Category: Singing

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And now, a post from the Shameless Plug Department

So I got a comment the other day on my last post from someone who said she wants to read more about my process while learning new music. I’ve actually thought about this a lot, especially since I’ve spent the last couple of weeks rehearsing for a concert of all new music. to be performed this Sunday (Ack! That’s tomorrow! It might even be today — or yesterday — depending on when you’re reading this).

The reason I haven’t written about my learning process is that I’ve been too busy learning to write about it! However, I have been taking some mental notes, and I have a few ideas for some posts in the near future. It might be a little too late for me to expound on the difficulties of this particular concert, but I still have two more concerts’ worth of music to learn before the end of this festival.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in the process of creating music, watch these videos…they are interviews with Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lang as he talks about his own process writing the piece that The Crossing commissioned for tomorrow’s concert.

Crossing Chronicle #1

The Levine Project: an interview with David Lang from Jeffrey Dinsmore on Vimeo.

Crossing Chronicle #2

Crossing Chronicle Vol. 2 – David Lang on writing his new choral work “Statement to the Court” from Jeffrey Dinsmore on Vimeo.

The Crossing: Month of Moderns I
Sunday, June 27, 2010 at 4:00 p.m.

Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill
8855 Germantown Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19118

Included on tomorrow’s concert:
Bo Holten: Tallis Variations (1977)
Benjamin CS Boyle: Cantata: To One in Paradise (2005)
Arvo Pärt: Pilgrim’s Song – Psalm 121 (2001)
John Tavener: The Bridegroom (1999)
David Lang: Commissioned World Premiere: Statement to the Court – The Levine Project

Honestly, if you’re in Philadelphia and you like music, you shouldn’t miss it. Bring an extra pair of socks, because the ones on your feet will be knocked off.

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Post-Recital Redux

So the recital went very well! Not only was it well-attended, but it was also very well-received; I got lots of positive response from both friends and strangers after it was all done. And my dress was fabulous, if I don’t say so myself! I think all my hard work really paid off.

For those of you who were not at the recital (and for even those of you who were), I am posting a video (below) of the encore, “Sure On This Shining Night” by Samuel Barber, which came off very well, despite the fact that I was resistant to doing that piece in the first place (I wanted to do “Monks and Raisins,” but I’m glad Jeremy and Benjamin convinced me to do this instead).

Sure On This Shining Night from Maren Montalbano on Vimeo.

More videos from the recital to come soon!

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Recital Day

So I had all these grand plans for writing posts about how exactly I have been learning this music for my recital, and clearly the best-laid plans often go awry (although I am neither a mouse nor a man, but I still think the saying fits).

To summarize: I have had now about six months of preparation for three pieces of music. Granted, in those six months, I had a role in an opera and sang in nine concerts (not counting oodles of church and synagogue services), so it’s not like I’ve been spending every waking minute practicing my recital pieces. But I have spent a great deal of time with the music, especially considering the fact that these are not easy pieces to learn!

Anyway, I had a recital preview last weekend at the house of one of the composers, which went very well, and a friend recorded it for me. It’s not all professional and stuff (although the little recorder did a great job!), so here’s a little sneak peak:

[audio:http://www.supermaren.com/Music/2010-03-14_Passage-04_L’Aurore-clip.mp3]
(beginning of “A L’Aurore” from Boyle’s Le passage des rêves – for those of you viewing this in Facebook, click on this link to hear it)

And tonight is the big night! So if you’re in the Philly area and want to hear some kick-ass new music, come on down to St. Mark’s (Locust between 16th & 17th) at 8:00! Wish me luck!

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Schumann Spanische Liebeslieder

I know I don’t have a whole lot of time to write this post today, so I’ll try make it brief (and start with the easiest piece).

Learning Robert Schumann’s Spanische Liebeslieder was fairly straightforward for me. The idea to put parts of this song cycle into my recital program was actually Benjamin’s, mostly because we thought it might be nice to have a set that involved all three of us (me, Benjamin, and Jeremy), since each composer was going to be accompanying me for his own works. Spanische Liebeslieder was written for four hands and voice; in point of fact, the entire song cycle was written for soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone, with some movements as duets and quartets.

