Back in the saddle again...

Well, it's that time of year again.  The next season of auditions is upon me.  I have my first audition at the end of this month and am looking forward to a new year of opportunities.  Every year I get a little bit better at this whole thing.  Last year I was well prepared, but under coached and didn't really have anything in my bag dramatically speaking.  This year I am coaching repertoire with a local guru of opera and have pretty well-formed characters in my head for nearly all of my pieces (just a couple more left).  I am as confident as ever in my vocal abilities, especially after surviving Count Almaviva this summer.  The only thing I can do now is go sing and perform my heart out.  My goal for auditions this year is to make each one a true performance, and not an audition.  I will keep everyone posted when I get work!

I am also back on the horse again with my Spanish studies.  I've been putting in good work about four days a week and am beginning to feel a little bit more comfortable when conversing with others.  I am still shooting to eclipse the number of known words that I have in French by the end of this year and I feel I am on a good pace to accomplish that.  I'm also considering a new approach to my language learning.  Instead of moving on in January, I think I might stick with Spanish until I have developed a really strong core in the language.  The definition of this, which I stole from polyglot Luca Lampariello, is knowing the language well enough that you don't have to think about conversing in the language, it just flows naturally.  Ultimately this is where I want to be with all my languages and I think it will happen quicker if I stick with one language until I get to that point.  I still haven't decided for sure, but I will obviously come to a decision before the year is over.

Summer Adventures Debriefing

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.

Summer Opera Antics!

I have just returned from the first of my two summer programs.  This program was truly focused on the acting and interpretive aspect of the art form.  I found everything about this program to be wonderful.  Firstly the people involved, both staff and participants were all wonderful people.  It was nice to be in a setting where there was very little to no drama for the entirety of the program.  I have made some wonderful friends who I hope to keep in touch with and follow their careers as we move along in our lives.  Additionally I have made great professional contacts with people whom I respect and have already gleaned a lot of knowledge from.  Apart from the social aspects, I also discovered many things about myself and ways to open myself up to the audience where I feel I am truly performing and not just singing the notes on the page anymore.  One of the added bonuses to this program was that we were able to learn and explore some of the beautiful music that is the Russian repertoire.  This is such a lush area of music that is just beginning to see more light and I hope that it becomes as much of a mainstay in repertory houses as its Italian, French and German counterparts are.

My next program starts on Wednesday in Buffalo with performances on Sunday.  For this program, I will be singing Rossini's Count Almaviva with a very talented class.  I know this program will be different than the one I just finished, but I hope and pray that the people involved are equally as loving as those I have just left.  If you are interested in coming to these performances, please find me on Twitter @JPike1028 or like me on Facebook and I will post updates and dates and location of my upcoming performances!

Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers and support!

Halfway Through!

I am about halfway through my Kickstarter campaign at this point and I have reached 34% of my goal!  This is great news!  The unfortunate news is that I seem to have stagnated in my fund raising.  For this reason, I am starting my blog post this month with a plea to my readership; please consider helping me reach my goal.  If everyone can simply pledge $10 I will easily make my goal in time.  That is the price of only 2 lattes!  So, please help me attain my goal!

Click here to jump to my Kickstarter page!

In other news, I have a benefit event for the Cadenza Workshop that I am singing at the Saturday in Buffalo, NY.  On this program I am singing one aria and one duet with the program director, which is slightly intimidating.  I have prepared well, but I am going through some vocal difficulties which may be due to allergies.  Regardless I will do my best and give it my all.

A couple of weeks after this event, I have a recital on June 29 back home in Rochester.  This was originally going to be a fund raiser, but due to some conflicts that is no longer the case; the recital will function as a thank you to all those who have donated to my Kickstarter, which ends the night prior to the recital.  CD's will be available of this recital and can be reserved by donating $25 to the Kickstarter campaign.

Immediately following the holiday in July, I will begin my two programs for this summer.  I am a little overwhelmed with the amount of music I have had to learn, but I feel like I am in a good place and will be well prepared by the time I get to my first program on July 7.

Spanish is coming along slowly; I am attempting to get more consistent about working on the language including listening to a Spanish Pandora station.  I am not sure how much this actively helps me, but it does reinforce the things I do know when I am consciously paying attention to them.  I have noticed that I am beginning to understand more spoken and written word in Spanish, and I give LingQ all the credit for enabling that to happen.  For such a simple, and somewhat controversial system, it really does produce measurable results in language learning in a relatively short amount of time.  I suggest everyone check it out!

Thank you to all of you who have donated thus far to my Kickstarter campaign!  Your support is much appreciated.  Again I beg everyone else to please pledge to enable me to get my singing career off the ground, $10 from everyone will make my goal achievable.

I need your help!

In my last post I talked about what I have coming up this summer.  Well, I need your help readers!  In order to participate in these programs I need to raise $3,000.  To do this, I have started a kickstarter campaign.  Please take a look at my proposal page by clicking on the link below and if you think that I am someone you would like to back, please contribute!  Thank you all for your support!

James' Kickstarter Proposal