Texts for American Song Recital, March 17, 2011

Though we were unable to print texts for this week's recital, you may review them here. While the Copland and Kohn texts, being folk and popular songs of their day may be straightforward, much of the rest is either sophisticated poetry, otherwise unusual combinations of words, or in the case of "Charlie Rutlage" spoken word over a ruckus piano part in a Texas dialect.

Hope to see there.

Thursday evening, March 17, 201 7PM at Kulas Chamber Hall Baldwin-Wallace college.

The Boatmen’s Dance

The boatmen dance, the boatmen sing,

The boatmen up to ev'rything,

And when the boatman gets on shore

He spends his cash and works for more.

High row the boatmen row,

Floatin' down the river the Ohio.

Then dance the boatmen dance, 

O dance the boatmen dance.

O dance all night 'til broad daylight,

And go home with the gals in the mornin'. 

High row the boatmen row. . .  etc

I went on board the other day

To see what the boatmen had to say.

There I let my passion loose

An' they cram me in the callaboose.

O dance the boatmen dance. . .  

High row the boatmen row . . .   etc 

The boatman is a thrifty man, 

There's none can do as the boatman can.

I never see a pretty gal in my life

But that she was a boatman's wife.

O dance the boatmen dance. . .  

High row the boatmen row. . .  etc

The Little Horses

Hush you bye,

Don't you cry,

Go to sleepy little baby.

When you wake,

You shall have,

All the pretty little horses.

Blacks and bays,

Dapples and grays,

Coach and six-a little horses.

Blacks and bays,

Dapples and grays,

Coach and six-a little horses.

Hush you bye,

Don't you cry,

Go to sleepy little baby.

When you wake,

You'll have sweet cake and

All the pretty little horses.

A brown and gray and a black and a bay and a

Coach and six-a little horses.

A black and a bay ad a brown and a gray and a

Coach and six-a little horses.

Hush you bye,

Don't you cry,

Oh you pretty little baby.

Go to sleepy little baby.

Oh you pretty little baby.

The Dodger

Yes the candidate's a dodger,

Yes a well-known dodger.

Yes the candidate's a dodger,

Yes and I'm a dodger too.

He'll meet you and treat you,

And ask you for your vote.

But look out boys, 

He's a-dodgin' for your note. 

Yes we're all dodgin'

A-dodgin', dodgin', dodgin'.

Yes we're all dodgin'

Out away through the world.

Yes the preacher he's a dodger,

Yes a well-known dodger.

Yes the preacher he's a dodger,

Yes and I'm a dodger too. 

He'll preach you a gospel,

And tell you of your crimes. 

But look out boys,

He's a-dodgin' for your dimes. 

Yes we're all dodgin' . . . etc.

Yes the lover he's a dodger,

Yes a well-known dodger.

Yes the lover he's a dodger,

Yes and I'm a dodger too.

He'll hug you and kiss you,

And call you his bride,

But look out girls,

He's a-tellin' you a lie. 

Yes we're all dodgin' . . . etc.

Ching-a-ring chaw

Ching-a-ring-a ring ching ching,

Hoa dinga ding kum larkee,

Ching-a-ring-a ring ching ching,

Hoa ding kum larkee.

Brothers gather round,

Listen to this story,

'Bout the promised land,

An' the promised glory.

You don' need to fear,

If you have no money,

You don' need none there,

To buy you milk and honey.

There you'll ride in style,

Coach with four white horses,

There the evenin' meal,

Has one two three four courses.

Nights we all will dance

To the harp and fiiddle,

Waltz and jig and prance,

"Cast off down the middle!"

When the mornin' come,

All in grand and spendour,

Stand out in the sun,

And hear the holy thunder.

Brothers hear me out,

The promised land's a-comin'

Dance and sing and shout,

I hear them harps a strummin'.

Beggar’s Song

Good people keep their holy day,
They rest from labor on a Sunday;
But we keep holy every day,
And rest from Monday until Monday.

And yet the noblest work on earth
Is done when beggars do their part:
They work, dear ladies, on the soft
And tender feelings in your heart.

Sure on this Shining Night James Agee

Sure on this shining night
Of star made shadows round,
Kindness must watch for me
This side the ground.
The late year lies down the north.
All is healed, all is health.
High summer holds the earth.
Hearts all whole.
Sure on this shining night I weep for wonder wand'ring far
alone
Of shadows on the stars.

