Fifteen Years to This Day

Dear Choir Girl readers,

My blog is 15 years old! I am as surprised as you. While I have contemplated with the idea of retiring this blog, a few readers convinced me it is not yet time. 

There is less arts journalism all the time. It is rare for a magazine or newspaper to even have funds to contract an arts and entertainment writer for local coverage these days. If you are lucky enough to get a writer in attendance at your event, you'd be lucky to have one that is knowledgeable enough to comment and critique the performance. It feels like the platforms with quality artistic discourse are ones run by the writer themselves, with some kind of Patreon subscription to make their work financially sustainable. Sure, established, popular artists will still have an opportunity to get media coverage, but what about all the emerging voices and groups that have something to say? While I do not have the stamina to keep up with my choir posts of the past, I do feel there needs to be a platform to host artistic content. Thus, this blog continues to live on. I will continue to save this online space for me to publish choral musings of myself and others as occasions arise.

It was only five years ago that I published this 10 year recap. It is heart-warming to see the array of beloved choral faces even today. It reminds me of singing opportunities I have been fortunate to experience. As well, it reminds me of how my blog has introduced me to so many artists that have significantly impacted my life. It is also sweet for me to see my very first blog post: The Beginning, where I share my hopes and wishes for this blog. 

In the past five years, I have kept on with my singing adventures, albeit, in a more intentional and focused way. I feel it is a mix of getting older, maybe wiser, and rebalancing my singing desires with diminished energy levels post-pandemic. The pandemic really overhauled how I continued to sing or not sing with all the restrictions. It is surprising to see how many masked photos I have of myself in the slideshow round-up below. 

I continue to feel an overwhelming gratitude towards this blog. Some of my closest friends began as blog readers first. If you meet me in person, you may notice that I speak more through actions than words. Reading what I am writing is the best of knowing me: my inner motivations, passions and thoughts. I sense a closeness with each reader. There is no way I can convey what I want in a quick, surface-level interaction if we were to meet in person. Thus, it means so much to me to know that you are taking your own personal time to read my content and connect with me. I have met so many fellow singers, composers, conductors, and members of my artistic community. I am moved by the flourishing and active choral scene we have here in Canada. 

While I am not sure about the future artistic endeavours coming my way, I will be sure to post some adventures here as I go. On my schedule thus far is the Canadian Chamber Choir tour in Calgary this February 2024 and Podium in Montreal this May 2024. 

Until then, please enjoy this 15 year anniversary post slideshow!

Thank-you, dear readers, for continuing to read my choral musings.

Warmth in the North

Greetings readers,

I am always reminded of the warmth of the connections created within the choral community. This past weekend was no exception as Nanc and I headed North of the 60th Parallel to check-out the winter tundra. After a 15 hour drive North from Edmonton, we were greeted with a sliver of aurora borealis in the sky and the glow moonlight highlighting the ragged outline of coniferous forests.


The most common question people asked us when we told we were going up to Yellowknife was: "Why?"

My unsatisfying answer was: "Why not!?!"

It was a great opportunity to reconnect with choral friends once again made when Pro Coro Canada visited in May 2015. Amongst the chats about voice science, motor learning, and semi-occluded vocal tract exercises, I was reminded of the power of connection in musical communities regardless of distance. It seems like the colder the climate, the warmer the people. I was invited into homes for voice lessons and to their tables for shared meals with their family. Fueled by the warmth generated from hearty moose soup and Mennonite sausage pizza, I headed to choir rehearsal for the evening. As I sat with the Ursa Miners working on Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols, it was a pleasure to witness the excellent music making in thius warm Northern pocket.


My Northern getaway also allowed me some excellent prep time for Pro Coro's upcoming Messiah performance with Da Camera Singers and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra at the new Birchwood Coffee in downtown Yellowknife. I always have this expression of pomp as I study the moving lines in And He Shall Purify. 










I will miss these images of the roadside winter wonderland in the North.


Check out Nanc Price Photography for more photos from the weekend.

Canadian Connections

There is an amazing reaction that occurs when two professional choirs come together on stage. It's like combining the right musical components in the optimum conditions for an amazing musical explosion. It has been a long time since I've been swaddled by so much amazing sound and supported by so many sensitive and experienced musicians. As well, whenever you pair together two like entities, there is a human tendency one cannot resist: comparison.

Whether we admit it or not, we all do it. I approached the inevitable aspect of choral comparison between Pro Coro and the Vancouver Chamber Choir, not from a perspective of competition, but with an air of objective curiosity.

What makes these two professional choirs in Canada different?

Multiple factors come to mind but an important area to consider is the Artistic Directors of each of these respective groups. The Artistic Director of the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Jon Washburn, is actually the founding conductor. The choir formed in 1971. Michael Zaugg is currently in his first season with Pro Coro Canada. If we had to compare groups on overall choral sound, the Artistic Director's gestural voice and vision really distinguish the sound of these two professional groups.

The Vancouver Chamber Choir during their dress rehearsal

As I watched the Vancouver Chamber Choir sing from the balcony of All Saints Cathedral, I was just in awe of their cohesive sense of ensemble. They perform with an impermeable sense of familiarity and you can sense that they can finish each other's musical phrases if they needed to. They executed their pieces with precision, professionalism, and cheeky wit when required, echoing the gestural voice of Washburn.

Due to the fact that Zaugg is in his first season with Pro Coro, we're still in the getting-to-know-each-other phase. Our sense of ensemble isn't the same because we're experimenting with our sound and how to interpret different gestures. It's such subtle detail work but it makes so much difference in our sound as a group. Depending on the gestural attack Zaugg signals to us, we either go with a hard glottal, easy glottal onset, or breathy onset in the beginning our Uģis Prauliņš "Hallelujah" section of "Laudibus In Sanctis." It allows me to speechie geek-out as I consider the different diacritics to apply to the "Hallelujah."

