Sometimes It's Good To Look Back

I received an email recently regarding the Cardiff Singer of the World competition, a competition that I had been involved in many years ago.  In fact, I gasped when I realized that it had been 22 years ago.  When I tried to think about what had actually transpired during that competition, my mind at first drew a blank.  It took me a few days of walking down memory lane before I was able to get to my destination.  Then the memories came flooding back.

The main organizer of the event is Anna Williams, and she is retiring after 30 years of exemplary work.  All participants (384 since 1981!) have been contacted to ask them to send a brief message to Anna about their experiences working with her during the competition. All contributions will be compiled into a book to be presented to her upon her retirement.  This is my tribute to the woman who made it all happen:

The Cardiff Singer of the World Competition came at an extraordinary point in my career.  Having only left the RNCM about 18 months prior to the competition, I was as green as green can be.  In 1989 while still at college, I had been in awe when watching Bryn Terfel and Dmitri Hvorovstovsky on television – watching the two battle it out for the final prize.  For me then to be chosen just two years later to represent Canada was both a dream and a nightmare come true.

In the midst of this was a situation whereby I was understudying the role of Fiordiligi at Glyndebourne.  Amanda Roocroft took ill and I had to replace her at very short notice – for a total of six performances.  Not only was I dealing with the pressure of my Glyndebourne debut, I was also dealing with the rigours of an international singing competition, as well as racing back and forth between Glyndebourne and Cardiff in order to meet both commitments.

What I do recall with the utmost clarity is the welcome from Anna and the BBC Wales production team.  They were a bright light and warm welcome in the midst of my panic and exhaustion.  More than anything, I remember meeting up briefly with Anna on the grounds of the Llangollen Eisteddfod the following year, and having a quick chat about the whole experience.  I was so pleased that she remembered who I was, and that she encouraged me with my extremely basic Welsh.

She was a fundamental and integral part of why the competition was such a success for all involved.  We didn’t all make it to the final – me included – but we did leave with a sense of being part of something very special, a feeling that does not just happen but is nurtured by the people who quietly and unassumingly put together such events. To this day it is why Cardiff is one of my very favourite cities.  Thank you, Anna.

(originally written September 19, 2013)

Outreach on the Doorstep

Sitting in the kitchen, looking out at the beautiful trees and blue sky.  It will be another hot day today, something that we have not had much of since last summer.  The past week has been a blur, and it is difficult to digest the impact of the flooding in Calgary.  It is surreal. 

Where we live is about 8 kilometres from one of the impact zones (there are many throughout Calgary and southern Alberta), and we are completely untouched by any part of the disaster.  Since Monday, however, I have driven into that zone at least once a day.  Each day there is improvement, and there is a hive of activity taking place.  It has been extremely difficult to gain access to Elbow Park, the area where our church is, and one of the hardest hit areas in Calgary.

Yesterday as I arrived at the church to begin set up for evening dinner, a wedding was taking place.  The dust and chaos in the neighbourhood was incredible.  As the streets are so narrow in that area, the City had set up a one-way system to allow the dump trucks and utility trucks to gain access.  Yet a beautiful couple and their guests were able to join together to celebrate a milestone in their lives.  There is no doubt that many of them will have been volunteering throughout the week, shovelling mud, ripping out drywall, and removing mud-soaked debris. Yesterday this was put to one side for a brief moment, to allow a glimmer of hope to shine through.

I am still overwhelmed with the stories of the neighbourhood.  I am aware that this is one of the most affluent areas of the city, and that other areas will not have the same financial resources to begin the restoration and recovery.  I know of parishioners who have lost everything, and will find it very difficult to muster up the energy to start again.  Yet optimism, for the most part, is still there.

Since Monday, the church has enabled nearly 600 people to take refuge in the lower hall, even if just for half an hour, to have a full meal (how many times did we hear people say that it was the first fresh greens that they had eaten in days?), and a free massage or chiropractic session to ease the physical pain.  Countless more have benefited from the provision of phone chargers (we were one of the only areas of the entire neighbourhood to retain power throughout the storm), as well as free coffee, and snacks throughout the day.  While we have not organized the lunches, somehow everyday someone brings in another huge tray of sandwiches that enables us to offer a mid-day break for those who need it.  I have had to turn away offers of food because we have been given so much.

