The inspiration for this blog comes from two sources: Me (I've been wanting to write this for YEARS) and conductor Andrew Bisantz (who was just in Montreal to conduct Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream and who spent many rehearsals referencing movies).
Both Andrew and I (and frankly, so many others I know in the business) have way too many moments nowadays when, in rehearsal, we reference a movie that should be known but, for a myriad of reasons, isn't. And then there's the musical theatre references that get made in opera rehearsals... (A whole other blog!!)
Art is not unique. All art - from Shakespeare's to Gluck's to Rossini's to Stravinsky's to Bernstein's to Spielberg's to Whedon's - is connective and, frankly, dependent on so much other art that has been or was created before by others. Being the most collaborative type of art, opera is very much dependent upon making connections beyond the score's music and text.
It happens in rehearsals and in coachings. Someone says, "I need you to enter into that doorway just like Kate Hepburn did in the penultimate scene of The Lion in Winter"; silence usually follows, and then a blank stare... No idea who Kate might be, or that the movie ain't about a lion in Africa.
The reason these references get made is because they are tremendously visceral moments that might help a young actor/actress access an image or a vocal colour or a physicality that could help create an operatic moment that works in the director's (or conductor's) imagination. These references also help to show how connective the operatic art form is, plus it's rather a fun thing to do.
Points of reference help create community.
So -- my list of Movies that I think all young opera singers should watch. Of course, there are many left off, and some you might disagree with, but I have my reasons!
1) Moonstruck: Too important a film to ignore. Cher and Nicholas Cage making terrific choices, most of them physical. Great old actors showing how it's done. Lovely screenplay. And the soundtrack is all La bohème!
2) The Lion in Winter: Two lions of acting at the top of their game: Katherine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole. Film debut of Anthony Hopkins (playing a gay Richard the Lion-hearted), plus Timothy Dalton. Every scene in this film is a masterclass in how to play a scene.
3) Indiscreet: Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman put romance on a whole new planet.
4) Any Hitchcock film: Learn about delayed gratification from this master of suspense. James Stewart and Cary Grant were brilliant in their films with Hitch. Aspiring directors of opera can't really aspire to direct opera without knowing his films.
5) Babette's Feast: A film about what it truly means to be an ARTIST. You have to wait for it, but the speech at the end of the film is inspirational for any of us; plus there's an opera singer played in the film by an actual opera singer: Jean-Philippe Lafont.
6) The Godfather: I don't need to explain why this is a film that should be basically memorized by one and all looking to act on the stage in any genre. The sequel is even better.
7) Singing in the Rain and American in Paris: Gene Kelly dances, sings, and acts in his own athletic way that I think is rather operatic. Kelly is a good actor to watch and study to learn how he moves and communicates emotion with his body. He's a gesture king, fyi.
8) Star Trek and Star Wars: Epic sci-fi series are always great for research into archetypical characters present in Epic operas (or even in the non-Epic ones).
9) Since I've mentioned a TV series - other TV series that are absolutely essential to commit to memory: Buffy, the Vampire Slayer; Fringe (Walter!); Rome (great for research); Downton Abbey (terrific for WW1 and 1920's research); and the best TV ever --- Sherlock (multiple viewing only increases my love for the acting and writing and directing in this series!). While you're at it -- Golden Girls, Mary Tyler Moore Show, St. Elsewhere, and... ThirtySomething (angst in the late 20th century.)
10) Others to contemplate and watch at least once: A Room with a View, Gosford Park, Forrest Gump, and movies by Joss Whedon, J.J. Abrams, and Peter Jackson (his Tolkien movies are excellent for pseudo-historical research into anything that lives in the world of Nordic mythology.)
So get on Netflix and spend some quality time enjoying these films and the performances in them. Take notice of the editing, the writing, the lighting and cinematography, the acting, the physicality of the characters, and the directing. It all informs the end product and, as artists who sing and act, you can learn so much from just watching!
