Learned and Learning

To wrap up the year, here is a list of things I that learned in 2007 and things I am still learning:

* Boundaries are very important, both personal and professional. I’m learning how to say no, not just maybe. This applies to gigs, dates, projects, even auditions. I need to take time and think about how each “yes” will affect the big picture of what I want my path to look like, both my career path and my life path. I’m thinking about starting up with talk therapy again to help me with this new phase of my career and my life.

* Heartbreaks are inevitable. Good girlfriends are priceless.

* I’m enjoying learning how to be environmentally responsible. Living in NYC, my carbon footprint is already lower than average, but I’ve started timing my showers (4-6 minutes most days), carrying stylish Envirosax in all my purses instead of using store plastic bags for purchases, taking non-stop flights - or the train! - whenever possible, unplugging my electronics. It feels good.

* Writing an item on my “To Do” list over and over does not get it accomplished any faster. I’m determined not to carry-over any “to do’s” into 2008, so this next week should be a productive one (she says hopefully)! I still owe many of you your Fractured Atlas receipts for your generous Bhakti Project donations; rest assured you will have them well before tax-time, and likely before you get your tax documents from your employers!

*As much as I love to perform, nothing beats seeing a show. Indie rock, Broadway, opera, symphony, recital… I saw some wonderful performances this year and hope to see more next year.

*Hard work pays off, but usually with more hard work to come. A satisfying cycle.

Here is a list of favorite posts from the year. Many of them seem to involve discoveries, too, so I’ve listed the post and what I feel it says I learned. It was a year of growth and learning, like any good year should be.

Beware explosive consonants - What I learned is right there in the title.
The Song of the Lark - We read to see our lives through others’ eyes.
Blocking - Some things I learned long ago are still with me.
Kitchen Sink - I blog to see my life through the lens of the Moment.
A Day In the Life - I love my job and my life in NYC.
Home, On the Road - I can also live well on the road.
Doing vs. Being - Just Be It.
Dear Friend, Leaving So Soon - Some people never leave you.
Lifelines - See above about girlfriends.
My Sweet Manhattan Hometown - Nothing beats a live performance!
The Evolution of the Headshot - Change is good.
Shimmering, Sparkling - It’s ok to be bold and daring!
a Dream - It is possible to be a bit too focused...
Finale - All good things come to an end.

2007 was the year of my Met Debut: Part 1: Leading Up, Part 2: Performance, and Part 3: After Party

And that of a small recital project that ate my life. Here is the Bhakti Project Year in Review. What did I learn through this experience? Hopefully that will be evident next year as the project continues, but mostly I learned, as with all of these things, that I have a lot to learn.

Happy New Year, everyone!!

Random, Nov. 6

(I think this might be a new entry format, a la my highlights entries and vilaine fille’s “Pensee d'[insert date here].” I have stuff to say, but can’t put it in any real cohesive “paragraph form.” So here you go. Snipits and sentence fragments and non sequiters...)

My box of gowns, winter coats, and boots arrived today. Good thing, too, because winter is coming! Everyone keeps telling me that winters in NY aren’t as harsh as winters in Boston, and I hope that’s true. I might have survived two (relatively mild) Boston winters, but I’ve been in Seattle for four winters, so I’ve kind of forgotten how to deal with the “wintry mix” and slush and bitter, bitter wind. At least I’ve given up trying to tame my hair these days, so I don’t have to worry about trying to keep it straight and sleek. Bring on the hats and scarves and wind and snow! (Well, maybe not just yet…)

Where does one keep her gowns in an apartment with one short closet? **Edited to answer: folded in a duffel bag on the top shelf. I have two hanging that can be used in a pinch; I’ll have to plan ahead and send any other gown I want to wear to the cleaners.

