I hesitate to  write this blog post. Not because it wouldn't be useful to young singers or those who may want to try new techniques, but because even I'm not sure what my process is. You see, the majority of the roles I've been cast for have been in an academic setting, where my only goal was to rush about trying to balance my work, my classes, and my after-class rehearsal schedule. 

   The role I've been recently preparing is my first professional principle role, so I believe I'm not being as efficient about this preparation as I could be. That's ultimately why I've decided to go ahead and list my methods, to serve as a sort of public starting point that I can reflect on and update as I advance throughout my career as an opera singer.  With all of this being said, I can't claim my methods are efficient or the best, and if you have any suggestions for refining my process, I'd be grateful to hear from you. 
​

What sheet music you use matters. 
   It's important to reach out to whoever your contact is, and verify what publisher & what edition score has been agreed upon! This means you may need to purchase a new score if you don't already own the one your company wants. 

Marking Music
   Break out those highlighters, it's Personally, I have an incredibly difficult time reading sheet music. You'd think that 6 years of music school would make me fluent, but the only thing it's done has made me realize just how confusing it can be. So, when tackling new and/or difficult music, my sheet music ends up looking like a rainbow. For an idea of what that looks like, check out below:

Pink-
   This is used for any time signature changes. In this particular score, there are many quick time signature changes, so it's helpful for me to have a visual color to remind me that a change is coming. 

Blue-
   Blue is the color I use for key changes and note help. For example, if there's a key change I'll highlight that in my score. If I'm having trouble finding a pitch before a phrase, I can mark where my pitch appears in other parts before I sing so I have something to listen for during my practice. 
  
Green-
   This is what I use to find all of my dynamic markings. Because black and white sheet music can be so confusing for me personally, I often miss dynamic markings, since they aren't within the lines (if that makes sense). Using a green highlighter helps me pick up on the dynamics much easier. 

Orange- 
   Orange is what I use to highlight any tempo markings. It's a nice contrast from green, so I won't get confused if I see them next to each other. 

Purple-
   Because my example is in English, you won't see any purple. This is because I write my translations in this color! It's dark enough to be seen easily, but it's different enough from black that I won't mistakenly read the language my music is translated from when I'm doing acting work, etc. 

Red-
   I use red not only for mistakes that I want to focus on, but also for marking beats when my sheet music uses complex tempos and I need to keep track of beats.

Yellow-
   I use this to highlight my part! It's the most universal highlighter color, so it's easily seen. 

Translations
   I can't stress how important your language training is. After your college years, it gets significantly harder to learn a language. I'm sure that your teachers will stress that the best resource for translating your music will be to learn the language, so you can accurately translate your music in a way that resonates with you. Please, please, please continue your language practice after you graduate.

  You can also translate using a dictionary, word by word. This is tedious, and can miss slang and idioms. 

   I personally use a mixture of my language studies, a dictionary, and Nico Castell texts. Castell (if you don't know yet) was a tenor and prolific translator of librettos. His texts are pricey, but very accurate, and very in-depth. They are definitely worth the purchase! If you're looking for a more cost-effective way to find Castel's books, you can find them here.

.I bet you didn't think I'd be talking about how important daily movement would be, hm? 
​   It's true: cultivating a strong core, practicing your breathwork, and doing cardio are all indispensable to us as singers. We are vocal athletes, and we all know that our instrument is our body. This has NOTHING to do with your size or shape. That is for you and yourself alone to decide if you'd like to change. What doesn't change is that if you're committed to daily movement, you'll notice you can sing better for longer, and you'll have the physical ability to do whatever the staging requires. 

   Personally, I do Pilates, yoga, hike, and roller skate to move my body. Finding ways to move that you enjoy make consistency much easier. Also, please don't beat yourself up if you miss a day or you're too busy to work out every single day. Life is life, and we shouldn't be hard on ourselves if we don't have a perfectly consistent routine. 


Rhythm
   Before jumping over to the piano, it's important that you sit with your music and learn your rhythms. I admit I am not as good at stopping myself from singing through immediately as I'd like, but please do as I say, and NOT as I do in regards to this. ESPECIALLY if your music is difficult. Intentionally taking the time to go through and get your rhythms and words in your body will really help with the memorization process. 

Listening
   If you're so lucky to be learning music with multiple recordings, it's important to listen to more than one recording. If you listen to one recording only, you can begin to embody the mistakes the performers make during the recording, and it can be difficult to fix them once they're in your body. 

There's a website that has instrumental tracks available for you to listen to & download ranging from around £8-£40, and are an incredible resource if you have the financial means to use them. This website is called Opera Learning Tracks. 

Piano Time
   Finally, it's time to sit at the piano. I am hopeless at piano, but I was able to retain enough to be able to play through my vocal line, and add in notes from other lines here and there. As an opera singer, you don't need to be a concert pianist, but it will certainly help if you can play your accompaniment.

   Once you've familiarized yourself with your notes and rhythms, it's time to sing through with either your instrumental track and/or a coach. Please please don't go to your coach without trying your best to learn the music, they can certainly help you but you'd be wasting your money to go to a coach without first learning your music. If you have very difficult music that doesn't have many recordings, try your best to familiarize yourself with your vocal line before going and asking for in-person help. The same goes with your voice teachers (although, I hope I don't have to say this).