And volunteers.  I have had to turn away countless volunteers, people showing up at the church, wanting to help.  Every night we have had too many people assisting with the dinners.  For those who are helping out, I have had to let them know that we will not be upset if they just sit and talk with people.  Sometimes that is more important than helping wash dishes. 

The community that has developed behind the scenes has been a critical part of enabling these dinners to take place.  The people setting up, clearing dishes, washing dishes, providing casseroles, providing salads – all of this has created an incredible camaraderie.  While struggling to deal with a situation in the kitchen, I told a retired judge to “butt out” last night.  All in good humour, of course!

And I am constantly aware of the other neighbourhoods.  Bowness, in particular, is a suburb just west of the city that took the initial impact of the raging river.  It is not filled with the movers and shakers of the financial, judicial, and oil and gas communities.  Friends of mine have been begging for help in that area, asking for people with trucks to assist with removing household debris to the dump.  Timing is critical in order to delay any onset of mould in the structure of the buildings that have managed to survive the torrent. This is where I have been recommending that people take the excess donations of food.  As much as we Canadians brag about Tim Horton's, doughnuts become hard to stomach after a day or two.

So we move on. We have sixty youth arriving from across North America tomorrow evening, part of a summer project that has been in the planning for months, and that we have already delayed for a week in order to do the recovery work that was necessary thus far. They will be immersed in the needs of the community for the next few days.  Tonight, therefore, will be the last of our community dinners – for the short term, at least.  For the long term, and based on what I have experienced over the past six days, I am certain that Christ Church and its parishioners will continue to offer extensive physical and spiritual support to the immediate community and beyond.

Do Your Homework!

As the parent of two teenagers, the phrase "do your homework!" has been known to cross my lips on the odd occasion.  There have been times when this has gone completely unheeded, as well as times when it has nearly meant the child pulling "all nighters".  However, there have also been times when advance preparation and due diligence has produced wonderful results, and the child has realized that the hard work really can pay off in the long run.

I try to emphasize this with my singing students.  As some of you will be aware, singers have a reputation for being slower on the uptake than other musicians when it comes to basic musicianship skills.  I stress the word "reputation," lest some of my extremely talented singer friends take offence.  The groans that echo down the hallways when they hear the words "theory, sight reading, dictation, and music history" are symptomatic of the culture of singers believing that all they need to do is: 1) listen to a recording/YouTube to learn the words and notes, and 2) imitate the famous singer to create the same results.  They will do the absolute minimum required in order to increase their knowledge and improve their musicianship skills.

This is a serious mistake.

We are all warned that the music business is extremely competitive.  I knew this from when I worked in the UK and Europe, and it is even more apparent here in Canada.  I don't need many fingers to be able to count how many of my friends are able to make a living full time from singing in Calgary.  As a result, it is imperative that students take every opportunity to increase their basic musicianship skills so that those skills are now not just basic but exceptional.  They must be able to pick up a score and be able to read through it with little or no difficulty the first time!  Yes, there will always be tricky passages, difficult text, runs that need to move effortlessly, and intervallic leaps that require a secure pair of ears to hear them, but this is the profession!!  If you don't want to do the work, you shouldn't be in the business.

So what are the benefits of putting in the hard work?  In recent years, I have had at least three occasions where I have been asked to step in at the last minute.  The first was a Mozart Requiem with less than 24 hours' notice.  I had never sung the soprano solo before, although I had been a chorister on a few occasions.  I can't say that the music is technically or theoretically challenging, but my sight reading and musicianship skills enabled me to nail the performance the very next day.

Similarly, I received a call at very short notice regarding a world premiere of a piece for soprano and choir, as well as a second piece for bass clarinet, piano, and computer.  Two rehearsals and a dress rehearsal later, and we were on our way.  I'm not saying that this was the best performance of my life, but I was able to step in, perform the pieces, create some lovely music, and enjoy the experience!