Another strange blog/real world conundrum: dates who discover the blog before the actual first date! (He was very kind and chose not to read much of it, or listen to sound clips, before we met… but it still made me think about my online profile. It’s pretty high…)

I’ve been battling my second cold of the season for about ten days now. I sang two auditions through it last week, and they both were fine. But this morning things shifted a bit and my voice wasn’t working as well as it has been, so I had to cancel, or rather, reschedule, an audition. I’ll sing tomorrow for the Sullivan Awards, rather than today, assuming, of course, that my voice is back. It wasn’t totally gone, just unwieldy. I always say that this is why we have technique, to help us through times like this. But when I had to focus entirely on my technique in order to get a decent sound, rather than muscle memory taking care of the actual singing while I acted and tried to “make music,” I knew it was a no-go. We’ll see how tomorrow goes...

I didn’t do this. But I know who did…

I’ve also been meaning to plug my MySpace Music site. I have a personal site there, but I think it might go the way of all things soon. I’ll focus on the music networking aspects of the site, rather than the personal (See above comment about online profile…). So come on over, if you’re a MySpacer; I'll be cross-posting entries from this blog to the MySpace blog system, too.

Another site to plug: ohmyrockness.com If you live in NY or Chicago and are an indie rock fan (and read my blog – guess that’s probably a pretty small cross section…), this is the site for you. My brother is the lead developer (which I think mean he deals with all the tech stuff), and it is quickly becoming the source for indie rock info in NYC and Chicago.

Guess that’s it for now. Time for more steam, Nyquil, cough drops and sleep.

Packing up

I’m spending this last day in Santa Fe wrapping up some applications, getting packed, and clearing various viruses off of my computer. Grrr…

So, until I have the time and compunction to sit and write in more detail about the end of the summer, here’s another tidbits entry.

• There was a great “thought for the day” at vilaine fille yesterday. I count myself among the lucky few.

• Another thought, imbedded in an article about Santa Fe Opera in The Villager this week: “The summer season is the time when young singers gain experience while experienced singers stretch.” I think I’m somewhere in the middle, gaining experience and stretching. A good place to be.

• A high school classmate of mine, Dorian Missick, is going to be a featured actor on a new series on ABC, Six Degrees. He played my father in our production of Tartuffe, way back in 1994. Go watch it, and keep Dorian in a job!!

• One of the applications I’m working on is for health insurance through the Freelancers’ Union. As far as I know, this is a NYC-only organization, but if you’re a freelancer or contract worker in the city, it’s a great place to get insurance. Very affordable, and they seem to have good coverage and good doctors.

(Finding insurance... One of the many hurdles I will face in the coming months in New York. I’ve been trying to figure out how to write about this aspect of my life, the hurdles old and new, because I think my experiences could be insightful. There are hurdles, believe me!! Just because I don’t write about them doesn’t mean they haven’t been around until now. But with a change in my living situation, maybe I can also change what I write about. Don’t worry, I’m not going to turn this blog into a “Debbie Downer” brain-drain page! Maybe just a slight shift in coverage. Stay tuned.)

• A good friend and trusted colleague had this to say upon hearing me sing this summer: “I can hear the growth from last year, but it’s interesting: you’re not a coloratura, but you’re not a soubrette, and you’re not really a lyric, either.” Hearing that from him was almost the last little bit of validation that I needed, or non-validation, maybe, to embrace my Fach-less-ness. I’ll sing what I sing best, regardless of the descriptives usually attached to the role.

I think that’s all for now. I can no longer avoid putting my clothes in a suitcase. But, as always, it’s easier to pack up when leaving than when going: no major decisions to make, ‘cuz everything has to go!!

More from Boulder in a few days.

The Bloggy Year in Review

I borrowed this meme from Mental-Multivitamin, who borrowed it from someone else, as is often the way of these things. Take the first sentence of the first post of every month of the year. Here are mine:

January: Andrea Gruber, a soprano who we heard at Seattle Opera last spring as Minnie in La Fanciulla del West, is talking publicly about her struggles with drug addiction.

February: In our new apartment, I have an office.

March: Well, my first Queen of the Night is in the books!

April: I haven’t posted in the past couple of weeks because I’ve had too many things to write about and not enough time to write about them.

