Days of nothing

After the madness of the weekend (and some mean food related headache on Tuesday) I enjoy sitting here looking out of the window. It's sunny, there is a light breeze - all I need now is a coffee . Hmm this involves moving (kitchen is downstairs) and I'm quite comfortable here... maybe after I finish writing this entry. Our camera still refuses to cooperate and housemate J was so kind to offer hers. The trouble is: she has been doing double shifts for weeks and I haven't seen her for days. I heard her leaving early in this morning so I know she is still around... I have finished my baby pants for my sister's friend and I'm currently on the second one - she is having twins. So far you just have to take my word for it that they are really cute.

The only thing I have done today was this mosaic meme I had wanted to do ever since I saw it on the yarn tootin' blog.It was fun! I apologise for not giving the accurate source of my pictures but my computer is funny today and didn't let me save all the locations. I'm not about to tag anyone, but if you like to play along the rules are simple (and it's contagious here is G's mosaic)
A. Type your answer in flickr search; use only the first page to pick an image
B. Copy and past your picture URLs into fd's mosaique maker

The questions are:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Madness - and gratefulness

Is it ever going to be summer this year? This morning the sky was bright and blue and enthusiastically I was wearing a skirt to meet our friend HC for breakfast before she starts her estival activities in the UK this year coaching in Glyndebourne. G, HC and I used to share a house for a while and I really miss her and our crazy Monday morning conversations about the meaning of life. But coming back to the summer outfit, by the time we went home at about 1pm my legs had a nice blue-ish colour and for the rest of the day I abandoned the idea of summer clothes.

I'll leave the story with the 'cat Nazi' and the slight madness that followed to G for another post. In any case, instead of visiting the cat we went to Ikea last weekend and bought lots of stuff and an assortment of boxes and shelves to organise all our things: music, CDs, DVDs, books and - yarn!

With order re-established, I virtually didn't leave the room in days in order to finish our press pack for our Body&Voice - Voice unlimited Project! From about 20 hours of material (concerts, workshops etc) we created a short video about our ensemble - only 2 minutes long and not too bad for someone who's not a technician in the first place. Eventually we'll put it on our YouTube site, so you can see for yourselves.
I'm so proud of our Body&Voice Project. A project that unites singing and body works with a team of experienced singers and practitioners; oh, just go over to our Body&Voice website where G just put the English site in place.
I had this idea for years, but only last year I found a team of practitioners who believed in the project. We received the most amazing feedback in our workshops last year. In about a day our amateur singers (who generally only sung in the shower) not only learned a couple of opera choruses (some in two parts) but happily performed them at the end in a mini staged version - and last but not least had loads of fun.
As an interesting side effect, our practitioners loved the singing so much that they joined in the singing classes like it would be the most natural thing to do and one of the participants has now joined a choral society. We usually get a lot of comments from people who think they are 'not cool enough' or 'not good enough' to join a singing workshop. Excuse me, but if you love to sing then you are definitely cool and good enough to do it (I'm not saying you will become an instant professional).
Who knows - you might find that you're actually much cooler or better than you think you are - and let me tell you the surroundings of the abbey where we will be doing the course this September are spectacular. So grab your favourite partner and/or friend and go to Germany for a weekend. There is loads to discover!

Don't tell me you added butter, too?!

I often read "it was one of THOSE days"... well, it certainly was one of THOSE weeks. If at all possible, I was more tired this (Monday) morning than I had been on Friday night after a week of working over-time every day.
The working week ended with M and I making some Risotto on Friday night (we often cook together), both not being able to eat much of it, deciding that it must be tiredness. The Risotto lasted us until Sunday, when M had a look in the butter dish (to butter a toast), wondering out loud where all the butter had gone.... she had only put a small piece into the Risotto - wait "You put BUTTER INTO THE RISOTTO, TOO?!" Well, let me tell you it tasted lovely and lasted for three meals for both of us. :-)

It was a very nice weekend with a spinning meeting in J's garden on Saturday morning (I still don't spin but was knitting happily on another baby hat.... more about this in a later post and no, I'm not pregnant). But from the moment M and I returned home, we were glued to our computers editing away at a promo DVD for our vocal ensemble. Oh, the memories - apart from the understandable problems in listening to oneself perform (I should have done this differently, not the right breath control here, so-and-so messed up this bit), it was a journey into reminiscence...
Apart from being absolutely shattered from not having slept enough and having worked through most of Saturday and all of Sunday, I loved every minute of it! We really built up an ensemble out of nothing despite M's sometimes debilitating illness and my having to earn money in non-singing jobs to make ends meet. This weekend's journey to past concerts and projects really made me want to fight for our little tiny corner, making a difference in some people's lives by performing for them and enabling them to make music as well (any encouragement is more than welcome, especially as M has been rather poorly in the last few weeks!).
So up, up and beyond.....

