NEW!!!! UPCOMING SUMMER READINGS 2024

SingThrough Central is back and newly updated for the post-pandemic era. One major change is that we’ll try to do each reading in a public performance venue! The other is the seminars we’ll be doing! An ARIA REBOOT SEMINAR to prep or refresh your arias for the fall audition season, and ARIA SOIREES biweekly to practice them in front of your colleagues. See information elsewhere on this site!

First, we’re planning a number of opera projects this summer! We’ll be selecting from among several Handel operas: Alcina, Serse, or Semele, depending on which is most “popular” or requested! We’ll also be offering Tosca and La Clemenza di Tito.

Our target dates will be set in July and August TBD through a poll of our prospective participants’ availability and the availability of a potential public venue! There’s a lot more info on this site!

So connect with us and tell us what opera/role you want to do. Do suggest other of your dream roles or “druthers”, and we can try to make them a reality!

Reach out to susannetta14@gmail.com or connect through this website’s options.

Looking forward hugely to making this a reality.

FINALLY!! There IS Light at the End of the Tunnel!

As of mid-2023, we’ve seen a receding of the pandemic and life getting back to “normal” but with new insights galore. How to steer ourselves forward, how to resume our studies and fill in gaps left by the last three years of inactivity or lack of projects or work or inspiration!

Re-imagining SINGTHROUGH CENTRAL as a series of role study projects with public performances was one take-away. There was much pent-up desire to sing and make music and offer it publicly to friends, colleagues and families!

Another important element was the focus on renewal of musicianship, vocal and linguistic skills, finding appropriate goals to set our sights on and singing what we loved and wanted to present to the world to help our community recover and grow!

There have been a good number of projects launched and sustained by Susan through the auspices of SingThrough Central in the 18 months, including performances of Pagliacci, Il tabarro, Tosca, L’elisir d’amore and other concerts around town. So stay tuned to our fall lineup of projects we’re hoping to put together and promote!

My EXCITED Recit Rant!!!

Today I hope you will indulge me as I rant about recits. About the necessity of theoretical proficiencies as your scaffolding and foundation. Doing recits. exposes all the weaknesses or holes in a singer's preparation process and without which their portrayal of the character on all levels vocal, linguistic and dramatic is weak. Of course, the hard skills come first (and then the interpretive or soft skills) but when you've got the one, the other gets so much stronger at the same time. There is PAYBACK for your hard work. You need to be proficient as a musician NOT only in intervallic reading but as those pitches relate to and are derived from the harmonic context and/or the previous notes or chords that were heard. ALL THAT AWFUL THEORY YOU HAD TO TAKE IN SCHOOL POINTS THE WAY TO KNOWING THESE SKILLS. Ah, if only we knew then what we know now! But these skills can be acquired!!! Just ask me how. If you can't do this (in ensembles as well) you might as well sing aria concerts for the rest of your days! The "melodies" of the recits. (maybe not very interesting in and of themselves and seemingly arbitrary but in fact carriers of the harmonies and the emotions) are always dancing in and out and over the harmonic sequences that shape them to move the plot/dialog forward. What is the emotional temperature of a progression and where it arrives? (Or doesn't?) It also obliges us to think deeply and psychologically about each character's motivations, intentions, emotions AND HOW TO PORTRAY THEM WITH THE VOICE. There's your choice of speed of delivery, pacing, timing....where there are false hesitations or necessary but missing pauses... and all the appoggiatura questions. Plus when and how to ignore the rhythmic settings of the words... Just think of doing your recit dialogs as a radio play and you realize that you can do so much without the visual aspect. Incorporating these into your results is crucial, even mandatory to be artistically viable. I don't see enough of this and as I end this rant, hope to make even a few more folks GET EXCITED when they realize they can do so much more!!!

What are YOUR language goals for this coming year?

Surprise, I’ve been studying my Spanish this year and watching plenty of telenovelas to aid myself in making progress! I’m now at an upper-intermediate level and tackling the rough tenses and their use in everyday speech. I’m motivated because I'm heading to Mexico in a matter of days to teach and coach for two weeks! Check this out!!!

https://sites.google.com/view/huatulcooperaprogram/bio?authuser=0

In a BIG ADDITION to my pandemic year study curriculum, I’ve been learning Russian too! I admit that it’s like crawling along compared to my usual quick-to-assimilate style. But that’s because Romance languages have much in common! And RUSSIAN, first of all, has Cyrillic, and second of all has a system of grammar and cases that do not exist in the Romance languages in such daunting and challenging ways! So, I’m content to go slow and see where I wind up! At first, my motivation was a planned trip to St. Petersburg with a friend, but—-you guessed it—- the pandemic took care of that. So now it’s just for the linguistic craziness that only language geeks can enjoy! But I have embarked…… well into my second year of study, I’ve now done 100 days in a row on DuoLingo! Whoo-hoo! Очен хорошо!!!!!

