Well, I'm back from my summer adventures. Admittedly I have been back for nearly three weeks now, but I am just getting around to writing. I had a myriad of experiences ranging from wonderful, insightful learning experiences to downright awful working conditions due to personality clashes and planning problems. I am not going to talk about the poor experiences except to say that they were still learning experiences and ultimately I was glad I had them in the environment I was in and not in the professional world. The positives I can elaborate a little on.
The Opera Advantage program was designed to help the entire creative process rather than focusing solely on the voice. This is exactly what I was looking for and I knew upon seeing this program that I had to do it. I learned so much about the craft of performing and about myself that I am sure I have already forgotten more than I have remembered. Luckily, I have a journal and notes to refresh my memory. Among the most important and helpful things I picked out of this program was the process for building a character and also identifying the things in my own psyche that hold me back. The latter of these has been especially important moving forward, both for myself and for others whom I have shared this knowledge was. The most positive aspect of my time this summer has been a reaffirmation of my love for this art and my need to do it. During this summer I realized my vocation and that has made a huge difference in my reasoning behind everything I do.
In other singing news, I am starting a voice studio out of my home. I am targeting high school and avocational singers, so if you know anyone in the greater Rochester area that is looking for a person to take voice lessons with send them my way!
Admittedly languages took a back seat this summer. I have maintained my languages through my normal channels (people who I know that speak the languages I know). So while I have not regressed, I have not progressed. Hopefully, once the fall begins I can get back into my studies a little more.
Showing posts with label Foreign. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foreign. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Audition Season is Here!
I received some exciting news the other day when I opened my e-mail. I have been granted my first audition for a Young Artist Program (YAP) as a tenor. This is wonderful news for me, especially since the first two responses I got from other programs were declines. I read an interview of Rockwell Blake a few years back in which he stated:
"There’s no cushion. You start out with nothing, you have nothing, and there’s no such thing as an investment in property or something like a dentist would have to go through. You move to New York, take an apartment and go to everything you can go to, and shell out a lot of money to pianists and coaches, which is necessary. One needs to study, regardless, and you have to shell out money for the auditions, and if you are serious about making a career, you go to every audition there is. That means maybe three or four times a week you’re shelling out twenty-five bucks for a pianist just to play three arias for you. So it gets expensive, especially when you have no income."
I have made this into my personal mantra as I begin my real walk into this career. For instance, at this point in the year, I am applying to about 20 different programs. Ultimately more will come up as well as I continue through the season. If you think about it, it is a numbers game like many things in life are. When I first auditioned as a baritone nearly four years ago I only applied to about five programs and, while I managed to be granted auditions at all of those programs, I got accepted into none of them. As an example of some of the odds a young singer faces starting out think about this:
A well-known program may receive 1500 applications from aspiring singers. Out of those 1500, the company will hear approximately 700 auditions. Then, from those 700, the company will pick about 25 singers for their program.
These odds seem nearly insurmountable, until you realize that there are hundreds of programs in this country, some of which are smaller programs and therefore receive fewer applications and hear fewer people for the same number of spots. So, you see, eventually you will find the program that can accommodate you. I am confident that I will find a placement for the summer during this season and begin my career.
My language quest has been somewhat trying as of late. I have lacked time and motivation due to everything going on in my life, as I described above. I am still working however and making progress. I found a new app for my iPhone which is called "Audiobooks." This is literally the entire database of LibriVox made available for iPhone. Any language learners who do not know of LibriVox should check it out immediately, as well as Project Gutenberg. These are invaluable resources for language learners as they provide you, between the two of them, with tons of materials for Listening-Reading.
I hope to get to another meetup or two before the year is out to see where I am at with my German. This will be difficult though due to my potentially busy audition schedule.
On a side note, I noticed an interesting tidbit today when looking at my viewership. I had a considerable spike in my readers on my birthday. I can't imagine this is coincidence, but I find it rather amusing. It's like a birthday gift from my readers. I have also noticed a nice steady climb in readership over the years which is encouraging. Ultimately my blog is gaining in popularity and I hope that it is helpful or informational to some of those who read it. If there are ever any questions that any of you want me to try and answer, just leave a comment and I will answer it in my upcoming post.
"There’s no cushion. You start out with nothing, you have nothing, and there’s no such thing as an investment in property or something like a dentist would have to go through. You move to New York, take an apartment and go to everything you can go to, and shell out a lot of money to pianists and coaches, which is necessary. One needs to study, regardless, and you have to shell out money for the auditions, and if you are serious about making a career, you go to every audition there is. That means maybe three or four times a week you’re shelling out twenty-five bucks for a pianist just to play three arias for you. So it gets expensive, especially when you have no income."
I have made this into my personal mantra as I begin my real walk into this career. For instance, at this point in the year, I am applying to about 20 different programs. Ultimately more will come up as well as I continue through the season. If you think about it, it is a numbers game like many things in life are. When I first auditioned as a baritone nearly four years ago I only applied to about five programs and, while I managed to be granted auditions at all of those programs, I got accepted into none of them. As an example of some of the odds a young singer faces starting out think about this:
A well-known program may receive 1500 applications from aspiring singers. Out of those 1500, the company will hear approximately 700 auditions. Then, from those 700, the company will pick about 25 singers for their program.
These odds seem nearly insurmountable, until you realize that there are hundreds of programs in this country, some of which are smaller programs and therefore receive fewer applications and hear fewer people for the same number of spots. So, you see, eventually you will find the program that can accommodate you. I am confident that I will find a placement for the summer during this season and begin my career.
My language quest has been somewhat trying as of late. I have lacked time and motivation due to everything going on in my life, as I described above. I am still working however and making progress. I found a new app for my iPhone which is called "Audiobooks." This is literally the entire database of LibriVox made available for iPhone. Any language learners who do not know of LibriVox should check it out immediately, as well as Project Gutenberg. These are invaluable resources for language learners as they provide you, between the two of them, with tons of materials for Listening-Reading.
I hope to get to another meetup or two before the year is out to see where I am at with my German. This will be difficult though due to my potentially busy audition schedule.
On a side note, I noticed an interesting tidbit today when looking at my viewership. I had a considerable spike in my readers on my birthday. I can't imagine this is coincidence, but I find it rather amusing. It's like a birthday gift from my readers. I have also noticed a nice steady climb in readership over the years which is encouraging. Ultimately my blog is gaining in popularity and I hope that it is helpful or informational to some of those who read it. If there are ever any questions that any of you want me to try and answer, just leave a comment and I will answer it in my upcoming post.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Persistance means progress
I'm a week late in writing this because I have been busy preparing for auditions and my wedding. I currently am dealing with being frustrated with my singing, which is always a great place to be in a month before auditions. I realized however after comparing clips from practice sessions a month ago to more current sessions that I have indeed made considerable progress in the last month. In discussing this with JRL when I last saw him, he made mention that I probably get frustrated because I get to a plateau of sorts after about a month of work on my own. Upon my comparison I can say that this is unequivocally the case. It is not that I cease to improve, but that the work becomes more difficult as I reach a higher level in my singing. I feel well-prepared going into this audition season and am very excited about the prospect of finally get out and singing again!
I have been doing well with my German as of late as well. I have progressed well into the active wave of Assimil and am making better progress in LingQ as time goes on. I still have a lot of work to do to reach my goal in LingQ of knowing at least 7,000 words by the end of December, but if I can continue on the trajectory I am currently on, I think I will make it. I have found a challenge in the active wave of Assimil that I also ran into with French. As the lessons progress I seem to get more and more things incorrect. I figure that this is not a big deal, since for me the more important thing is the input and output, not the exactness of my answers. I'm learning even in making corrections to what I originally write. I see now the value some people find in going back and doing the active wave multiple times, although I would worry that at some point it becomes a thoughtless exercise rather than an active process. Perhaps with ample time in between repetitions this can be avoided.
