Opera for the Average Idiot #2 - "Die Walküre"

Since I seem to possess the inability to function like a normal human being and according to a normal sleep schedule, we're just going to continue on our little journey through the Ring Cycle without being forced to use too many brain cells.

(Just wait until I get to "La Boheme."  I do a mean rendition in 5 minutes or less using sock puppets.)

Without further ado, "Die Walküre."

Act I
We meet Siegmund, a warrior of the Volsung race who is currently on the run after causing a bit of mayhem and destruction.  He seeks shelter for the night at a cottage and is greeted by Sieglinde (and no, the names do not get any easier to remember...).  Conveniently enough, they fall in love shortly before her husband, Hunding, gets home (surprise, surprise).  Siegmund tells his story:

"I killed some folks at a wedding.  Possibly the bride.  Whoops."

Hunding reveals that he's part of the mob hunting him down a la "Kill the Beast," however, he's bound by custom to provide him with shelter for the night.  They agree to duke it out in the morning, much in the style of the Dread Pirate Roberts:

"Good night, Westley. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning."

Sieglinde drugs Hunding, Siegmund pulls a magic (sort of) sword from a tree, and realizing that they are twin brother and sister AND are in love, Siegmund and Sieglinde run away together.

Let the inbreeding begin!

Act II
We finally meet the Valkyrie Brünnhilde, otherwise known as the character solely responsible for the idea that all operas involve large women wearing breast plates and horns whilst holding a spear.  See Exhibit A below:


Wotan to Brünnhilde:  "Protect Siegmund."
Fricka to Wotan: "Siegmund's gotta go.  Nice try, using him to get your stupid ring back.  This is not the hero you're looking for.  He's your bastard son, so deal with it."
Wotan to Brünnhilde:  "Well, shit."

Wotan needs the ring back supposedly to prevent the downfall of the gods.  The problem is that Fafnir stills has it (as we learned in "Das Rheingold") and he's still in the form of a big-ass dragon.  Hence, Wotan has started listening to the familiar tune, "I need a hero!  I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night!..."  Since his wife is the one who really wears the pants in their relationship, he tells Brünnhilde that Siegmund must die.

Siegmund and Sieglinde appear (have I lost anyone on the character names yet?).

Brünnhilde to Siegmund:  "Sorry little brother, but you're going to die."
S to B: "Can I take my lover who is also my sister with me?"
B to S: "Nope."
S to B: "I don't wanna!!!"

Brünnhilde turns out to be quite the sucker for a romance and agrees to help him win.  Fighting begins between Hunding and Siegmund and when Siegmund seems to be winning, Wotan finally grows a pair and takes care of his own dirty business by shattering Siegmund's sword and allowing Hunding to kill him.  Brünnhilde takes the broken sword and Sieglinde away with her.  Wotan takes off after her to mete out punishment for her disobedience.

Act III
**Please do me a favor and take a moment to revel in the sheer awesomeness of one of the greatest (in my opinion) bass trombone parts ever written.  When performed well, the opening of this act can be a life altering experience.  Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

The rest of the Valkyries make their appearance on a mountain top.  We now have 8 beefy women in armor on stage causing a cliche overload.  Everyone is thoroughly alarmed when Brünnhilde shows up with Sieglinde, who is alive (they only hang with dead people) and we find out is also pregnant with her twin brother's child (Ewwwwwwww......).  Brünnhilde decides to stay behind to distract Wotan so Sieglinde can get away.  She also names the unborn child Siegfried (Now have I lost anyone on the names??).

Wotan to Brünnhilde:  "You have betrayed the express command of your king. Through your arrogance and stupidity, you've opened these peaceful realms and innocent lives to the horror and desolation of war! You are unworthy of these realms, you're unworthy of your title, you're unworthy... of the loved ones you have betrayed! I now take from you your power! In the name of my father and his father before, I, Odin Allfather, cast you out!"


**Sorry...I just made a slight detour into Marvel's "Thor" with my best Anthony Hopkins impression and I just couldn't resist a little Chris Hemsworth here.