A Pro Coro Quartet running a section from "Laudibus In Sanctis."

Sunday's "Canadian Connections" performance resulted in many musical reunions, new choral friendships, and a chance to do what we all love together: sing. It is a rare opportunity and luxury that I do not overlook. I wish the Vancouver Chamber Choir all the best as they continue their tour to Humboldt, Regina, and Calgary this upcoming week. You can read along in their touring adventures on their blog.

Here I am with Tom, a Choir Blog reader and chorister from the VCC

Strangely enough, as the Vancouver Chamber Choir heads to the prairies, this Choir Girl is headed to Vancouver! Though I am traveling there for my Speechie interests, I have a choral project lined up, such as a visit to the Vancouver Canata Singers rehearsal on Wednesday night to chat with Missy, creator of the viral "Sh*t Choristers Say" video. Stay tuned for more posts and follow me on Twitter for travel updates.

Virtues on the West Coast

Greetings readers,

My weekend with the Ordo Collective was surreal in so many ways. First of all, I have never had a travel grant cover my trip (Thank-you to the Edmonton Arts Council!). It was a novel experience to be supported and recognized as a musician in monetary form while traveling. The quick two-day trip made me feel like a transient professional. One day I'm working in the clinic, and the next day, I'm in a different city catching up with choir friends and singing in a gorgeous church. It is amazing how friends and musical connections with audiences make an unfamiliar location feel instantly like home.

After a quick flight from Vancouver to Victoria I walked out of the plane breathing in the ocean air. There is something about being on an island that makes me go into vacation mode. You immediately feel like leading an unstructured lifestyle. There was a moment of I-can't-believe-I-was-in-Edmonton-this-morning-and-now-I'm-here. I spent a leisurely afternoon reconnecting with a choir friend currently living in Victoria, browsing tea and chocolate shops in downtown Victoria, and smelling the flowers at the Empress hotel.

 

Later the Ordo ladies head to St. John The Divine for a dress rehearsal. The venue was beautiful: stone walls, long aisles, and a grand spacious stage at the front. The passion of the Ordo organizers, Eva and Gwen, is unparallelled. Eva flew out a day earlier to scout out the church location and arrange details. It is a luxury to just show up and sing without having to personally set up and tear down the stage. When we arrived we just needed to walk onto stage.  We also discovered Eva had supplied a fully stocked fridge since we didn't have enough time before our performance to hunt for sustenance. The only thing the singers had to do was bring programs from Edmonton. We were all given a generous stack of programs to carry, which just further highlights the passion of the Ordo organizers, because just like with the food, they wished to supply a surplus of programs for the audience. It is staggering to witness such love in a project. It made my early wake-up times and post-travel lethargy totally worth it.

St. John the Divine, Victoria BC

Another interesting thing when you're on tour with any group is the personalities that surface. Oftentimes, you get glimpses of people's true character in your daily interactions with them; however, these individual quirks always come to the forefront when you're traveling. It was interesting to see ladies oftentimes stressed with their busy Edmonton schedules wear a perma-smile of contentment while breathing in the humid West Coast breeze. It was also interesting to see the sensitivity levels and passive-aggressive responses of ladies of those dealing with the compounding fatigue of the weekend. What travel character am I? I like to think of myself as a chill explorer. Equipped with my phone apps like Urbanspoon and Fourquare, I am ready to wander and discover local events and coffee shops but I also know not to let small unorganized details get to me. I don't feel like it is a good use of my mental energy to negatively reflect upon a situation I have no control over.

Christ Church, Vancouver BC

Overall, The Ordo Collective had a fantastc weekend in Victoria and Vancouver. It was filled with gorgeous music, magical venues, and familiar choral faces in the audience. If every weekend was like this I would probably burn-out from sheer happiness.

Until next time readers, take care!

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Greetings readers,

Yes, I finally did it. I saw the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in concert. I've been here in Salt Lake City almost two full months and almost went without hearing the choir. It is the quintessential thing that everybody recommended to me before coming here: "You have to hear the choir." This includes non-choral people. It was not due to a lack of trying. My very first Sunday here I actually woke up early to attend their Sunday morning service, but upon arriving at the train on campus... I found out that they didn't start running until after the service was over. Alas, I was stranded on campus for Sunday morning service. Thus, I knew there was no way I could get to a Sunday service unless I did a one hour walk downtown from the campus or found somebody with a vehicle who might be interested in seeing the choir. The choir also has Thursday evening rehearsals open to the public but I don't often stay out late on a weekday, at the risk of being stranded, yet again, by public transit. The woes of a student without a car.

However, after a group homework session on Saturday, a bright classmate of mine decided to look up Sunday service information for the choir. Instead, she found that they were actually singing in a free Pioneer Day concert (the day the Mormon pioneers arrived with Brigham Young in Salt Lake City) that very evening. Doors opened at 8 PM and there would be standby tickets available. We looked at our watches. It was 6:45 PM. We had time to get downtown. I frankly would prefer to see the choir tackle some sacred and secular repertoire on a significant religious holiday. I like to see how Mormons celebrate.

My friends and I piled into the Conference Centre which can seat over 21,000 people.  In the summer, the choir performs and rehearses in the Conference Centre instead of the Tabernacle due to the summer tourist crowds. It definitely was the largest church building I have ever been in. While the concert was not sold out, there were only a few seats available in the outermost sections. When we arrived at the Conference Centre the lines were so huge that we had to snake throughout the courtyard and garden planters before we could even enter one of the numerous doors to pass through metal detectors.

My first thoughts upon seeing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir: They look so uniform. It's almost as if they were sorted according to height in each of the rows since the level of conformity was unparalled.  Their program had lots of listener-friendly pieces with Welsh soprano, Katherine Jenkins, leading the way.