Plus, the next time you're in a rehearsal with me, or Andrew Bisantz (or frankly anyone who loves movies) they'll be a few more connective fibers between everyone in the room.
My Top Ten Posts!
Friday, February 14, 2014
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Music by Benjamin Britten
Words by William Shakespeare
I've got a lot of media links on this blog, so please go ahead and check them all out! Lots of fun videos of rehearsals, a cool trailer, a time lapse video of a makeup transformation, and a link to a LIVE HD webcast live stream of the actual production Wednesday, Jan 29 and Thursday, Jan 30.
All from Opera McGill, the producing entity for operas at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University.
It's our biggest, most lavish production ever!
Sets designed by Vincent Lefevre, Costumes by Ginette Grenier, Makeup by Florence Cornet, Lights by Serge Filiatrault, Choreography by Nicola Bowie and Conducted by Andrew Bisantz with staging by yours truly!
It's double cast, which really speaks to the talent level of the program I run at McGill. Both casts are terrific, and you'll enjoy it I promise.
We are performing in Pollack Hall Jan 29, 30, 31, and Feb 1, 2014 at the Schulich School of Music so if you're in Montreal please come and by a ticket!!
I'm rushing around doing last minute errands, buying gifts, and taking planning meetings for next year (yes, we plan far in advance!) I've certainly enjoyed staging this show, learning about Shakespeare's text, and collaborating with our designers.
Having Andrew in the pit is a luxury, as he's a brilliant conductor and extremely versed in Britten opera. Nicola and Andrew are old friends of mine from Glimmerglass Opera, where we all first met. It's been a joy working with not just seasoned professionals, but with good chums who speak my language and believe in a pedagogical process. The students have certainly learned A LOT from this one!
As a stage director, I also direct thru the music. As a conductor, Andrew also conducts thru the text. We are a good team I think.
So lots of links, some photos, and a marvelous, magical production.
Don't miss it!!
Saturday, January 4, 2014
And the 12th Christmas Blog: Opera McGill's 2014-2015 Season!
I've never announced an Opera McGill season via PatricksOperaBlog.
Since I'm being read by so many people from all over the globe, I thought it might be a great way to get the word out. These 12 Blogs of Christmas have been read by over 1,000 people, which is SUPER cool. It's rather a flattering thing to think that over 37,000 people have read my thoughts. THANKS!
Now --- Ukraine, Turkey, Brazil, Britain, Germany, France, Egypt, and North America are you ready?
Now --- Ukraine, Turkey, Brazil, Britain, Germany, France, Egypt, and North America are you ready?
The plan -- which can easily change based on both the January/February prospective graduate auditions and the fall 2014 season auditions -- is:
November 2014
Our Annual baroque opera production with Maestro Hank Knox and the McGill Baroque Orchestra!
Right now we are looking at a double-bill which will hopefully include a French baroque piece: Rameau's Pygmalion.
January 2015
A new adventure into King Arthur's court!
I'm pleased to announce that our January opera will be Camelot!
Jonathan Patterson, (who will be replacing me as director of Opera McGill while I take my first half-sabbatical) and I will co-direct this incredibly moving and exciting piece of musical theatre. Be sure to get your tickets, as I'm sure it will sell out quickly!
February 2015
Black Box Festival
Title (or titles) To Be Determined
March 2015
To celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the McGill Chamber Orchestra, Boris Brott and I have been planning for over a year now a special collaboration:
Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro conducted by Boris Brott and directed by David Gately!
So next year the Opera McGill students and our audience members will be treated to French baroque opera, one of the great pieces of classic musical theatre, a black box piece sure to exciting, and a brilliantly funny production directed by the brilliant David Gately of Mozart's most brilliant opera!
This season includes my FAVORITE musical and my FAVORITE opera.
I'm excited and I hope y'all are too!
Thanks for reading these Twelve Blogs of Christmas and I wish you a very Happy New Year!
