Practice Journal 10/3/09 and 10/4/09

Difficulty with computer and iphone kept me from posting yesterday.

Yesterday, I did a lot of listening. In fact, more than I intended. I was going to take a nap and listen to 4-5 songs as I fell asleep. However, I must have changed something without knowing it, because the music just kept playing for my whole nap. I would wake up enough to hear that it was still on, but not enough to turn it off. It also worked into my dreams in weird ways.

In additions to the sleeping/listening, I did some attentive listening and then went over to the school in the evening to do some other work and practice. By the time I started singing it was almost 10PM. It was weird. I was tired, but relaxed enough that the sound was actually pretty good. From the way it feels though, I think I might be on the edge of laryngitis again, so I'm giving the voice a rest day. Yesterday I sang through 3 of the Strauss songs since I've been listening to those a lot lately. The high note in Schlechtes Wetter really felt good and I didn't even need the breath before "wallen". That's a first.

I've been listening to Schlechtes Wetter as performed by Kiri Te Kananwa, Elly Ameling, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Renee Fleming, and Christa Ludwig. Very interesting. At this moment, I like the Ludwig version best. Gorgeous, and I think her concept of the piece is closer to mine than some of the other recordings I've listened to. I thought she was a mezzo and she sounds like a mezzo, but she sings this in the high key with absolutely no difficulty on the top. I thought maybe I was thinking of the wrong singer, so I googled her and found out that she is a mezzo, but later in her career also sang a few soprano roles. Cool. Again, we see the wisdom of finding the right key for your voice. She definitely has the notes and it sounds great in her voice.
It's also interesting to listen to the choices the pianists make. The pianist playing with Fleming is very good, but I like the Gerald Moore color and interpretation better. He's the accompanist on 2 of these recordings and I'm planning to listen for differences in them. Differences could be responses to the specifice singer, or changes or maturing in his own interpretation through the years. More later when I've done more specific listening.