   Appcompanist ​is a very popular resource for piano instrumental tracks, but please be careful as not all of their repertoire is accurate. 

I'll be honest, there are a lot of memorization methods out there.
   Flash cards, writing your lines over and over, working through your music backwards, constant repetition. Whatever your cup of tea, memorization is the most stressful part of learning a role.  I personally use a variety of these methods, as I'm always terribly anxious about whether or not I'll be prepared.  What I will say is that if you're taking your time and doing your pre-prep correctly, the memorization process will be significantly easier, as you've formed an accurate foundation and have allowed yourself to really sit with your music. 

Consistency will always be key. Don't wait until 2 weeks before your music rehearsals to begin looking over your music (I made that mistake, once). I was given roughly 2 months to learn the role I'm currently working on, and I've used any spare moment I could...and I'm still not exactly comfortable with where I currently am on my journey. It will take time for you to get comfortable with the music, and learn where your role will live in your body. 
~

I hope that this overview of my role-learning methods will give you some insight into your own cultivation of a process for learning a role. It's far from perfect, but I'm happy to share both triumphs and mistakes with you, dear reader. After all, life is never perfect. Mistakes are beautiful, and are what make us human. 

It's August in New Orleans, and I've called off of work because of nausea. I was commuting between Baton Rouge and New Orleans until I could find us a place in the city; I was exhausted.
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The day after graduating with my Master's, I flew out to Ohio for my first professional world premiere. During my stay, I received news from the owners of the bar I worked for that they had decided to let me go, my schedule as an opera singer was something they couldn't accommodate. After I came back from my first gig, I was in a rush to find a day job and move out of dreary BR. 
~
It had been a few hours that I had napped in the cheap hotel room I had rented, and my headache and nausea had subsided. I decided (as an early 20-something) that since I was in New Orleans with nothing to do, that I may as well walk down Bourbon St.  and experience the Big Easy by myself.

So, I strolled. I weaved through the off-season crowds in the French Quarter, with nowhere to go and no schedule to follow. The yelling and cheering coupled with the bright lights of Bourbon where overwhelming, and so instead of ducking into a busy bar on the main few blocks, I found myself stepping into an older, quieter building perched on the edge of the brightly-glowing street. This bar was considerably quieter and considerably darker than the others: I had found myself at the oldest structure used as a bar in the United States, Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop. I ordered a Hurricane (duh) and protected the open top of the plastic cup as I picked my way through the people to the back of the bar. There, amongst a quiet crowd, sat a piano. 

Manning the piano was a man in his late-40's, deftly flashing his fingers across the keys as he sang into a microphone. Queen, Guns n' Roses, Billy Joel. Everyone's favorite songs from yesteryear to that very summer. I was entranced, and found a corner of a booth to huddle in as I nursed my (very) strong drink. I later learned this seasoned performer's name, Lucky Lee, and he had been playing at Lafitte's for 20-something years. As the crowd waxed and waned, I slipped into a spot across him at the piano and enjoyed his performance while the crowd dwindled in the wee hours of the morning.  Finally, i worked up the courage to request a song, one that wasn't very popular. As he sang, I found myself happily singing along, the internal itch of a craving having been scratched. 

That was how I met Lee, and how I came to spend a year singing with him on Bourbon St. Singing with him for 4-6 hours a day, 2-5 times a week gets you a lot of practice singing popular music. It also makes you learn a lot about your craft and the people who listen. I wholeheartedly believe that I learned more about people and performing from my time on Bourbon than in my 6 years of schooling (not that I didn't learn anything, I certainly did my best to learn what I could from academia, and I had some wonderful professors.)
___

I never have considered myself to be a typical 'opera singer' type. Tattoos, Piercings, dyed hair. All of this used to be considered relatively taboo, though many companies are beginning to relax this. I grew up on rock music, and didn't start to think about singing classically until I was around 16.  I've never been a 'Jewel-toned wrap dress and a smart heel' sort of singer. I bartended throughout my Master's degree, and after. I try very hard to have many varied experiences to stay flexible and open as a human being, without compromising the integrity of who I am. I am a huge proponent that being versatile is integral to life not only as a performer, but as a human being. 

During my tenure as the resident opera singer & menace of Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, I learned much about people. You truly never know when something you sing will affect someone. Perhaps it's someone's first dance. Maybe someone's parent used to hum along to a song when they cooked. Sometimes, it's the silliest, simplest things that will stay with your audience. I learned that being vulnerable and actually connecting with your audience can do wonders for a performance. I was scared, at first. Am I doing well enough? Is this good enough to get paid for? What if the person who paid for a request doesn't like how I sing it? 

It doesn't matter. If they didn't like you, they wouldn't request you sing for them. You wouldn't be hired if you couldn't do well enough. Even if you mess up horribly, 90% of people will giggle it off with you. The other 10% weren't going to like it anyways. Even if you're famous, even if you're the best opera singer in the world, you'll make many mistakes. Learning to make them with grace (or with a cheeky smile) can make your life easier. Learning to be versatile in your craft will teach you to let go of blunders, and adapt to mistakes on the fly. 

