Beaver Creek, CO

I made it up to the top of the mountains...after a 4 hour flight, 3 hour drive, with parents and 3 kids. Now we're in this GIANT awesome townhouse, and I am nannying to my little hearts content.

And the family keeps asking me to sing for them! I haven't yet...but it brings up an interesting issue among singers:

Singing for Different Groups of People. I think that audiences can be classified a few ways:

-the audition panel. Anywhere from 1-8 people, with their pencils scribbling away about you and their glances from each other to your resume to their auditor sheets to you. While it is nerve racking, I have developed ways of not paying attention to what they are doing and instead trying to PERFORM my butt off for them. It's what they prefer and it's much better than staring them down.

-"mankind" - the audience is in a darkened theater, retirement home performance space, school gym, etc., with anywhere from 50-5000 seats, and I can't SEE individual faces while I'm onstage. This, to me, is ideal. I LOVE performing for mankind. If it's an outreach situation, I can often feel the love coming from the collective group and that, for me, is why I sing. To share something that may touch others, or at least make them feel something.

and then you have this kind of group situation where I am now...people who meet you, find out you're a singer, and then say "oh great! sing something for me RIGHT NOW!" This is far more nerve racking than a staged performance, when you have others to play off of, not to mention an orchestra, costumes, and other elements to enhance what you're doing. It's also worse than an audition, where the panel is judging you...but at least you might get a job out of it. To be on the same level as a group of people who don't really know you, in close quarters (many people don't realize that an opera voice is much, much louder than a normal speaking voice), trying to give them a taste of what you do without blasting their ears out.

So far I have balked at this request, but I think I might give in. The more you share what opera is, the more educated others become, and that might be what keeps the art alive.

At least it's Christmas time so I can get away with a cheesy holiday song instead of something like Lulu.

O Holy Night it is!

A Short Break

Not much to report. I'm finally almost completely moved into Jon's apartment in Cincinnati, and it's starting to feel like home. Auditions are pretty much done...though I will be driving to Cleveland tomorrow for my last one of the year (woohoo!). Then I'm off to Denver for an xmas nanny gig, and then I'm back in Cincinnati until OFY picks up again at the end of January.

It's a little weird to have this break from singing. I feel more like a "normal" person, able to work, come home, cook dinner, hang out at night with no rehearsals, etc. But I also feel a little aimless. I'm pretty sure one of my auditions will work out for something next year. I'm not too nervous about that, and I think I'll feel refreshed and ready to take on any new projects that come my way.

It's good that I have some time off, as I'm still adjusting to Cincinnati...it's definitely different from Chicago! I'm in the process of meeting people, but it takes awhile to build up relationships. It is, however, WONDERFUL to finally live with Jon and not in different cities from each other. Getting to the same city was the hard part. Whatever comes next should be easy.

In the thick of it

2 auditions Thursday, 2 auditions yesterday. Now I have the weekend off, and start up again in Chicago on Monday.

Though it is overwhelming to rattle off all my auditions when someone asks about my schedule, it is much easier to do them when it's all happening in real time.

But I will say this: being at NOLA (the audition studios in NYC) during these weeks has to be the most stressful thing I've witnessed in a while. Or at least, it should be. 100 people crowded into a tiny hallway, 3 different companies holding auditions on the same floor, everyone either making or avoiding idle chit-chat with everyone else....and I kind of like it. I feel comfortable enough in how I'm sounding and performing to think that a company will (eventually) notice and hire me. Yes, the sheer numbers are against everyone who is trying to make a go of this career. I finally feel like I have something worth sharing in the performances I give, and that's what these auditions are...mini, super-important, judged performances.

Now I'm off to Long Island to hang out with Megan, my maid of honor...getting AWAY from the giant nervous crowd of 20-something singers sounds pretty awesome right now.