Thanks for reading these Twelve Blogs of Christmas and I wish you a very Happy New Year!
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Xmas blog #11: Operas and Operettas and Musicals, OH MY!
This whole craze of opera companies producing musicals. What's that about?!
Putting butts in seats? Not quite.
A trend that will fade? Don't think so.
An evolution of the art form? Yes.
I believe that a major generational shift has occurred in opera. No longer are people (either those who produce/perform or those who attend) picking one art form and sticking to it.
Gone are the subscribers of old. Reborn as SINGLE TICKET BUYERS.
Marty and Jenny will get tix to see an Arcade Fire concert, a one-woman show in a Fringe Festival, a symphony concert program that fires something in their imagination, go to the Nutcracker with their nieces, spend a great dinner and date pre-Porgy and Bess, and then have fun at the Lion King on tour. For this imaginary couple, all of the afore-mentioned tickets are seen as CULTURAL events.
No one cares, at least most ticket buyers I speak with, what the definition of singspiel or operetta or Broadway, etc. is. They just want to be entertained. And marketing does count in the game to get people to spend their hard-earned money on live entertainment, btw.
What's my stance on this subject?
Awhile back, someone asked me what the difference between opera and musical theatre was and I answered: "In Opera, there's no tap dancing".
I stand by that statement. It makes Street Scene a musical...
Sadly, many think that operatic works are superior to musical theatre works. Naively, many think that singing operetta is "lighter" than singing opera. (Check out Die Fledermaus' orchestration and compare it with Die Zauberflöte and then tell me which is more operatic...) And truly, truly, very few people in the business (either business mind you) know enough about the OTHER repertoire to make any real judgements about opera or musicals. I'm shocked by those on both sides of this genre aisle who know very, very little about how the other half lives, (i.e. what their core repertoire is) let alone the vast oceans of repertoire that exist in opera, operetta, and musical theatre.
In 2014, Glimmerglass, San Francisco Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Vancouver Opera are producing pieces that most would define as musicals. I'd like to buck that idea and just throw all of them into one genre: OPERA.
For me, opera is simply a story that is told through singing. That means The Messiah, that means "Despite and Still", that means "Widmung", that means Owen Wingrave, that means A New Moon, that means Oklahoma!, and that means Next To Normal.
It's just the style of singing that changes.
And isn't that true for ANY opera? You certainly don't sing Carmen in the same way you tackle Rinaldo or Little Women. These are stylistically different pieces, just like Manon and Manon Lescaut or Roméo et Juliette and West Side Story. Opera folk hate it when their art form is stereotyped into the "fat lady singing loudly with horns on". Opera lovers discern the differences between Fidelio or Faust or Figaro and really don't like it when non-opera lovers describe it all as "sounding the same." Same goes for musical theatre lovers -- it's not all belting like Ethel, or screaming out Rent tunes. Same for recital goers -- not all Schubert songs are strophic and easily learned and easily sung because they have an octave range.
I bet I might have made a few of you upset on that last remark.
Let's get over ourselves and move on. Not all operas are great, or written by geniuses. Not all musicals are trashy or simplistic. Not all operettas are funny or easy to sing. Every genre, every type of repertoire has its subtleties and lumping one idea or bias onto an entire genre is, in a word, dumb.
The art is changing (actually, it's changed kids, catch up!) There are new works that defy these old genre classifications: "Myths and Hymns" by Guettel, which is a song cycle but also a musical; some of the newest operas are, well, barely "operatic" in the old sense of the word (Machover's "Death and the Powers"), and many cross bridges between song, opera and musical (Ricky Ian Gordon's work"Orpheus and Euridice: A Song Cycle in Two Acts" which takes place in a swimming pool and one of the lead characters is a clarinet.)
I know that this blog will fall on some ironically deaf ears for the most part.
Too many want easy answers, or are simply uneasy with change.