Nocturne Frederic Prokosch

Close my darling both your eyes
Let your arms lie still at last
Calm the lake of falsehood lies,
And the wind of lust has passed,
Waves across these hopeless sands
Fill my heart and end my day.
Underneath your moving hands
All my aching flows away
Even the human pyramids
Blaze with such a longing now:
Close, my love, your trembling lids,
Let the midnight heal your brow.
Northward flames Orion's horn
Westward the Egyptian light.
None watch us, none to warn
But the blind eternal night.

I Hear an Army James Joyce

I hear an army charging upon the land,

And the thunder of horses plunging, foam about their knees:

Arrogant, in black armour, behind them stand,

Disdaining the reins, with flutt'ring whips, the charioteers.

They cry unto the night their battlename:

I moan in sleep when I hear afar their whirling laughter.

They cleave the gloom of dreams, a blinding flame,

Clanging, clanging upon the heart as upon an anvil.

They come shaking in triumph their long, green hair:

They come out of the sea and run shouting by the shore.

My heart, have you no wisdom thus to despair?

My love, my love, why have you left me alone?

Charlie Rutlage

Another good cowpuncher has gone to meet his fate,

I hope he'll find a resting place, within the golden gate.

Another place is vacant on the ranch of the X I T,

'Twill be hard to find another that's liked as well as he.

The first that died was Kid White, a man both tough and brave,

While Charlie Rutlage makes the third to be sent to his grave,

Caused by a cowhorse falling, while running after stock;

'Twas on the spring round up, a place where death men mock,

He went forward one morning on a circle through the hills,

He was gay and full of glee, and free from earthly ills;

But when it came to finish up the work on which he went,

Nothing came back from him; his time on earth was spent.

'Twas as he rode the round up, a XIT turned back to the herd;

Poor Charlie shoved him in again, his cutting horse he spurred;

Another turned; at that moment his horse the creature spied 

And turned and fell with him, beneath poor Charlie died,

His relations in Texas his face never more will see,

But I hope he'll meet his loved ones beyond in eternity,

I hope he'll meet his parents, will meet them face to face,

And that they'll grasp him by the right hand at the shining throne of grace.

Serenity John Greenleaf Whittier

O, Sabbath rest of Galilee!

O, calm of hills above,

Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee,

the silence of eternity

Interpreted by love.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,

till all our strivings cease:

Take from our souls the strain and stress,

and let our ordered lives confess,

the beauty of thy peace.

The Greatest Man Anne Collins

My teacher said us boys should write

about some great man, so I thought last night

'n thought about heroes and men

that had done great things,

'n then I got to thinkin' 'bout my pa;

he ain't a hero 'r anything but pshaw!

Say! He can ride the wildest hoss

'n find minners near the moss

down by the creek; 'n he can swim

'n fish, we ketched five new lights, me 'n him!

Dad's some hunter too - oh, my!

Miss Molly Cottontail sure does fly

when he tromps through the fields 'n brush!

(Dad won't kill a lark 'r thrush.)

Once when I was sick 'n though his hands were rough

he rubbed the pain right out. "That's the stuff!"

he said when I winked back the tears. He never cried

but once 'n that was when my mother died.

There're lots o' great men: George Washinton 'n Lee,

but Dad's got 'em all beat holler, seems to me!

He is There John McCrae

Fifteen years ago today

A little Yankee, little yankee boy

Marched beside his granddaddy

In the decoration day parade.

The village band would play

those old war tunes,

and the G. A. R. would shout,

"Hip Hip Hooray!" in the same old way,

As it sounded on the old camp ground.

That boy has sailed o'er the ocean,

He is there, he is there, he is there.

He's fighting for the right,

but when it comes to might,

He is there, he is there, he is there;

As the Allies beat up all the warlords!

He'll be there, he'll be there,

and then the world will shout

the Battle-cry of Freedom

Tenting on a new camp ground.

For it's rally round the Flag boys

Rally once again, 

Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.

Fifteen years ago today

A little Yankee, with a German name

Heard the tale of "forty-eight"

Why his Granddaddy joined Uncle Sam,

His fathers fought that medieval stuff

and he will fight it now;

"Hip Hip Hooray! this is the day,"

When he'll finish up that aged job.

That boy has sailed o'er the ocean...

There's a time in ev'ry life,

When it's do or die, and our yankee boy

Does his bit that we may live,

In a world where all may have a "say."

He's conscious always of his country's aim

which is Liberty for all,

"Hip Hip Hooray!" is all he'll say,

As he marches to the Flanders front.

That boy has sailed o'er the ocean...