Despite my detour, the same thing conveniently happens in the opera.  Wotan strips Brünnhilde of her powers, leaving her as a mortal.  He's going to just leave her in a magic induced sleep to fall prey to any man who may find her, but she gets rather weepy and convinces him to give her the protection of a ring of magic fire that only a fearless hero may cross.  Wotan agrees, puts her to sleep, and calls Loge to create the ring of fire to protect her.  Note: We begin to hear Siegfried's leitmotif when they speak of the unnamed fearless hero.  Don't worry, you'll hear this theme a LOT in "Siegfried" and "Götterdämmerung."

Love!  Incest! Adultery!  Murder!  Mayhem!  Magic!

How can you go wrong?!

End note:  I have to make the recommendation that everyone watches the production at the Metropolitan Opera starring James Morris as my favorite Wotan and Jessye Norman as Sieglinde.  She is AMAZING in that role.  I'm pretty sure that her jaw comes completely unhinged in Act III.  Seriously, she could swallow your head in one bite.  It's scary and impressive all at the same time.

Opera for the Average Idiot #1 - Das Rheingold

Once again you all are subjected to the ravings that result from my sleep-deprived mind.  For the uninitiated, I love opera.  I love it far more than any sane person should.  A series of health problems a couple of years ago led to me not being able to play for more than a year.  In order to keep my mental musical skills sharp, I started watching operas.  One a day, to be exact (occasionally extending the longer ones over multiple days if needed for sanity's sake).  By a happy accident I had discovered that my county library system owns a ridiculous collection of all of the Met HD broadcasts as well as countless other older productions.  I was on a mission and I'm rather proud of the fact that I started this project thinking that it would be difficult and quickly learned the error of my ways.  It's kind of killing me right now that it's still the off-season for the Met.  I always have the alarm set on my phone to alert me when they do their weekly live stream broadcasts so I don't miss one (Rigoletto was ridonkulous last season).

I digress.

I am fully aware that opera is not for everyone and it pains me greatly that so many people refuse to give it a shot.  You'd be surprised how similar most opera plots are to the movies that are the most popular nowadays.  Sorry, Peter Jackson, but Wagner did it first (just without hobbits).  So, in an effort to expose some of you to the more standard operatic repertoire, I've decided to summarize their plots in as concise of a manner as possible while keeping the emphasis on the most important/exciting/entertaining/amusing parts. Cliff notes has nothing on me.

Since I'm a bit of a masochist we're just going to start things out with Wagner's Ring Cycle.  Go big or go home, really.  In an effort to be kind, I will at least break it down into the 4 separate operas that comprise the whole shebang.  Without further ado, I give you "Das Rheingold," the very much abridged version.

Scene I
Scene begins under water, accompanied by the longest E-flat major chord ever written.  And it's to die for. We are introduced to 3 Rhine maidens and a dwarf named Alberich.  The Rhine maidens have been charged by the king of the gods (Wotan) to guard the Rhine gold (a lump of gold that came from the Rhine river).  The scene progresses as follows:

Rhine maidens to Alberich:  You're ugly and we're pretty and could use some help learning some manners. Btw, father told us not to tell you that you can take the gold only if you renounce love.  And you can use that gold to make a ring that will make you all-powerful (one ring to rule them all...familiar, no?).  Oh, and we're dumb. 

Alberich to Rhine maidens:  Jerkfaces!  I will totally renounce love and it just so happens that I work part-time as a jewelry maker.  Neener neener neener!

Alberich takes the gold and the Rhine maidens get all upset.  End of Scene I. 

Scene II (30 minutes later)
The sun rises on the newly constructed Valhalla.  The action quickly proceeds to Wotan being busted by his wife for trying to sell her sister to the Frost Giants in exchange for them building Valhalla.

Wotan: What a lovely morning! Look at my shiny new castle!  Oh, btw, I had to sell your sister for it, but no worries!  We've got these awesome new digs that I can fill up with dead heroes now!  You'll never miss her!

Fricka:  Nice try.  Your ass is grass.