We shouldn't box people, and shouldn't box works of art. Let them all stand on equal ground. The great works will not be diminished by the lesser. There's nothing to be scared of...
And I challenge anyone to tell me that the subtleties and challenges of singing an honest, moving rendition of "Being Alive" doesn't match up to doing the same with "Vissi d'arte" or "Morgen" or "Vilya". The chills are the same for me.
Diva 1: Patti Lupone "Being Alive" live at Carnegie Hall
Diva 2: Maria Callas "Vissi d'arte"
Diva 3: Arleen Auger "Morgen"
Diva 4: Renata Tebaldi "Vilja lied"
I remember playing classes for the great director Frank Corsaro at The Juilliard School back in the early 90s. He held a weekly class for the JOC singers that was sometimes tough to get through. Lots of method acting techniques, which included lots of tears. But one of his other "methods" was simply brilliant and made a lasting impression on me: he would ask the singers to bring in a piece of musical theatre that corresponded to one of their arias and then perform them back-to-back without a break. He felt very strongly that American singers needed to learn to act their arias with the same immediacy that came when they sang a piece in their own language, and for Frank that meant not just in English, but the American musical theatre language. One day a young dramatic soprano walked in with "Can't help lovin' that man" and followed it with "Du bist der Lenz". It was Brilliant with a capital "B"! There were so many connections between the two pieces. One informed the other.
Gosh, just think what might happen if all singers were encouraged to make connections between art songs, arias, and pieces from musical theatre! Then they'd be working along the same lines as our current great singers of the early 21st century: Renee Fleming, Stephanie Blythe, Audra McDonald, Nathan Gunn, and Deb Voigt.
Gunn and the NY Phil
A great singer sings their stories honestly, true to the text and vocal line, with just their vocal chords and a ton of humanity shining through, like a beacon.
If someone is out there telling you your beacon should only shine for opera, make sure you understand what their definition of opera is and ask them why you should be limiting yourself to one person's definition of an art form that defies definition.
And make sure YOU understand that it's 2014 and the world is a mighty different place than it was twenty years ago.
I leave you with two thoughts:
Move On from "Sunday in the Park..."
Bernadette and Mandy
Things Change, Jo from "Little Women"
Joyce singing Adamo
Putting butts in seats? Not quite.
A trend that will fade? Don't think so.
An evolution of the art form? Yes.
I believe that a major generational shift has occurred in opera. No longer are people (either those who produce/perform or those who attend) picking one art form and sticking to it.
Gone are the subscribers of old. Reborn as SINGLE TICKET BUYERS.
Marty and Jenny will get tix to see an Arcade Fire concert, a one-woman show in a Fringe Festival, a symphony concert program that fires something in their imagination, go to the Nutcracker with their nieces, spend a great dinner and date pre-Porgy and Bess, and then have fun at the Lion King on tour. For this imaginary couple, all of the afore-mentioned tickets are seen as CULTURAL events.
No one cares, at least most ticket buyers I speak with, what the definition of singspiel or operetta or Broadway, etc. is. They just want to be entertained. And marketing does count in the game to get people to spend their hard-earned money on live entertainment, btw.
What's my stance on this subject?
Awhile back, someone asked me what the difference between opera and musical theatre was and I answered: "In Opera, there's no tap dancing".
I stand by that statement. It makes Street Scene a musical...
Sadly, many think that operatic works are superior to musical theatre works. Naively, many think that singing operetta is "lighter" than singing opera. (Check out Die Fledermaus' orchestration and compare it with Die Zauberflöte and then tell me which is more operatic...) And truly, truly, very few people in the business (either business mind you) know enough about the OTHER repertoire to make any real judgements about opera or musicals. I'm shocked by those on both sides of this genre aisle who know very, very little about how the other half lives, (i.e. what their core repertoire is) let alone the vast oceans of repertoire that exist in opera, operetta, and musical theatre.