I chose three songs within the cycle to perform, only one of which was actually written for alto. Luckily, the entire work is available on this WONDERFUL website called IMLSP, which is a free online library for public domain sheet music. I downloaded what I needed and got to work.

Different singers learn music differently. Personally, I prefer to first read through the music by myself at a piano. If the piano part is too complicated or the harmonies too difficult for me to hear, then I will try to find several different recordings of a piece and listen so I can get an idea of how the piece in its entirety sounds. It is very important for me to try to find more than one recording, because I hate it when singers fall into the trap of imitating recordings. No matter how good the person on the recording is, I prefer to find my own interpretation of the music in the learning process.

However, vocal coaches and accompanists can get expensive, so practicing with a recording is sometimes the best thing I can do to learn music quickly. If the accompaniment is fairly simple and straightforward, I will create my own accompaniment track using Finale and my electronic keyboard. The music input process can be pretty time-consuming, though, so I don’t usually do it unless I know I have time to play on the computer.

Here’s one of my accompaniment tracks for the first Schumann piece: “Tief im Herzen.”
[audio:http://www.supermaren.com/Music/Schumann-Tief_im_Herzen.mp3]
(If you’re interested in using this track for yourself, you can download it here)

Once the music is firmly in my head, I don’t need an accompaniment track as much; the tape loop in my brain will do most of the accompanying. That’s when I start the memorization process. I try to do my memorization at odd hours of the day, such as before bed or in the shower: any time I have a little down time.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had a really good amount of time to devote to memorization daily, and the recital is 4 days away! I knew I wasn’t going to be able to have the Boyle and Gill pieces memorized, but I thought surely I could have the Schumann songs well-cemented in my head. The music is there, for sure, but for some reason, the words are getting jumbled around in my head. My friend Amy wrote about a memorization technique on her blog, and I’ve been trying it with this Schumann. Wish me luck.

I will be performing excerpts from Schumann’s Spanische Liebeslieder on my recital, “Heroes, Lovers, and Dreamers,” on Saturday, March 20, at 8:00 p.m. at St. Mark’s Church in Philadelphia.

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Choral Music

I had intended to write this post earlier this week, with enough time to encourage folks to come to last night’s Philadelphia Singers’ concert of music by minimalist composers Glass, Reich, and Bryars…but clearly that didn’t happen! All is well, though, as the concert was very well-attended.

Even though the timing may not be ideal, I still think some of you might be interested in how exactly singers like me learn our music for concerts. As one might expect, there is a great deal of practice involved, especially when an unfamiliar piece is programmed on the concert. In fact, in many times it seems like there is an unproportionate amount of rehearsal when there you spend dozens of hours preparing for only one performance of the piece.

Choral rehearsals for new music can alternately be tedious and frustrating. Not everybody learns at the same pace, and while one person might be weak at counting but strong in hearing unusual intervals, there might be another person in the same choir with the exact opposite strengths and weaknesses. It’s enough to drive a girl to drink!

When I told one of my singer friends all the stuff I was planning on doing in the next month or so, she remarked, “Your voice will be on perma-warm all month long!” It’s true. Between rehearsals, lessons, and my own personal practice sessions, the only time my voice truly gets a rest is when I’m sleeping. And even then, I might be using my voice, as I have a tendency to talk — even sing! — in my sleep. Just ask Ray.

Coming tomorrow: how I prepare for solo stuff…most specifically for my recital this week.

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Practicing new music

One of the reasons I haven’t been as active in my blog recently is that I don’t want to bore you with the common drudgery of my daily life (get up, exercise, work, practice, more work, rehearse, go to bed, get up and start the whole day over again). But it occurs to me that many of you don’t really know much about the process of practicing music, so I thought I’d give you a little sneak peek into the mind of this singer as she learns her music.

This is the music I have to perform within the next 6 weeks:
(N.B. – I am not including any of the music I perform on a weekly basis at St. Mark’s Church, because it would just make the list too long and complicated, but if you would like to see it, you can go to the St. Mark’s website and see for yourself)

*I am familiar with the pieces marked with an asterisk.