American Folk Set

“Ten Thousand Miles Away” premiered November 23, 2002, Carnegie Hall David Daniels, countertenor, Martin Katz, piano ; “The Gallows Tree” : September 21, 2007, Mills Hall at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Andrew Garland, baritone, Martha Saywell, piano ; Tonight is the premiere of “Hell in Texas” premiered November 21, 2008, Carnegie Hall, Andrew Garland, baritone, Donna Loewy, piano.

"10,000 Miles Away"

Sing I for a brave and a gallant barque;

for a stiff and a ratling breeze,

A bully crew and a captain true,

to carry me o’er the seas.

To carry me o’er the seas, my boys,

to my true love so gay,

who went on a trip on a Government ship

ten thousand miles away!

Oh, blow, ye winds, hi oh!

a roaming I will go.

I’ll stay no more on England’s shore

so let the music play.

I’ll start by the morning train

to cross the raging main,

for I’m on the road to my own true love,

ten thousand miles away.

My true love she was handsome,

my true love she was young

Her eyes were blue as the violet’s hue.

and silv’ry was the sound of her tongue.

And silv’ry was the sound of her tongue, my boys,

and while I sing this lay,

she’s a-doing of the grand in a far off land,

ten thousand miles away.

Oh, blow, ye winds, hi oh!

A roaming I will go.

I’ll stay no more on England’s shore,

so let the music play.

I’ll start by the morning train

to cross the raging main!

For I’m on the road to my

On the Other Shore

I have a mother gone to glory,

I have a mother gone to glory,

I have a mother gone to glory,

On the other shore.

By and by I’ll go to meet her,

By and by I’ll go to meet her,

By and by I’ll go to meet her,

On the other shore.

Won’t that be a happy meetin’

Won’t that be a happy meetin’

Won’t that be a happy meetin’

On the other shore.

There we’ll see our good old neighbors

There we’ll see our good old neighbors

There we’ll see our good old neighbors

On the other shore.

There we’ll see our blessed savior

There we’ll see our blessed savior

There we’ll see our blessed savior

On the other shore.

The Farmer’s Curst Wife

There was an old man at the foot of the hill.

If he ain’t moved away, he’s a’livin’ there still.

Sing hi didle-i diddle-i fi diddle-i diddle-i day.

The devil he some to his house one day,

says “one of your family I’m gonna take away.”

Sing hi didle-i diddle-i fi diddle-i diddle-i day.

“Take her, my wife, with all a’my heart,

and I hope by golly, you never part.”

Sing hi didle-i diddle-i fi diddle-i diddle-i day.

The devil he put her up on his back,

and off to Hell he went, clickity clack.

Sing hi didle-i diddle-i fi diddle-i diddle-i day.

When he got her down to the gates of Hell,

he says "punch up the fire, we'll scorch her well."

Sing hi didle-i diddle-i fi diddle-i diddle-i day.

In come a little devil draggin' a chain,

She upped with a hatched and split his brain!

Sing hi didle-i diddle-i fi diddle-i diddle-i day.

Now Nine little devils went a'climbin the wall

sayin' "take her back, daddy! She'll a'murder us all!"

Sing hi didle-i diddle-i fi diddle-i diddle-i day.

The old man was a peepin' out of a crack.

amd he saw the old Devil come draggin' her back.

Sing hi didle-i diddle-i fi diddle-i diddle-i day.

Now there's one advantage women have over men.

They can all go to Hell! ...and come back again.

Sing hi didle-i diddle-i fi diddle-i diddle-i day.

Poor Wayfaring Stranger

I am a poor wayfaring stranger

A travlin’ through this world of woe

And there’s no sickness, toil or danger

In that bright land to which I go.

I’m goin’ there to meet my mother,

I’m goin’ there no more to roam.

I’m just a goin’ over Jordan

I’m just a goin’ over home.

I am a poor wayfaring stranger

A travlin’ through this world of woe

And there’s no sickness, toil or danger

In that bright land to which I go.

I’m goin’ there to meet my mother,

I’m goin’ there no more to roam.

I’m just a goin’ over Jordan

I’m just a goin’ over home.

Hell in Texas

Oh, the devil in Hell they say he was chained. And there for a thousand years he remained.

He never complained, no, nor did he groan, but decided he’s start up a Hell of his own.

Where he could torment the souls of men, free from the walls of his prison pen.

So he asked the Lord if he had any sand left over from making this great land.

The Lord said “why yes, I have plenty on hand. It’s way down south on the Rio Grande.