In 2014, Glimmerglass, San Francisco Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Vancouver Opera are producing pieces that most would define as musicals. I'd like to buck that idea and just throw all of them into one genre: OPERA.
For me, opera is simply a story that is told through singing. That means The Messiah, that means "Despite and Still", that means "Widmung", that means Owen Wingrave, that means A New Moon, that means Oklahoma!, and that means Next To Normal.
It's just the style of singing that changes.
And isn't that true for ANY opera? You certainly don't sing Carmen in the same way you tackle Rinaldo or Little Women. These are stylistically different pieces, just like Manon and Manon Lescaut or Roméo et Juliette and West Side Story. Opera folk hate it when their art form is stereotyped into the "fat lady singing loudly with horns on". Opera lovers discern the differences between Fidelio or Faust or Figaro and really don't like it when non-opera lovers describe it all as "sounding the same." Same goes for musical theatre lovers -- it's not all belting like Ethel, or screaming out Rent tunes. Same for recital goers -- not all Schubert songs are strophic and easily learned and easily sung because they have an octave range.
I bet I might have made a few of you upset on that last remark.
Let's get over ourselves and move on. Not all operas are great, or written by geniuses. Not all musicals are trashy or simplistic. Not all operettas are funny or easy to sing. Every genre, every type of repertoire has its subtleties and lumping one idea or bias onto an entire genre is, in a word, dumb.
The art is changing (actually, it's changed kids, catch up!) There are new works that defy these old genre classifications: "Myths and Hymns" by Guettel, which is a song cycle but also a musical; some of the newest operas are, well, barely "operatic" in the old sense of the word (Machover's "Death and the Powers"), and many cross bridges between song, opera and musical (Ricky Ian Gordon's work"Orpheus and Euridice: A Song Cycle in Two Acts" which takes place in a swimming pool and one of the lead characters is a clarinet.)
I know that this blog will fall on some ironically deaf ears for the most part.
Too many want easy answers, or are simply uneasy with change.
We shouldn't box people, and shouldn't box works of art. Let them all stand on equal ground. The great works will not be diminished by the lesser. There's nothing to be scared of...
And I challenge anyone to tell me that the subtleties and challenges of singing an honest, moving rendition of "Being Alive" doesn't match up to doing the same with "Vissi d'arte" or "Morgen" or "Vilya". The chills are the same for me.
Diva 1: Patti Lupone "Being Alive" live at Carnegie Hall
Diva 2: Maria Callas "Vissi d'arte"
Diva 3: Arleen Auger "Morgen"
Diva 4: Renata Tebaldi "Vilja lied"
I remember playing classes for the great director Frank Corsaro at The Juilliard School back in the early 90s. He held a weekly class for the JOC singers that was sometimes tough to get through. Lots of method acting techniques, which included lots of tears. But one of his other "methods" was simply brilliant and made a lasting impression on me: he would ask the singers to bring in a piece of musical theatre that corresponded to one of their arias and then perform them back-to-back without a break. He felt very strongly that American singers needed to learn to act their arias with the same immediacy that came when they sang a piece in their own language, and for Frank that meant not just in English, but the American musical theatre language. One day a young dramatic soprano walked in with "Can't help lovin' that man" and followed it with "Du bist der Lenz". It was Brilliant with a capital "B"! There were so many connections between the two pieces. One informed the other.
Gosh, just think what might happen if all singers were encouraged to make connections between art songs, arias, and pieces from musical theatre! Then they'd be working along the same lines as our current great singers of the early 21st century: Renee Fleming, Stephanie Blythe, Audra McDonald, Nathan Gunn, and Deb Voigt.
Gunn and the NY Phil
A great singer sings their stories honestly, true to the text and vocal line, with just their vocal chords and a ton of humanity shining through, like a beacon.
If someone is out there telling you your beacon should only shine for opera, make sure you understand what their definition of opera is and ask them why you should be limiting yourself to one person's definition of an art form that defies definition.