Race against time

Now, racing against time usually only gets to me before Christmas - at least in knitting terms. But today it's a completely different race. M. is sitting next to me preparing the last bits of different Opera synopsis (what's the plural - synapsi?),for a meeting in a couple of hours. Fingers crossed, this meeting could make a difference in our artistic endeavours and for a lot of kids being introduced to Opera in an exciting way, so keep your toes crossed (since you are probably having both hands either on the computer or on a pair of knitting needles...)! After wading through lots of different synopsis (no, really, what's the plural?), M. should come up with a glossary of "what not to say in an opera synapsis". How about "Otello rambles on, saying something about head ache...." Not made up! It's a real example! And I am using too many exclamation marks!!Well, I'd better get back to proof reading. Have a fantastic rest of your weekend and watch this space for updates :-)

Inspiration

Do you ever need a reminder to see life as a forward motion, full of challenges? Just that little kick in the butt to stretch forward and be ready for the changes, challenges and opportunities that come, even if you can't really plan it all out? Well, I certainly do. And thanks to dancer and teacher Royston Maldoom I had such a reminder today. How fantastic it is to be jolted back into the right frame of mind from time to time (uncomfortable, but truly necessary). Thank you, Royston! Check out his projects, including Rhythm Is It! with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Phil, which was made into a full feature film.
I spent a good part of the past couple of weeks getting together video material from mosaique's educational programmes, preparing a DVD intro for a presentation. With all the little niggling things that need to be done, my sluggish brain needed a reminder of what it's all about.

Sheep Outing and Concert Prep

Not sure whether I love or hate the manic time before a recital.... Probably rather love than hate - lots of rehearsals, research and writing for the programme notes, practice (trying to fit it all in with the part time day job), some nerves.... Oh, and of course the obligatory COLD! I have been thinking back, and I can remember more concerts with colds than without, even one fairly legendary 'Lemsip Concert'. Do they pay commission if you display their cold and flu medication in the intermission?!
M. has also been under the weather, and we are praying and keeping all fingers and toes crossed that things will be well, come the recital on Wednesday. It's a really lovely programme (thank you, M, for choosing most of the arias / songs!) with Baroque and 20th/21st century repertoire.
While trying to rest enough, get rid of the cold, not spend whole nights on Ravelry, and enjoy some of the October sunshine, Miss Maple (who has now been joined by Mopple the Wale) went out for a little outing in front of the house...

We have a poster

I had such a great time on my birthday weekend! Having CFS or rather CFIDS (Chronic Fatigue Immune Disfuction) my social life is not great. Work always comes first and then I need so much time to recover that I don't like evenings out.
Apart from KH and KL who had to work that evening all my London friends made it to the club. T. even dragged his massage chair across town, I wonder what they told him in the cloak room. We got a table on the side of the stage, basically looking into the big band's music stands! Perfect! The food was fabulous and I really liked the music!
Unfortunately - from a blogger's point of view - one is not allowed to take any pictures into Ronnie Scott's. G. took a couple after the show in a cafe opposite the club, but they are not really flattering for anyone of us... we were in a rather silly mood.
I still need to put on pictures of my shawl. G. has taken some, so she might put them on tomorrow morning. Keep checking!
The great Sunday news is: the poster for our concert on the 10th of October is online! Check it out at here. We have been cooking on this program for a while now. We called it Waiting Room Project. Since KH's heart is beating for contemporary music we have been looking at a possibility to integrate it into a concert program and still get a 'normal' concert goer into the concert. Usually contemporary music is only done (and listened to) by specialists. I think we need to keep music alive. This means not only trying to reach out and get young people into concerts/opera etc, but also encourage new music. I'll tell you more about this another time as it's time for Michael Palin's New Europe show on BBC1. I have to watch it!