Her brothers appear and king of the gods or not, Wotan knows that he's screwed.  He calls on Loge (Loki), the god of mischief and fire to help him blunder his way out of this one.  They bargain with the giants who agree to let Freia go in exchange for a pile of gold the same size as she is (they really wish right about now that they had gone for one of the Valkyries.  Much beefier in stature).  Loge and Wotan head underground to rob the dwarves. End of Scene II.

Scene III
While shit is going down in Scene II, Alberich has created the ring and also made his brother, Mime, make a helmet called the Tarnhelm (magic helmet = invisibility, etc) from the Rheingold.

Wotan and Loge arrive in the caves of the Niebelungs (dwarf-type folks).  While the Niebelungs start carrying gold up to the surface for the gods, they find out about the ring and the helmet.  Wotan refuses to leave without them since he's a greedy little bastard.  He and Loge are just as nasty as the Rhine maidens and trick Alberich into getting himself trapped.  They take the helmet but can't manage to get the ring from him.  Apparently being a god doesn't mean a whole lot in the power department....

Scene IV
Back in the land of sunshine and daisies...
Wotan finally yanks the ring off of Alberich's finger leading Alberich to curse the ring (duh duh duuuuuuhhhh!  The moment we've all been waiting for!).  The gold is piled up in front of Freia (the sister-in-law) and now the giants decide to get greedy.  The Tarnhelm is thrown on the pile and the giants demand the ring as well because somehow they can still see Freia through a massive pile of gold.  Fricka demands that Wotan give up the ring to save her sister:

Fricka: Give it up or you're never getting laid again.  Also, gold is soooo not your color.

Wotan's mommy (Erda) even gets in on the action and shames him into giving up the ring.

Erda:  You never did listen to me.  How many times have I told you to play fair with the other kids?!  

Wotan gives up the ring, the giants let Freia go, and the curse strikes for the first time.  The giant Fafnir kills his brother right away so he can posses the ring before he runs off with the ring, the gold, and the Tarnhelm to turn himself into a dragon and be all menacing and stuff (he'll be back, no worries).  The gods then cross their fancy-pants bridge made from a rainbow to move into their new digs at Valhalla while accompanied by the Valhalla motive which is freaking gorgeous.  Loge tells the audience that everyone is doomed (as if we didn't already figure this out), and we're left with a cliffhanger, forcing everyone to return the next night for the sequel.

Well, that's the story of "Das Rheingold" in a nutshell!  Now that you know what's going on while they sing gloriously in German, watch it!  I always recommend watching the full spectacle of a performance rather than just listening to it.  Especially if you've never seen/heard it before.  After a while you can even start keeping a tally of the deaths (this can easily be turned into a drinking game, and a dangerous one, if you aren't careful).  James Morris will always be my favorite Wotan.  Find him and love it.

Scales, again?

So why, exactly, should we practice our scales?

We all do it.  Run through our scales as fast as we possibly can so we can check them off of our list of things to do, like a household chore.  We play them because our teachers tell us to.  We play them out of a sick sense of guilt that occurs if we don't. We play them because that's the way we have always warmed up.  It's a shame, really, because our scales provide us with the ideal vessel for perfecting so many different aspects of performance.

Probably the most obvious thing to work on is tone.  Take time with your scales.  Play them as long tones and never move on to the next note before achieving the most perfect, pure tone imaginable.  Keep in mind that practicing your scales does not mean that you have to play all of them.  Just accounting for majors and all 3 forms of minors you have 48 to choose from.  Select a handful to focus on each day.  If you have trouble keeping your tone consistent between the low, mid, and high registers, slowly play them the full range of the instrument, making each note tonally perfect through the entire range before moving on.

Practice them in different rhythmic patterns and at different speeds.  When you have your scales memorized, and I mean truly memorized, you can focus entirely on your rhythm without the notes themselves getting in the way.  Note accuracy should not be an issue, so do more than just play them as straight eighth notes.  Throw in varying articulations while you're at it.  Staccato, accents, marcato, slurs, legato, and so on.  Use this as an opportunity to practice making a distinct difference between the different articulations we are required to use.  Practice your multiple tonguing.  Work them faster and faster until you can no longer control the rhythm precisely.  Switch things up by playing a jazz rhythm/style.  We horn players are notoriously "square," so take the time to work on your swing patterns every now and again.  You may surprise your fellow orchestra members at your next Pops concert.