These days, it's not enough to simply be a good "opera" singer. More companies are casting their singers for musicals, and many new works are starting to use more contemporary pop vocal technique as a stylistic choice. While I had excellent vocal instruction during both my degrees and after, I noticed that whenever I mentioned a piece that didn't use the classical style of vocal technique, it was often dismissed (it didn't help that my voice professor in undergrad-a fantastic Mezzo-Soprano and someone I look up to greatly-wasn't fully convinced I wanted to sing opera, and was worried I'd move to musical theatre...I'm not sure why). Voice teachers, I hope that if you ever read this you also don't hesitate to instruct your students on healthy contemporary vocal technique. 

Singers attend universities in order to prepare themselves thoroughly to have a long and successful career. What with the rising popularities of new works and musicals, it's essential to teach developing singers a healthy technique in all styles. Nobody knows how their career will play out during their years singing, so it is imperative to prepare young singers as thoroughly as we can. 

~ 

I guess Nancy was right, I wasn't ever going to only sing opera for the rest of my life. But, if I didn't start singing pop and rock and jazz (and recently, some country), then I wouldn't be half the performer I am today. I wouldn't know I could be silly onstage, and I'd be frozen in fear and anxiety. If I didn't sing with Lee, and stuck only to more formal, traditional environments,  then I would have been too scared to look out into the crowds, and see how people enjoyed it when I performed. When I looked up, I found people smiling, connecting with their friends & strangers, maybe even tearing up. There were groups of friends singing along like their lives depended on it. There were older couples dancing. There was joy and sadness and disappointment and reflection. When you have the privilege to perform at a bar, look up. You get to see all of life in front of you.

Dear reader, when you're nervous or uncertain or overwhelmed, I hope you can look up. 

I think that today's culture regarding how we-as humans-consume, can cultivate within us a feeling of always having to get things done now, to rush about and expects results immediately.  When you're living in a city and surrounded by the hustle and bustle, it can be easy to get caught up in the pace and take the process of...of, things,  for granted. I want my coffee NOW. I don't want to take the time to cook. The commute can seem endless. The constant strain of always feeling like we have to be productive can cause lots of fatigue and stress.

Our lives are so short in the grand scheme of things, and before you know it a day, a month, a year can pass without you even thinking about it. I can't say that I subscribe to the mindset of the toxically-positive inspirational blogger; but many of them do have the right ideas.  Allowing yourself time to take a breath and notice your surroundings can really make a difference when you're feeling overwhelmed. 

As artists, we have to be especially sensitive to our emotional state. In order to be able to do the music we sing justice, it's important (in my opinion) to draw on our own experiences and feelings. The more we notice about ourselves, the more we can make the music we sing (or play) come alive. One of my favorite daily practices that helps me stay sane & enjoy life is to take a moment to appreciate the process of things. For example, I love the quiet moments in my apartment in the mornings when my electric kettle is heating my water for tea up. The quiet bubble of the water, and the sunlight streaming in through the blinds of my ancient window, the smell of the candle I lit to distract myself from the impending doom of doing Pilates....It's the little moments. Once, I took a picture of my lemonade because the sunlight made it look like it was glowing. Allowing ourselves to be in the present moment and just...exist, can not only feel great, but also allow us to notice new ways we can express ourselves. 

Sometimes, allowing yourself to just be can feel incredibly vulnerable. You may feel like crying, or throwing up, or you may feel anxious for no perceivable reason. Sometimes, allowing yourself the time to feel can allow emotions you were pushing down to come up. This is good! It's okay. Fully feeling an emotion is not only a great way to get to know yourself, you'll feel better after, and it can help you heal faster (if it's negative one). Breathing through how you're feeling, and learning to appreciate how you feel can really help you with emoting in a performance environment. 

More on emoting in a performance environment: I notice that when I allow myself to be fully present and not in my head during a performance, is when I give a more memorable one. This isn't to say you shouldn't be thinking and focusing through your show (oh god please keep an eye on the conductor and remember your blocking), but instead of feeling frozen with fear and anxiety, focusing on the flow of the plot and the beauty of the music can really make a performance shine.

  A note: I understand that's not easy. It's really hard. I'm a terribly anxious performer, and while I've learned a bit on how to regulate my anxiety pre-performance, I don't think that will ever fully disappear. It's okay to be anxious. It means you care.  

~ 
To summarize, if you have the luxury of time, take the long way to work every so often. When you're getting out of your car, it's okay to stop for a few breaths to appreciate the warmth of the sun, or the chill in the wind, or the sweet kiss of rain on your skin. Smile at the barista. Maybe there's a new flower blooming on the side of the road where you're stopped for a red light. And then, when you're nose-deep in the translation of that new art song or role, how can you apply those moments? Don't be afraid to use your lived experiences to help you bring your text to life. And, hopefully, appreciating those moments will keep you a bit more sane, too. 

Dear reader, I hope you can feel the sun on your face today, and the breeze on your skin. I hope you can find something, anything, to romanticize, and that that moment will give you a little more peace.