I found the acoustics in the Conference Centre kind of strange because even though I was looking at the choir, all I could hear was this muffled speaker sound radiating towards me. While I'm sure they were amplified, it was unfortunate I couldn't hear more of what they sounded like. They didn't have the power and oomph I imaged from a choir that large. There was some breathy blend going on and I'm not sure if that's what they were doing or what was being broadcast to me. They posted a Youtube video of the entire performance and they sound much clearer on the video. What was impressive is that they did the entire concert memorized. As well, the concert was filmed for national and national TV broadcast so camera crews pan throughout the choir and settle on particular faces. I can only imagine the stress of possibly being video recorded at any given time throughout the performance. All I can say is, singing isn't the prettiest when you try to capture it in still form. There's a lot of vowel modification, lip postures etc. it's easy to snap a picture when somebody not looking their best.

The soloist Katherine Jenkins sang a large range of popular music from "I Could Have Danced All Night" and "The Prayer." And throughout it all she maintained a very dark resonant space with extreme lip postures. Take a look at the Youtube video and you can probably see and hear what I mean. I have to say, it's nice having a video to share with you all since you can see the exact performance I watched in Salt Lake City.


Overall, it was quite an experience to hear the choir with their high-tech set-up and in their massive Conference Centre. I was told that all the choir members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir are unpaid and one can tell there is a high level of musical proficiency throughout the group. It was staggering to see the thousands of audience members attending a cultural event. It's not every city you can get that many people attending a live concert produced by locals. Thus, I can finally leave Salt Lake City with the knowledge that I was able to hear the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Until next time readers, take care!

Salt Lake Temple

The Role of Vocal Cool-Downs in Wound Healing

Greetings readers,

I'm right in the middle of my voice habilitation course (note: it is not called "re"habilitation because that term suggests it is a process of regaining lost function and, instead, we want to focus on the function we can obtain).

In class we have been speaking about the wound healing process in vocal folds and what kind of mediators (inflammatory or anti-inflammatory) that are present after periods of heavy vocal use. Mediators are the chemical molecules that are present when there is inflammation. Thus, the presence of mediators signals that there is some damage. Inflammation is a natural part of the wound healing process. Potential problems arise when inflammation persists for prolonged periods after strenuous activities, such as vocal use. There have been recent studies looking at what is most beneficial to do following periods of intensive vocal use.

A soon-to-be published by Verdolini-Abbott (2012), known informally as the "Scream Study," looked at the levels of mediators in a group of 9 individuals following a session of vocal loading (aka. screaming), these individuals were then split into 3 different group conditions afterwards and then their vocal folds were suctioned for secretions to measure the presence and amounts of inflammatory mediators. Each group of individuals had a particular condition applied: one group had to undergo complete vocal rest, another had to use their voice to speak to a clinician, and another group had to do resonant voice exercises (humming etc) after the vocal loading session. Researchers suctioned the vocal folds before the vocal loading sessions (baseline), 4 hours following the session and 24 hours after the session. They found in the condition where subjects had to use speech, they had the highest level of inflammatory mediators 4h and 24h following the session. The vocal rest conditions showed that there were elevated levels of inflammatory mediators 4h following the session and this decreased by 24 hours. However, in the resonant voice condition there were decreased inflammatory mediators 24h after session and there was an anti-inflammatory mediator present. This suggests that following strenuous vocal use, instead of complete vocal rest, there are findings to suggest that low impact resonant voice exercises may can expedite the wound healing process. Thus, providing some of the first empirical evidence for vocal cool-down's following strenuous voice use.

Does this mean that everybody should rush out and start resonant voice exercise cool-downs following voicing? Probably not since there are other cautions to consider. You should be doing resonant exercises properly so that voicing feels easy and resonant. Any exercises where there is strain is counter-productive. Dosage effects have also not been closely studied (how long or often to practice resonant voice exercises for). All it provides is evidence that complete voice rest may not be the way to go. There are other caution factors as well ex. if a subject is at risk for vocal hemorrhage then voice rest is warranted since you don't want to vibrate your vocal folds in case capillaries are ruptured. The most important thing is to be intuitive and listen to your body and how it is responding to variables when you are introducing new exercises. This may not be new information to you since the concept of vocal cool-downs are used by individuals. However, isn't it nice to know the possible "why" behind such an exercise? 

Ultimately, the real questions are: "why do they work?" "what is the evidence behind them?" and "what kind of exercises do I need to do?" and "how long do I need to do them for?" In order to be critical consumers of knowledge, we should always question and not simply accept things because they are the norm. The Verdolini-Abbott (2012) study I'm referencing here is not yet available; however, there are some other related articles from this area of research at this link.

Until next time readers, take care!

A Night Out

Greetings readers,

I took a night off from studying voice disorders and the numerous congenital, genetic, tissue malformation, mechanical stress, and neurological problems that can arise in the human population. Instead, I decided to take a night out to appreciate some non-disordered voices.

My fellow Twitter acquaintance Canadian choral conductor, Charissa Bagan, alerted me to a performance by the Choir of the Cathedral of the Madeleine as a part of the Colloquium XXII Conference happening in Salt Lake City this week. After a quick bus ride away from the University, I was dropped off at the front of the gorgeous Cathedral of the Madeleine. I had wanted to visit this venue for a while now and this concert just so happened to provide the perfect opportunity to visit. It is also important to note that I've been terribly choral deprived since Podium 2012.

I slipped in unnoticed alongside some of the collared-shirt and khaki-wearing crowd. Taking a scan through the program, I mentally prepared myself for the plethora of sacred choral music about to come my way. The choir was a mix of adult men and choristers from the Madeleine Choir School. I wish I was raised in a choir school. You think I'm a choir geek now, imagine what I would be like had I had a more choral-centric academic education.