But I’ve got to be honest the stuff is so poor, that I wouldn’t use it for Hell anymore.”

So the devil went down to look over his truck. It came as a gift, so he figured he’s stuck.

And when he examined it careful and well, he decided the stuff was too dry for Hell.

Well, the Lord he just wanted the stuff of his hands, so he promised the devil he’d water the land.

He had some old water that wasn’t no use, a rancid old puddle that stunk like the deuce.

The Lord he was crafty, the deal was arranged. He laughed to himself as the deed was exchanged.

But the devil was ready to go with his plan to make up a Hell and so he began.

He scattered tarantulas over the roads, put thorns on the cactus and horns on the toads.

He sprinkled the sand with millions of ants, so if you sit down, you need souls on your pants.

He put water puppies in all of the lakes and under the rocks he put poisonous snakes.

He mixed all the dust up with jiggers and fleas, hung thorns and brambles all over the trees.

The heat in the summer’s a hundred and ten. Not bad for the devil but way too hot for men!

And after he’d fixed things so thorny and well, he said “I’ll be damned if this don’t beat Hell!”

Then he flapped up his wings and away he flew, and vanished from earth in a blaze of blue!

So if you ever end up in Texas, let me know if it’s true!

America 1968 poems by Robert Hayden

Premiered November 21, 2008, Carnegie Hall, Andrew Garland, baritone, Donna Loewy, piano.

Monet’s Water Lilies

Today as the news from Selma and Saigon
poisons the air like fallout,
I come again to see
the serene, great picture that I love.

Here space and time exist in light
the eye like the eye of faith believes.
The seen, the known
dissolve in iridescence, become
illusive flesh of light
that was not, was, forever is.

O light beheld as through refracting tears.
Here is the aura of that world
each of us has lost.
Here is the shadow of its joy

Hey Nonny No

Lord Riot

naked

in flaming clothes

cannibal ruler

of anger’s

carousals

sing hey nonny no

terror

his tribute

shriek of bloody class

his praise

sing wrathful sing vengeful

sing hey nonny no

gigantic

and laughing sniper on tower

I hate

I destroy

I am I am

sing hey nonny no

sing burn baby burn

The Point

(Stonington, Connecticut)

Land’s end. And sound and river come

together, flowing to the sea.

Wild swans, the first I’ve ever seen,

cross the Point in translucent flight.

On lowtide rocks terns gather;

sunbathers gather on the lambent shore.

All for a moment seems inscribed

on brightness, as on sunlit

bronze and stone, here at land’s end,

praise for dead patriots of Stonington;

we are for an instant held in shining

like memories in the mind of God.

The Whipping

The old woman across the way
is whipping the boy again
and shouting to the neighborhood
her goodness and his wrongs.

Wildly he crashes through elephant ears,
pleads in dusty zinnias,
while she in spite of crippling fat
pursues and corners him.

She strikes and strikes the shrilly circling
boy till the stick breaks
in her hand. His tears are rainy weather
to woundlike memories:

My head gripped in bony vise
of knees, the writhing struggle
to wrench free, the blows, the fear
worse than blows that hateful

Words could bring, the face that I
no longer knew or loved . . .
Well, it is over now, it is over,
and the boy sobs in his room,

And the woman leans muttering against
a tree, exhausted, purged--
avenged in part for lifelong hidings
she has had to bear.

Those Winter Sundays

Sundays too my father got up early
And put his clothes on in the blueback cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he'd call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?

Frederick Douglass

When it is finally ours, this freedom, this liberty, this beautiful
and terrible thing, needful to man as air,
usable as earth; when it belongs at last to all,
when it is truly instinct, brain matter, diastole, systole,
reflex action; when it is finally won; when it is more
than the gaudy mumbo jumbo of politicians:
this man, this Douglass, this former slave, this Negro
beaten to his knees, exiled, visioning a world
where none is lonely, none hunted, alien,
this man, superb in love and logic, this man
shall be remembered. Oh, not with statues' rhetoric,
not with legends and poems and wreaths of bronze alone,
but with the lives grown out of his life, the lives
fleshing his dream of the beautiful, needful thing.

"Monet's Waterlilies," IV from Words in the Mourning Time," "The Point," "The Whipping," "Those Winter Sundays," and "Frederick Douglass" from COLLECTED POEMS OF ROBERT HAYDEN by Robert Hayden, edited by Frederick Glaysher. Copyright 1962, 1966, 70. Copyright c 1985 by Emma Hayden. Used by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation.