And make sure YOU understand that it's 2014 and the world is a mighty different place than it was twenty years ago.
I leave you with two thoughts:
Move On from "Sunday in the Park..."
Bernadette and Mandy
Things Change, Jo from "Little Women"
Joyce singing Adamo
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Xmas Blog #10: Wishes and Resolutions for 2014
2014 is round the corner. Time for those New Year Resolutions.
It looks like there will be two outside professional gigs down in the states in 2014. That's exciting. A year from now I could very well be far, far away from both Montreal and Iowa. It looks like this summer will be a summer for an actual family vacation.
Last summer "off" from opera wasn't really off. I played a bunch of performances of La Voix Humaine for the fabulous OperaFive (go Rachel and Aria!) in the Ottawa Fringe Festival. We earned the critics choice award for best of Fringe and I received accolades in the press like "Patrick Hansen was perfect." (How does one put that in their bio?!) And, if you've been reading my blogs this year, the second half of the summer was spent recovering from a hernia repair surgery.
I'd like an ACTUAL vacation. An actual summer off. We are thinking of spending a bunch of it in Iowa, helping my wife's parents organize their house. We'd also like to see other parts of America, which is very doable on the road between Montreal and Iowa. As Americans, we want our kids to know the great country that is the United States and one of the best ways is to slowly drive through it -- off the interstates -- and literally stop and smell the roses. Maybe a few days in Chicago as well. The best city in the U.S.!
Additionally, 2014 is the last year of my teaching at McGill full time. I'm taking two "half" sabbaticals during the winters of 2015 and 2016. Lots of projects, but mostly those sabbaticals are about the world premiere opera I'm collaborating on. I'll have to make sure everything is as planned as possible so I can depart. Next year's Opera McGill season gets announced in a forthcoming blog, FYI.
So my New Year Resolutions:
1) Meditate more regularly and increase my sitting time
2) Be more of a presence in my boys' lives
3) Do less. Eat less. Drink less. Worry less. Less is More.
4) Turn 50 with grace and good health.
5) Beard On! (albeit, perhaps in a more trimmed fashion...........)
It looks like there will be two outside professional gigs down in the states in 2014. That's exciting. A year from now I could very well be far, far away from both Montreal and Iowa. It looks like this summer will be a summer for an actual family vacation.
Last summer "off" from opera wasn't really off. I played a bunch of performances of La Voix Humaine for the fabulous OperaFive (go Rachel and Aria!) in the Ottawa Fringe Festival. We earned the critics choice award for best of Fringe and I received accolades in the press like "Patrick Hansen was perfect." (How does one put that in their bio?!) And, if you've been reading my blogs this year, the second half of the summer was spent recovering from a hernia repair surgery.
I'd like an ACTUAL vacation. An actual summer off. We are thinking of spending a bunch of it in Iowa, helping my wife's parents organize their house. We'd also like to see other parts of America, which is very doable on the road between Montreal and Iowa. As Americans, we want our kids to know the great country that is the United States and one of the best ways is to slowly drive through it -- off the interstates -- and literally stop and smell the roses. Maybe a few days in Chicago as well. The best city in the U.S.!
Additionally, 2014 is the last year of my teaching at McGill full time. I'm taking two "half" sabbaticals during the winters of 2015 and 2016. Lots of projects, but mostly those sabbaticals are about the world premiere opera I'm collaborating on. I'll have to make sure everything is as planned as possible so I can depart. Next year's Opera McGill season gets announced in a forthcoming blog, FYI.
So my New Year Resolutions:
1) Meditate more regularly and increase my sitting time
2) Be more of a presence in my boys' lives
3) Do less. Eat less. Drink less. Worry less. Less is More.
4) Turn 50 with grace and good health.
5) Beard On! (albeit, perhaps in a more trimmed fashion...........)
Monday, December 30, 2013
12 Blogs of Xmas #9: The Year of Shakespeare Videos!
Hey!