Dynamics.  Oh how easily we forget to actually practice these.  Start soft and crescendo as you ascend.  Start loud and decrescendo as you descend.  Start loud, decrescendo halfway through, and crescendo again as you reach the top of the scale.  Start soft, crescendo halfway through, and decrescendo as you reach the top.  Play all of them as soft and controlled as humanly possible.  Play them all as big (with focused and controlled tone of course) as possible, pushing your dynamic limits to their max.

Use them as part of your warm-down routine at the end of the day.  Soft, slow, descending scales are a perfect way to pull an abused embouchure back into the proper shape again.  Keep your focus on controlling your corners and bring the very center of your embouchure back into control.  Get rid of any gravel that may have appeared in your sound and eliminate any occurrence of a double buzz that can appear when we've played heavily.

We seem to always be looking for that perfect exercise or etude to fix all of our playing problems.  You already have the perfect tool that you can modify in any way you want to fix any problem you may have.  Never forget how to effectively use them.

Lessons I Wish I had Learned (and Listened to) Earlier in My Career

I think every time I practice, I come up with something that I wish I had known sooner in my playing career.  Sometimes it's as straight forward as wishing I had known a particular piece.  Others, it's a lesson I wish someone would have taught me sooner.  We learn from our mistakes, no matter the situation.  There are simply a few mistakes I wish I had made much earlier. 

1. Never go into a rehearsal without knowing a piece, no matter how obscure.
    Never, EVER do this.  I will never forget my way around Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto as a result of this particular lesson.  There are few times in my life where I have been this mortified.  I learned the hard way that this particular piano concerto has several large and well know second horn solos.  I had no idea, and mutilated the part.  Luckily I had time to rectify the situation before the first performance, never again have I ever gone to a rehearsal unprepared.

2.  Get along with people, even if you don't like them.
     You don't have to be everyone's best friend, but you never know who may be able to get you a job.

3.  Don't piss off the wrong people.
     Just as some people may get you a job, others can just as easily prevent you from getting one, just because you have proven to be difficult to work with.

4.  Always know the back story of a piece you are playing.
     Mozart will never be played the same way as Strauss.  I cringe to think of a Bach work performed in the style of Stravinsky.  Know the differences between your composers.  Each of them has a distinct style that gives them their identity.  This is particularly important if you are playing a piece that is actually intended to tell a story.  For example: Strauss' "Don Quixote" is broken into an introduction, theme, maggiore, 10 variations, and a finale.  Each section of the piece depicts a different part of Don Quixote's life/story with each character represented by a different motive.  If Variation VI (Meeting with Dulcinea) was performed the same way as Variation VII (The Ride Through the Air), Don Quixote's first meeting with his love, Dulcinea, would come across as drastically more violent than it is intended to be.

5.  There is always someone else out there who is practicing more, and is practicing more effectively, than you are.
      There really isn't a whole lot of explanation needed on this one.  If you aren't practicing, someone else is.  The only way to do something about it is to practice, and practice effectively, every chance you get.

6.  Don't settle for an instrument just because it's cheaper.  Save up and just buy the one you really want.
     Buying a cheaper instrument just to save a little money was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made.  I ended up selling it in less than 3 years because it was a terrible fit for me.  Be patient.  Save everything you can and keep your eyes open.  It will be worth all of the waiting when you're playing the instrument you really want.

7.  Take chances.
     You never know what kind of opportunities may come your way, simply because you took a chance on something.  Some of the most incredible performing experiences I've had came along simply because I allowed myself to take a chance on something new.

Inspiration

While motivation is certainly an important part of performance, this post is actually centered on another definition of the word 'inspiration.'  According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, inspiration can also be defined as "the act of drawing in; specifically : the drawing of air into the lungs" (www.merriam-webster.com).  I was rudely reminded this week of the multitude of things that can interfere with a practice routine.  A change in work or rehearsal schedule can eliminate the the time you would normally devote to a full warm-up routine. A tough day at work or being stuck in traffic can throw us off of our mental game just as easily as (sometimes more easily than) a bad run through an etude or excerpt.  Our physical state can provide plenty of interference when our bodies are worn down or injured.  We certainly never want to force ourselves to play through true injury in an effort to avoid permanent damage (both physical and mental), but we can still be productive with our limited time by focusing on one aspect of our playing.