And, finally, eight days ago I received an email from the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.  A singer has had to cancel two concerts of Manuel de Falla's El Amor Brujo that take place this week.  It's a fabulous 23-minute piece; no tricky intervals, but some deadly rhythms, and a very strong emphasis on chest register placement.  In addition, it's in Andalusian Spanish.  Vocal coaching and language tutoring is taking place, and rehearsals start on Tuesday.

Do your homework; this is where the hard work really pays off.

Bureaucrats and Culture

How much do the arts and culture impact our lives on a daily basis?  For those of us who work outside the realm of creating, performing, or being on stage every day, it can be a challenge to assess if indeed we are part of an aesthetic network.  However, my experience at the media launch of Calgary2012 on Wednesday morning proved that very few people can escape that labyrinth.

As I headed into the Jack Singer lobby, I ran into a representative of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts - absolutely appropriate that he should be there.  My next conversation was with the curator of an historic house here in Calgary; no surprise there either, but it was a great chance to catch up with him.  Through our conversation, I was introduced to a number of people who might be considered to be bureaucrats or even paper pushers.  You could tell that they felt slightly uncomfortable, slightly ill at ease with so many "artists" around them; they were outside of their comfort zones.  Yet each of them was there in anticipation of a huge opportunity for Calgary to up the ante regarding cultural activity.

The co-chairs, Lois and Doug Mitchell, gave a brief rundown of what the ideals and expectations of the year entail.  With over 350 cultural ambassadors, the possibilities grow every minute.  Granted, the idea of singing "Sweet City Woman" for the next twelve months may cause many to cringe, for others it is the possibility of just throwing everything into it and having, at the end of the day, a wonderfully creative time.  In fact, watching one of the civil servants feel completely out of place as those around him sang along to the song, was an endearing moment.  I truly believe that by the time we get around to the fantastic Lip-Dub Project and Street Party (http://www.calgary2012.com/whats-happening/calendar/month/calgary-2012-celebrations) that very bureaucrat will be joining in with great gusto.

The whole idea of inclusion, of bringing as many people as possible together during the Year of Culture, will impact the community for years to come.  This isn't about elitism and trying to convert the masses to appreciate high-brow arts.  It's about providing opportunities for everyone  to create, participate, and appreciate what our city has to offer.  Check out the website!! www.calgary2012

Connect, Brag, Throw Down!

Yup, that's my new job description as a Cultural Ambassador for Calgary2012.  I attended an orientation meeting this week and was blown away by the creativity, energy, and general madness of everyone in attendance.  My inner groan, when it was announced that all 200 - yes, 200 - people in attendance would, one by one, make a quick statement of who they were and why there were at the meeting, quickly turned into a wonderful feeling of being proud to be part of this phenomenal organization.  The fact that they provided free coffee and doughnuts (courtesy of the amazing Jelly Modern Doughnuts) was also a bonus.  It's going to be an amazing year.  Curious?  Check out their website:  www.calgary2012.com.

And so it goes...

So I thought this week was going to be straightforward and tiring, as opposed to complicated and tiring.  Guess what?  Not so!!

In the midst of me having to work around two part-time jobs and three volunteer board positions, a storm hit Calgary.  Snow day!!  What was a carefully planned week turned into some free time!  When does that ever happen to a freelance musician/teacher/administrator/volunteer?

Thoughts of manicures, pedicures, reading time, movie time, and general laziness pervaded my not-so-conscious consciousness.  But, alas, it was not to last.  I had forgotten two words in the English language that haunt the self-employed:  tax time.  The time of year when 51 weeks get condensed into the final week, proving that the-great-memory-that-you-thought-you-had-every-time-you-made-a-bank-deposit wasn't so great.  Argh!  Just what WAS that deposit on May 12 at 7:29pm?  I kept the slip but neglected to write anything on it because, yep, my memory is so great!

So now I must send all of the information (and lack thereof) to my accountant.  This is my first year with her (and maybe my last?).  Apparently she is used to singers.  Watch this space...