AMERICAN FOLK SET

Folk songs are passed down through the generations by people singing them to one another. Along the way, each party uses artistic license to embellish a song at their whim, thereby making it their own. Words and melody are continuously altered; on shipboard, around campfires, on front porches, in saloons and whorehoueses, on cattle drives, in cotton fields and just about everywhere else that there is a shared human experience. By the time the scribes track down and notate these songs for posterity, they are privy to only the latest incarnations, sometimes having to piece together chunks from different sources to contruct one coherent song.

Like the folks who came before me, I indulged my own sensibilities regarding the material, knowing that certain liberties would have to be taken to transform unaccompanied melodies into arrangements suitable for performance. A word might be modified or inserted to create a smoother line. Meter changes were occasionally used to extend words or phrases. A melody note might be altered to allow a phrase to land more sensibly. With all that said, respect was paid to the shape and content of the source material. My goal was to expand the storytelling power of these songs by creating accompinaments which had a more extended, even epic sweep, and thereby put them into a context where they could be performed by recitalists. These songs were selected because they offered either an emotional, dramatic or musical potential worth exploring.

-Steven Mark Kohn

AMERICA 1968

For some time, I have wanted to create a piece about 1968. To think back on that year today is to be flooded with powerful images: two assassinations, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, Apollo 8 orbiting the moon, the black power salute of John Carlos and Tommie Smith on the medal-stand of the Mexico City Olympics. The particular vision of our nation expressed in America 1968 may seem, to some, a bit unusual. It is, at times, disturbing; at times even violent. Still, it is a true, if difficult, view of our country during a volatile time. Ultimately, the vision is positive and encouraging, but the journey to that positive conclusion is harrowing – or at least I hope it is.

I found in Robert Hayden’s eloquent poetry a bridge to my memories of the time – and to my own ambivalence about the era. In Hayden’s poems, the redemptive powers of art and nature can assuage the reader even when “the news from Selma and Saigon poison the air like fallout.” But the rhythms and cadences of urban violence can be heard in Lord Riot, and the casual, misdirected cruelty of those who have themselves been victims finds its expression in The Whipping. Those Winter Sundays is perhaps Hayden’s most famous poem. In it, one feels, belatedly, an appreciation for the sacrifices of another, as one does, perhaps even more viscerally, in Frederick Douglass. To me, Hayden is at his most moving in The Point, celebrating a transcendent meeting of light and water, a moment when people are “held in shining, like memories in the mind of God.”

While tonight’s performance marks the world premiere of the complete piece, two of the songs in America 1968 were composed earlier. A version of Monet’s Waterlilies for chamber ensemble and baritone was written in 2004 for the new-music group Sequitur, and The Point was originally part of my song-cycle Climbing: 7 Songs on 8 Poems by African-Americans.

I would like to express my deep appreciation to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Yaddo, and Copland House – the sites where America 1968 was composed.

Tom Cipullo

Masterclass at Phillips Exeter Academy

It appears that Exeter has done my work for me. Rather than me posting my notes on the masterclass, they posted a video.

http://www.exeter.edu/news_and_events/news_events_11013.aspx

Enjoy.

Classes at Springfield Central High School

Class at Springfield Central High

On Tuesday I had a delightful morning speaking to music students at Springfield Central High School. Some students were not able to attend, others suggested that the information I gave out be used as extra credit questions on the next exam. For that reason I will post notes from the presentation:

I am, as Mr. Dandurand introduced me an opera singer. And that means, as some of you cleverly deducted that I sing opera. I do not sing only opera, however. I sing several genres of music that fall under the category of "classical." (I don't like to categorize styles of music and I don't like to refer to what I do as classical music, but that is the term you are most familiar with.) These three genres are

opera: fully staged music dramas

concert pieces: presented with soloists standing on stage in front of the orchestra (and often a chorus behind the orchestra)

song: presented in recital - just myself and my pianist performing a program of songs of our chosing

My field is very competitive. There are a lot of singers my age and voice type going after the same few jobs. What is the best way to give myself the best chance of getting jobs over them? Practice? How much? About 3 hours every day. That's not including research, marketing, networking and other non-singing related activities.