I have been doing well with my German as of late as well. I have progressed well into the active wave of Assimil and am making better progress in LingQ as time goes on. I still have a lot of work to do to reach my goal in LingQ of knowing at least 7,000 words by the end of December, but if I can continue on the trajectory I am currently on, I think I will make it. I have found a challenge in the active wave of Assimil that I also ran into with French. As the lessons progress I seem to get more and more things incorrect. I figure that this is not a big deal, since for me the more important thing is the input and output, not the exactness of my answers. I'm learning even in making corrections to what I originally write. I see now the value some people find in going back and doing the active wave multiple times, although I would worry that at some point it becomes a thoughtless exercise rather than an active process. Perhaps with ample time in between repetitions this can be avoided.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Things are beginning to click!
The last two weeks have been good weeks for me on both fronts. I have gotten back into a pretty regular study schedule with German and have noticed a lot of progress as of late. I am now picking up small chunks of passages when I listen to Radio Horeb or watch Extr@. I find that I am beginning to be able to express myself with a little more ease in daily conversation and am feeling more and more comfortable with the language every day.
Speaking of Extr@, I discovered this program while looking through my subscriptions on youtube the other day. One of the channels I had subscribed to had liked one of the videos of Extr@. Upon some research I discovered that the program is designed for language learners and is available in English, French, Spanish, and German. The storyline is silly and the production value and acting leaves a bit to be desired, but I do find the program easy to watch and I can catch a lot of the dialogue. Overall, German is progressing nicely now that I am back into the regular swing of things.
I have also been having similar experiences vocally. My first roles as a tenor are coming up in about two weeks and I am starting to become comfortable singing them straight through in succession. I was worried a few days ago because I felt like it was a struggle to get through the second, more demanding role of Rinuccio, however I eventually reminded myself that I will have some time to rest in between my sung parts in the role as compared to in the practice room where I sing through them in succession. I recently discovered the vocal posture that I like to maintain while singing and this has made my life considerably more easy. I have to verify that this is the correct posture when I meet with JRL in a couple of weeks, but I believe that this finding is a huge step forward for me.
As this upcoming performance is nearly past, I am beginning to look forward to auditions for some summer young artist programs and putting together my package for this. I am still lacking one aria in my package, but I hope to be able to rectify this problem also when I meet with JRL. Singing has become really exciting again and I find that I fall more and more in love with the art form as I continue to progress, both vocally and linguistically. Ultimately my language goals are designed to further my artistry and the more I delve into languages the more I see the beauty of the way composers set words to music; and the more I grow vocally the more I am able to enjoy telling the stories of these operas and songs.
In a quick look ahead, after this performance I am going to be focusing on securing my audition repertoire for the upcoming season. After I have those pieces in a good place I intend to start to work on a recital program to be performed before I leave Rochester in about a year. I am still trying to iron out a potential program, but I am leaning heavily towards performing "La bonne chanson" by Gabriel Faure and "Dichterliebe" by Robert Schumann. It is said that Faure's work is considered by some to be his Dichterliebe, so I think this will be a nicely tied in program. My plan is to sing both works in their original keys, which I personally believe is the best way to perform art song. This way the audience hears the music exactly as the composer envisioned it. As I begin to prepare this program I will reflect on it here and provide details of any upcoming performances of both the recital and any opportunities I receive through auditions.
Speaking of Extr@, I discovered this program while looking through my subscriptions on youtube the other day. One of the channels I had subscribed to had liked one of the videos of Extr@. Upon some research I discovered that the program is designed for language learners and is available in English, French, Spanish, and German. The storyline is silly and the production value and acting leaves a bit to be desired, but I do find the program easy to watch and I can catch a lot of the dialogue. Overall, German is progressing nicely now that I am back into the regular swing of things.
I have also been having similar experiences vocally. My first roles as a tenor are coming up in about two weeks and I am starting to become comfortable singing them straight through in succession. I was worried a few days ago because I felt like it was a struggle to get through the second, more demanding role of Rinuccio, however I eventually reminded myself that I will have some time to rest in between my sung parts in the role as compared to in the practice room where I sing through them in succession. I recently discovered the vocal posture that I like to maintain while singing and this has made my life considerably more easy. I have to verify that this is the correct posture when I meet with JRL in a couple of weeks, but I believe that this finding is a huge step forward for me.
As this upcoming performance is nearly past, I am beginning to look forward to auditions for some summer young artist programs and putting together my package for this. I am still lacking one aria in my package, but I hope to be able to rectify this problem also when I meet with JRL. Singing has become really exciting again and I find that I fall more and more in love with the art form as I continue to progress, both vocally and linguistically. Ultimately my language goals are designed to further my artistry and the more I delve into languages the more I see the beauty of the way composers set words to music; and the more I grow vocally the more I am able to enjoy telling the stories of these operas and songs.
In a quick look ahead, after this performance I am going to be focusing on securing my audition repertoire for the upcoming season. After I have those pieces in a good place I intend to start to work on a recital program to be performed before I leave Rochester in about a year. I am still trying to iron out a potential program, but I am leaning heavily towards performing "La bonne chanson" by Gabriel Faure and "Dichterliebe" by Robert Schumann. It is said that Faure's work is considered by some to be his Dichterliebe, so I think this will be a nicely tied in program. My plan is to sing both works in their original keys, which I personally believe is the best way to perform art song. This way the audience hears the music exactly as the composer envisioned it. As I begin to prepare this program I will reflect on it here and provide details of any upcoming performances of both the recital and any opportunities I receive through auditions.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
A Time of Blessing
The blessings of the Lord have been flowing down upon me the last couple of weeks! I'll begin with the language side of my life. Yesterday I finished the Michel Thomas course I have been working on for the last five months. This is significant for a number of reasons. First, I feel that I have a strong base in German now and can comfortably hold my own in basic, day to day conversation. Second, this means that I can now move on to Assimil, picking up where I left off at lesson 24. Additionally, tomorrow I will cross over the 2,000 known word milestone on LingQ. This has taken me a lot longer than I anticipated, however it is ultimately of my own doing. I took a small hiatus earlier in the year from LingQ and in general I am lax about doing LingQ if I am lacking motivation on a given day. This puts me at about the same level on LingQ as my Italian says I am. Although Italian was the "first" foreign language I brought to a significant level it has quickly become my lowest level language, besides my high school level Spanish. At some point I will come back and bring all of my languages to higher levels, but for now I am content with where it is.
Based on where I am in the Assimil program, I have approximately 126 days of work ahead of me, which equates 25 weeks of study based on a 5 day study schedule. That should bring me to about December, which allows me to focus solely and intensively on LingQ for the final month, where I hope to really increase my known words. The nice thing about known words is that they grow exponentially. In French I learned approximately 5500 words in 8 months. If I follow a similar pace from here on out in German that would bring me to about 7500 known words by the end of the year, give or take a few hundred. If I stay on course and hit all of my goals for the rest of the year I should have no problem speaking German coming January 1st.
The real exciting news comes on the vocal front. I went down to New York to have a lesson with JRL and had a very productive lesson. Towards the end of the lesson I was assigned the role of Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi for a sing-through later in the summer. This will be my first time singing a role as a tenor! On top of this, I am also looking ahead to doing my first round of auditions for some summer programs in the autumn. After three arduous years of struggle and hard work I am beginning to come out on the other side of this process and am confident about my prospects.
