Auditions - Nothing to be scared of...

Auditions week is here at McGill University's Schulich School of Music. This year I'm looking to cast roles and chorus for Handel's Agrippina, Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, Bizet/Brook La Tragedie de Carmen, Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti, Purcell/Britten Dido and Aeneas, and a scenes program.

That's a lot of casting to be done by this Friday!

Most of the graduate students are auditioning on Wednesday, followed by the undergrads on Thursday. I'm posting callbacks for the Friday all-day event Thursday night. This year I'm holding callbacks for the specific shows -- anyone up for a role in the Handel or Purcell will get called back on Friday morning, anyone for the Rake's Friday afternoon, and the late afternoon will be for the double-bill.

Auditions here at McGill are open to the voice faculty and they tend to pop in every now and then in the prelims. Most show up for the callbacks -- it's a good time to hear everyone without the pressure of the grading -- of course there's the pressure of wanting to get cast, more on that later.

Casting at McGill is not done by committee, it's actually done by just little ol' me (of course with huge consultations with our principal and guest conductors and directors). I have to see the overall year plan for each student cast and am looking to try to balance it as best as I can.

New this year for the Masters students in opera: C.O.R.E. or "Comprehensive Operatic Repertoire Experience". I'm going to try to make sure that each of the students in this program get not only experience singing roles, but also experience in covering, singing small roles, a bit of backstage experience, along with professional career development.

The first thing a student learns when they get a young artist contract is that they will NOT be singing the leads -- they'll be singing in the chorus, covering roles, and maybe even singing a smaller role onstage. The most valuable thing I tell any young singer heading into a summer program is "learn your chorus music and be offbook for all assignments". My theory at Glimmerglass was that the young artists who showed up with their chorus music memorized were the ones who ended up snatching management and/or moving forward with their careers. The lazy ones were just that. The book to read is "Outliers"...

Wrapping up this week's blog -- what do I look and listen for at an audition? I'll first tell you what I DON'T look/listen for:

1) Being correct: couldn't care less if you miss a note or drop pieces of text.

2) Coordination with your pianist: I'm much more interested in the music YOU are making!

3) Singing in tune (I know that's a surprising statement, but frankly most singers sing out of tune in some way, shape or form -- why does everyone get so freaking obsessive about this?!)

4) Ornaments: what ever I hear I'm going to want to change anyway, so why worry about it?

5) What you're wearing (many of my students will tell you this is not so, but I only comment on it to them later because I know SO many in the business pay attention to this really unimportant factor).

What I DO look/listen for:

1) A human being making music with their voice

2) Singing sentences that have meaning both textually, dramatically, and vocally

3) Did I mention the making music thing?

4) Character choices - both physical and vocal

5) Good shoes (I know, I shouldn't but I notice) This means no super high heels and no sandals.

6) A singer's physicality

7) Size of Voice

8) Repertoire -- is the singer singing rep that is appropriate for their technique/age/fach etc.

9) Range -- as in high and low and at what extremes the singer is comfortable

10) Range -- stylistically speaking how comfortable/adept with Baroque/Classical/19th/20th/Musical Theatre rep and how many arias are being presented.

That's it, not much! I do tend to judge the aural before the first page gets turned and then take in the visual as the audition progresses.

With all of that said, one of the things singers forget is that the panel wants you to be incredible so that we can cast you! It's not a jury or an examination. There are no grades and there are few hard and stead-fast rules, frankly. Move around, don't move around; gesture, don't gesture; wear a suit, don't wear a suit. All of that doesn't matter with me. I want to hear someone trying to make CHOICES and loving their moment commiserating with the great composers.

If any of the McGill students are reading this -- remember to take a good breath before you walk in the room. I'm looking forward to hearing everyone!

The Chalk Board

Well it's the end of the summer.  For my boys, it's the tragic end of their great, wonderful, summer adventure in Brevard and at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Iowa.  They've both grown over an inch, our youngest has had to get new shoes, and our oldest seems oddly mature yet still a little boy.

My summer has certainly been a wonderful adventure as well: it seems so long ago that I landed in Charlottesville to direct Camelot.  Those rehearsals were terrific, my cast was a treat and certainly a gift, and our final product was entertaining, moving, and historic -- Ash Lawn Opera finally performed in a real theatre!  

The weeks in Brevard were packed, my wife loving every minute of teaching there, terrific performances in an a seemingly un-cut Hoffmann (not my idea!), standing O's for Hello Dolly (starring many McGill students), two scenes programs, and then my surprise conducting gig for the Angelica/Schicchi with my son singing a small role.  How did we do all of that in seven weeks?!

This vacation in Iowa has been refreshing and enlightening -- I realize I want more!  Recharging the batteries is good for my bags (as in under my eyes), and it seems also good for my artistic soul. I feel as if I've had more interesting ideas pop into my head while relaxing on my in-law's back porch the last few days than I've had in the last few years.