Opera McGill's Year of Shakespeare is getting documented by the immensely talented videographer and editor, Anne Kostalas.
We spend one Saturday a month diving into Shakespeare from many angles. The students of Opera McGill, along with Paul Hopkins (artistic director of Repercussion Theatre and actor/director), Paul Yachnin (Tomlinson professor of Shakespeare studies and the director of IPLAI), and me have been researching, playing, acting, learning, teaching, paraphrasing, singing, blocking, studying, and defining Shakespeare - his sonnets, plays, and the operatic treatments of his text.
The students learn, the students teach. Paul and Paul elucidate eloquently and illuminate illustriously. I drop in funny one liners.
Actually, we are all learning and loving the experience. So far there have been three sessions, one each in September, October, and November.
You can see the documentaries here: (Don't worry, each is only 8 or so minutes in length)
Look for three more and don't miss out on the Upcoming Productions!
Britten's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
January 29, 30, 31, and February 1, 2014 in Pollack Hall
Schulich School of Music of McGill University
The two great English geniuses of Shakespeare and Britten for an unforgettable evening!
Bellini's I CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI
March 20 and 22, 2014 in Pollack Hall
This is a very special collaboration between Opera McGill and the amazing
McGill Chamber Orchestra, Boris Brott artistic director
A bel canto masterpiece based on the Verona tale of star-crossed lovers!
Operatic Shakespeare! A Scenes Program
March 21, 2014 in Pollack Hall
The culmination of these Shakespeare Saturday Workshops!
We will be presenting the actual Shakespeare play excerpts followed by their operatic treatments. An original evening that shouldn't be missed by theatre and opera goers alike!
Xmas Blog #8: The Many, Varied Looks of Yours Truly!
I'm tackling the Beard Question. This isn't related to opera, so if you're only reading those sorts of blogs, feel free to pass by on this one!
Why did I grow the beard?
Why am I not shaving the beard?
And why, why, am I not trimming the damned thing?!
Here goes... First a facial retrospective of sorts.
2013 started with a burgeoning handlebar mustache:
And then I moved to a more formal English style stache:
And then the pomade and pompadour coupled with the handlebar mo':
And July the beard began:
And then it became an actual beard:
And finally, inspired by the great writer Ernest Hemmingway, my beard became more epic:
There are lots of opinions on this beard, mind you, and I've heard from everyone. My wife is fine with it. My boys like the mustache but not the beard. My colleagues are split -- some think it's cool (especially the techies), others are not amused, some want it gone. I accept all these opinions.
The fun comments come from total strangers. Those are almost all positive and range from "great beard, dude" to various versions of "epic" and "awesome". I've received free beers at pubs, and free lattes at Starbucks (but I think those have less to do with my beard than by the fact that I spend hundreds of dollars a month there...) A few days ago, while shopping at Kohls here in Burlington, Iowa, a native passed by me and, under her breath, said "Sir, you've got a great haircut. And the beard's amazing." Then she just kept walking as if she hadn't said anything, or was afraid I'd answer her. I wasn't even able to say thanks.
So why did I grow to my current state of hirsutedness? (Not sure if that's a word...)
It gets touchy-feely from here on.
Around March/April of this year it became clear that my anxiety and stress were reaching new levels that I might not be able to handle. Most of it was medical, some had to do with how hard I'd been pushing myself during the past decade. Meditation was helping, but not really. I was definitely looking at the possibility of medicating myself in order to sleep and not have panic attacks about possible blood poisoning scenarios involving cat scratches. My wife was worried... and annoyed.
Additionally, the handlebar mustache that I had cultivated over the first third of the year had taken over my morning ritual. It was just too much and I was feeling that it was a rather vain thing to do every morning. Waxing a mustache into swirling handlebars takes time, effort, and determination. It was too much. Yet, I really liked having facial hair, not gonna lie.
