RodellRosel.Com

Today was not one of those good days. I woke up with a slight congestion. It went away after an hour. I started my work-out today. Woke up at 6:45am and worked out from 7:00-7:50, and ate breakfast.

I warmed up, and tried to sing “Ecco ridente…,” but I was struggling with the “O dolce contento” coloratura passage (the one with the B natural). In addition, since I’m already struggling there, the following passage after that seems hard to do, even though I usually do it very easily. Maybe I was practicing out of panic, since this will be the aria that I will be singing for Marilyn Horne’s Masterclass at the Lobero Theater on Saturday.

I had a full day of coaching today. My first session was with Prof. Tarquinio, and we were able to go through most of “Basilio” lines. The coaching with Linda Jones was very different. She wants to make sure that I am breathing properly (low and not too high on the shoulders), and that I am not “grabbing”. I can agree with what she wants to accomplish, but some of her routines are themselves somewhat tension-producing. It’s a bit hard to understand, but one of the things I try to remember about singing is not to THINK too much. After that, I was with Susanna and Justin, along with Warren Jones and Phillip for the coaching of Thaïs. I was able to sing my part vocally fine. My last coaching was with Randy Behr. I am enjoying what I’m learning from the Maestro. Everything he says, so far, makes sense in regards to the opera.

After requesting Drew not to be scheduled tomorrow for any coaching due to vocal rest, I decided to borrow three (3) Disney/WB videos from Brian of Cate School. I watched Animaniacs Sing-Along and Cinderella. I might be watching “Mary Poppins” tomorrow. I plan on going to bed early tonight, around 10:30pm, and waking up tomorrow around 7:00am. I decided to do my work-outs on an MWF Schedule. Hopefully, I’ll have enough rest before the Masterclass on Saturday. Ciao! for nao!

Today was the “Compeer Fiesta Brunch” at the Montecity Country Club. Each student is paired with a compeer (comrade), who usually is a native of the Santa Barbara area, and compeers are there to entertain the students through dinners and other activities. My compeer is Mr. Richard Meyn. Everyone was assigned a table, and I was in the same table with Mdme. Collier (French coach), Ami Vice and her compeer(s), another student and Ms. Marilyne Horne. The food was served buffet style. After the brunch, I rode with Erica and Anna, and we went shopping at Downtown Santa Barbara at State St. After few hours of walking and shopping, I bought Armani sunglasses, a beach towel, 1 lb. of French Roast (from Coffee Bean), and some headgear and shorts from American Eagle Outfitters… and not to forget a small remote control/key chain from the Discovery Channel for the t.v. at the Rec-Center at Cate School.

We headed back to Cate School around 7pm. I brought my “Figaro” score and reviewed some recitatives, while some of the singers/pianists were outside having a great time. For the last time, I stayed up late, around 12:20am. This will be the last time I’ll be staying up late. By the way, my dear friend and pianist, Dexter Shepherd, felt bad that I didn’t mention his name in my website during the journal of the “Intro for Singers” and the coaching with Mdme. Collier. There you go.

Saturday, June 28

I’ve been staying up late for the past 2/3 days. I tried singing “Ecco ridente in cielo” with Milos playing, but have a hard time singing lightly. I have to work on it hard, because I know how much Ms. Horne knows about the repertoire, and I want to make sure that, at least, vocally, I can handle the aria.

I only have one coaching and that was with Warren Jones for the chorus rehearsal of La Clemenza di Tito. After that, I stayed at Cate School. Later in the evening, I accompanied Erica and Dexter to go to Downtown Santa Barbara, but didn’t do much because most stores were closed, even Coffee Bean. After that, I stayed late again. Most of my colleagues were drinking and some were smoking, but I didn’t do either. I was just there to listen to conversations and stories.

This journal is for Friday, June 27:

Didn’t have any lessons, coachings and sessions today. Mona picked me up and we attended Warren Jones’ Masterclass at Abravanel Hall in Music Academy. Evan was also there. I learned a lot from the Masterclass. Some of the most crucial information that I got from it was about “conveying the meaning” of the songs, the proper “attack” or “non-attack” when in terms of the pianists, the use of space and not always being “physically” WITH the piano, and the idea of moving by phrases and not by beats. Everyone sang marvelously. I was really moved by Sussana Phillips’ (soprano) interpretation of her two (2) songs, as well as “Von ewiger Liebe” by baritone Erik Werner. So far, that was the best “Von ewiger Liebe” I have heard from a young artist/student.

We headed over to Café del sol Restaurant after the Masterclasses. Later that evening, the Rec-Center was the hang-out place for all “libiamo-ing”.

Oh well, that’s about it for now.

