Part two of the audition book which will deal with you opera creatures!!!
What is in your audition book?
Your auditions are different than music theatre - but ultimately, you still must find repertoire that speaks to you. To do it because you HAVE to/"it'll be good for you" will show that and will have no real connection to your spirit! People tune out and will not listen anymore.
"Your 5 aria" package does not need to be daunting! It should be reflective of YOU - where your technique is, your musicality, your strengths, and your passions!
Your audition arias need to show your fach - in voice and in temperament! The general "rule" is that if you present the aria you are prepared to learn/sing the role. These arias need to show what you do!! What are your strengths? Is your technique solid? Are you a strong actor? Is your legato outstanding? Do you have magnificent pianissimo high notes? Do you have outstanding fioritura? What do you DO?? Find it, and let it speak!!! Don't apologize for it! LEAD with it!!! Do not start with an aria you think they want to hear - start with your BEST aria - best in that it shows YOU as completely and fully as possible!
Certain programs, schools etc have certain requirements - languages/styles/composers - so you might have hoops to jump - but even so, find what SPEAKS to you!
Your choices are YOURS. You need to have those you trust to recommend things - teacher/coaches - but ultimately, if you know what you can do what that aria demands, and it speaks to you and it EXCITES you to perform - then DO IT!
Obviously, I am acknowledging that fact that you recognize your fach and the gradations within - a Vissi d'arte does not go with a Deh vieni - but let's assume you are comfortable in that fach of NOW.
Don't worry about finding obscure arias for the sake of obscure! Find what SPEAKS to you. If something obscure does speak, then do it! If you stick to standard fair, sing it with all of your being!!! Sing it with YOUR voice, YOUR intelligence - musical and dramatic, YOUR understanding.
Artistic directors/conductors don't want to hear you singing it like everybody else, or know whose recording you listened to while you sing - they want to hear YOU. You are not a cookie cut-out of any other singer. You are uniquely YOU and your voice should speak thus.
Every lyric soprano singing Mimi should inform that aria from their own information. Voice is not a technical replication!!! Voice is a living vibration of expression. An expression that creates a vehicle for the composer's stylistic attitudes through a singer's living intelligence - technical, musical, dramatic, emotional, spiritual and psychological!
So, sing it because you WANT to. Sing it because it SPEAKS to you. Sing it because you can CREATE a character through and with the music. Sing it because it EXCITES you. Sing it because the PASSION of your DOING is what allows you the vehicle to create!!!
Let these arias reflect WHERE YOU ARE in all aspects of your vocal development - LIVE in them, get comfortable but not complacent. Let them become an extension of how you breathe! This will infuse new life into an aria somebody at that audition table has heard 900 times. But THIS time, he/she will hear something different - YOU.
Got get it!
No comments:
Post a Comment