In the first few pieces I definitely needed to adjust my ears to the choral sound within the Cathedral. While the straight-toned purity of the young voices resonanted within the acoustic peaks of the surroundings, I felt like the musical movement of their lines was lost within the expansive space. It was hard to hear the musical interplay occuring within the music. Thus, the first four songs, Gibbons's "Hosanna to the Son of David," Lobo's "Versa est in luctum," Bassano's "Dic nobis Maria," and Tallis's "Salvator Mundi" sounded more like a choral wash of sound to me than distinct pieces. Their performance of Rachmianioff's "All Night Vigil" gave me more of a glimpse of their true choral color as I could hear the adult men singing with their full voices. Organist, Douglas O'Neill, also provided some refreshing accompaniant during Nicolas de Grigny's "Pange lingua." There were reciprocal lines between the organ and the chant lines from the off-stage choir. At this point in the program, I was pretty saturated. Imagine my surprise when the choir reemerged on stage. I looked down at my program puzzled. Hearing the rustle of paper around me, I turned the program sheet over... there was a second half.

I'm not sure if it's because I've been choral deprived for over a month or my 4 hour voice lectures in the morning but I definitely was saturated at this point. I'm glad they decided to change up the arrangement for Tavener's "A Hymn to the Mother of God" and Harris's "Faire is the Heaven" so I had a new choral arrangement to enjoy. The choir split in half and one group stood facing the other half of the choir at a midpoint in the aisle. At least I could train my ears and listen to individual voices singing near me at this point. I enjoyed contemplating the principles of voice production instilled into me over the past few weeks as I watched the singers.

While I enjoy sacred choral offerings, I think I am definitely a fan of more diverse choral programming. It was interesting to hear male voices paired with unchanged voices from the choir school in order to form an ensemble. Also, another one of my favorite parts of the concert? Epic Brewing was the concert sponsor. I thought this was unexpected but refreshing for a church concert sponsor... in Salt Lake City nonetheless! I'm eager to see what other choral offerings this city has for me. Stay tuned.

Until next time readers, take care!

Being a Critical Choral Consumer

Reference: "Models of Vocal Fold Oscillation" NCVS Website (http://www.ncvs.org/ncvs/tutorials/voiceprod/tutorial/model.html)

Greetings readers,

I hope you are all well and enjoying the start of the summer season. As I last indicated to you in a previous post, I am now living in Salt Lake City until August. Currently, I am learning about the principles of voice production from the father of Vocology in the states, Dr. Ingo Titze. The last two weeks have been an absolute blur of physics equations, understanding formant frequencies of non-uniform tubes and how to maximize resonance, semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (humming, straw exercises, anything where your mouth is almost closed) and the use of back pressure in these exercises to decrease the force of vocal fold adduction (coming together) during warm-ups.



What I find most interesting is how there is physical rationale for why we do some of the abstract things we do when we sing. There is also some debunking of myths in lecture. Each day I feel like I'm given a new lens in which to perceive some of these acoustic phenomena, but often, I just end up with more questions, which is what I find most satisfying because I am an academic at heart. This class really is like utopia for a speechie-chorister.

The next paragraph is a complete physics geek-out section. Feel free to skip if Physics is not your thing. You have been warned.

For example, I came to realize that I didn't even understand the basics of vocal fold vibration properly. I've been taught Bernoulli's Principle as the model for vocal fold vibration, but I learned that that is not the case. The Bernoulli's Principle does not explain the self-sustained oscillation of vocal fold vibration. All Bernoulli states is that when there is high velocity, there is low pressure and vice versa. However, if this was the only force in the vocal folds, these two forces would cancel out. It does not explain how there is continuous vibration of the vocal folds from an input air source. Instead we need to think of the vocal folds like a mass-spring system so when there is a build-up of subglottal pressure from our lungs in our glottis (space between the vocal folds), it creates a positive pressure in our vocal folds. This positive pressure is what pushes our vocal folds apart. What we also need to know is that even before we start phonating there is air already in our air tract above the vocal folds that is equal to atmospheric pressure (because from our lungs to the atmosphere we are essentially an open tube to the world). Thus, when air from our lungs meets this existing air that's already in the air tract (above the vocal folds), the air doesn't accelerate right away. The air in our air tract has it's own mass and inertia which is also why there is a positive build-up of pressure in our vocal folds that pushes the vocal folds apart. The vocal folds act like a recoil spring (due to be ratio of elastin, collagen, and muscle fibers in the different layers of our vocal folds) after the positive pressure in the lungs pushes them apart and they recoil back to their initial position. Then since there is continuous phonation pressure from our lungs, it starts this oscillation cycle once again. I applaud you if you were able to follow me through my verbose rationale. If you're intrigued by this model of vocal fold oscillation check out this tutorial link to learn more.

So you my be thinking, who cares how vocal folds vibrate? All I need to know is that they do and it doesn't make my performance any different. True, that may be the case. However, I feel like to use any system effectively, learning the mechanics can help with efficiency. For example, in terms of vocal fold vibration, there are certain threshold pressures from our lungs that need to be present in order to begin vibration. Singers that have a "pressed" voice quality are pushing so much air from their lungs and adducting their vocal folds together too strongly; thus, beginning a very damaging and high-impact vocal fold vibration. The vocal folds have a layered structure and when there is stress and tension on the epithelium (the top/cover layer of the vocal fold muscle) this can cause edema. For example, when there is any shouting, yelling or overall vocal abuse. When there is a build-up of fluid, just like those with arthritis can have a build-up of fluid in their joints, the extra fluid in the vocal fold tissues affect the efficiency of vocal fold vibration and this will be perceptible to a listener as a rough voice. I'm sure many of you already know that singing with a pressed voice means that you are working too hard, but I find it satisfying to know why in terms of a vibration model. I like to know why we do the things we do. Thus, doing voice exercises with easy and soft onsets is a way to reduce the overadduction (squeezing together) of our vocal folds.

