Read the libretto through, as if you were reading a story. First read it
in English translation, then put that side by side with the Italian, and
read through the Italian. Of course, you won't understand all of the
Italian, but you will be able to recognize a lot of words, that can help
you start to get a feel for what the text says in Italian. This is a
preparation for the next step, which is to...
Do your own literal translation of the libretto (using
Italian-English dictionary and, if you like, 501 ITALIAN VERBS). The
discipline of doing this makes you concentrate harder on the words than if
someone else did the translation. The point is, you start internalising
the *meaning* of each word, which makes them easier to memorise than
trying to just memorise sounds.
Next, recite the words, both to the strict rhythm in the music, and also
as if you were an actor performing the libretto as a spoken stage play.
The former gets your brain making the associations between words and one
aspect of the music; the latter continues to "drive home" the meaning of
the text. In dialogue sections, recite both your own part and the other
characters' parts - both in and out of rhythm. YOu don't need to
absolutely memorize the other parts, but you SHOULD at least memorize the
the 1-3 sentences that precede each of your sentences, so that you know
(1) what to listen for and cue off of; (2) you are actually responding -
with understanding - to the other characters.
At the same time you're doing this, start memorising the music. Start with
the music that "learns itself" - this will be the least stressful and
easiest to absorb, and you'll probably discover that there's a lot more of
it than you might initially think. The hardest parts to memorise will be
the recitatives. These you'll want to work on completely wholistically -
don't try to approach the music and the words separately for these.
Instead, you should only "attack" the music of the recits in conjunction
with the words, so that you associate from the very start the notes and
rhythms of the recits with the words you are saying when you sing those
recits.
Next, put rest of the music and words together - the arias, duets, and
ensembles, and sing through each scene of the
opera several times, until it starts "feeling good" in terms of vocal
technique, and the music starts feeling "second nature". As you do
this, sing your own part and either mark or
imagine someone else singing the other part - I mean, clearly imagine the
actual words and phrasing they would be using as they sang the part.
NEVER just sing the *sounds* of the words, even when your main focus is
learning the music. Always think of what every single word means as you
sing it. If you keep in mind the MEANING of the words at all times, they
will "sink in" more easily.
Repeat repeat repeat: not just verbally, by reciting or singing, but also
in your mind by THINKING the text, and by typing it over and over, and by
handwriting it over and over. The thinking and handwriting you can do
pretty much anywhere - so if you've got time to kill in a waiting room
somewhere, or are getting a cup of coffee at Starbucks, or are caught in
traffic, etc., you can use that time to help you with memorization.
For arias and recits, type up a double-spaced text "cue sheet", with the
first word of each
phrase in the left column, and the remaining words about an inch to the
right, in the right column. Then take a piece of cover-weight paper and
cut out the top left corner to correspond to the height of one line of
text on your cue sheet, and the width of the longest word in the left
column - the result will look like this:
------------------
Sono | |
------- |
| |
| |
| |
| |
The idea is to use the card to cover up the right hand column, and reveal
only the cue word on each line of the left hand column - then to use that
cue word to help you remember the entire phrase. After you speak each
line, you move the covering card down one line, to reveal the first word
in the next left hand column, while covering up the rest of that phrase.
For dialogue sections, you can use a variation of this cueing method:
Use the last phrase preceding yours in the text to cue off of - i.e., the
last line of text spoken (sung) by the character that you will be
responding to. You don't need to use the card with the notch cut out for
this - but you should cover up your text as you cue off the line above it.
Once you reach the point where you're able to recite the entire
piece
beginning to end, using this cueing method, you can turn the blank card
over, and use it to reveal the first word in the last line of the libretto
(left column), and go through the whole libretto backwards, starting with
the last phrase, and ending with the first. Once you can do that, you can
try again covering the WHOLE line, and working to remember the whole
phrase without using the cueing word.
If you can afford it, you might get one of those "coach yourself"
packages, like the ones put out by Pocket Coach. They do not,
unfortunately, have coaching tapes for either of your roles (though they
do have Pamina in Zauberfloete), but they also have an 8 Mozart Arias for
Tenor coaching set that might be somewhat helpful - it includes both Don
Ottavio arias and the Tamino aria. (www.pocketcoach.com). Wish there were
more of these - if anyone knows of similar products, please let us know!
Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
***************************************
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths.
- Proverbs 3:6
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