I told you the story of how I got started in singing. There are no potential extra credit questions in this story so I'll tell you the 10 cent version:

I was a band geek in high school; I played several instruments in all of the instrumental ensembles, but I did not sing. Sophomore year the chorus director (Peter Glass) conned me into singing in chorus: he said I could just accompany the chorus on piano and would never have to sing. I showed up the first day and he said we wouldn't be using the piano today, so I should just sit in the back with the other guys. I never did play the piano for the chorus, and I loved singing. Going into college (UMass Amherst) I planned on majoring in Spanish or Physics or MusicEd and would join the choir as an extracurricular activity. The director there (E. Wayne Abercrombie) strongly encouraged me to take voice lessons. I said 'no. The next morning he called my dorm room at 8AM and again strongly encouraged me to sign up for voice lessons. I did. I took one 30 minute voice lesson, made more progress there than I did in 11 years of piano lessons and changed my major to voice performance and music Ed.

Here's a test question: "True or False: all musicians, including instrumentalists need to learn to sing." Answer: True. For extra points explain why. Some acceptable ansers

- sight-singing is a major component of musicianship

- all players need to learn to breath with the music, even string players

- the voice was the first instrument

- good playing is based on a cantabile or "singable" line. Even piano playing

- singing is a means to demonstrate to another musician how a phrase should be played (I'll bet you anything that Mr. Dandurand demonstrates phrases by singing every day in rehearsal)

- if you can't sing in tune, you can't really play in tune

Speaking of singing in tune, I worked with three gentlemen from the Madrigal Singers. A recap of what we worked"

"I'm Beginning to See the Light" this was sung with an intent to swing and inflect. Unfortunately, you can not swing or inflect notes that are not sung fully on the voice and are not in tune. The phrase "close enough for jazz," is an endearing joke. Jazzers say that to poke fun at those who think jazz is an imprecise art. I thank you, singer of of this tune, for taking my suggestions to sing legato and in tune before you try to "jazz it up." And if you saw The Music Man you will remember that singing is just speaking drawn out over long notes. In other words: don't change the way you enunciate your words and produce your sound in order to sing. AND speak clearly with breath support. All the time.

"Seven Soldiers" I heard a bass and a tenor sing their parts from this. Even when you are singing with a section, or especially when you are singing with a section, you have a soloist's responsibility to carry your part. The only major difference between singing solo and singing in a section is your choices of where to breathe and how to phrase. (In a section the conductor decides, in a solo you can decide some of that for yourself.)

For those of you who have not taken music theory: you do need it to be a professional musician. Even if you are not sure about pursuing music or music Ed professionally, it can't hurt to take music theory.

And while I'm at it, practice the piano.

Some of the music I sang for you:

Charles Gounod "Avant de Quitter ces Lieux" from Faust an opera aria

Gustav Mahler "Ich bin der Welt Abhanden Gekommen" from Fünf Rückert-Lieder - a song performed in recital with piano or with orchestra. Fünf Rückert-Lieder is a song cycle, a group of songs composed and performed together unified by a theme.

Giacomo Puccini "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot an opera aria

*This is a tenor aria (one of Pavarotti's most famous arias) I do not sing this in performance. I do sing the baritone role in the same opera.

Franz Schubert "An die Musik" ("Ode to Music) - a song performed in recital

"Poor Wayfaring Stranger" folk song arranged by Steven Mark Kohn – a song performed in recital *available on iTunes!

Gioachino Rossini "Largo al factotum" from The Barber of Seville ("Figaro, Figaro, Figaro") an opera aria

Charles Brown “A Song Without Words” – a song performed in recital

The third period class, madrigals and jazz band had a great discussion about what makes a great song, what makes a great performance and what is more important: the words or the music. The answer is both. When you get ready to go to school in the morning you don’t ask yourself “which shoe is more important to wear: the left or the right?”

Many of you said when you heard "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" you imagined a story taking place. A great song whispers it's secrets loudly into the listener's ear. (Paraphrasing my song idol, Steven Blier) And for each listener that secret is different.

Which brings me back to my original point: you had the experience of imagining a story during that performance because I chose a song that I love and I prepared it to the best of my ability. Do you remember how I demonstrated singing the song without dynamics and without the subtle and sophisticated arrangement? That did not create a profound listening experience. I have been practicing that song for 3 years. Because I practiced, notes were in tune, the dynamics and colors (in the voice and piano) were the way I wanted them. Had I not prepared those things, I wouldn't have been able to give you an enjoyable performance. You owe it to your audience to prepare your music to the best of your ability. How do you do that?

Practice.

Happy Holidays.

Acting in auditions

Some students have expressed interest in hearing more about auditions.

Below is a response to a comment posted by a brilliant and insightful audition pianist, Michael Baitzer.