(3:18pm)
I just finished a coaching with Maestro Behr. I have to review a lot about the proper way of executing Italian recitatives. It’s tough as s***. I also have to make sure that I can recite the lines, not just in Italian, but also in English. I don’t have to do an exact word-per-word recitation, but every form of verbs would matter: “can” is different from “would”, and “believed” is different from “had believed”. That will be my big homework for Figaro. We slightly dealt with the tension of my tongue on my jaw. Earlier today, I coached my French with Mdme. Collier. She helped me tremendously on my French, especially in “La fleur que tu m’avais jetée”. My schedule is done for the moment, but we are planning on having an “Act II” rehearsal (students only) later tonight. I actually have nothing else to coach, so I’ll just keep rehearsing all the other music I have to learn, especially for the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition. I’ll be posting more of what will go on tonight.

It’s now 11:40pm, Wednesday, June 25.

The day started with Dr. Mester (Throat Doctor) explaining to us about the voice, health and how to take care of it.

I had another lesson with John Churchwell, and sang for him Faure’s “Nell” and “Après un Rêve”. He told me a lot of very important issues regarding the proper production of certain vowels, as well as keeping the line smooth, as well as the transition of registers from low to middle to high. It was very very educational. He helped me a lot today.

That was the only lesson I had today. I was supposed to have one with Warren Jones, but since Justin Plank (baritone) is still recuperating, the scene from Thaïs is postponed. Instead, I spent time with another vocal pianist, Marie-Eve Scarfone. In addition to singing songs and running new repertoire, we spent a lot of fun time doing parodies of songs and arias. She is a fun girl.

Later, Meaghan, Joni, Shannon, Tim, Anotonio and I drove to Foster Freeze (Carpinteria), and we all ate ice cream. After that, we all came back to Cate School. I watched a little “Whose Line Is It Anyway” at the Community Center, and chilled with Phillip, Antonio, Alexander and Howard.

Tomorrow will be another semi-big day, and I give more information about my lessons and coachings with Mdme. Collier and Maestro Behr.

Check back tomorrow for more…

Mona drove today from Los Angeles to see the “Introduction of Vocalists and Vocal Pianist” at the Abravanel Hall at the Music Academy in Santa Barbara. Before the event, we ate lunch at “Tutti’s” and shopped for a tape recorder. She brought the materials I had requested from her, including the t.v. from home.

Everyone sang well today. Some may have struggled due to nerves. I sang really well, even though I could’ve done better. Ms. Horne and Warren Jones loved my performance. The Barber of Seville excerpt will not be performed anymore for Opera Scenes. Since I only sing in two scenes, and I was in Barber of Seville, I was given the opportunity to perform on both Lobero Theater Masterclasses in July and August. For sure, I will be singing the Orisini/Gennaro duet from Lucrezia Borgia with my colleague/friend Anna Uzzell (mezzo-soprano). The aria I will be singing for Marilyn Horne’s Masterclass is yet to be determined.

After the event, we had an after-party at Bob Weinman’s house. In addition to food, we watched a collage of Marilyn Horne’s performances from 1960s to 2000. Luckily for us, she was there with us as we watched her singing, sharing her comments about the performances, as well as the location of each performance.

Check back for more…

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software (Exim).

A message that you sent has not yet been delivered to one or more of its
recipients after more than 72 hours on the queue on brx.bigredx.net.

The message identifier is: 19TcFS-0001JM-00
The subject of the message is: [Rodell's Journal] New Comment Posted to ‘The Recording Academy – Los Angeles Chapter Awards Luncheon’
The date of the message is: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 23:53:18 -0700

The address to which the message has not yet been delivered is:

filipinotenor@email.com

No action is required on your part. Delivery attempts will continue for
some time, and this warning may be repeated at intervals if the message
remains undelivered. Eventually the mail delivery software will give up,
and when that happens, the message will be returned to you.

I won’t be repeating my meals info anymore, unless I skipped any of them.

Coached “Here I stand…” with Churchwell. He gave some really good ideas that I was able to “all” use. Later, I coached the same piece for Behr, Horne and Jones. They loved it as well, and added some last minute diction corrections.

Finally, in the evening, we did a Dress/Walk thru of the Tuesday “Introduction of Vocalists and Vocal Pianists”. We all have to walk in and out of the stage, as well as announce the synopses of our arias. All of us got through it… whew!

Check back later!

Ate 3 times today, which happens rarely with me. I believe I will be keeping that kind of diet for my whole stay here. Ate breakfast at 9am, lunch at 12pm, and early dinner at 5pm. We had a vocal department orientation, as well as a general music orientation. Faculty people were introduced during the Orientation. I’ve made friends already, but I can still notice a “clique” among certain people. Maybe later this summer, I’ll be able to make more new friends, hopefully not just in the vocal department.

p.s. I am actually staying at Cate School in Carpinteria, which is 10-15 minutes away from Music Academy in Santa Barbara. I’ll be doing most of my lessons and coachings at Cate School, but masterclasses will be at Music Academy.