I'd never grown an actual beard. There was an attempt back in Ithaca during a Christmas break, but it got shaved off as soon as it was time to return to teaching in January.
The summer of 2013, if you've read that blog, was my first summer "off" from opera. No more Brevard, no conducting or directing gigs, just being at home away from the craziness of opera.
Confession: It drove me crazy, not working.
So I wrote a play ("Christmas in Peru"), walked the dog, and waited to get my hernia repair surgery scheduled.
July 1st came, and I decided I was through with shaving. I'm not sure what happened that morning, but I knew that that was that. I was going to let my face evolve to its natural state and see what the bearded face might look like, if given half a chance. I consulted websites and saw that what it really takes to grow a beard is patience. I do have that, in spades.
Plus I meditated more, gave up caring what I looked like, gave up caring that the beard was coming in REALLY grey, and gave up caring (or at least tried to) what others might think of me.
It was an internal transformation that had an external byproduct, my beard. Or it might have been an external transformation that began to impact my internal feelings. (Actors might understand the inside/out vs outside/in reference.)
During the summer, it also became clear that I was experiencing a bit of a spiritual transformation due to my meditating more regularly. Buddhism really suits me, and although I'm an atheist, the Buddhism I've fallen into has given me a great deal of peace. I'm not quite a real Buddhist, if you go by the traditional definition. I can't give up certain things -- like wine or bourbon -- but we will see.
Surprisingly, what happened during my recovery and during the summer, was that as my beard grew my anxiety decreased. I became happier, felt healthier, was much more pleasant to be around, and I SLEPT.
I came to believe, in a very strong way, that as my beard got bigger and transformed my face, I became a stronger person -- spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Sounds silly, but that's how I'd describe it.
My beard represents this new self.
And as I'm not interested in returning to the old "me", I just don't see myself ever going back to being non-bearded.
And yes, I know this comes from the guy who has had SO many different looks over the years. Everything from the Imeneo mohawk to the bald-by-choice to the flat top to the preppy ivy league haircut (just check out the right side of this blog and you can witness a few of those looks.) My look changes a lot, this I know.
But as someone who has made a career of transforming himself professionally over and over again, I think the different looks make a lot of sense. After all, I've been:
A classical pianist (long flowing locks)
A dancer (hair is not really the point)
An actor (once, my 80s hair was cut down into a 30s nazi look, not popular in the early 80s)
A singer (it's called a wig, though nowadays, guys get their hair chopped any which way for a show)
A rehearsal pianist (no one cares what you look like, just how you play and that you're there on time)
A vocal coach (singers judge -- all the time -- so looks do influence how they think about you)
A music director (you need guns to MD a Broadway show, and I'm not talking weaponry)
A conductor (again, flowing locks)
A director (shaved head, or anything dramatic, is a good way to go)
An arts administrator (business cut, thank you very much)
A producer (just get people paid, they don't care what you look like)
A mentor (the beard is a bonus here)
A professor (again, beard looks good, but the mohawk was rather popular with students on campus!)
Those are just the highlights.
I've read a few places that beards make a man more sensitive to his surroundings, more in touch with his instincts, and even better baseball players. Although I'm not a ball player, I have to say that something seems different in how I "feel" the world now that I'm a bearded guy.
My favorite look, before beard, was the shaved head. In all honesty, I knew I didn't look all that great but I loved not having to do ANYTHING to my hair, not having to worry about what I looked like. It was my wife's least favorite look, I think (although she didn't like the flat top, either!)
If the beard goes, it'll have to be to raise money or something like that (serious offers only!) And if it gets shaved, then I think I'll just shave the whole nine yards and commit myself to a year of living like, and looking like, a Buddhist monk!
Life is short, yet very impermanent; just like ourselves, inside and out. If you're out there contemplating a change to your lifestyle, or your look. Go ahead! Open that window and look out of it to see the world anew, and to see how the world looks back on you!
Namaste dudes!
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