Another important part of my trip to New York was my coaching with Susan Morton. During the coaching I was recommended a book called The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle. While I am still just barely scratching the surface of this book, it has transformed my approach to nearly every important aspect of my life. The concept of "deep practicing" discussed in the tome has made learning a much more intense and rewarding experience. I have witnessed the benefits in my singing while learning this role, in my running as I have determined to beat my chronic shin splints this summer, and even my language work as I near an intermediate level of German. I highly recommend that anyone who is attempting to gain a skill find this book and give it a read.
Overall, the last two weeks have seen many prayers beginning to be answered and many goals in their infancy of being realized. I look forward to where these new opportunities and experiences take me and glorify the Lord for granting me the patience to see these things through to their fulfillment according to his will!
Based on where I am in the Assimil program, I have approximately 126 days of work ahead of me, which equates 25 weeks of study based on a 5 day study schedule. That should bring me to about December, which allows me to focus solely and intensively on LingQ for the final month, where I hope to really increase my known words. The nice thing about known words is that they grow exponentially. In French I learned approximately 5500 words in 8 months. If I follow a similar pace from here on out in German that would bring me to about 7500 known words by the end of the year, give or take a few hundred. If I stay on course and hit all of my goals for the rest of the year I should have no problem speaking German coming January 1st.
The real exciting news comes on the vocal front. I went down to New York to have a lesson with JRL and had a very productive lesson. Towards the end of the lesson I was assigned the role of Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi for a sing-through later in the summer. This will be my first time singing a role as a tenor! On top of this, I am also looking ahead to doing my first round of auditions for some summer programs in the autumn. After three arduous years of struggle and hard work I am beginning to come out on the other side of this process and am confident about my prospects.
Another important part of my trip to New York was my coaching with Susan Morton. During the coaching I was recommended a book called The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle. While I am still just barely scratching the surface of this book, it has transformed my approach to nearly every important aspect of my life. The concept of "deep practicing" discussed in the tome has made learning a much more intense and rewarding experience. I have witnessed the benefits in my singing while learning this role, in my running as I have determined to beat my chronic shin splints this summer, and even my language work as I near an intermediate level of German. I highly recommend that anyone who is attempting to gain a skill find this book and give it a read.
Overall, the last two weeks have seen many prayers beginning to be answered and many goals in their infancy of being realized. I look forward to where these new opportunities and experiences take me and glorify the Lord for granting me the patience to see these things through to their fulfillment according to his will!
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Strength is coming!
There's not a whole lot to report on the language front this time around. I am still plugging away and making progress daily. There have not been any new big breakthroughs. The only noteworthy thing is that I will be finish MT before my next post, which means I will then go back to Assimil.
My vocal studies are where the more interesting things have been happening lately. A couple of weeks ago at church I was singing at the 8:30 mass and went for a G4 which I can normally hit in a rough way that early in the morning. This time around, however everything happened the way it was supposed to: the F turned on the [o] vowel and then the [a] vowel turned ideally on the G producing a nice, easy, free flowing pitch. I took this accomplishment to mean that I have begun to build significant strength through my passaggio so that these acoustical things can happen correctly and automatically. The second thing happened to me this past evening at a rehearsal for an ecumenical choir concert that I am participating in. We had just finished rehearsing a men's choir piece which took the tenors up to an Ab4. I sang this easily the few times we went through it without giving it much thought. As we were going back to join up with the rest of the choir one of the other tenors made a remark to me that I was "one of those high tenors that sings that Pavarotti high C." I laughed and answered that I was working on it. It amused me because a year ago at this concert I was told be one of these singers that I was a "2nd tenor" and now after a year of work on my part I am being told that I am a "high tenor." Ultimately these people are amateur singers and their thoughts on my vocal classification have little merit in my life. It is nice however to see that my work is paying dividends.
I have come to realize over the course of my vocal studies that things happen at a slower pace for me in this medium than they did when I was a saxophonist. Luckily I have learned to be patient and trust that the process will get me to my end goal eventually. When I started down this path as a singer I did not realize how hard I was going to have to work to attain my dreams. Everything else I had ever done in music came easily. Now, though I have broken through so man apparent glass ceilings that I have very little that can stand in my way. I had a goal set in front of me by JRL at my last lesson that by this time next year I need to have a workable C5 so I can work on Faust and Rodolfo. I take these challenges very seriously and am closing in now an my B4, just a half step away from the famed "Pavarotti high C." If my voice continues along the path it is currently on I anticipate not only reaching the goal of a workable high C, but hope to achieve it earlier than the date set forward by my teacher.
This fall I am going to be auditioning for a few summer programs and possibly one or two programs for the following year. The following fall my sights are set on the MONCA competition. This especially is a lofty goal, but I am confident that my work ethic and faith will see me through.
My vocal studies are where the more interesting things have been happening lately. A couple of weeks ago at church I was singing at the 8:30 mass and went for a G4 which I can normally hit in a rough way that early in the morning. This time around, however everything happened the way it was supposed to: the F turned on the [o] vowel and then the [a] vowel turned ideally on the G producing a nice, easy, free flowing pitch. I took this accomplishment to mean that I have begun to build significant strength through my passaggio so that these acoustical things can happen correctly and automatically. The second thing happened to me this past evening at a rehearsal for an ecumenical choir concert that I am participating in. We had just finished rehearsing a men's choir piece which took the tenors up to an Ab4. I sang this easily the few times we went through it without giving it much thought. As we were going back to join up with the rest of the choir one of the other tenors made a remark to me that I was "one of those high tenors that sings that Pavarotti high C." I laughed and answered that I was working on it. It amused me because a year ago at this concert I was told be one of these singers that I was a "2nd tenor" and now after a year of work on my part I am being told that I am a "high tenor." Ultimately these people are amateur singers and their thoughts on my vocal classification have little merit in my life. It is nice however to see that my work is paying dividends.
I have come to realize over the course of my vocal studies that things happen at a slower pace for me in this medium than they did when I was a saxophonist. Luckily I have learned to be patient and trust that the process will get me to my end goal eventually. When I started down this path as a singer I did not realize how hard I was going to have to work to attain my dreams. Everything else I had ever done in music came easily. Now, though I have broken through so man apparent glass ceilings that I have very little that can stand in my way. I had a goal set in front of me by JRL at my last lesson that by this time next year I need to have a workable C5 so I can work on Faust and Rodolfo. I take these challenges very seriously and am closing in now an my B4, just a half step away from the famed "Pavarotti high C." If my voice continues along the path it is currently on I anticipate not only reaching the goal of a workable high C, but hope to achieve it earlier than the date set forward by my teacher.
This fall I am going to be auditioning for a few summer programs and possibly one or two programs for the following year. The following fall my sights are set on the MONCA competition. This especially is a lofty goal, but I am confident that my work ethic and faith will see me through.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Faith: The Most Necessary Virtue!
I have made some good progress this month, both with my German and with my singing. In German I am at approximately 1750 words known on LingQ and I have noticed that I am beginning to be able to follow some of the dialogue on the radio station I listen to, Radio Horeb. There is still a lot that I miss, however I am still encouraged by the process that I am making. I have about twenty days left with my Michel Thomas program and then I will be coming back to Assimil to finish that. This being said, it is apparent to me that I am going to be hitting a few milestones in the next month. My plans for the next two weeks is to start using my German more in certain areas of my life. Primarily, I am going to start praying my Rosary in German at least three days a week. I find that this has been very helpful for me in the past, as I can grow from the Rosary into personal prayers and really force the activation of a lot of the vocabulary I know. I am one-third of the way through my German year and find myself at a very good place.
