[Menvi-discuss] singing in opera and following conductor

[Cristina Jones]

Hi, all,
I personally have sung a couple of operas with an orchestra, and one specific conductor who I appreciate so much because of this worked with me on how much of a delay there is in music at a distance.  We worked on it by me starting off standing close to the piano which was located beside the pit and me just keeping an internal beat while I jumped up onto the stage and walked around, singing and keeping time.  It was almost a sixteenth note of a difference to my ear.  Almost.  And I worked on both fast and slow pieces, and we also worked on recit stuff.
Just get very comfortable and solid with your internal beat and bribe an honest conductor and pianist by way of doughnuts or something and ask them to please, please, please work with the poor disabled person.
In all seriousness, I asked him to please work with me on it.  He said he would just follow me, and I said that was ridiculous because I would be following him and we would just get further and further behind and sound stupider and stupider to the audience.  I told him I didn't want to be treated differently just because I couldn't see him and that sighted people would have to deal with the same or similar thing if thy required staging that didn't allow them to look at the conductor.  He was very nice and honest and worked with me for quite some time.  It took us a few days, but I finally was able to get it consistently.  Depending on what part of the opera I was in, I relied on different instruments if it was a bit of a freer meter.  Sometimes, I relied on how it felt when the double bass was rumbling through the floor of the stage.
Hope that helps someone.
Cristina


From: ayaka.isono at sbcglobal.net 
Sent: Friday, January 13, 2012 4:19 PM
To: 'This is for discussing music and braille literacy' 
Subject: [Menvi-discuss] singing in opera and following conductor


  I thought it was very interesting following the discussion regarding singing in opera and so on, I asked a good friend of mine who is a violinist of San Francisco Opera Orchestra for over ten years.  Below is what she said.  I am copying her message.  Also, I will be meeting some opera singers later, I will ask them about following and working with conductors.  I will share the info later.  Hope some of you can make it as an opera singer.
***
I know Andrea Bocelli has sung lead roles in La Boheme and maybe Werther on stage, acting, of course, there are videos of these performances.  I think the other actors/singers sort of help him into positions on stage, but musically, I think the conductor/orchestra ends up following the singer.  In case of somebody like Bocelli, who is not an opera singer, but would sell tickets, they will make shows to make it work for him, but otherwise, conductors are not going to let the singer do whatever unless he is some big star. 


Also, because of the distance involved between stage and pit/conductor, the singer cannot always sing by ear; by the time he hears it, it is often too late!


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