Searching for like-minded enthusiasts

Really not easy, this up and down of the singing profession that M. wrote about. Apart from the investment of hard work (that is common to anyone who wants to be good at anything in life or attempt to do justice to a work of art), lots of time, sweat, self-critique, contemplation, research, interpretation, love, discovery, and some more work.... And then of course there is having to deal with success or rejection and the quick interchange of the two. Which voices do you listen to? Any but your own? The critic? The fan? Your family and friends? A teacher or fellow musician? This is not even touching on the financial impact of people's changing opinions on your every-day-life. So why on earth do we subject ourselves to this?
There is the sheer overwhelming joy of making music - a very good reason for starters. The possibility of having something very special to give to those listening and participating in the moment, and those re-living the moment through recordings. And then there is a certain conviction of something like vocation, being most definitely yourself when you do what you were made to do: sing, perform, live!!
Such grand words from such an idiot like me. Oh, well. I have been wondering for a while, though, if there are some like-minded people out there... We are not all divas, and although I draw my hat (the imaginary one) to star performers such as Anna Netrebko, Juan Diego Florez, Rolando Villazón or Natalie Dessay, I do at times wonder whether there are others like me out there....
.... musicians who lack that diva-gene (i.e. the gene that makes you sleep with a knife under your pillow and look out for opportunities to trick the competition or else lets you realise you are the best and there is no competition), who love making music with others, but are soloists at heart and don't really want to loose their distinctive sound in a big choir/orchestra, but create something new and exciting in their music making.
Chamber musicians (if there is such a category for singers...)
They would be thrilled at the idea of building singer and musician colleagues up. They haven't given up on hard work and quality (no "it's-the-job-and-no-one-notices-my-mistakes-anyway-screw-taking-care-of-a-musical-performance" attitude), haven't become bitter, and are looking for like-minded others to find a market-niche together. Oh, and then, if I can add one more thing to my wish-list, they would not want to produce a 'white' early music sound (no offense, but there is already so much of that around), but want to range through many colours up to a full-blooded grown-up tone....
If you are out there - lets make some music together!!!!

Prize won for educational work

For the second time in two years we have been awarded an honoured mention at the prestigious competition "Kinder zum Olymp" (Children to the Olympus) for our educational work in 2006. We are the only independent music group ever to have achieved that. I'm very proud of the work we have done. We have been added to the official list and you can check out some more pictures and details (all in German, sorry) here and here.

Looking through the list of who won the last two years, I didn't find anything similar to what we do. Probably we are mad, it's an incredible amount of work! In order to have scenes from operas that kids can safely sing, we need to cruise through the entire opera repertoire and then write a new show to put all of them together in a logical order. It gives the kids a sense of achievement when they get to perform with real opera singers on a real stage. From the feedback we got it's also a huge form of encourgement to the kids. My two favourite feedbacks from those workshops were: 1) 'I now believe that I can achieve everything that I want to.' - (and that came from a group of kids with incredibly low self esteem), and 2) in answer to the question of the National Television interview 'what is the difference between singing your favourite pop songs at home and opera at this workshop?', the boy looked at the lady slightly bewildered and said 'We just sing higher.'

All of this puts me in the right mood to go out an join the S&B London for the international knitting in public day. So, everyone now - don't sit behind your computer, go out and get knitting!

Where you feel most at home

Ever been in a place, doing something you feel completely happy with who you are and what you're doing? A selfish ambition? Without wanting to become all philosophical about it (especially, since other people have written about it, sung and played and acted about it, danced and sculpted and designed their thoughts about it much more eloquently than I would presume to be able to), music and singing is just this place for me. Funnily enough, this always comes to mind when I am extremely tired and ask myself - was this really what I had in mind. The answer has to be yes! So, no rest for the wicked, and on with work.

Yesterday I got together with some friends and colleagues to prepare for some mosaique workshops we are going to offer in Germany and the UK. As some of them are not singers, I was taking them through a vocal workshop, so they would know what to expect, and I thought again what an amazing privilege it is to do what I love best :)

We got into the finals!

I know it happened last week, but I didn't have a blog to post it then! The vocal group mosaïque that G and I run, also runs an education programme in Germany. For the second year in a row we have made it into the finals in the prestigious National Competition "Kinder zum Olmyp" (children to the Olympus) run by the Kulturstiftung Deutscher Länder and Deutsche Bank.
Both of our 2006 programmes Dreams in Opera and OCSI (Opera CSI) have been chosen amongst 800 applications. Last year we were the only independent music group which made it into the finals! I'm very proud of this and of our wonderful team of 2006. Thank you guys again for all your enthusiasm, help and ideas which helped to carry this programme! I know it's not easy work, but we definitely made a difference in the life of the kids who participated.

For those of you who want to have a look at what we did in 2005, have a look at the "Kinder zum Olymp" website here and here. Sorry these are in German, but you can have look at the pictures...