Vocally things have been a roller coaster ride of sorts. A few weeks back I had a minor vocal crisis where I began to show the signs of a hole in my passaggio. Luckily, after a brief correspondence with JRL, I have patched up that problem and moved on to considerably more exciting things. Specifically, this week I have consistently sang my exercises up to a high C (and occasionally a C#), and today I was able to sing the C with vibrato. To my mind, this means that I am starting to coordinate the note well enough that it is beginning to release. I routinely practice at my former college, Roberts Wesleyan, which happens to be where both of my future sisters-in-law go to school currently. I was informed by one of the sisters that I have a bit of a fan base among her fellow classmates. One even went so far as to figure out the note that I "always crack on," which was a Bb4 for those who are interested. While this is amusing, it also gave me great motivation to get past that Bb4, which I can say I have done now. Instead I crack on the B4 or C5 now!
I am quite humbled by having a "fanclub" at my former school. It is quite a different scene than when I was going to school here from 2003-2007. At that time, the majority of the department was confused as to why I was a performance major. Now the current student population thinks that I am an advanced singer. This goes to a larger point that I was discussing with my language partner, Ernest, yesterday. I have known from the time I became a voice major that I was going to be a singer, and a successful one at that. Despite the dissensions from everyone from classmates to family to professionals, I am nearing the point of my process where I am going to begin my career. If you have faith in your own path you will always achieve your goals. The process may take you through deserts and mountains, however you will always come out on the other side if you maintain your faith. As a Christian, I have put my life's path into God's hands and am confident that, while it may not happen in the timeline of my choosing, everything I have asked of God for my life will occur as it is supposed to. Regardless of whether you are Christian or not, faith is one of the most important character traits we possess. Believe and know that your aspirations will always happen as long as you continue to persevere faithfully.
Vocally things have been a roller coaster ride of sorts. A few weeks back I had a minor vocal crisis where I began to show the signs of a hole in my passaggio. Luckily, after a brief correspondence with JRL, I have patched up that problem and moved on to considerably more exciting things. Specifically, this week I have consistently sang my exercises up to a high C (and occasionally a C#), and today I was able to sing the C with vibrato. To my mind, this means that I am starting to coordinate the note well enough that it is beginning to release. I routinely practice at my former college, Roberts Wesleyan, which happens to be where both of my future sisters-in-law go to school currently. I was informed by one of the sisters that I have a bit of a fan base among her fellow classmates. One even went so far as to figure out the note that I "always crack on," which was a Bb4 for those who are interested. While this is amusing, it also gave me great motivation to get past that Bb4, which I can say I have done now. Instead I crack on the B4 or C5 now!
I am quite humbled by having a "fanclub" at my former school. It is quite a different scene than when I was going to school here from 2003-2007. At that time, the majority of the department was confused as to why I was a performance major. Now the current student population thinks that I am an advanced singer. This goes to a larger point that I was discussing with my language partner, Ernest, yesterday. I have known from the time I became a voice major that I was going to be a singer, and a successful one at that. Despite the dissensions from everyone from classmates to family to professionals, I am nearing the point of my process where I am going to begin my career. If you have faith in your own path you will always achieve your goals. The process may take you through deserts and mountains, however you will always come out on the other side if you maintain your faith. As a Christian, I have put my life's path into God's hands and am confident that, while it may not happen in the timeline of my choosing, everything I have asked of God for my life will occur as it is supposed to. Regardless of whether you are Christian or not, faith is one of the most important character traits we possess. Believe and know that your aspirations will always happen as long as you continue to persevere faithfully.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Adapting the Learning Process
I am getting back in the swing of things somewhat with German over the past couple of weeks. I have been really good about doing my Michel Thomas, however I have not touched Assimil in over a month. I think that I have subconsciously decided that I will move on to Assimil after I have finished the MT. In truth this is probably a good thing because it will give me something to do the second half of the year in addition to LingQ. I am currently debating whether to go back to the beginning of Assimil, or just pick up where I left off. In my split second decision making process I just went through I will pick up where I left off. The last two weeks have been particularly good for my LingQ work.
It never ceases to amaze me the way that we continue to adapt and evolve the longer we work on a specific task. In the case of LingQ I have just recently modified my approach and find that I am getting a lot more out of the program this way. Before, I went through a three step cycle which was laid out this way:
1.) Listen without reading
2.) Read without listening
3.) Listen and read simultaneously
This way served me well and I thought that this way I could train my listening separate from my reading and visa-versa. I recently though began listening and reading all three times through a passage and have found that my comprehension overall has grown markedly. This should not surprise me since the creator of LingQ, Steve Kaufmann, says that you should never read without listening, nor should you listen without reading in the early stages. The more surprising thing to me is that my brain spontaneously decided to try this approach seemingly out of the blue. I am currently creeping in on 1500 words known, which is well behind my goal, but I am still happy with progress of any kind.
Vocally, I have had a similar epiphany in the last week. It has been about a month since my last lesson with JRL and I decided one day last week to listen to the recording of my lesson. At first I did not really think I was going to gain much other than some reinforcement of the things I was already doing. After going through the recording I was amazed at some of the things that I had let slip in the last month. My practice the rest of the week was great and I felt like I made some very big steps forward, all because I listened to a recording of my lesson.
This was a big time for me in learning how to better learn. Sometimes progress may come in different areas than you expect, however it will ultimately lead you to your end goal.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Coming in like a lion
This has been a rough month for me. The amount of things I have to do at work, which is when I usually study, has increased considerably and taken away my time that I can work on German. Suffice it to say that I have not been able to make much progress so far this month. I have tried to maintain at least one aspect of my study per day though, usually Michel Thomas. I am in the process of trying to restructure my day so that I can fit in my Assimil and LingQ work daily again. The one positive from this month thus far is that I am at a basic conversational level in German. I define this as being able to greet and speak candidly with others about menial, day to day things (i.e. How are you?, What are you doing this weekend?, etc.). I am very pleased and excited about this, especially since I have not been able to put much time in as of late. When I can get back to more regular study I anticipate being able to count this language as being fully conversational by mid-summer, which makes fluency by December 31 very attainable.
I am still in a very good place vocally as well. Since my lesson in February I can feel my voice getting stronger every day. My A-natural (A4) has really solidified as of late and I am now working on B-flat (Bb4) and B (B4). Even my repertory has taken a step up as I have begun to earnestly work on "La donna e mobile" and "E la solita storia." My hope for this session between lessons is to have a reliable B-flat and a workable B natural. Assuming I keep up my newfound pace, I believe I will definitely be audition ready for the fall. I have about two months until my next trip to New York City and am planning on having a lesson and at least a couple of coachings while I am down. Until then, I have much work to do so that I can build on the momentum I have gained from my last lesson.
I am still in a very good place vocally as well. Since my lesson in February I can feel my voice getting stronger every day. My A-natural (A4) has really solidified as of late and I am now working on B-flat (Bb4) and B (B4). Even my repertory has taken a step up as I have begun to earnestly work on "La donna e mobile" and "E la solita storia." My hope for this session between lessons is to have a reliable B-flat and a workable B natural. Assuming I keep up my newfound pace, I believe I will definitely be audition ready for the fall. I have about two months until my next trip to New York City and am planning on having a lesson and at least a couple of coachings while I am down. Until then, I have much work to do so that I can build on the momentum I have gained from my last lesson.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Big Progress!