But now it's back to my chalk board at McGill.  Hopefully my students will understand the need to erase their chalkboards so that something new can be written!  I'm looking forward to exploring Agrippina, The Rake's Progress, Trouble in Tahiti, Carmen, and Dido and Aeneas with my McGill students as well as taking on the Orpheus project for Opera Memphis (I'm staging the Gluck with a mezzo, counter-tenor, and tenor triple-cast in the title role!) as well as making my Kennedy Center debut as a stage director in November.  

But before all that hits, my family and I have two more days filled with family visits, more sweet corn, a bit more grilling, and packing the car for the two day trip home to Montreal.   

Vacations, Books and Boeuf

So here I am in Burlington, Iowa figuring out how to take a vacation.  It's a bit hard for me to relax and do nothing.  My mind is always on the next project or two down the road and that means emailing and designing and researching and thinking.  Elizabeth asked me to refrain from FB surfing and stop checking my regular sites (those being cnn.com, musicalamerica, playbill and weather.com) for at least a week.

I made it four days, which I think is a TOTAL triumph!

Our boys are loving grandma and grandpa's house -- it sits a few blocks away from the Mississippi River (up on a bluff) and is a great house, complete with screened in back porch and a sun room great for playing cribbage.

I've already made a lemon ice box pie (using no recipe, thank you), grilled peaches (can't grill without peaches!), and a batch of rice krispie treats that made it almost to the end of the day.  Cooking is great therapy and it certainly stops me from wanting to download free episodes of "Dirty, Sexy, Money" for my inspiration to start blocking "Agrippina".  

While standing outside grilling some chicken I thought through some ideas for "Agrippina" and really do think that Emperor Claudius should be in a wheelchair on oxygen, however having him look like Donald Sutherland is also a cool idea.  We'll see.  I'll definitely have cocktails ever-present in this Handel opera!

Tonight Elizabeth and I went to see "Julie & Julia" (I think that's the title).  It was hilarious, inspirational actually, and made me want to get Elizabeth onto writing her book on teaching young singers, as well as made me want to start in again on my book "The Tao of Opera".  I've only done one chapter and that was back in May.

Julia Childs, as portrayed by the simply amazing Meryl Streep, must have been a great person to eat with!  And who knew she had such a great sex life?!

Elizabeth and I are going to go in search of her Mastering the Art of French Cooking tomorrow -- we'll see if it's here in Burlington.  I think either coq au vin or boeuf bourguignon will be on the menu for tomorrow night's dinner!

Bon appetite!

Conducting vs Directing

This past Friday I agreed to conduct the final production here at Brevard: Puccini's Suor Angelica & Gianni Schicchi.  I'm replacing a conductor who had to cancel at the last minute.  The students in the casts gave me a rather sweet ovation when David Gately announced it (no audible groans, thank the gods!) We open in less than a week and while I'm excited, it has posed a bit of an identity crisis the last few days.  

Brevard is a busy place, and we've just closed a great production of Hello Dolly on Saturday.  At the same time, we've been trying to get up a 2nd scenes program that is going to be performed THIS Wednesday at the Porter Center in Brevard, NC.  A paying public is coming and we're doing scenes from the following operas: Partenope, Don Giovanni, Cenerentola, Falstaff, Boheme, Little Women, Strawberry Fields, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Peter Grimes, The King and I, Turandot, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Walküre, and the Merry Widow.  IT IS A HUGE PROGRAM.  I'm directing (as in stage directing) the first half (Partenope thru Strawberry Fields) and playing some of the scenes in the second half.  So for the past few days I've been directing scenes, coaching scenes, and conducting musical rehearsals for the Puccini double-bill.

Some obvious thoughts on all of this: It keeps me busy.  I've lost some weight already (conducting is a great work out!) I've not had time to block any of the remaining scenes because my mind is already on the upcoming orchestra rehearsals for the Puccini so it's forced me to think on my feet.  I've rediscovered how great it is to conduct Puccini. I'm ticked off at the singers who aren't as excited as I am to be working on these masterpieces and I'm thrilled with the singers who are MORE excited than I am to be working on these masterpieces!

Technology and Rehearsals

Danger, danger Will Robinson...

Technology, in the form of laptops, blackberries, and iphones have taken over the minds of rehearsing singers everywhere. Gone are the days when singers and coaches would sit in a theatre and FOCUS on what was going on onstage.  Nowadays, everyone is sitting in the theatre commenting on FB, or texting a friend who's at a restaurant in Albany, or checking email from another singer who's "bored" in another rehearsal in Tel Aviv.

It is ruining not only the training process, but absolutely ruining a young singer's chance of watching and learning from colleagues strengths and weaknesses.