Inspiration and respiration. Breathing in and breathing out. There are so many things involved in brass playing, but as I frequently remind my students, air is crucial to producing any kind of sound (good or bad).  Without air, we have nothing.  Condensed practice sessions provide the perfect opportunity to focus on our air production. Mindful breathing can improve our tone, articulation, dynamics, flexibility, endurance, accuracy, and so on.  Some suggestions for a mindful approach to breathing in a reduced practice session:

1. Breathing exercises. I am personally a big proponent of the "Breathing Gym" and "Brass Gym" methods. Spending 5 minutes going through 2-3 of the exercises (or go through the full routine if you like) can quickly refocus your mind and body to only thinking about producing the most beautiful, characteristic sound possible on your instrument.

2. Turn off your ears. I know, this sounds counter-productive, but sometimes we have to temporarily turn off our ears in order to focus on only one thing at a time. If you're having a rough time producing the sound that you want, find a way to stop listening to yourself and play everything based solely on how it feels. You may be mentally flexible enough to just stop listening, but I also like to use a practice mute in these situations. The moment you insert the mute into your bell, you automatically know that your sound is going to be condensed, whiney, and very uncharacteristic of your playing. I find that this makes it easier to disregard it for a time because you can blame it all on the mute. Practice mutes provide unusual resistance that forces us to reduce our playing to the simplest elements because there are so many things we cannot hear when we use them. Your thoughts can easily revolve around producing a smooth, consistent, and controlled air stream without getting frustrated over a poor sound. Play with the mute for a while. Then remove it and play the exact same way using the same air stream. See how much your tone, control, slurs, etc. improve without the added resistance of the mute

3. Remind yourself that the quality of our breathing directly impacts the quality of our sound. Leave yourself sticky notes all over your music and practice space so that your #1 thought is "Great air in = great sound out."  Then let this be your only thought as you practice. 

4. Buzz. Get rid of the instrument and let your air do the work for you on your mouthpiece. Concentrate on producing a clean and controlled buzz while using a big, fat, continuous air stream. Do not allow a breaks in your sound. Slur everything to ensure that the tongue does not get in the way of producing a clear buzz. 

5. Lip slurs. Find a set of lip slurs that you love. Make up your own. Play them with a friend. Whatever you do, the big idea here is to get the tongue out of the picture. Your air stream should be doing 100% of the work here so that your embouchure can take a little breather while you work on a smooth air stream and flexibility. If your chops are stiff and tired, start in the low to mid range and work your way upward. Let your air and body be your guide. As soon as you reach the point where you are no longer thinking only about your air, or the quality of your sound becomes compromised, move on to a new slur rather than beating it to death in frustration.

Brass players are always on a mission to find the perfect warm-up, the perfect exercises, the perfect method to fix all of our playing problems. You have to remember that no matter what you are playing, you have to work with your body instead if against it.  Focus on mindful breathing as you inhale to fill your lungs and exhale through the instrument as you play. Breath is life, both for our bodies and our horns.

The music in our minds

This week I finally had the chance to finish a book entitled, "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," by Dr. Oliver Sacks. Dr. Sacks is a neurologist from London who has a particular fascination for the connections between music and the mind. He has written several books relating some of the more unusual cases and conditions that he has come across in his career and I've now read both "The Man Who Mistook..." as well as his "Musicophilia." I found both books to be enlightening, entertaining, and informative, without overwhelming the reader with loads of confusing medical jargon. It was refreshing to read between the written lines of both books to see the passion that he has, not only for his chosen profession, but also as a lover of music. 