I had my first lesson in quite a while this past Friday with Jean-Ronald LaFond. My lesson this time around was one of discovery and great advancement for my part. During the course of the lesson I felt myself singing in a way I never had before and I liked it. It was a great experience for me and we even talked about me doing auditions in the fall if I can get a few more things to line up vocally. Since I've been home, I have continued to work with the new concepts I was given and can employ them fairly well in my vocalises (at least I think I do), however I am struggling to put these things through into my repertoire work. This is especially frustrating since I was singing so well at my lesson. I chalk up my difficulties to the fact that I am not in front of JRL receiving guidance as I am singing. I will ultimately figure out how to incorporate and synthesize these concepts into my singing and know that if I continue with the work ethic I have been developping that I will be fine.
Linguistically, however, is a different story. I have had a rough couple of weeks with my language learning time. This is mainly due to a largely increased workload at my actual job which results in less time for study. I am hoping that things will slow back down to normal at work next week and that I will be able to get back to my normal routine, otherwise I am going to have to find a new time to study. This is very frustrating to me because I was on such a good pace with German and now I feel as though I have skidded to a stop. Luckily I still do manage to get in at least a little time with the language, mostly my Michel Thomas recordings. Again my mantra is, as always: Slow and steady wins the race.
Linguistically, however, is a different story. I have had a rough couple of weeks with my language learning time. This is mainly due to a largely increased workload at my actual job which results in less time for study. I am hoping that things will slow back down to normal at work next week and that I will be able to get back to my normal routine, otherwise I am going to have to find a new time to study. This is very frustrating to me because I was on such a good pace with German and now I feel as though I have skidded to a stop. Luckily I still do manage to get in at least a little time with the language, mostly my Michel Thomas recordings. Again my mantra is, as always: Slow and steady wins the race.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Back from the abyss
I had a rough week last week in German. I was very busy at work and very tired when I wasn't busy, so I was not able to do much. Life is a little bit easier this week though and I have got back into my routine, thankfully. The advantage with French was that I had a base in the language prior to my intensive work. While I am not progress at the same rate in German, I do still have somewhat of a base in the language due to being a native English speaker. There are a vast number of German words which change pronunciation from English very predictably, which makes learning those words vastly easier than a language that doesn't share common roots.
In general, it is said that the more languages you know the easier it is to learn more. I see this more and more as I progress through languages. Not only do your methods of learning become more efficient, but the shared vocabulary among the world's languages provides a wonderful base to springboard off of.
I just barely crossed over the 1,000 word mark on LingQ and hope to add about 500 words to that total this week. The difficult thing about LingQ at this point in my learning is that there are so many words I don't know that I get easily frustrated at how long it takes to get through one story, so I end up only doing one story a day, which does not help my word count.
In other news, I am finally going to get down for a lesson on the 17th of this month. It has been a long while since my last lesson and I am anxious to see how my progress measures up. I find myself often frustrated that I am not progressing at a faster pace, but constantly have to remind myself that quality takes time and that if I trust the process it will work for me. There have been great steps forward in the last few weeks with certain "problem" arias falling into place and feeling comfortable as well as new arias beginning to show signs of growth as well. Hopefully this will continue into my lesson and I can continue to grow towards being YAP audition ready in the fall, which is my goal.
In general, it is said that the more languages you know the easier it is to learn more. I see this more and more as I progress through languages. Not only do your methods of learning become more efficient, but the shared vocabulary among the world's languages provides a wonderful base to springboard off of.
I just barely crossed over the 1,000 word mark on LingQ and hope to add about 500 words to that total this week. The difficult thing about LingQ at this point in my learning is that there are so many words I don't know that I get easily frustrated at how long it takes to get through one story, so I end up only doing one story a day, which does not help my word count.
In other news, I am finally going to get down for a lesson on the 17th of this month. It has been a long while since my last lesson and I am anxious to see how my progress measures up. I find myself often frustrated that I am not progressing at a faster pace, but constantly have to remind myself that quality takes time and that if I trust the process it will work for me. There have been great steps forward in the last few weeks with certain "problem" arias falling into place and feeling comfortable as well as new arias beginning to show signs of growth as well. Hopefully this will continue into my lesson and I can continue to grow towards being YAP audition ready in the fall, which is my goal.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Der Plan
As we have started a new year, I have already put in two days of study on my new language for the year, German. I figure I would outline my basic plan for the year with regards to my acquisition of German.
Resources:
German with Michel Thomas
German with Ease by Assimil
German on LingQ
In general, my goal is to spend ten hours a week studying German over the course of the next year. As I do not study on my days off from work, that equates to 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. I will go through one lesson/track per working day with MT and Assimil. On LingQ, I plan to add approximately 100 known words to my vocabulary every working day. This is a little bit slower of a pace than I would like on LingQ, but I think it is the best plan for the amount of time I have available to devote to this study. As I go along I will have to read more and more material to acquire 100 new known words, so ultimately my exposure will grow exponentially as I become more accustomed to the language.
On the side, I plan to watch a German movie every month and listen to some German radio programming every week. Also, I am going to start praying the Rosary in German and hopefully I will get to the point where I can spontaneously pray in German by the end of the year. I also have a number of friends and acquaintances who speak German, so I will be practicing my spoken German from a very early stage, as soon as I start to know some more relevant material than: Der Tee ist kalt.
Based on my previous work in French, I anticipate that I will get to a pretty comfortable place with German by the summer, at which point I will have finished both MT and Assimil. The rest of my year in German will be spent focusing on listening comprehension and vocabulary building through LingQ.
German does present me with some challenges, the most striking one being that I have practically no previous coursework or study of the language outside of the one month I studied it last year. With both French and Italian I had taken actual classes prior to my self-study, so I had a little bit of a head-start. I am excited to see how I do with my first completely self-taught language and hope to be able to use this working plan as model for my future languages.
Resources:
German with Michel Thomas
German with Ease by Assimil
German on LingQ
In general, my goal is to spend ten hours a week studying German over the course of the next year. As I do not study on my days off from work, that equates to 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. I will go through one lesson/track per working day with MT and Assimil. On LingQ, I plan to add approximately 100 known words to my vocabulary every working day. This is a little bit slower of a pace than I would like on LingQ, but I think it is the best plan for the amount of time I have available to devote to this study. As I go along I will have to read more and more material to acquire 100 new known words, so ultimately my exposure will grow exponentially as I become more accustomed to the language.
On the side, I plan to watch a German movie every month and listen to some German radio programming every week. Also, I am going to start praying the Rosary in German and hopefully I will get to the point where I can spontaneously pray in German by the end of the year. I also have a number of friends and acquaintances who speak German, so I will be practicing my spoken German from a very early stage, as soon as I start to know some more relevant material than: Der Tee ist kalt.
Based on my previous work in French, I anticipate that I will get to a pretty comfortable place with German by the summer, at which point I will have finished both MT and Assimil. The rest of my year in German will be spent focusing on listening comprehension and vocabulary building through LingQ.
German does present me with some challenges, the most striking one being that I have practically no previous coursework or study of the language outside of the one month I studied it last year. With both French and Italian I had taken actual classes prior to my self-study, so I had a little bit of a head-start. I am excited to see how I do with my first completely self-taught language and hope to be able to use this working plan as model for my future languages.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Linguaphile - Lover of language
This is a rather impromptu post, however I said something in an early conversation today that I wanted to discuss here.
"In becoming a linguaphile I have become a lover of language."
This statement seems redundant I'm sure. However let me explain what I mean. One of the things that I am striving for in my journey of learning languages is to be able to have musical moments in which I find myself transcending language and music and finding a deeper connection. I had this occur on Christmas eve while singing "Oh Holy Night" in the original French text. While everyone thinks that the song is beautiful in English, it was only through my knowledge of French that I found the true beauty of the song hidden in the real text of the song. My French is at a level where I no longer need to translate what I am reading or saying, I just intuitively know what I am saying or reading. This enables one to experience the culture of thinking in the language you are using. I have found it to be true that people who speak different languages see the world differently. Let us take a look at the text of Oh Holy Night to see what I mean. The order will be French (original), then a literal translation and then the sung English version.