Though I've been speaking Italian for 30 years—-WHEW! Really?—— (it was my third OTHER language, but rapidly became my first, since my work pointed me in that direction), I realize I've gone through phases. When I'm IN Italy, most folks don't guess me to be Italian but they don't think I'm American either. Initially it was a point of pride that they couldn't ID my origin..... usually they thought I was some other European resident, like Belgian or British... I tried to perfect my delivery and my idioms, and I pretty much succeeded.

Then after 10 years spending every summer in Rome and in Ischia, I grew to not care, having proved my point to myself, my clients, and the opera community in general. Because, after all, I mostly lived HERE, and so it was, all told, pretty good, considering I wasn't living IN that language most of the time. (No one else could hear the flaws, and I knew my rustiness would fly away after spending a week immersed....)

Now with any other of my four ADDITIONAL languages--none of which have I dedicated so much time to--I recognize that in most of my other languages I will always sound a bit academic, (unless I learn the current jargon, which of course I try to do when in that country). But I know I'm a linguist and am proud of my abilities. These languages will keep my brain fresher and more nimble in the coming years, no? Nico Castel was always a great supporter and mentor for me, and I'd like to think he'd be proud of me! But, most people agree, it's a giant pot of language soup or salad, your choice..... (baroque poetic Italian? PUH-LEASE!)

NONE of this explains how to learn a language from scratch or why some of us are inclined to think it easier than others…… but that’s another post!!!!

WELCOME 2022!

Getting back into the work!!

It’s early 2022. We’re looking ahead eagerly and enthusiastically. How to think about and structure the work to get goals and projects that we can take to heart and work our buns off on make happen! Here are some ideas for a way to structure YOUR re-entry into study, both musical and vocal, and preparing for performance!

It's my impression in our late post-pandemic world, that what singers want most is to learn roles they can use for upcoming projects, to apply for graduate study, and/or add to their resumes and audition lists to demonstrate that they're used their time and talents well in the last 15 months AND will soon be ready to rock and roll!

In my capacity as a coach who specializes in complete roles, SINGTHROUGH CENTRAL will offer role study on an individual basis unattached initially to a reading date. The work will focus on roles, and aiming to create a possible reading. It will be the cherry on top of an ice cream sundae! We're hoping that there will be a flood of interest and lots of projects starting!

That said, my plan, going forward this spring and summer, is to offer operatic adventures like these (role studies coupled with a refined language focus). We’ll work individually initially and then, hopefully, combine in small ensembles where the necessary personnel are involved!

L’elisir d’amore

Il tabarro

Orfeo ed Euridice

Dido and Aeneas

La traviata

The role study will include individual coachings, language/diction work, and possible collaboration with other cast members. Much of this work can be done in person. For recit work, it will be possible to use long-distance learning options as well: Live Lab, Soundjack and other recent technological advances! Let's get the ball rolling! It's time to get to work. Are you game? Fully vaccinated? Start when you like!!!

A break to recharge…

Finding other ways and subject matter for our projects to keep moving ahead both musically, vocally, and linguistically while enjoying the community of lime-minded singers!

Late 2021. And after two more song projects this past fall, we’re taking a break to restructure and present new projects and ways of working. How to think about and structure the work to get goals and projects that we can take to heart and work our buns off on make happen! Here are some ideas for a way to structure YOUR re-entry into study, both musical and vocal, and preparing for performance!

That said, my plan, going forward next spring and summer, will prime the pump by offering operatic adventures like these (role studies coupled with a refined language focus). We’ll work individually initially and then, hopefully, combine in small ensembles where the necessary personnel are involved.

See you in 2022!

Serse, an historical king from ancient Persia, made into a fascinating comedy by Handel and his librettists.

Great success for SINGTHROUGH CENTRAL and the cast of Serse (Xerxes) tonight! Congrats and kudos to all! After weeks of hard work on our recits and on our arias, the cast of Serse really succeeded in bringing this music and drama to life.