Quite a list, isn’t it? Some of the pieces are easier to learn than others, and many of the choral pieces are difficult to practice on one’s own, because of the need to hear other parts. As you scroll through the list, I’ll bet there are only a few pieces on there that you recognize, if any! It’s the same for me, too, which means I have to start from scratch on almost every piece I perform.

So in the next few days, I’ll be sending you updates on how the music-learning process has been going for me: its highs as well as its lows. Hopefully it will give you some insight into the singer’s brain. (It’s scary in there!)

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It’s Always Sunny…er, SNOWY…in Philadelphia

In December, a big winter storm blew through Philadelphia on the second day of the Philadelphia Singers‘ Christmas on Logan Square concert. An email went around to the singers announcing that despite bad weather conditions, the show would still go on. Singers and audience members alike were offered a special group rate at a nearby hotel, and we were cautioned to be careful getting into the city. My friend @ApatheticAlto and I agreed to share a hotel room because we both live quite a ways from the city, and we had to be back in the city the next morning for church.

That night turned out to be lots of fun. The concert was well-attended for blizzard conditions, and after the show a group of us singers went back to the hotel for some dinner and drinks. The next morning ApatheticAlto and I had breakfast at Little Pete’s diner before church.

Two weeks ago, warnings of another winter storm were blanketing the airwaves, and because we were involved in performances over the weekend when the storm was supposed to hit the hardest, ApatheticAlto and I decided to share another hotel room, this time for two nights.

Friday night was fun; going to the hotel bar after our performance and knowing we didn’t have to drive anywhere led to a little overindulgence, the effects of which ApatheticAlto acutely felt the next morning. Nevertheless, we had been invited to a waffle breakfast by some friends only 6 blocks away, so we bundled up and ventured forth into what looked Philadelphia if it had been transported onto the planet Hoth.

Most of the streets had not yet been plowed, and the snow fell quietly as we made our way through the drifts, sometimes walking on a well-salted, shoveled sidewalk, sometimes walking in a plowed street, and then finally giving up and tromping through the knee-deep snow. Once we arrived at our friends’ house, we decided we didn’t want to leave until much later in the day, because the snow was falling steadily, about an inch per hour. Later that afternoon, we found out that the orchestra canceled that night’s concert because the weather was so bad that SEPTA was closed and there was no way for even the orchestra members to get to the concert.

Though we were disappointed by the turn of events (cancellation because of force majeure means we didn’t get paid for the concert, and we still had to pay for two nights at the hotel), we made the best of our situation, and we all went out to dinner at an Italian bistro. I offered to sub for the other alto at ApatheticAlto’s church on Sunday, so I did make at least a little money while I was in town.

Since that storm two weeks ago, Philadelphia hasn’t really been able to dig itself out. Another blizzard found its way to our doorstep Feb. 9-10 (Tuesday and Wednesday), destroying my plans to go down to Baltimore and sing songs from my recital for composition majors at Peabody (I know, that sounds totally boring to you, but it was a big deal for me). It started snowing again last night, and as of the time I’m publishing this post, it hasn’t stopped. The weather people say it’ll be another 4-8 inches, which isn’t very good news in a town that is used to only a couple inches of snow a year. Luckily, my dinky little NJ township suburb has been doing a better job plowing its streets than Philadelphia, but operations seem to have ground to a halt because of the snow.

I don’t remember being as concerned about the snow when I went to school in Boston. Maybe it’s because the winters were always very snow-heavy, and people had learned to adapt. Perhaps I didn’t notice it as much because I didn’t have to drive in the stuff. But I have to say, I’m not much of a snow bunny, and these past two weeks have had both me and Ray pining for Hawaii in a big way.

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High Holiness

Well, it happened again; I went back to singing for High Holy Days, although not in Deal this time.

Now that I have a Germanic last name, I figured I wouldn’t have to change it to something more Semitic this time, but one of the first things the cantor brought up with me was the “problem” some people might have with me being a gentile. I foolishly told the cantor about how they changed my name to Montebini in Deal, and I think it gave him ideas; he other day he asked if he could call me Miriam in front of other people.

I told him that he could call me that…but I might not answer.

Anyway, the whole situation has made me start thinking about the role music plays in religion. Obviously, music and religion have been inexorably linked since the beginning of either. But more pertinent to a person in my line of work: when did religions start hiring ringers to “improve” their services?