May: WARNING!! Serious tech talk within.

June: Where to start?

July: I’m still here!

August: Tonight we have the second performance of Ainadamar, which opened strongly on Saturday.

September: I arrived back in Seattle late last night, and boy, does it feel good!

October: Having friends from The Summer here in my home was at once delightful and a little bizarre.

November: The Manolo, he has discovered the joy that is Osvaldo Golijov.

December: Sorry to take a while to get an update here!


It was amusing for me to see which posts started with excuses or apologies! Not surprisingly, they were the ones from months where I was very busy traveling, rehearsing, auditioning, etc., which are the main topics of the blog! I need to stop apologizing for doing those things and just write about them more.

To more writing – and traveling, rehearsing, auditioning, etc. – in 2006!

Highlights of Upcoming Highlights Post

I’m still here! We are at the point where there are two operas in prodcution (being performed once or twice a week) and three others in rehearsal, so free time is at a premium. I’ve only gotten one hour at the pool all week!

I have many, many things to share, though; I’m hoping to get a “highlights” entry written tonight. Topics to include: Peter Sellars, Dawn Upshaw, Ainadamar, voice lessons (finally!), the search for my real Fach, reviews of Turandot, Peter Grimes rehearsals, vocal fatigue, and Apprentice Scene assignments (just call me crazy…).

More soon, I promise!

Highlights of the past six weeks

Life:

• Got a dog! I finally wheedled Erik down and he let me look for a dog. We wanted something small-ish, smart, good with people and other dogs, and about a year old. And we found her! We’ve named her KD, short for Kennewick Dog (like the famed and much disputed Kennewick Man, but a dog. And not a fossil.), since we got her from a shelter in Kennewick. She is smart as a whip and so loving. I think she’s as happy to have us as we are to have her. I’m sure her antics will make appearances here from time to time…
  
• Readjusting to life at home after life away was easier this time around. Most things are easier the second time, so that’s part of it. But Erik and I both learned a lot about how to keep connected – to each other and to our lives – while we’re apart. All you military folks should be able to relate; I realized this summer that I was on TDY! But I’m home now, and only have a few weekend or weeklong trips planned this coming season.

Music:

• Two days after I got home I was right back to work, singing in a recording session at Benaroya. Movie and video game production companies often come up to Seattle to record soundtracks, samplers, and movie trailers, because our union is cheaper. It’s still great money, and a nice way to meet a bunch of singers. That was almost a month ago, and I had forgotten about the paycheck – until it showed up in my mailbox yesterday! A nice surprise.
  
• I took a big chance with a regional audition, and it paid off. A new regional company, Skagit Opera, is doing The Magic Flute in the spring. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to try out the Queen of the Night arias, which my teacher encouraged me to learn. Talk about a died-in-the-wool coloratura role! So I worked on them for three weeks, went into the audition with the panel aware of my greenness, and sang my heart out. Well, I got the part! I took it as a sign that my voice is truly fit for coloratura roles if I could pull that off. It’s given me a boost going into this year’s audition season.
  
• I’m in the middle of a two week run of performances with Pacific Northwest Ballet. I have a small singing part in their production of Romeo & Juliet; I’m a Gypsy Singer at the Capulet party. It’s been wonderful to be around dancers again; my early days in ballet were the starting point for my life in the arts. And, from the Small World Department, the assistant conductor at PNB used to conduct at the Chicago City Ballet. Twenty years ago he conducted a Cinderella, in which Yours Truly danced in the children’s chorus! (I was a little bug in the garden scene; I couldn’t wear my glasses on stage, so my memory is rather blurry, but I think I remember some of the choreography!)
  
• Had an exciting offer to go to Kiev, Ukraine, to participate in a new music recording project. Through Tanglewood connections, I was recommended to the composer for his work for Soprano and Orchestra. It would have been an incredible project, but my performances with PNB conflicted with the rehearsal schedule. But how cool that I’m getting offers like that!

So, that’s what’s what. Let me know if you’re still reading this! Time to practice…