Now it's not everyone who is doing this, but it's seems as if it's ALMOST everyone.  Certainly a few are still watching and learning, and I've noticed they are also the ones who seem to know their music the best!

Crazy times call for crazy solutions.

I'll be implementing a "non laptop/cellphone in rehearsal" policy starting in the fall of 2009 at McGill.  I think it'll be the only way to take back the rehearsal process and get everyone to focus on the task at hand: CREATING.  

Creation is a tricky thing, very touch and go - particularly when a production moves into a theatre.  Lots of things change and everyone, no matter how big or small the role, needs to be focused on ONLY the show.

If any young ones are reading this, take the following seriously: I learned more WATCHING and LISTENING to others (right, wrong, and otherwise) than actually doing it myself.  I'll never forget observing rehearsals at DMMO while Nova Thomas and Lauren Flanigan sang through act three of Boheme, or watching Dimitri H's first Germont at L.O.C. and him dealing with Ms. Anderson's demands, or listening to the sitz of Partenope with David Daniels, Lisa Saffer, David Walker, and others with the incredible Harry Bickett in the pit at Glimmerglass, or seeing the final floor run of The Mother of Us All at Glimmerglass and finally GETTING THE PIECE, as directed by Chris Alden.

Rehearsals are times to focus and learn and think and BE.  Save the fabulous new status update for afterwards.  It'll keep!

Being Prepared: a pseudo-lecture

It's difficult nowadays to prepare for a first coaching. 

I guess I'm being facetious by writing that.

Let's explore the modern day singer's approach:   

You get your xeroxed score/aria/scene given to you instead of setting out to Patelson's to find the piano vocal among the stacks.  You dutifully highlight your text and write - by hand - the Nico Castel IPA underneath (not to mention his word for word), instead of looking up the words in your Italian/French/Czech dictionary - struggling to understand the 18th century language changed by time.

Now you are ready to prepare: you turn on your computer and google "Boheme Act Three" (or some such work) to get the Wikipedia article with the background on the particular masterpiece you're getting ready to tackle.  Then the real preparation begins: it's called YOUTUBE.

After viewing the dozen or so videos of this famous music, YOU ARE READY.  You've sung along, made fun of the artists' vibrato, posted some comment good or bad, and thought lots about how you'd sing it.

Oops, maybe not.  There's more to it than that.  It's ALOT more interesting and fun than that.  I'd recommend pouring over the text to find its meaning first.  Then I'd hie thee to a piano and slowly get to know your vocal part -- no singing needed.  Try speaking the text in rhythm first. Then plunk out the notes - humming along.  Once the intervals and/or tune seems clear, add in your voice - on your favorite vowel.  Once that becomes easy, take a big breath and slowly add the text to the vocal line. REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT.

After much time spent communing with a great composer, you're probably getting ready for your first coaching.  You've just spent time inside the mind of an artist, how incredible is that?!

Alright, I admit it -- I use Wikipedia every now and then.  Also Youtube -- it's such a vast treasure trove of art that just wasn't accessible to my generation on up.  However, none of these new tools can substitute for solitary practice - particularly Nico's ingenious IPA bibles. It's not enough to know what Nico tells you is correct, or to take an alternate high note because So and So did.  You have to understand what the piece is about from the inside.  That takes time and thought.

Unfortunately, I think too many young singers are spending their time reading blogs, posting on FB, following The Met on Twitter, and checking their email incessantly.  I also think that just when it might seem like the time to spend alone in a practice room, it is easier to go see the latest Harry Potter movie or head off to the bars to laugh with newly made friends.  The learning process gets short shrift and that's really too bad.

Enjoy the learning process -- it's not work, it's a rare pleasure that we artists have!

Days Off

Days off in the summer are always the most busy days, particularly when you're at a summer program that goes all day and all night for six days straight.  The Day Off is the day to get the laundry done, pay bills, clean up the cabin, run to the grocery store, get the car washed and cleaned out and - most importantly - practice for the coming week ahead as there is NO time to practice otherwise!

For my wife and I, the Day Off means FAMILY DAY as well.  We've tried to make the Brevard day off a big day with our boys - going hiking, or a movie, or seeing some tourist site like the Biltmore.  

Today we're all up early and deciding what to do - I need to practice, we have no clean clothes or milk in the cabin, and our boys want to do "something fun".

We'll see how the Day Off ends -- tonight Keith Lockhart, Mary Phillips, and Michael Hendrick perform Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde -- something that would be nice to see on a Day Off, but somehow I bet I'm in a car driving back from Bat Cave, North Carolina with two exhausted boys in the back seat and a wife who just wants to get back in time for a good night's sleep before teaching 12 lessons on Monday!

Hope your days this summer are as fun-filled as ours!

I promise to post more regularly!

PJH