Minuit, chretiens, c'est l'heure solenelle, ou l'Homme-Dieu descendit jusqu'a nous.
Midnight, Christians, is the solemn hour, where the God-Man descends among us.
Oh holy night, the star is brightly shining, it is the night of our dear Savior's birth.
Pour effacer la tache originelle, et de son Pere arreter le courroux.
To erase the original stain, and to stop the wrath of his Father.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
Le monde entier tresaille d'esperance, a cette nuit qui lui donne un Sauveur.
The whole world trembles in hope, on this night which he gives a Savior.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Peuple a genoux, attends ta delivrance, Noel, Noel voici le Redempteur.
People on your knees, await your deliverance, Noel, Noel, here is the Redemptor.
Fall on your knees, oh hear the angel voices, oh night divine, oh night when Christ is born, oh holy night.
For me, in performing the French version of this song I finally felt the true emotion of the piece and was free to perform it with the integrity it deserves. I found the real text to be considerably more moving and inspiring and that was channeled through me as I was singing. This is the real reason I learn languages, so that my performances may be truly genuine. Because I know French at an intimate level, I was able to connect to the music. My love of language grew tenfold that night, because I learned experientially that speaking a different language really does give one a new way of thinking about a topic. Only through a thorough knowledge of the language one sings in can one truly give an informed and accurate performance.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
End of September/Beginning of October
It has been a bit since I last wrote here. Some good things have happened on both the language and singing fronts, as well as some discouraging things. In my language work I have begun reading Les Fables de la Fontaine which are mostly on my level. I find that the hard thing with reading is that though I know the words I'm reading, I often miss the actual context of the story. I figure that this is similar to listening comprehension and the practice will ultimately make things clearer as well as fill in the holes in my vocabulary. I have unfortunately been rather lax in my other forms of study. I have recently picked back up on Michel Thomas, but as of yet have not gotten back into my Assimil work in about two weeks. I have every intention of working on it again tonight though!
In other news, I feel that I am to the point now where I can actually begin to call myself a tenor. For the last month and a half or so I have been working on the Duke's arias from Rigoletto by Verdi. These arias have stretched me and almost forced my voice to work in a different way than it has in the past. In the last couple of days my Bb4 has really come into its own and the B4 is not far behind. I am looking forward to the few weeks, during which time I am hoping to have a few lessons, some coachings and even participate in a recital (my first as a tenor)!
The only discouraging part of my singing life currently has been this week. My voice has been feeling different this week and certain things that were relatively secure before are not this week, while other things that were not present before are now starting to present themselves. I assume that this is just some of the growing pains in the process and am not terribly worried by them though. I'm hoping to get back into being slightly more regular with my updates here, but with the holidays quickly approaching we'll see what the reality of that is.
In other news, I feel that I am to the point now where I can actually begin to call myself a tenor. For the last month and a half or so I have been working on the Duke's arias from Rigoletto by Verdi. These arias have stretched me and almost forced my voice to work in a different way than it has in the past. In the last couple of days my Bb4 has really come into its own and the B4 is not far behind. I am looking forward to the few weeks, during which time I am hoping to have a few lessons, some coachings and even participate in a recital (my first as a tenor)!
The only discouraging part of my singing life currently has been this week. My voice has been feeling different this week and certain things that were relatively secure before are not this week, while other things that were not present before are now starting to present themselves. I assume that this is just some of the growing pains in the process and am not terribly worried by them though. I'm hoping to get back into being slightly more regular with my updates here, but with the holidays quickly approaching we'll see what the reality of that is.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Mid-September Update
Je pense que je vais ecrire un post en français. Cette semaine etais un peu agaçant pour moi parce que moi et ma fiancée sommes malades. Parce que-là, je n'avait pas pratiqué. Je n'aime pas perdre les temps et je ne peux pas attendre commencer encore.
En autre information, je commence ecouter de la radio française. Le meilleur problem pour moi est l'audition; je peux lire et parle, mais je ne peux pas bien ecouter. Etrange, non? Maintenant, j'ecoute à France info de Paris. J'espere que je peux amèliorer mon compréhension à l'audition devant l'année finit.
*I welcome any corrections, as always. An English translation is below for those who would prefer not to read French.
I think that I will write a post in French. This week has been a little annoying for me because me and my fiancée are sick. Because of this, I have not practiced. I do not like losing the time and I cannot wait to start again.
In other news, I am beginning to listen to French radio. The biggest problem for me is listening; I can read and write, but I cannot listen well. Strange, no? Currently, I am listening to France info from Paris. I hope that I can improve my listening comprehension before the end of the year.
En autre information, je commence ecouter de la radio française. Le meilleur problem pour moi est l'audition; je peux lire et parle, mais je ne peux pas bien ecouter. Etrange, non? Maintenant, j'ecoute à France info de Paris. J'espere que je peux amèliorer mon compréhension à l'audition devant l'année finit.
*I welcome any corrections, as always. An English translation is below for those who would prefer not to read French.
I think that I will write a post in French. This week has been a little annoying for me because me and my fiancée are sick. Because of this, I have not practiced. I do not like losing the time and I cannot wait to start again.
In other news, I am beginning to listen to French radio. The biggest problem for me is listening; I can read and write, but I cannot listen well. Strange, no? Currently, I am listening to France info from Paris. I hope that I can improve my listening comprehension before the end of the year.
Friday, August 12, 2011
You are what you do!
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
Today I want to break down this statement by Aristotle. I cam across this while reading ChiRunning by Danny Dreyer and I feel it really speaks to my life. So much so that it has been my quote of the week.
Part I: We are what we repeatedly do.
The great thing about this part of the quote is that it is a statement of unequivocal fact. Michael Jordan became a phenomenal basketball player because he practiced so much that the game just became part of him. Likewise, the cello is simply an extension of Yo-Yo Ma because of the endless hours of time put into learning and perfecting his art. In all fields, one can find similar stories that all follow a similar path. This same point that Aristotle points out so eloquently has recently been elaborated on through the 10,000 hour rule, which has been popularized in Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers (a book which I highly recommend). The basic premise is that if a person reaches 10,000 hours spent performing a specific skill or activity that they will be a master at it. This equates to three hours a day over the course of ten years. The truth is in the results. Gladwell points out that the number of hours is not a magic number, and that one may become a master before reaching 10,000 hours, but that the process of constant, consistent work towards a goal will eventually reach its fruition.
One thing that this rule, and Aristotle's original statement allow for is gradual progress. The road to mastery is a long path and thusly progress will not be in large leaps, but in small steps. Every once in a while there will be a "breakthrough moment," but these are really just a culmination of many little adjustments over time fusing together to create the current product. This process of slow growth is not often embraced today, however the effects are considerably more lasting than quick fix practices.
For myself, coming to realize this slow process has been a lesson in patience. I first started my transition from baritone to tenor about two years ago. Apart from my obvious issues of distance from my teacher, the process has been very slow as in not nearly done. I have just recently come into possession of a high A and Bb, and they are still fickle at best. The process has been, for me, one that seems to move at such a pace that I do not really feel like I am progressing at all, but feedback from others and those few moments affirm that I am on the right path. Faith is a key component to this as well, for without faith that I am a singer, I would never have pursued this path this far.