I know the Catholic church (and later, the Protestants) has always been a great sponsor of music. The first music conservatories were orphanages run by the church. And how many great, monumental works were commissioned by the church? So I’m very, very grateful to organized religion in general for being such a consistent sponsor of the arts throughout the centuries. But sorry, folks, I’m not going to buy into your way of thinking just because you sign my check.

Many religious pieces have been (and continue to be) written by believers, from Palestrina to MacMillan, but some really beautiful sacred music has been written by composers leading decidedly secular lives, like Mozart or Schumann. I personally don’t believe that a piece of music is only sacred when someone who believes what the listener believes writes it. So what is the big deal when someone who doesn’t believe performs it, as long as they perform it well?

Being a gentile in the middle of High Holy Days certainly made me feel very much an outsider, especially considering the fact that most of the services were conducted in Hebrew. And the fact that I had to hide my religious affiliation to the point of changing my name also rubbed me the wrong way. Are appearances so important that you have to make everyone believe that the 4 singers you hired to be there also are Jews? Because if it’s THAT important, then you should just never hire gentiles at all.

The irony really struck me while rehearsing for Kol Nidre, when the cantor explained that this service started back in the days of the Spanish Inquisition, when Jews went underground and had to pretend they were Christians. Kol nidre is the prayer that renounces all false oaths those Jews made to their oppressors. And yet I have to pretend to be Jewish.

And lest you think my frustration is only with the Jews, most churches require their choir members to bow or reverence the altar during procession to the choir stalls, and some higher forms of Episcopal and Catholic churches require you to bow to the cross on the altar whenever you pass by it. It’s a part of the ritual, and I do it out of respect for the people worshiping around me. But I don’t take communion, nor does anyone expect me to, since communion is reserved for baptized Christians only (for Catholics, it’s reserved only for Catholics).

The problem may lie with me. After all, if I didn’t want to do what the folks at the synagogue expected of me, I could have just not taken the job. And I’m sure some of you think that by running from synagogue to church in the same day I’m no better than a religious strumpet, stripping off my cotta and slipping on a kippah. And certainly there is a meretricious element to what I’m doing, because this particular gig, by its very nature, is deceptive.

I’m not sure there is an easy answer to this, at least not one where I don’t offend somebody. I am a working singer, and there are certain organizations of varying religions that feel they would benefit from my services. If somebody feels closer to God when they hear me sing, then that makes me happy, and it brings me closer to God(dess). Music is my church, and I am constantly worshiping there.

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On Trying to Save Money

One of the unfortunate parts of trying to run my own business is that I have very little money with which to do so.  Since it’s not Christmas yet, all I have in the way of cash flow is some savings that I put aside and my (gulp) credit cards.  I’m trying to mitigate some of my business costs with DIY solutions, but as I said before, my time is limited, and I’m only one person.  So if I have to spend money, I have to be stingy about it.

Of course, Murphy’s law being what it is, just as I decide I’m going to save money by printing music and business cards myself, my printer breaks.  I spent several hours swearing at the stupid thing, but the printer would not be moved to do my bidding.  After trolling the tech forums for a solution, I found out that the only thing that seemed to work about 80% of the time was to replace the printhead, a part that would cost almost $70.  Ugh.

Since that’s about as much as a whole new printer, I decided to take a trip to Staples and see what kind of multi-function machines were out there (my old printer was a Canon MP780 scanner/copier/fax/printer, so I preferred to replace all the functions if possible).  Armed with my trusty Treo by my side to check prices on the internet while I shopped, I wandered the aisles, poking at Brother, Canon, HP, and Epson models.

I finally settled on two choices:  a Canon MP620, coming in just under $150, and an HP Officejet J5780, which was on sale for $75.  The Canon got better reviews, but the HP wasn’t bad, and the fact that I could get it for half the price of the Canon made me choose the HP.  Unfortunately, it looked like other people had the same idea as I did, because there were no boxes underneath the display model.  When I asked at the front desk, they said the only model they had left was the display model.  I could either go to Marlton (14 miles away and a good 30 minute drive) and pick one up, or I could buy the floor model in front of me.

