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From:  John Alexander Blyth <BLYTHE@B...>
Date:  Fri Sep 22, 2000  8:29 pm
Subject:  choir vs. solo: my own crisis. Do I ramble?


List,
I've been singing in choirs for almost 20 years, and it has often been the
best thing in my life. The repertoire has often been far more sophisticated
than is even possible in solo repertoire (if you like counterpoint - I do).
Over the last few years however I've been increasingly successful (at a
local level) in solo repertoire, and to some extent have been bitten by the
theatre/opera bug. Despite the magic stuff, choral singing has had its
perennial frustrations: even our first rate university chorale has to
rebuild every year as seasoned singers leave and raw ones arrive, so as a
44 year old grown-up who is still growing musically I too have had to sing
with smaller, less formed voices. I've been ready for years to tackle the
tougher Bach motets and the lovely continental and British music of the
Josquin generation, but as soon as anyone else is, they graduate and go to
bigger centres! I have a job and a family, so I remain.
This year I decided to give the choir a miss, to concentrate on solo type
things. I did a recital in the summer and am preparing another big one
(Winterreise) for the New Year; I'm in a bunch of opera excerpts, alas the
Brahms' Requiem won't be this year, in which I otherwise should have had
the baritone solos, but there should be something coming up like that, I
hope. I must tell you that I miss the choir, which is doing some lovely
repertoire this year, though I do recognise that it is no forum in which
explore my own vocal possibilities. One practical thing I miss is just
having to sing that often and that much - I don't seem to find time for as
much vocal practice as formerly, and I'm still just as tired as I was last
year. Singing choir all those years certainly didn't hurt my voice, though
I would advise a young singer to understand just how completely different
solo singing usually is. It's something that bears repetition. Isabelle
Bracamonte has already enumerated the differences.
I miss the choral repertoire. Maybe I'll go back to it after this year's
experiment. After all the kind of operatic things we can do here are also
limited by the youthful voices, and the paucity of accomplished male
singers, so Wagner, whose music I love, may be as unlikely as Taverner or
Josquin to receive attention. My voice is, I think, a good Verdi voice, but
Regarding the likelihood of 'making it" as a soloist I can only
sympathise with someone of grandiose aspirations, however unlikely they may
seem. The people singing at the Met certainly didn't think of statistical
likelihood: they devoted themselves to what they loved. Why wouldn't you,
instead of having the same life that millions have? If you fail, it will
have been you who did so, not some clone of someone else's idea of
normality. And what is failure here? For the classical singer there is a
lot going on apart from the Met and the high life, as many posters on this
list can attest: regional and amateur opera companies abound, and seem to
multiply, despite the bias against 'elitist art' in the popular media. It's
not the Big Time, but it can be profoundly satisfying. john
John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada

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