Part 2: Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Using the example of Michael Jordan again, he practiced his shot so much over the years that it was second nature for him. The same goes for Tiger Woods at his peak, or Michael Phelps, or Luciano Pavarotti. This ties into my last post, but when we put the time in to make something a part of ourselves, we have no choice but for it to appear easy. If we practice with the goal of attaining the highest level possible then excellence will occur. It has no choice.
Aristotle's quote as a whole is really an if-then scenario. If we repeatedly do something to the point that it becomes a part of us, then excellence is to be expected. There is a concept in endurance sports that essentially states: If you want to be a better runner, go run. If you want to be a better swimmer, go swim. Excellence can only occur when you focus on a task. What do you want to become excellent at?
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
The Art of Practice
I am currently reading a book on running by Danny Dreyer called ChiRunning. I have only just started this book, but have already come away with at least one great point that applies across the board of skill acquisition:
"Making an activity a practice is a process of self-mastery... One reason to practice a skill is to make that skill easier until it doesn't take effort."
This sums up why we practice better than anything I've ever read. I truthfully could end this post here and I feel it would be sufficient, however I'll expound.
Whenever we begin to learn a skill, be it a new language, instrument or physical activity it is a difficult task. There are many new things going on that we have to process and think about getting right that sometimes the ultimate goal seems incomprehensible. However, as we continue to work on the skill (a.k.a. practice) the smaller building blocks that we stumbled over before become simpler and simpler to the point that we eventually don't think about them at all. Naturally, there are always more blocks to come on top of the ones we already laid out, however as the process continues in the same way with new, challenging concepts gradually becoming easier and eventually becoming second nature. This is the beauty of skill acquisition!
The end result of this process is something we all know when we see it, a sense of ease that a master has when performing his/her skill. This is what we should all strive for no matter what skill we are learning. Below I will post a couple clips of the end result in various skill areas.
The most obvious master in the modern age of operatic singing, Luciano Pavarotti. For that matter, also a master conductor, Herbert von Karajan.
One of the best running backs of all time, Barry Sanders.
One of the best short distance runners around, Usain Bolt.
One example of many masters of language, Richard Simcott.
A brief update on my own journey: French is progressing along steadily. I plan to finish up my French studies during the first week of the new year and then I will move on to German! Vocally things are really starting to solidify for me. I have recently found my high A and am gaining a lot of stability with it, the next step here is to hone in on the B-flat!
"Making an activity a practice is a process of self-mastery... One reason to practice a skill is to make that skill easier until it doesn't take effort."
This sums up why we practice better than anything I've ever read. I truthfully could end this post here and I feel it would be sufficient, however I'll expound.
Whenever we begin to learn a skill, be it a new language, instrument or physical activity it is a difficult task. There are many new things going on that we have to process and think about getting right that sometimes the ultimate goal seems incomprehensible. However, as we continue to work on the skill (a.k.a. practice) the smaller building blocks that we stumbled over before become simpler and simpler to the point that we eventually don't think about them at all. Naturally, there are always more blocks to come on top of the ones we already laid out, however as the process continues in the same way with new, challenging concepts gradually becoming easier and eventually becoming second nature. This is the beauty of skill acquisition!
The end result of this process is something we all know when we see it, a sense of ease that a master has when performing his/her skill. This is what we should all strive for no matter what skill we are learning. Below I will post a couple clips of the end result in various skill areas.
The most obvious master in the modern age of operatic singing, Luciano Pavarotti. For that matter, also a master conductor, Herbert von Karajan.
One of the best running backs of all time, Barry Sanders.
One of the best short distance runners around, Usain Bolt.
One example of many masters of language, Richard Simcott.
A brief update on my own journey: French is progressing along steadily. I plan to finish up my French studies during the first week of the new year and then I will move on to German! Vocally things are really starting to solidify for me. I have recently found my high A and am gaining a lot of stability with it, the next step here is to hone in on the B-flat!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
French Update
Since I have some free time at the moment, I figure I will free write a post on my progress as of late.
Currently I am sitting in the library listening to France Bleu Isere out of Lyon and they are currently playing a French version of the Frank Sinatra hit "My Way." It actually sounds very nice in French, although lacks a certain swagger that Frank had when singing this. In listening to the radio I have noticed that I am understanding quite a bit of the words, although they are not necessarily completely making sense in my brain (natural listening) and the pace is still a little fast for me. I have to research some exercise to improve my listening to a more natural level. A large part of this I think needs to be approached by simple immersion (i.e. listening to French radio, watching French TV and movies, etc.). I find that the most annoying and challenging thing about immersion for me is that the only way I can access French radio when driving, which admittedly is how I spend most of my waking hours, is through my Palm Pre which has horrible battery life, especially when using streaming apps. I suppose that my solution to this will have to be podcasts. In keeping with the immersion concept, I have changed much of my computer, internet and GPS to French in recent weeks. Truthfully, I don't even notice that most of them are in French, which I take as being a good thing.
I have been working my way through Assimil and Michel Thomas during my studies and have been keeping a pretty steady pace throughout the last month and a half or so. I only recently started the MT and only do one track a day, so I am only at about lesson eleven or twelve and ultimately the amount of material covered is relatively small. For the most part, however, I am using MT as a reinforcement so I am okay with the slow pace I am taking on it. At my current rate it will take me about three months to get through the course and then I will move on to the vocabulary booster and then the advanced course. In Assimil I am currently on about lesson 33, so nearly one-third of the way through the Passive Wave. I find that I am learning quite a bit from the Passive Wave without necessarily doing a whole lot. The book recommends spending between twenty and thirty minutes per lesson in the Passive Wave, but I find that I am under this number daily (maybe 15 minutes or so per lesson). The program has been helping my listening and in general I have noticed that I am gaining between 2 and 5 new words per lesson at this point. This may not seem like a whole lot, but percentage wise 5 words over the course of about a one and a half minute segment is rather significant. There are also other words in the course of the lessons that I do not know and do not necessarily pick up through just the Passive Wave, but I am sure that I will pick these up during the course of the Active Wave. More importantly than the vocabulary, arguably, is that I pick up new grammatical rules, structures and some colloquialisms as I am going through these lessons and am finding myself retaining some of the work on tenses that they present during the course of my listening and reading.
I do not necessarily have a great measure of how well I can speak the language at this point, although I seem to have an easier time staying in French when talking with my friend and I generally have a certain level of comfort in my conversation that I did not necessarily have a couple of months ago. I think I mentioned earlier that I have changed my learning plan for my languages. I have progressed to a more realistic plan of spending all of my time with one language until I have learned it to a level that I consider fluent, which I will describe eventually to the public, and then move on. I believe that I can reach this level in most languages I am working on in a year and thus I still will be well within my goal of ten languages by the time I am forty. My progression through languages has also changed based on my needs for my intended profession. The order is thus:
Currently I am sitting in the library listening to France Bleu Isere out of Lyon and they are currently playing a French version of the Frank Sinatra hit "My Way." It actually sounds very nice in French, although lacks a certain swagger that Frank had when singing this. In listening to the radio I have noticed that I am understanding quite a bit of the words, although they are not necessarily completely making sense in my brain (natural listening) and the pace is still a little fast for me. I have to research some exercise to improve my listening to a more natural level. A large part of this I think needs to be approached by simple immersion (i.e. listening to French radio, watching French TV and movies, etc.). I find that the most annoying and challenging thing about immersion for me is that the only way I can access French radio when driving, which admittedly is how I spend most of my waking hours, is through my Palm Pre which has horrible battery life, especially when using streaming apps. I suppose that my solution to this will have to be podcasts. In keeping with the immersion concept, I have changed much of my computer, internet and GPS to French in recent weeks. Truthfully, I don't even notice that most of them are in French, which I take as being a good thing.