"I don't understand why classical singers think "being an actor" is more important in an audition than the singing is.... You are in this career because people want to hear your voice. If you sing terribly, who [cares] if you can't act?

1. Bel canto is (among other things) acting with the voice 2. While there is a dearth of acting training and awareness for voice students, we don’t need to compensate for that by overacting. 3. Relaxation and freedom of movement are integral to vocal technique. From there you are free to move or not but you don’t appear awkward and stiff in your audition, which is just as bad as overacting; and both of which hurt your singing. 4. Acting is integrated into your performance. (Thank you, Joe L.) 5. Many of the U.S. regional companies want to see a performance. If you know that’s what they want, you can just dial up that drama – that integrated acting. For further reading: The Singing and Acting Handbook: Games and Exercises for the Performer - Paperback (Dec. 1999) by Thomas De Mallet Burgess and Nicholas Skilbeck and the Wolftrap Opera Blog. http://wolftrapopera.blogspot.com/

Other comments from the thread:

- The point should be as a young professional or professional you should be able to integrate both without sacrificing the other. It's sad that at this level we would have to think of them as separate and not equal. - Joe L.

- Joe-- I basically agree but I still think singing takes first... Acting can be learned.... If the goods aren't there, why spend all the money??

- If you don't know how to sing what the music is supposed to be saying, all the 'acting' in the world is pointless. Thank you, Michael

How about your comments?

Audition Season

Audition season is now in full swing. Many of my civilian friends ask me about auditions: how do they go? where are they? who are they for? when do they call? do you get nervous? what do you do in an audition? how do you get an audition? what do you wear? In this post I will answer all of those questions and more. (Not really.)

Who do you sing for? (For whom are you singing?)

This time of year most of the auditions are for regional opera companies - the A, AA, and AAA farm teams of opera.

What is an opera audition?

It is a chance for these companies to hear a larger number of singers in a concentrated period of time in order to cast future opera productions.

When do they take place?

U.S. regional companies hold auditions in New York City throughout the regular season (September to May.) Most of these auditions take place during a time known as audition season: from around the first week in November to the second week in December.

Where do the auditions take place?

These regional opera companies come to New York City and rent a studio or church hall. These are located all over Manhattan.

What kind of a job are you hoping to get?

I'm auditioning for a lead role in one of their opera productions for the next season. It's now November, I'll be auditioning for shows taking place in the September 2011 to May 2012 season. Some of these companies will be casting their 2012-2013 seasons, though fewer and fewer are doing this: because of the economy, their future budgets and therefore their future seasons are uncertain. They don't know which shows they can do that far in advance. (I do have engagements with one much larger company for 2013 and 2015.)

These regional companies put up between 2 and 5 productions a year. My involvement with them will be a total of 3 to 6 weeks: 2-3 weeks of rehearsal followed by 1-3 weeks of performances with a total number of 1-9 performances. Why are there so many days in between shows? Operas usually aren't performed on two consecutive days. This is because opera singers rarely are able to sing a performance full-out two nights in a row. (Just like starting MLB pitchers rest for 5-6 games.) Sometimes a show is double-cast: two different casts sing in the same production and alternate, allowing consecutive nightly performances. You get paid per performance, by the way. You've been there for 2-3 weeks of rehearsal and your first paycheck doesn't come in until opening night. And if you get sick or injured and can't do the show, you don't get paid for that show. But that's another blog entry for another day.

How do you get auditions?

I know of two basic ways to get opera auditions:

1.) If you are unmanaged (if you don't have an agent): You send your prepared list of materials - a resume, bio, list of repertoire, press reviews, maybe a recording to all of the opera companies you can find. Approximately 1 out of every 50 will respond. 1 out of every 2 will be favorable responses.

2.) If you are managed: You check your email, find an audition notice and reply 'yes.'

I exaggerate a bit: I had little experience with professional auditions before I got a manager. I did plenty of auditions for opera company apprenticeships before I signed with management and those were a matter of submitting an application - and often an application fee - and waiting to see if you would be granted an audition.

Some regional companies set aside time to hear unmanaged singers. I don't know much about this; comments on this subject would be helpful.

There is a third way of getting auditions: crashing. This is reserved for singers who are just starting out. I did this a few times early on. It is not recommended for singers who are a little more established because 1. you do have other opportunities 2. you understand how to target your auditions. If you sing Annie and they're only casting Daddy Warbucks, there's no job for you here. ( The hit musical Annie is not considered an opera, by the way. And neither is Phantom of the Opera.)

How does it go?