The mind is incredibly powerful. It can be a source of incredible intelligence and can simultaneously entrap a person in an inescapable prison. While most mathematicians and scientists would love to insist that math is the universal language, Dr. Sacks fills his books with examples of how music has the power to influence regardless of intelligence level. It can provide an organized outlet for minds that are overwhelmed by the fierce passions and outbursts associated with Tourette's syndrome. It can provide peace for those who deal with the sensory overload that can be associated with autism. I was also intrigued by the cases where people were suddenly afflicted by music constantly playing inside their heads (and not music of their choosing), as if there were a radio that only they could hear, yet could not turn off. Their lives were completely disrupted by the inability to "turn off" the music in their minds due to seizures in a particular part of the brain. On a more personal level, I am slightly mystified by the fact that when I am hit with a migraine one of the few things that will actually help with the pain is for me to play. It's not always the solution, and can sometimes make things worse, but there have been countless times when I had no choice but to attend a rehearsal or lesson and was migraine-free by the end of it. Is this a result of mental immersion in what I'm playing, allowing me to simply "forget" the migraine? or is it instead a result of the back pressure from the physical act of playing putting pressure on the right parts of my brain, effectively cutting off the migraines where they start?  I am certainly not a neurologist, but I can say that music has the power to influence our thoughts and emotions in a way that few other things can. Any child can listen to a piece of music and tell you if it made them feel happy, or sad, or scared. 

Our society focuses so much on our physical appearance that the power of the mind is overlooked far too often. Music can exercise the brain more completely than almost anything else. Music is language (both reading foreign languages as well as reading the music itself), math, physics, anatomy, physical exercise, communication, self expression, creativity, and so on.  And it encompasses all of these things at the same time. I am unaware of anything else that has this kind of power to engage so many different parts of the brain simultaneously. Music can teach, heal, calm, excite, engage, inspire happiness, and be a catalyst for peace. 

Now if only I could find a musical cure for insomnia...

Author's note: I do apologize for the somewhat spastic nature of this post. The distinct lack of transitional material probably made it a more difficult read, but I hope that my passion for and interest in the subject matter was clear. I highly recommend reading both of the aforementioned books. I also hope that my next insomnia-induced post is a bit more coherent. Ciao!

Why Music?

It's odd, really, why this question is asked so frequently of musicians and in turn, other artists about their individual arts.  We are constantly told throughout our lives that we should follow our dreams.  Let your dreams be your guide.  Go with your heart.  And so on.  Yet people are always surprised when they are confronted with someone who actually did follow their dreams, or are at least on the path headed in that direction.  The level of surprise can be rather disheartening to observe from the perspective of someone who is holding on to their dreams as though their very life depends on it.  The world is full of people in all walks of life who are haunted by their broken dreams that never came to fruition, whether by their own choices or a forced departure from their plans by external means.

I think that this is the primary reason why I stubbornly hold on to my music for dear life.  All too often, I see friends give up and move on to another field simply because they have to pay the rent.  It was one of the most heartbreaking decisions I myself had to make when student loan payments came knocking at the door.  I work for a wonderful company with fantastic co-workers and supervisors, but I am fully aware that it is simply a means to an end.  I recently went through a series of graduate school auditions for DMA programs, and each audition panel asked the same question, "Why do you want to pursue a DMA?"  Out of all of the questions that I was asked in my interviews, this was by far the easiest to answer.  It required absolutely no contemplation on my part to answer truthfully, "I have a great job that pays well, and I can easily get up every morning and go to work.  But I will never be able to move on, I will never be able to settle for something else, until I know that I have done absolutely everything in my power to get where I truly want to be with my playing.  As of right now, I haven't even come close."

Music is a beautiful, emotional, moving, heartbreaking, frustrating, time consuming,  wonderful field.  Yes, money is what pays the bills, and no, you will not be swimming in cash pursuing a career as a musician.  It's hard to explain why we put up with incredible physical and mental pain caused directly by an inanimate object (i.e. instrument) and why we actually love spending every free second we have closeted in a tiny practice room with that same inanimate object.  For me, there is nothing in this world that can possibly top the feeling of pure bliss that results from knowing that you have not given up on yourself.  The rest of the world may think you're insane for pursuing an art that will rarely make you rich and famous.  Your non-musician friends and family may rarely understand your motives or your drive.  These opinions will never matter.  The only thing that matters is that you know that you did not compromise your dreams and your soul will never have to feel as though a piece of it is missing.