I have been working my way through Assimil and Michel Thomas during my studies and have been keeping a pretty steady pace throughout the last month and a half or so. I only recently started the MT and only do one track a day, so I am only at about lesson eleven or twelve and ultimately the amount of material covered is relatively small. For the most part, however, I am using MT as a reinforcement so I am okay with the slow pace I am taking on it. At my current rate it will take me about three months to get through the course and then I will move on to the vocabulary booster and then the advanced course. In Assimil I am currently on about lesson 33, so nearly one-third of the way through the Passive Wave. I find that I am learning quite a bit from the Passive Wave without necessarily doing a whole lot. The book recommends spending between twenty and thirty minutes per lesson in the Passive Wave, but I find that I am under this number daily (maybe 15 minutes or so per lesson). The program has been helping my listening and in general I have noticed that I am gaining between 2 and 5 new words per lesson at this point. This may not seem like a whole lot, but percentage wise 5 words over the course of about a one and a half minute segment is rather significant. There are also other words in the course of the lessons that I do not know and do not necessarily pick up through just the Passive Wave, but I am sure that I will pick these up during the course of the Active Wave. More importantly than the vocabulary, arguably, is that I pick up new grammatical rules, structures and some colloquialisms as I am going through these lessons and am finding myself retaining some of the work on tenses that they present during the course of my listening and reading.
I do not necessarily have a great measure of how well I can speak the language at this point, although I seem to have an easier time staying in French when talking with my friend and I generally have a certain level of comfort in my conversation that I did not necessarily have a couple of months ago. I think I mentioned earlier that I have changed my learning plan for my languages. I have progressed to a more realistic plan of spending all of my time with one language until I have learned it to a level that I consider fluent, which I will describe eventually to the public, and then move on. I believe that I can reach this level in most languages I am working on in a year and thus I still will be well within my goal of ten languages by the time I am forty. My progression through languages has also changed based on my needs for my intended profession. The order is thus:
- French
- German
- Italian
- Spanish
- Russian
- Czech
- Swedish
- Portuguese
- Arabic
Friday, April 8, 2011
Update - Back to French
I have been rather lax in updating this since my burn-out with Arabic about a month ago. I am currently back to working on French. I have foregone Italian for the time being because my level in that language is rather comfortable at this point. Also, I need to bring my French and German level up because I am planning on applying to grad schools in the next year or so. For French, I am using Assimil and French in Action at this point as my only learning sources, with the exception of Ernest, my friend from Cameroon. I have seen my French skyrocket in the last month or so I have been working on it. I am able to understnad and have basic day-to-day conversations with Ernest without many hiccups and am finding that I can express myself pretty well. I have somewhat changed my plan (again) and am going to stick with French until I am "completely" fluent. I will define what I mean by this at a later date. I anticipate that this will take me at least until the fall, if not until the new year. After that, I will focus on German until it reaches a similar level, and then I will come back to Italian to bring it up to the other two.
On the vocal front, I have a lesson in the City this coming Tuesday and I am excited to see what is next. I had a moment of frustration, understanding and excitement all within about 15 minutes of each other today while practicing. First I was frustrated because I feel like my range is not increasing to include the "tenor notes" at all. Truthfully I know that I am progressing and that the path is long and slow, but every once in a while I get annoyed. Second, I realized today that I have to warm up my voice all the way to its top (F above high C) and then bring it back down through the passaggio in order for the voice to find its place where it needs to be so that I can sing. Finally after accomplishing this I sang through Di pescatore ignobile from Lucrezia Borgia and nailed a high Bb at the end that felt comfortable and somewhat released! If I was a..."lesser" person I would have just given up after the initial struggles, however I continued to work through and past them and was rewarded with a major victory for my vocal progress. Hopefully I can ride this momentum into my lesson on Tuesday!
On the vocal front, I have a lesson in the City this coming Tuesday and I am excited to see what is next. I had a moment of frustration, understanding and excitement all within about 15 minutes of each other today while practicing. First I was frustrated because I feel like my range is not increasing to include the "tenor notes" at all. Truthfully I know that I am progressing and that the path is long and slow, but every once in a while I get annoyed. Second, I realized today that I have to warm up my voice all the way to its top (F above high C) and then bring it back down through the passaggio in order for the voice to find its place where it needs to be so that I can sing. Finally after accomplishing this I sang through Di pescatore ignobile from Lucrezia Borgia and nailed a high Bb at the end that felt comfortable and somewhat released! If I was a..."lesser" person I would have just given up after the initial struggles, however I continued to work through and past them and was rewarded with a major victory for my vocal progress. Hopefully I can ride this momentum into my lesson on Tuesday!
Monday, March 14, 2011
It Is the Process That Is Important
I have halted my Arabic studies for the time being. I burned myself out right around the 60 day mark. Even though I am burned out on Arabic, I am still very excited to get back to Italian, and I may even start working on Italian again earlier than I had prescribed.
Vocally things are going very well. Singing above the staff gets easier and easier as the weeks go by.
Methodology Minute
In all skill areas there are generally different methods which are touted by different people, all claiming that theirs is the best and/or only way to learn. These beliefs can, and often do, lead to arguments or at the very least heated discussions. I am going to fly in the face of these people today and say that at the beginning of one's study, any method will work. Until a person reaches a level where they need to begin to refine their skill the act of doing something will achieve results. If we are discussing this in terms of language study, there are hundreds of books, CDs and software programs available targeted at beginners. Any of these will give the learner an insight into the language of choice and any one will get them to at least an upper beginner level of use in the language.
At the beginning of studies, the most important thing is exposure to the language. Once the learner has a strong grasp of the basics of the language, then they can begin to direct their studies toward their particular weaknesses. A person does not know what their weaknesses are until they can at least use the language somewhat. Personally, I have used different resources to begin my studies on every language I have worked on. What I have come away with is that as long as I have something to look through and study I have progressed to a similar point in every single language. So my advice is to find inexpensive resources at first for your language studies, once you understand what your weaknesses are, then you can begin to delve into the wealth of strategies that abound for language acquisition.
This also can be applied to other skill areas as well. In most skills, the basics are the same across the board so learn the basics the least expensive way possible. Then it will be possible for you to refine your skills with the best resources available later on.
Vocally things are going very well. Singing above the staff gets easier and easier as the weeks go by.
Methodology Minute
In all skill areas there are generally different methods which are touted by different people, all claiming that theirs is the best and/or only way to learn. These beliefs can, and often do, lead to arguments or at the very least heated discussions. I am going to fly in the face of these people today and say that at the beginning of one's study, any method will work. Until a person reaches a level where they need to begin to refine their skill the act of doing something will achieve results. If we are discussing this in terms of language study, there are hundreds of books, CDs and software programs available targeted at beginners. Any of these will give the learner an insight into the language of choice and any one will get them to at least an upper beginner level of use in the language.
At the beginning of studies, the most important thing is exposure to the language. Once the learner has a strong grasp of the basics of the language, then they can begin to direct their studies toward their particular weaknesses. A person does not know what their weaknesses are until they can at least use the language somewhat. Personally, I have used different resources to begin my studies on every language I have worked on. What I have come away with is that as long as I have something to look through and study I have progressed to a similar point in every single language. So my advice is to find inexpensive resources at first for your language studies, once you understand what your weaknesses are, then you can begin to delve into the wealth of strategies that abound for language acquisition.
This also can be applied to other skill areas as well. In most skills, the basics are the same across the board so learn the basics the least expensive way possible. Then it will be possible for you to refine your skills with the best resources available later on.
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