New York Trip Day 3

Boy, I'm tired. We all are. But, I'll give you a brief rundown of events for the day.

Today I had a coaching with Maestro John Di Costanzo. We went through my German aria and my Stravinsky aria called "Here I Stand". He really preferred a very dark and full sound. I did enjoy some of what I produced, it really sounded mature at times, and I was very pleased with that. The other coaching I had was with Joan Krueger, one of the nicest people here. She was my accompanist at the recital yesterday. And, just for you performers out there that read this, she said that even though the audience fell in love with me with my arias, my auditors were sold within the first five minutes of meeting them, and that she was sold when I placed the music in front of her. First off, that was very meaningful and I appreciate that very much, but it really sinks in that the performance begins at the point the audience first sees you and interacts with you. I am not quite comfortable with coachings yet, mainly because I haven't ever had too many, but it is expected that you know how to fix the "problem" or how to change something to what the coach is wanting from you. Most vocal coaches are piano players and not vocalists, so there is a lot of responsibility with the vocalist to change things correctly. I definitely need to work in understanding this better. And for those out there not operatic singers, when we sing high, we do not hear it as the audience hears it, and the higher we go, the more abstract that sound becomes, it is almost more a feeling than a sound. So, if someone wants to hear a different sound, I have to know what that feels like to manipulate it into the sound they want, even though I'm hearing 'O' and they hear 'Ah'; sorry for the detail, but this may help someone out there reading this.

Anyway, Joan Krueger was great and gave me a reality check with my Fach (my voice type) and I think that almost everyone here agrees on the same roles for me and that I'm a Light Lyric Tenor. These things mean a lot to careers and such, and they change over time but for right now, it is Light Lyric.

In the afternoon I sang for Connie Barnett. My voice was pretty tired by this point but I sang through Questa o quella and Here I Stand. She recommended Light Lyric roles (surprise) like Tamino (almost everyone has recommended this) and Rossini and Donizetti. We will see about that, but she said if I could do those then I'd be "making a fortune". But, by the end, she was still unsure as to whether I should do that or not. She didn't know if my voice could handle the runs and the high flexibility of that literature. I would hope that I could do that, even though I have no experience with Rossini and Donizetti, but we will see, I will meet with her again, and I hope that her perception was confusing because my voice was tired. I want to do all the best I can do, so it is really hard to hear "no you will not be able to do that" but that might be a legitimate statement.

As for the surroundings, I have a whole floor to myself: seven rooms, a bathroom, full kitchen, and living room, and it smells like paint. I could have all my stuff spread all around, but I keep things all neat and tidy in my little bedroom, nice and simple. As for the people of New York - one of the biggest misconceptions was that the people here are too forward, rude, and tell you like it is, or what some people call "mean". Well, I have met a lot of them, this even goes for the professionals, but they are no different than the people in Kansas. Most everyone is very nice and understanding and say things calmly and courteously. And there are bad attitudes but it is just as common as those found in your own hometown, nothing out of the ordinary. I just felt that I should break that impression we have of New Yorkers out West.

Tomorrow's Schedule: Monday 6-15

Class on Self Management with Connie Barnett (career consultant) - 10-12

Lesson with Arthur Levy (Voice Teacher of performers at the Met, La Scala, Covet Garden, etc.) - 2

Lesson with Maestro Steve Crawford (Metropolitan Opera Conductor) - 3:20

Deborah Binbaum Master Class (Voice Teacher of performers at the Met, NYCO, Chicago Lyric, etc.) - 6:45-9:15