnect between my speaking voice
and my singing voice. And I don't hear a disconnect either. That makes my
acting and musicality more natural and more instinctive as well. I hope there
will be more performances coming up.
I will also put up some mp3's on my web-site as soon as I figure out how to do
that (and as soon as I get my CD from the guy who did the recording.)
Thanks!
Lisa-Marie
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