I feel like with each of my lectures I could compose numerous posts. While I do intend to share more of what I learn with my readers, I think it is good to self-evaluate why we do the things we do. Conductors and teachers are aware (I hope...) of their rationale for choosing specific warm-up exercises. But as a singer/chorister, it is so easy to become complacent and just follow along without really understanding why we are doing particular exercises. Just like with any rehab treatment you want a therapist to use methods with evidence supporting its use. I feel that singing should be the same way. Of course, there are not the same amount of studies done on which exercises are effective or not, but we need to critical consumers of what we are doing in practice and learning more about an area is a way to do that. As informed singers, I feel like we should understand our instruments. When a violin player breaks a string, they know how to re-string and re-tune. I feel like a singer should be able to do the same. Or at least identify what it is in their regime that caused the difficulty to begin in the first place. The first step is knowledge. That is what I intend to continue pursuing while I am here.

Until next time readers, take care!

Choir Girl in Salt Lake City

Greetings readers,

Alas, I have relocated since my last post... I am now in Salt Lake City! While I still have Podium interview offerings to compose for you all, I have been busy this last little while preparing for my move to Salt Lake City. What am I doing in Utah? You may ask. I will be attending the Summer Vocology Institute hosted at the University of Utah. For the next two months I will be learning about specialized principles of voice production, voice rehabilitation, and working with professional voice users. I'm excited to learn more about this specialized area of Speech Pathology. During my Masters coursework we only spent half a term on this content. As well, I'm hoping to see the potential of voice science clinical applications which will hopefully, in turn, generate some thoughts for future PhD work. It's an ambitious goal I have set for myself, I know. What I do know is that my soon-to-be professor,  Ingo Titze, sang with Pavarobitti.



If that's not cool, then I don't know what is.

Some people may be puzzled at why I am moving after only 2.5 months in an adult outpatient rehab job I secured after my final practicum. This job really was, in many ways, my ideal clinic setting. However, you know that general feeling of unease that makes you question whether you are doing what you are meant to be doing? Well, that was where I was at after a solid year of clinical work with my practicums and going straight into my first S-LP position. While I don't know exactly what to expect in these next two months, I just know I'd rather spend the time finding out instead of wondering. Since I am a fan of self-moderating my emotional responses, I'm approaching the whole situation with wary excitement.

Thus, dear readers, you can expect to read more speech-centric choral posts from me these next two months. Who knows, perhaps I'll be able to squeeze in some choral experiences for myself as well. I hear there's a popular choir in town called the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Perhaps I'll check them out :)

Until next time readers, take care.

An Italian Jaunt

Replica David outside the Palazzo Vecchio


Greetings readers!

I am back from my jaunt around Italy and thought I would do a photo post as well as recount some musical experiences I had while traveling.

There is something that I must preface this post with first: I am not a "touristy" tourist. Well, at least I try not to be. I make sure my travel wardrobe does not include components of the following items: white runners, thick white sport socks, khaki bermuda shorts, a gawdy patterned button-up shirt, and a fanny pack. You may scoff at my outdated and stereotypical description but these fashion violators can often be seen around the most touristy of sites. I mean you no offense if you are one of these people---it's just not my style :)

The first musical experience that occurred was on a gondola ride into the heart of Venice. Our tour group booked 6 gondolas and on one of them happened to have a male singer as well as an accordion player. However, in going back to my initial point, I am often very resistant towards doing "touristy" things. I know this sometimes can't be avoided (a gondola is almost a must-do activity in Venice) but I'd much rather wander around on my own and figure things out (it makes me feel more like a local). Thus, when musicians are hired to entertain my tourist self when I've already allowed myself to indulge in the tourist activity of a gondola ride... it's like tourist overkill to me.






















Instead of just enjoying the music, I wonder to myself---How many performances do they have to do in one day? How did they land this gig? is the vocal strain in the singer due to the fact that he's not properly looking after himself in between performances? How difficult it is to stand in a shaky gondola and sing? Have they ever fallen in? Do they get paid a percentage in tips or do they work on an hourly basis? How many times they have played Santa Lucia? Are they're totally sick of all their repertoire? Do they want to toss it in the canals? These are the things I ask myself.

It makes me sound a bit jaded but I often find myself looking at scenarios like this through a musician lens. Maybe the musicians absolutely love their job? Maybe they love performing on a moving stage? Maybe they love meeting lots of different people? Maybe they like working outside? I can how all those things make their job appealing. I do give the music one thing, it really creates an atmosphere. Without the music you would just focus on the creaking of the boat and the debris floating in the canal water. Not appealing. I suppose in moments like that, I should just take a deep breath, embrace the fact that I am, indeed, a tourist and I should enjoy these musicians in a tourist manner and not think so much about it. Easier said than done I must say!

In Venice I was also about to enjoy a bellini at Cafe Florian in St. Mark's Square while listening to this group. They played lots of familiar songs such as La Vie En Rose and Roxanne. Music is really the perfect complement to people watching.















Another lovely moment was catching some gorgeous Gregorian chant from the Franciscan monks during evening mass at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. I think Assisi was one of my favorite places. It's a quiet hill-top town. Church bells chime throughout the city, gorgeous and quaint buildings line the streets, and the city just has this sleepy energy. Also, one evening in Assisi I went out for a drink, and while sitting on the patio, I could see monks still walking the streets. There were a few pairs of them walking with members of their brotherhood all dressed in their brown robes and leather sandals conversing with their hands clasped behind their back. It just makes a location that much more atmospheric to see locals going about their daily life.

