I choose all my clothes for performance with great care. It doesn’t, however, mean that I spend a lot of money. In fact, most of the clothes in my closet that I love best are from consignment shops or were purchased for $4.99 at Value Village. For Pierrot, I chose black and white (obviously) but since I didn’t want to look like I was wearing a costume, I thought stripes were a better choice than polka-dots. The flowing top worked well over leggings making the whole effect sit perfectly between masculine and feminine. Add a few dashes of silver as an homage to the moon, and I thought I did pretty well. Especially for a total of about $25!
Category: Concert Frock
Last summer, Terence Dawson and I had the great privilege of premiering a wonderful song cycle entitled “Moon Loves its Light” by Vancouver composer, Lloyd Burritt and New Brunswick poet, Marilyn Lerch. Lloyd approached us saying that he wanted to write something specifically for us and did we have any poetry in mind? Terry immediately suggested Marilyn Lerch’s works and loaned me a few of her books. I was so taken with her insights on nature and it was quickly decided that we would use Moon Loves its Light as our text. Terry and I love these beautiful, imaginative words and from the moment I had Lloyd’s music in my hands, it was obvious that he loves them too. It is so exciting when music and text come together so perfectly that I have to do very little in the way of vocal acrobatics to have the music make sense with the text. Terry and I have put these songs on our list of “Repeat Repertoire”, meaning, we use them all the time. We want people to hear the beautiful music and rich poems and to applaud our incredible Canadian talent. You can read more about Lloyd on his website and hear a snippet of the songs here:
http://lloydburritt.com/featured-works/soprano/#moon_loves_its
And about Marilyn here:
http://www.wfnb.ca/membership/member-pages/member-pages-k-m/
http://national-random-acts-of-poetry.blogspot.ca/2007/08/marilyn-lerch.html
For some silly reason, I did not think to get a photo of Terry and myself with Lloyd and Marilyn. I have a really good excuse: I had terrible baby brain! This concert happened only ten weeks after having my first baby. It’s nothing short of a miracle that I could get myself in front of an audience let alone zip up the only dress from my arsenal of performance clothes that fit at the time!
Photos are by John Hallett
Often choosing repertoire for graduation recitals and juries seems to preoccupy students for months. I’ve only been teaching at the college level for a couple of years and already I can’t count the number of times I’ve been approached for help on finding song repertoire. The fact is, there are so many options out there that it can be utterly overwhelming. There are thousands of songs, cycles, languages, styles and instrument combinations from which to choose. So how does one go about narrowing it all down to just 60 minutes or, even more difficult, just the 6 songs required for most juries?
1. The first and most important point it that you MUST choose music that makes you happy. It is no fun to find yourself preparing music that you only chose because someone told you it would be good for you. Does the text move you? Do the vocal lines fit you at this point in your singing life? Is it challenging enough but not impossible? Will you be excited to sing it six months down the road on the night of your recital? Consider these things closely. A large amount of cash is the only reason that I sing anything that I don’t really love. We all have to pay our bills!
2. Finding the right thing in the required languages can be tricky. In school we are mostly bound to the Big Four: German, Italian, French and English. But there is a bounty of songs out there in every language imaginable! If you can fit it into your program, look in to Sibelius songs in Swedish or Dvorak in Czech or the mountains of glorious Russian songs. Even these languages are pretty commonplace now. If you speak Greek or Farsi or Hebrew or (insert language here) find something in your language and if it fits your voice, sing it! It will open up an amazing world of repertoire!
3. You can’t get away without learning the classics. There’s a reason that Schubert’s Auf dem Wasser zu singen, Fauré’s Après un Rêve, or Quilter’s Love’s Philosophy are sung all the time. It’s because they are wonderful, beautiful songs. They are challenging for singers at all stages in their careers (Strauss’ Morgen, anyone?) and they please audiences like crazy! I admit that I went through a long phase of not wanting to sing the classics simply because everybody else was doing them and I am the type of singer who doesn’t like going down the well-worn path. But now here I am in my 30’s and there is an embarrassingly large amount of common song repertoire that I don’t know! So now that I find myself teaching a lot more than I used to, I am scrambling to learn the details of Nuit d’étoiles, Fantôches and all the songs of Tosti! It’s kind of exciting, I must admit! And guess what? I’m having a glorious time learning music that is considerably more tonal than I am used to.
