Plus ça change...

That's the beginning of a French phrase, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, meaning "the more things change, the more things stay the same." Boy, truer words were never spoken— in any language.

As usual, I am writing this blog entry at the expense of a bigger, more important, deadlined project. But this time I have an excuse— I'm actually blogging about the bigger, more important, deadlined project. Namely, my ginormous term paper for a little class called Performance Practice. Much as I do with my taxes, I am considering this part of my organizational work for the paper– which is due on Friday.

And on what shall I be pontificating, you ask? I shall be holding forth on a 1995 English translation of a 1757 German translation and annotation of a 1723 Italian treatise on singing. Officially, the Johann Agricola work, Anleitung zur Singkunst (Introduction to the Art of Singing), which expanded and updated Pierfranceso Tosi's Opinioni de' cantori antichi e moderni o sieno Osservazioni sopra il canto figurato (Opinions of singers ancient and modern or observations on figured singing). All this has been put into legible-by-me form by the great early music soprano Julianne Baird (who, I might add, is from Statesville, NC; home of The Organist and 20 miles north of my Alma Mater on I-77).

Wait! If you're thinking, booooooring, stay with me for a minute. I was relatively rapt while reading this book. For the two of you who don't know me, when I'm not being The Diva, I am a voice teacher. I'm also a doctoral student, but I digress. Imagine my shock at reading admonitions like the following:

[The student] should repeat his lesson at home until he is quite sure of it and it has become imprinted upon his memory. He will thereby spare his teacher the trouble of repeating it, and himself the trouble of learning it again.
[...]
The young beginner in the art of singing should try as often as possible to listen to the most famous singers and best instrumentalists. From listening to their performance he derives more benefit than from any other instruction.
[...]
He should learn to accompany himself at the keyboard if he wants to learn to sing well.
[...]
I might almost assert that all effort that is expended on singing is useless if not accompanied by insight into the composition.
[... ]
If he practices his lesson at home, he should stand in front of a mirror from time to time. Not to admire his beauty with fascinated vanity, but rather to guard against or to free himself from convulsive movements of the torso or the face... *

I kept stifling the urge to go back and look at the dates to see if this was some kind of joke. These are the exact things we voice teachers say all of the time! Granted, the thing was in translation, but I also have a copy of the Tosi original in facsimile, from which I ascertained that Ms. Baird was not making this up!

This could be viewed as a good thing or as a bad thing. On one hand, there is rather a bit of gratification in knowing that one of the most well-known voice teachers of 1723 had the same problems we do in 2006 and in spite of that, our art has not yet died off. On the other hand? Two-hundred-and-eighty-three years from now, some voice teacher (or the computer that has replaced us) will be slapping its forehead and saying, "Omigod, this sounds just like now!"

There are lots of other things in the treatise, and sharing them with you really would be like a booty call to Morpheus. Suffice it to say, I'm pretty sure I can accomplish the requisite number of pages and still get some sleep.

Hey! Check out the website and get some holiday cheer by coming to hear me sing...


*Johann Friedrich Agricola, translated and edited by Julianne C. Baird, Introduction to the art of singing (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 184-187.

There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza...

First I will explain the title. My beloved Dad, who passed away in 1992, used to be fond of singing silly songs to us girls when we were little. On the hit parade were gems like "Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, sittin' in the corner eatin' worms." I loved it. One of my favorites, because we could keep it going for inordinate lengths of time was, "There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza, there's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole." The next verse, equally repetitive, was "Well fix it, dear Henry, etc."

I'm not sure what I liked the best. That it was silly? That it could be neverending (after several back and forth suggestions and epithets, we come back to bucket with the same hole— you get the picture)? Or that, given my nascent quasi-feminism, Liza was having none of Henry's patriarchal b.s. assertions that it was her job to get the damned bucket operational.

Whatever the source of my enamorment (is that even a word?), I was reminded of it when thinking about what today's topic would be. I think about my blog waaaay more often than I get to actually write my blog. Every day, hundreds of bloggable thoughts enter my head. And apparently exit just as quickly (perhaps the accommodations are lacking?). I was trying to come up with a way to express the feeling these fleeting thoughts— well, they aren't really fleeting, they stick around rather for while, just not long enough for me to pontificate on them in print— give me. And then I remembered this song.

So! Enough about that! If you came to hear the Sirens concert in either Houston or College Station, thank you and we hope you enjoyed it. Bring even more friends next time. If you missed it, here's my wagging finger.

I was going to say something else, but it fell out.

News of the Anticlimax

Yes, I voted. It would have been hypocritical of me to do otherwise. I hope you did too. When referencing the actions of voters of my political stripe, a friend of mine calls what I did this morning "pissing in the wind." So be it.

Rumor has it that the Dems took the House. I have but three words for my new Peeps-In-Charge: Don't. Screw. Up. You have been given a sacred trust and an opportunity to foster sanity and common sense in the public discourse. Oh, never mind.

Perry got re-elected. Omigod! Are you kidding? I never thought— right, never mind.

In other news, Britney Spears apparently finally got around to that pesky divorce filing. When the impending divorce of one of America's most visible "stars" gets buried on CNN's waaaayy at the bottom menu, you know that it is not really news. File it under, "saw that one coming from a light year away." My only question is, what the hell took so long? In fact, what possessed you in the first place? I ask the same of Whitney Houston. Again, oh, never mind.

VOTE! And come hear me sing...

Shameless self-promotion part whatever:

The week after Election Day (hint, hint), on Monday, November 13, you get to hear me and two amazing women (that would be Natalie Arduino and Tracy Rhodus) perform music written for the first-ever girl group, "The Three Ladies of Ferrara" as the next concert in Ars Lyrica Houston's fabulous 2006-07 season.

Where does this amazing and historic event take place? Why, Zilkha Hall at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, that's where!

Again, Monday, November 13 at 7:30 p.m. There are even student tickets available. This is a not to be missed event, so plan to come and bring at least 5 of your favorite people. "Butts in seats" totally needs to happen!

And if you live in the College Station area (this includes you Austinites!), we're doing a repeat performance on Tuesday, November 14 at St. Thomas Church in College Station. That one's even free.

Oh-- and by the way, go vote on Tuesday! Tell all your friends. Even the Republicans.