Time for a mini confession: I totally wouldn't mind being a monk. You get room and board, you don't have to worry about what you're going to wear, you get to lead a quiet lifestyle, and you get to sing gorgeous chant music in an excellent acoustic weekly (if not daily). I think the latter part of the perks list particularly resonates with me. Look at how chilled out the monk is in the picture below. Seems like life is pretty good.






















Alas, my destiny is not to be a monk but it's nice to think of what other options might be open. I suppose I should be thinking of a nun instead of a monk (if I wanted to be realistic) but a girl can dream right?

At any rate, hope you enjoy the pictures!























Florence


















Pompeii






















Outside the Coliseum in Rome























On a boat cruise around the Isle of Capri























I did toss a coin into the Trevi fountain so hopefully I will return to Rome and the rest of Italy someday!

Guest Blogger Series: Singing in Italy

Photo Credit: Amy B.
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Singing in Italy

GUEST BLOGGER: Amy B.











Since I’ve been fortunate to be the guest blogger on The Choirgirl, I thought it was appropriate to end on a musical note. We’ve just finished a week and a half of singing our faces off, and I would be remiss if my blogging didn’t reflect this. I can tell I am an inexperienced/uncertain/rookie blogger, because I couldn’t bring myself to blog during our time in Gorizia – I felt like I shouldn’t comment on an experience while we (and other choirs who read The Choirgirl blog) were still having it….I know, I know: this is exactly what bloggers usually do (be current) but I couldn’t. So I didn’t. And now I am forced to give you a synopsis of our very busy tour – hopefully I don’t miss much.

Since I am a person who appreciates moments, I’ve made a list of some of the singing moments that stand out from this tour:

Most Amazing Church Performance Experience in Italy: The Mass we sang at Chiesa di Sant’Agostino, in San Gimignano, for sure. For starters, I was so overheated from a couple of days without air con and the heat of the morning (see previous blog post about heat) that I got very sick just before service began….not my finest moment. Fortunately, I was able to regroup to sing all but 1 of the selections we shared at mass. The acoustic in the church was lovely and we sang so well, our director had a teary moment at the end of the Carillo Ave Mario. We had 2 masses to sing that day, the second one being at Basilica San Marco in Venice, so we figured if mass #1 was this good, the second one would be an AMAZING experience for sure!

LEAST Amazing Church Performance Experience in Italy: The Mass at Basilica San Marco, unfortunately. Maybe it was the anticipation that killed it for us…..or, MAYBE it was the SOUND CHECKS ON THE OUTDOOR STAGE DIRECTLY OUTSIDE IN SAN MARCO SQUARE WHICH BOOMED through the church through most of the mass. Unfortunate, especially since the concert they were sound checking for wasn’t even until the following day! The acoustic in the church was disappointing, and it took the priest a while to warm up to us. Also, we had to sit in a very odd arrangement to sing, which took some getting used to. And there was a lot of heat. And standing. We sang well, but it just wasn’t the same. Boo.

Buggiest Concert: Piazza San Pietro Martire, in Monza, by a mile – mosquitoes EVERYWHERE. Lucky for us, my fabulous husband ran out and found bug repellent for all of us (right around the time the farmacia’s were all closing, I’m told, so it was quite a feat!). We have a picture of everyone spraying themselves down prior to the outdoor concert – very funny. The concert was in a beautiful courtyard in the middle of a cloister, with a lovely garden. We sang in the garden and our audience sat along the outdoor hallways on two sides. The concert didn’t start until 9:00 but this did not allow for much cooling of the temperature – even our Italian hosts were concerned about the heat! A 9:00 start time also meant that lights were required for us to see and for our audience to see us....heat-producing lights, right over our heads, sadly. In the end, the concert was very successful – by this time, much of our music was very comfortable from so much performance and practice, and we were all very focused on perfecting things for the competition, so we sang well. Our hosts were also very gracious, and treated us to good food (and wine) before and after the show.


















Photo Credit: Amy B.

Best Reaction to a Performance We Gave: This is a toss up, because we had very appreciative audiences and fans all the way along, but I think I have to give it to the owner of Castello di Verranzzano Winery. He asked us to sing on his outdoor patio, overlooking his winery, and when we finished, he was speechless and tearful. I recall him saying something about being where he loved to be, doing what he loved to do and hearing such beautiful music all at once….I was very touched. Runner-up reaction goes to Gianfranco, our bus driver, who recorded us singing Sida Rudia and made it his ringtone – it doesn’t get much better than that.

















Photo Credit: Erin M.

Place We Should Have Done a Concert But Didn’t: Postojna Caves. I have never seen anything so amazing, The caves are beautiful and vast and the acoustic was to die for. They actually have a part near the exit called the “Concert Hall”, and they told us the space had a 6 second reverberation time. Cool. Apparently they actually host concerts there fairly often, but we didn’t know this until we got there – this would be a good reason to go back to Slovenia. We sang Kaipavaa there, just for kicks. It was awesome.

















Photo credit: Steven T.

Competition Highlight: Our 20th Century class performance wins it, I think. Every competition has a moment like this, and I think this was ours – we just gelled, and all of the details we’d practiced and obsessed over came together in that moment. We all left the theatre quite excited, agreeing that we had rocked it.

















Photo Credit: Amy B.

Awards Won: Five in total: 2nd place in Folksong, 2nd place in Romantic, 4th place in 20th Century, 4th in the Grand Prix, and a special award for “Program of Most Artistic Interest”.


















Photo Credit: Steven T.

















Photo Credit: Amy B.

The Opportunity to Spend Two Weeks With 23 Amazing Women, Making High Quality Music to be Proud of, In Italy: unforgettable and priceless.