4. Ask questions of your colleagues, your teachers and your coaches. Find out what they think would be an exciting musical adventure for you. Then go to the library and look through the scores and listen to recordings. Library time is just as important as practice time. Resist feeling overwhelmed. Rather, let those rows upon rows of scores inspire you on your life-long journey of learning.
5. Try everything! Yes, sing what you love. But, sometimes you don’t know that you’ll love it until you try it! Some songs don’t seem very appealing at first. But think about how your tastes have changed over time. Maybe the first recording of a song you listened to left a bad taste in your mouth but a live performance changed your mind. That is the magic of music! Every performance is thrilling and wildly different.
There is a vast amount of song repertoire out there. The best way to find the songs that will excite you is to dive in, head first. Few things are more exciting than starting with a blank slate and seeing where you end up! Have fun!
Here is a photo of two of my favourite artists: Erika Switzer and François LeRoux. They are pros at choosing repertoire that is unusual and wonderfully entertaining! (How much do I LOVE that yellow suit? That’s one for the Concert Frocks category!)
Concert frocks are fun, but how about Opera frocks? We just finished up our run of the scene studies at the academy where I teach. One of the scenes I helped to put together was from the final act of Arabella by Richard Strauss. Dora Brooks, one of our lovely sopranos, not only sang a gorgeous Arabella, but she also MADE this costume! Can you believe it? She’s amazing. 
The beautiful skirt. I bought this blue silk skirt at my favourite consignment store in Vancouver and I’ve always had a hard time finding the right thing to go with it. But just before heading out to yesterday’s concert at the Silk Purse Art Gallery in West Van, I decided to pair it with this creamy silk top and an Escada belt I scored for $5 at the Saint George’s Fair a few years ago. I wasn’t sure if the purply-brown colour would work, but it grounds the whole outfit and keeps it from looking too light. On my feet are my favourite, sturdy, silver shoes I found in the basement of a second-hand shop years ago. I love them especially because on the insole is printed: La Boheme. They were meant for me!
Karen, fashionable as always, is wearing a dress she realized yesterday is 15 years old! “The Sunburst” has stood up well all these years. It washes easily and even when it gets scrunched up in the bottom of her travel bag, it doesn’t wrinkle!
Here is the same blue skirt paired with a green corset and red shoes. Weird, but I kind of like it.
I know it seems trite to talk about fashion when the world of song and poetry is so vast. But the truth is, I love fashion. I love beautiful clothes and how the right outfit can make me feel taller, skinnier, prettier and really confident. It’s the confidence part that’s most important. When I walk myself out onto that stage, I want to feel like a million bucks. Even if I have hay fever, an aching back or haven’t slept well (thanks to a ten-month-old who still doesn’t sleep through the night) I know that if I look good, I feel good. It’s cliché, but it’s the truth. The last thing I want to be worrying about in performance is my outfit. A few things I’ve learned along the way:
1. Strapless gowns are dangerous! Unless it was made specifically to fit me, it’s not worth the money spent or worse yet, the horrifying knowledge that the dress slips down a little lower with every breath. Yikes!
2. Noisy jewelry is out. I once bought an amazing pair of huge, silver, dangly earrings. They are gorgeous. I saved them for an arty, fun gig only to discover during the performance that they made so much noise that I couldn’t hear myself think . They now sit unworn in my jewelry drawer.
3. It hurts me to say this, but sensible shoes are a must. I love beautiful shoes, but if the heels are too high or they are uncomfortable in any way, they have to be taken out of the concert footwear rotation. I think it was Birgit Nilsson who said that the secret to her success was a good pair of shoes. Sadly, I have to agree with her.
4. Black is always nice but sometimes it fades into the piano making one look less slender than desired.
5. Discussing with your pianist or other musical partners a colour theme or style is always a good idea. Sometimes it feels like Terence Dawson and Karen Lee-Morlang (my amazing partners for most song recitals) and I spend more time discussing our outfits than anything else!
So, here begins my new category called Concert Frocks! I am going to aim to take a photo of every concert I do and to post my outfit choices every time.
Sweet Songstress 