Opera

We just finished with the Opera workshop production this weekend. We did scenes from two versions of the story of the Merry Wives of Windsor by Shakespeare, one by Otto Nicolai and the other by Ralph Vaughan Williams. I played Falstaff in the Nicolai scenes, which means I had to put on the guise of being a crude, drunk, conceited fool, which was quite interesting to say the least. Moreover, I wore an enormous fat suit, which probably would have at least tripled my body fat had it been real flesh. The workshop was a really good experience for me, because I got experience singing solo, which I don't have much of, as well as experience acting, which I have even less of. It took up a lot of time (looking back on it, I have no idea how I fit all of the things I have done so far this semester in). I am definitely looking forward to having a little more free time on my hands, but also to trying out again next year.

Arrangement

This evening, I have spent several hours working on an arrangement of the wonderful song "Die Alone" by Ingrid Michaelson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFKpXUQGw9M), for the a cappella group which I am a member of (it's called Section Line Drive). The process of arranging for a cappella is a strange process, involving listening to a piece of music over and over again until every chord and melody is analyzed and pushed into a format that can be sung by voices.

As it turns out, I was interrupted by a last minute dash to the opera auditions at this point in my story, but anyways....

Arranging for a cappella is really fun, because it allows you to explore the harmonies and melodies in a song, to reinterpret them, and to create a finished product that is both original and recognizable.


What I've been listening to today:
American Beauty by Grateful Dead
The Gondoliers by Gilbert and Sullivan