Each company conducts auditions differently, but in most auditions you will wait your turn outside the room, someone will call you in, you enter greet the auditor(s), hand them your materials, situate yourself where you will perform and wait for them to ask you to start. You sing one aria of your chosing, they may ask for a second, they signal you are done with a conclusive "thank you very much," you thank them and you leave. Variations on this theme have included the auditors asking you to sing excerpts from different arias, auditors asking you to sing the same song in a different way, and ina few extreme cases, auditors attempting to give you a voice lesson, auditors asking you about your life history and how you came into music. Companies designate 8 to 10 minute slots for each singer which usually is enough time to hear 2 arias. (Very often these get behind schedule and you need to consider that when scheduling your own appointments. You can not safely schedule an audition one hour after another audition cross town.) These are very unlike musical theater auditions which - I have heard - can be just 16 bars or 30 seconds long. This raises the question: if the opera people can discern in just 30 seconds that they don't need you, why do they let you keep singing? My guess is they are sympathetic to your plight: you traveled from far away and paid a pianist to be here, they owe you your eight to ten minutes.

What do you sing in the audition?

Companies hold two basic kinds of auditions. What you sing depends on what kind of audition they are holding. In most of the auditions this time of year companies are casting specific shows. You will simply sing the aria that your character sings in that show. Sometimes you might choose to sing an aria other than what your character sings, but one that is similar. You might choose to do this because you sing this aria better than the character's aria, or you feel that this aria shows you off better. This is a risk because while you may feel you are giving a better performance, you might not be helping the auditors decide if you are right for this particular role. When companies are not casting a specific show or shows, that is called a general audition. Here the company wants to hear you just to hear you. They will take notes and create a file for you. They are not necessarily casting you in the immediate future. For a general audition you have much more leeway in what to sing. You can sing your best stuff regardless of language, style, composer etc.

What do you use for musical accompaniment?

These auditions are conducted with live piano accompaniment. Usually you will have to hire your own accompanist to play for your audition. Sometimes the company provides their own accompanist, usually you have to pay that person. I have a roster of pianists I use for auditions. As soon as I get an audition notice, I ask these pianists if they are available for a particular time and place. I always use someone I know. There have been times where I arrived at an audition without an accompanist but found someone there that I knew and could use them. Good audition pianists are highly specialized: they can play any of your arias in the standard repertoire at any tempo and follow you in your own individual way of singing these arias without a rehearsal. Most of these don't play just for auditions, but they have done enough of them that they work extremely well in the audition setting. I would like to point out that often someone who has set aside his time to playing auditions this time of year will have a quite a time scheduling. I have seen pianists travel to 5 different studios over a range of 100 blocks in one day. There is always talk of coordinating pianists with audition venues, but because we are all artists we never quite get that done.

What's the end game? How do you follow up?

I simply write a thank-you note. This shows the company that I appreciated the opportunity to sing for them and to be considered for a future production. My agent has a meeting with casting representatives from the company and "sells" me for their production. Sometimes I might meet with my agent prior to his casting meeting to tell him something in particular he might need to know about a particular role. (This role requires the singer to play 2 tin whistles at the same time and I can do that. That's not true, but just to illustrate...)

How do you find out when you got the job?

"Don't call us, we'll call you." In my personal experience, the time from audition to job offer can range from three days to three years. It is always my agent who calls to let me know I have a job offer. Sometimes these come right out of the casting meeting, sometimes they come out of the blue based on an audition I gave three years prior. Most often - and this is not just in my experience - they don't come at all. Unlike auditions for apprenticeships, you don't get a rejection letter confirming that you did not get the position this year. They simply never call. When you're first starting out on the professional scene this actually softens the blow of rejection. Once I got a very nice letter from Robert Larsen of Des Moines Metro Opera letting me know that he particularly enjoyed my audition, unfortunately there was no role for me this year, but he would love to hear me again. Heart-warming. Speaking of rejection: the odds are roughly - very roughly - 50 to 1. For every 50 auditions you sing *for which you are qualified* you will get one job offer. That's if you're doing everything right: singing for the right roles at the right theaters at the right time and you are on top of your game every time. So if this year you sang a total of 25 auditions and got one job - you're doing twice as well as average!

What do I wear?

Audition attire has become slightly less formal in the last ten years. When I started it was suits and ties for the gentlemen, concert dresses for the ladies. Now I don't see many jackets or ties or elaborate dresses. I always wear a tight-fitting short-sleeve shirt and dress pants.

Any more questions?