In Italy, we got to know each other. We became an ensemble who could finish each other’s musical sentences. We sang hard and gave it everything we had. It was my privilege to take part, and to share some of our moments with you.


















Photo Credit: Amy B.


















Photo Credit: Amy B.

Guest Blogger Series: Heat and Singers Don't Mix

Greetings Readers!

I hope you've been enjoying the posts from my fellow chorister, Amy, who is composing guest blogger posts for me while Belle Canto is competing in the Seghizzi festival in Gorizia, Italy. As much as it kills me inside to see continuous Facebook updates and the uploaded photos, I can't help but look to see what they're doing! I feel like I'm extremely informed on what is going on! Ah, the amazing way internet connects us all. Amy even said that one of my Hungarian blog readers, Evelyn-a Magnificat Youth Choir member from Budapest, said hi to my choir during the welcome ceremony! I have this warm, fuzzy, choral feeling in my heart. Ah, readers uniting in choral love! Thanks to Ken who even snapped a picture to document this meet!

Miss. Sable

















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Photo credit: Erin M.

Heat and Singers Don't Mix
Guest Blogger: Amy B.












Hello again from beautiful, sunny, sweaty, sweltering Italy! We have been here for over a week now and there are so many things we have learned to love about Italy: the gelato (have I mentioned this before?), the appreciative audiences, the relaxed sense of time, the wine, the gorgeous stone streets and the history around every corner, to name just a few. I wish I could blog about any one of these things, or the music we’ve been able to perform here. But there is this one lingering issue I think we can all agree has tempered our enthusiasm for Italy and for the experience in general: THE HEAT.

Before leaving, I took the liberty of checking the weather forecast for Italy and discovered that it would probably be hot and consistently so – the average high for every day of the forecast was 34 degrees Celcius, and the low was 21. There was never any mention of wind, rain….or any other kind of weather, so I wasn’t expecting any. No surprises and hot days. That’s what I was prepared for.

On average, the weather here HAS been unfailingly consistent. And hot. The average and unchanging temperature range since we’ve arrived has been 38-42 degrees Celsius. No wind, no rain…or any other kind of weather. Just hot.

Nothing looks the same in this heat. Nothing FEELS the same in this heat. OR SOUNDS the same. Every breath, every movement, every note we sing is affected by the oppressive sun.

This seems dramatic, I know, and I’m sure there are people reading this now who are thinking: “Oh come on – how bad can it REALLY be?”….and the answer is REALLY bad. But, true professionals soldier on and we have, for the most part. Many of us now own fans and the sound of them waving in the still and stifling humid air has becoming the white noise of our rehearsals. We are drinking bottles and bottles and BOTTLES of water and powerade, which has created a new standard for bathroom break intervals on long bus trips. We have also developed a fascination for ANY product displayed in ANY store with reasonable air conditioning, and will go to great lengths to check out EVERYTHING in that store in detail before moving on.

















Photo credit: Erin M.

These strategies, however, only help before and after we sing. During hot performances, we have had to employ different techniques to survive and continue to produce music worth listening to. Our casual uniforms have been a blessing, as they are shorter than our formal uniforms, allowing slightly more skin to remain uncovered. Our hairstyles and make up routines have been considerable reduced before singing, since we’ve discovered that it all gets swept away in sweat anyways. Wet cloths against our necks are a great relief just prior to going on stage. Some choristers (who shall remain nameless) have even been known to soak uniforms before wearing them, in order to benefit from the cooling effects of evaporation. Also, not one of us has uttered the words “nylons?” in our director’s presence and so, thus far, we have not been asked to wear them once….at this point, it would seem like adding insult to injury.

The upsides of this weather for singers are few but I’ll mention them: we are almost permanently vocally warmed up in the extreme humidity and we are generally a more pleasing colour after a week of exposure to constant sun, even with the spf 45 sunscreen we’ve been reapplying. As well, we’ve had several neutral audience members tell us that there is a nice “glow” about us as we sing….these people clearly can’t see close enough to spot the sweat running down our backs.

I’m hot just thinking about this, and it’s time to sing again – off for a quick gelato (my all time favorite Italian heat survival technique) before the show!
















Photo credit: Erin M.

Guest Blogger Series: Our First Concert and Other Italian Notes

Our First Concert and Other Italian Notes

GUEST BLOGGER: Amy B.












We’ve just returned from our first concert with Tempus Floridium, and I am pleased to report that everything went quite well. Tempus Floridium is a group of 7 singers with a repertoire of early music, mostly – they had great energy and took on some challenging pieces for such a small group! I especially enjoyed a few of the Italian madrigals they had prepared – I would love for us to sing some of them but I am fairly certain our tongues will never wrap themselves around all of those words!

We also sang well, despite the heat, and managed to share a program of secular and sacred music with our audience. This concert was organized by an arts organization in the city and was a part of a series. As a result, we had very little to do with the set up, and very little idea what to expect from this performance opportunity. What we were greeted with on arrival was a long hill our bus could not climb. AFTER we climbed it, we found ourselves an orangerie with a small auditorium on it, a bar/refreshment stand, a tent being assembled for acrobatics and a few low key Italians having dinner and waiting for the 9:00 concert start time.

After a quick warm up and a brief hello to Tempus Floridium, the concert began. A few things we learned that night about concerts in Italy include:

• It is always good to have a casual uniform. This became VERY apparent as we hiked up the hill, not in our flowy concert dress, but instead in our short, knee-covering skirts and black shirts (red peep-toed shoes optional, although most people waited til the last moment before putting them on).
• Time is relative. Time in Italy is considered differently than at home. In Canada, a concert at 9:00 starts at 9:00, or shortly thereafter; in Italy, a concert at 9:00 begins when everyone is ready…..which was about 9:30….ish. Audiences are different too: in Canada, most people show up for the concert start time; whereas, during this concert, many people arrived part way through and chatted with people they sat with…..interesting.
• Language learning is tricky, no matter where you are. Tempus Floridum thought our Italian was passable, and had many good tips to improve the text of Verdi’s Laudi Alla Vergine Maria, which we performed that night. We noticed that their English was just as good as our Italian, which made us feel a little better about that.
• There is nothing like being away in very different surroundings to make you feel very proud of where you’re from. Nuf said.