My inner miser spoke up and said I could save money on gas if I just took the floor model.  After getting assurances that I could return it if something went wrong, I plunked down my $75 (plus $14.99 for a 2-yr warrantee) and walked away with the printer and a bag full of parts and directions (they couldn’t find the box).

When I got home and started putting the printer together, I realized that there was one important component missing:  the paper tray.  I called the store and asked if they happened to have a paper tray wandering around anywhere, and after being passed off to three or four people, I was informed that they did not have the tray.  My two options were to return the printer for a full refund or go through the warrantee company to get the part replaced.

Hmm.  Now this is becoming more trouble than it’s worth!  I saved money on the printer, true, but if I have to drive back, return the printer, get another printer (and/or maybe drive to Marlton for their HP, if they still have one), I’ll have spent about $75 worth of time (and gas), which would make it equivalent to the purchase of the Canon.  Or if I wait for the warrantee company, I could get the part shipped to me for free, but it’ll most likely take several weeks for the claim to go through.  Argh!

I decided to go with the warrantee.  Since I purchased it, I might as well make my $14.99 work for me.  I jury-rigged the computer so paper can go into the printer with undue fuss.  It’s not pretty, but it’s functional.

Once again, DIY saves the day.

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On starting a business

August 29 was my last day as a transcriptionist.  No more trying to figure out what the endocrinologist with the West African/French/Jamaican accent is saying 20 feet away from the microphone.  No more bleeding eardrums when someone decides to clear their throat right in front of the microphone while I’ve got the volume turned up all the way so I can hear the West African/French/Jamaican doctor.  No more commuting to work and having to eat out for breakfast and lunch and sometimes dinner.

But also, no more steady paycheck.  No more fun lunches with RS, my partner in arms at the transcription company.  And much, much less daily human contact.

Why did I do all this?  Because my singing career has finally gotten me to the point where I can afford to quit my day job.  And because the past couple of Christmas seasons have made me want to start my own business providing carolers to events.

So I quit my job and formed my own company.  I’ve got so many singing gigs on my own that they are, by themselves, a full-time job, so this is still a side business, if you will.

But it’s certainly VERY hard work.  I started back in March trying to write a business plan and got stuck.  I meant to apply for incorporation documents back in June, but I got busy.  June turned to July and then to August, and I had already put my notice in at work, so I figured I’d better get cracking.

Then there was the website.  After several failed attempts at building a website with a prefab WordPress template, my perfectionism was getting the better of me.  I know just enough about websites to make me dangerous; I wanted the site to do certain things and look a certain way, but I didn’t (and still don’t) have enough chops to achieve my goals.  After about 10 hours of hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth, I realized that if I wanted to get it done right, I’d have to pay a professional to do it.

Enter BeSeen.  One of the founding partners is a fellow singer in The Crossing and also happens to be an advertising whiz.  His company will be putting together a fantabulous website just as soon as we get the pictures, video, and sound from last night’s photo shoot/recording session.  I’m very excited about this!

Working from home is wonderful and horrible all at the same time.  There are a million distractions from housework to TV to Facebook and Twitter to video games (I’m currently at the very end of GTA IV and am really frustrated I can’t/shouldn’t devote more time to it so I can finish the dang thing!!). Never mind the leather pouches I’m sewing for Ray to bring to Faire and the cloth pouches and sashes I should be sewing because I can sell them on consignment.  I also am volunteering my time negotiating a union contract that’s taking more time than we all had anticipated.  Oh yeah, and lest I forget, I have three different gigs I’m learning music for at the same time.  You know, for my job that actually pays the bills?

In order for me to set up this business properly, I have a ton of long to-do lists, from assembling music (I’ve decided to self-publish my own arrangements) to making sure there are enough costume pieces for those people without costumes (more sewing or paying someone else to sew!  Which do I have less of:  time or money?) to auditioning singers, building a client base (REALLY important), and writing contracts.  Ugh.  I need a clone.  No, I need several clones.  But I don’t have enough money for an assistant (or a clone…the R&D costs alone would be astronomical!), so I’ll just have to go nuts and try to do it all on my own.

Wish me luck.