I'm just about to on the stage. Im not going home afterwards so I'll update my blog now, more details to come later!
Daily practice:
30 min of vocalizations and dancing through life
UPDATE:
So it's sunday already but it's only now when I can actually get to a computer. I'm visiting a friend in CT. No photos yet, I don't have my laptop with me... Will add them in my following posts in a following days!
Yesterday was awesome! I had a long lie-in (loving life...) and then took off for a National Festival Chorus rehearsal. The very last one before the one with an orchestra.
It went quite well. 2h in total, not too long. Then I run back home, had a dinner and went to Carnegie Hall for a final rehearsal. What can I say... Carnegie acoustics do not forgive anything. We're in a deep trouble, whether you sound bad or even can't turn the page quietly! That turned out to be a challenge for many of the choir members, including me, so I was a bit frustrated.
So then the concert started, we got to listen to the first half. I sort of enjoyed it. Dort of, because as much as I liked the choirs, their song selection didn't seem too appropriate for Carnegie Hall stage. Oh well, maybe I just set my expectations too high! And then, within few seconds as it seemed, it was our turn to take the stage!
What can I say, we were amazing! Everyone was much wiser after the final rehearsal on the stage and knew exactly what to do. I loved singing with this 120 people choir, performing this amazing requiem. We also received a standing ovation which also seemed like a very good thing! I took a moment for myself just then. I stood on that incredibly famous stage, where thousands of breathtaking concerts took place, where every singer wants to be at least once in their lives and gazed at the fully lit auditorium, gold dripping off every surface and tried to absorb all these emotions and made sure that I will remember this moment till the end of my life. And I had quite a lot of time to do as, as it takes a lot of time till it's your turn to leave a stage if you're standing in the middle of humongous choir and have to stand facing front till it's your turn to go.
Few things this experience taught me or cemented:
musicality, emotions (talent?) = technique
That's what Maestro Ellingboe said and I couldn't agree more. You do have a whole spectrum of emotions and emotional experiences within you but once you're singing, you can't burst into tears only because you're singing extremely sad song. Your throat naturally closes up and you're unable to do anything properly. You create the appropriate sound, timber, volume and diction using what God gave you- physically! By using more or less air, by correct larynx, tongue and lip positioning- understanding your body and pretty much basic acoustics that people tend to do correctly naturally while speaking but need a bit (well, more then a bit...) of a practice when you have to sing the words. And then people would (hopefully) come to you and say, wow your performance was so musical, so emotional, you're so talented. And then you reply, thanks, and think- wouldn't have had it without about million hours of practice and drilling! And talent is how fast you can actually learn to do all these things.
Anyways, I'm not there yet! But I'm working on it!
Daily practice:
30 min of vocalizations and dancing through life
UPDATE:
So it's sunday already but it's only now when I can actually get to a computer. I'm visiting a friend in CT. No photos yet, I don't have my laptop with me... Will add them in my following posts in a following days!
Yesterday was awesome! I had a long lie-in (loving life...) and then took off for a National Festival Chorus rehearsal. The very last one before the one with an orchestra.
It went quite well. 2h in total, not too long. Then I run back home, had a dinner and went to Carnegie Hall for a final rehearsal. What can I say... Carnegie acoustics do not forgive anything. We're in a deep trouble, whether you sound bad or even can't turn the page quietly! That turned out to be a challenge for many of the choir members, including me, so I was a bit frustrated.
So then the concert started, we got to listen to the first half. I sort of enjoyed it. Dort of, because as much as I liked the choirs, their song selection didn't seem too appropriate for Carnegie Hall stage. Oh well, maybe I just set my expectations too high! And then, within few seconds as it seemed, it was our turn to take the stage!
What can I say, we were amazing! Everyone was much wiser after the final rehearsal on the stage and knew exactly what to do. I loved singing with this 120 people choir, performing this amazing requiem. We also received a standing ovation which also seemed like a very good thing! I took a moment for myself just then. I stood on that incredibly famous stage, where thousands of breathtaking concerts took place, where every singer wants to be at least once in their lives and gazed at the fully lit auditorium, gold dripping off every surface and tried to absorb all these emotions and made sure that I will remember this moment till the end of my life. And I had quite a lot of time to do as, as it takes a lot of time till it's your turn to leave a stage if you're standing in the middle of humongous choir and have to stand facing front till it's your turn to go.
Few things this experience taught me or cemented:
musicality, emotions (talent?) = technique
That's what Maestro Ellingboe said and I couldn't agree more. You do have a whole spectrum of emotions and emotional experiences within you but once you're singing, you can't burst into tears only because you're singing extremely sad song. Your throat naturally closes up and you're unable to do anything properly. You create the appropriate sound, timber, volume and diction using what God gave you- physically! By using more or less air, by correct larynx, tongue and lip positioning- understanding your body and pretty much basic acoustics that people tend to do correctly naturally while speaking but need a bit (well, more then a bit...) of a practice when you have to sing the words. And then people would (hopefully) come to you and say, wow your performance was so musical, so emotional, you're so talented. And then you reply, thanks, and think- wouldn't have had it without about million hours of practice and drilling! And talent is how fast you can actually learn to do all these things.
Anyways, I'm not there yet! But I'm working on it!
Stokrotne dzięki za tą relację! Bardzo, bardzo wzruszające. Mogę tylko żałować, że nas tam z Tobą nie było, ale bardzo myśleliśmy o Tobie!
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