It feels good to be singing again, in this lovely place. The next time you hear from me, we will have sung Mass at St. Marco’s, in Venice. Ciao for now!

Guest Blogger Series: The Arrival in Florence

Greetings readers!

As you may have read in my previous post, I was able to get one of my fellow Belle Canto choristers, Amy B. to guest blog for me while they are on tour in Italy. She has already composed her first entry (they left on Tuesday) and I've posted it for you to read below. If you enjoy more travel related posts, another chorister from Belle Canto, Kate, is updating her travel blog daily so you can check out some of her stories and pictures as well!

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The ARRIVAL IN FLORENCE

GUEST BLOGGER: AMY B.

Well, it has been over 24 hours since we all arrived in Italy, so I figured it was time for my first kick at blogging……:

We flew into Florence at 1:00 yesterday afternoon. And, it is a beautiful place – gorgeous old buildings, stone streets, frescoes and sculptures everywhere…. not to mention the gelato! I think Italy and I are going to get along just fine.

Now, I am under no illusions: I know that I am here to work – to sing my face off and to “face off” against other choirs (particularly “the choir in the Czech republic” – the subject of a future blog post, I’m sure). But so far, this has been a very laid back tour…. more like a vacation I am casually taking with some acquaintances of mine, all of whom happen to sing… the exact same repertoire as I do.

Actually, there hasn’t even been any singing yet! A few singers, scattered amongst the regular plane passengers, might have been heard practicing their parts in hushed tones, of course, but nothing all together (like a rehearsal in the airport, for example). One of my roommates copied the text for one of our pieces onto her itinerary for the day, so that she could review it as we walked. Over breakfast I did hear a couple of singers discussing the German text they may or may not have memorized yet, but this topic was quickly overtaken by talk of how everyone slept, what we might see at the Uffizi and, most importantly, what kind of gelato we might have today. But, so far anyways, none of this has resulted in any actual singing.

I think we have all just been overtaken by this place….it’s really the only explanation. How else could 24 choir girls from Canada completely lose track of their objective? It is so hot here (38 degrees for the last 2 days) and every street and statue and building has a history to hear about. Couple this with good food and (in case I haven’t already mentioned this) GELATO, and I can hardly remember the words to verse 2 of Tamburinshlagerin.

I’ll bet the choir from the Czech republic is rehearsing right now….with no gelato in their tummies.

San Fran Day 3/4

In order to wrap up some travel sights here are some quick snapshots.

We visited the famous Alcatraz prison and it was actually surreal to imagine that the most dangerous criminals were kept here. It kind of felt like I was walking through a movie set but by far the most creepy were the isolation cells in the most secure block of the prison. An awesome audio commentary accompanied the tour and it was eerie to hear the voices of prisoners and wardens describe the prison and the famous characters through it's walls. They also detailed the multiple escape attempts that occurred and described how the prisoners would be able to see the lights of the San Francisco nightline in the evening and even the sounds of peoples voices during New Years Eve. Those happy voices a taunting reminder of the world they are locked away from.














The gorgeous Crown and Crumpet Tea Room.














Eating ridiculously large chocolate dipped strawberries



























High Tea at Lovejoy's tea room. By far one of our most delicious finds in San Francisco! It's away from the heart of downtown, further into the subburbs, but upon seeing the website and hearing some reviews, I knew it would be worth it to trek all the way out. It was in such a cute area of the city! Lots of cute little boutiques and salons lining the street. The tea shop looked like an eclectic grandmother's living room in the UK and the service and food was excellent. It was also nice to have a high tea in a very non-pretentious atmosphere. Often you have to head to 5 star hotel for high tea but the atmosphere here was so relaxed. I've never had tea choices described to me like wine so Christina and I opted for the signature house black tea to start with and we ended our tea experience with a pot of China rose petal. We munched on cucumber sandwiches, sugar cookies and warm scones with devonshire cream and strawberry preserves.















mmm high tea














After our high tea, we had to book it to make our 2pm performance of Peter Pan. The production is new to San Fran and I thought it sounded pretty cool since it is on the harbour and the special 360 theatre allows 360 images to be broadcast. Thus, when the actors are flying, they are actually flying through the the London night sky! It was so neat to watch the Darlings, Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell swerve left to fly around the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral and other famous London attractions! The show itself was amazingly done with aerial acrobats as mermaids, an amazing puppeteer handling Nana and the crocodile (complete with a ticking time piece in it's wire-framed centre), and singing pirates actually playing their instruments. One of the most magical moments was when Tinkerbell lies lifeless after drinking poison meant for Peter and he beckons the audience to chant "I believe in faeries" to revive her. Adults were hesitant at first but then I heard the sounds of whispering children all around me repeating that phrase with such dedicated fervour! Tinkerbell slowly began to twitch as the volume of chanting escalated until she launched into the air soaring through the theatre. Intermission was lovely too since outside the 360 digital theatre were tents and grassy areas to hang out on. It was a beautiful day and a great way for kids to run around for a bit of a break from the show.














After Peter Pan we walked Chinatown for a bit before heading to the Orpheum Theatre to see Wicked. Christina and I had seen Wicked before in different cities but it was nice to end our trip with something familiar and enjoyable :) Overall, a fantastic trip!