Work...and Breathe

Exciting month coming up now...

I have 2 callbacks in the next 2 weeks; one for Elgin opera festival and one for Verismo Opera of Chicago. I am fairly confident about both, but you never know in this business who you're up against. I'm taking steps to ensure I give my best at these; I've had 2 coachings on my rep and will have at least 1 more before the callbacks. If I succeed at these, it will make my resume look pretty good for next season's auditions.

I have an audition for a good company at the end of this month as well. I'd like to think that I've turned a corner this year in how well I audition...I'm trying to get it so my audition actually IS an accurate representation of how I sing in performance. It helps to think of auditions AS performances, naturally, and I am also learning not to let too much ride - mentally - on how a particular audition goes.

I also have a recital with Jon at the end of May! We are securing venues and rehearsing our tails off so it will be successful. I'm doing a mix of Lieder and operatic arias, and a couple of scenes with Jon as well.

And, in the midst of all this, I'm trying to fix a technical issue which has plagued my singing for as long as I can remember...my breathing. Breath support is the key to good singing - if you are able to breathe well and sustain phrases, this means your posture is good, your laryngeal position is good, and therefore your tone should be good. Once all those things are lined up, I can stop worrying about technique and focus on the character and music of a piece. It recently came to my attention that my breathing issues are probably stemming all the way from my feet. My feet are constantly turned out, and have been for as long as I remember. My turned out feet come from my turned out hips which I acquired through years of dance and gymnastic training. And now it's sabotaging my singing. I'm apparently cutting off my lower support by squeezing my gluteal muscles and that is causing me to breathe high and stack my air, eventually squeezing my larynx too high and THEN I can't phonate.

Lots of big words but what it means is I'm shortchanging my air tank. So now I'm practicing pronation (turning my hips in)when I sing. It's a slow process...I need to undo about 6 years of standing wrong...but it should fix a lot if I stick with it.