What beautiful vocalism, and impassioned singing on everyone's part! We dealt admirably with the technological uncertainties and glitchiness and discrepancies between everyone's equipment and internet speed. We made music. Everyone learned so much about Handel style and ornamentation as well.

There was great camaraderie and even these daunting recitatives were tamed!!! These must be some of Handel's hardest recits; because he was exploding the old forms and starting to make a more fluid structure in this, one of his last operas!!!!

Almost the best thing about this form of music-making is that SINGTHROUGH CENTRAL casts no longer need to be in the same studio in the same city! In fact, we had participants from all over the East coast of the US, and as far away as Key West, FL, and Mexico City, MX!!!!

What a great accomplishment for all. Here’s our cast at the final curtain!

Languages: Learning Them And Enjoying The Fruits of Our Labor (at last!)

THOUGHTS DURING MONTH SIX of COVID PANDEMIC of 2020

Though I've been speaking Italian for 30 years—-WHEW! Really?—— (it was my third OTHER language, but rapidly became my first, since my work pointed me in that direction), I realize I've gone through phases. When I'm IN Italy, most folks don't guess me to be Italian but they don't think I'm American either. Initially it was a point of pride that they couldn't ID my origin..... usually they thought I was some other European resident, like Belgian or British... I tried to perfect my delivery and my idioms, and I pretty much succeeded.

Then after 10 years spending every summer in Rome and in Ischia, I grew to not care, having proved my point to myself, my clients, and the opera community in general. Because, after all, I mostly lived HERE, and so it was, all told, pretty good, considering I wasn't living IN that language most of the time. (No one else could hear the flaws, and I knew my rustiness would fly away after spending a week immersed....)

Now with any other of my four ADDITIONAL languages--none of which have I dedicated so much time to--I recognize that in most of my other languages I will always sound a bit academic, (unless I learn the current jargon, which of course I try to do when in that country). But I know I'm a linguist and am proud of my abilities. These languages will keep my brain fresher and more nimble in the coming years, no? Nico Castel was always a great supporter and mentor for me, and I'd like to think he'd be proud of me! But, most people agree, it's a giant pot of language soup or salad, your choice..... (baroque poetic Italian? PUH-LEASE!)

NONE of this explains how to learn a language from scratch or why some of us incline to thinking it easier than others…… but that’s another post!!!!

OUR GIULIO CESARE

When Our Virtual projects bear fruit...with technological help!

Thanks, pandemic, for teaching us!

Last night’s Giulio Cesare was the culmination of a long period of preparation and reorganization for all involved in SINGTHROUGH CENTRAL’s reading. (July 26, 2020)

The singers and I collaborated on the requirements needed for the pre-recorded piano aria tracks that I then made—on tempi, style details and cadences— with great success. I made the tracks on my iPad, using Voice Recorder Pro app and all its bells and whistles.

I rewrote the cut sheets for this iteration—which included ALL the principal parts ! (I’ve done without an Achilla or a Tolomeo in past versions depending on who was available.) Using pdf editing technology for the first time, I was able to lay out the cuts in a simple clear manner by using colors for my annotations (not using a table or chart with all the details mind-numbingly listed. Being able to do this, meant no longer would I or my singers go through HELL to check on and use the traditional types of cut sheets, given all the different editions of the score out there. Finally, when I sent this VISUAL version out to everyone, it was with a sigh of relief and pleasure at how much simpler and precise it was.

Then came the actual coaching. Online with each singer using two devices: one for the video conference, and the other for playback! Different systems led to varying levels of sound quality and degree of delay….something the experts are all still feverishly working on. Solutions are starting to be found out there, but not really easily available right now…. so we did the best we could. Microphones and headphones that plug into your computer are a big help. As is an ethernet connection (hardwired) from the computer to the router.

Doing recits in real time was closer to the ideal, and since there’s less coordination and more back and forth with the piano anyway, the need for precise timing was a bit less urgent. Again being cognizant of the delay, I adjusted my playing as did the singers their delivery of lines…certain effects could be done—like agogic accents—with some prior discussion. And letting go of some perfectionism was also required. But on the whole, good success was achieved most of the time….for a first attempt, with no staging and some rudimentary ideas of the dramatic aspects of the moment. A metronome was very useful both while I recorded (my phone’s metronome and earbuds for me), and for the singers’ own practice, since the singers couldn’t always hear the music themselves while singing….or keep up with the tempo during their coloratura passages without visual cues.

Everyone’s good will was amply in evidence and for that I’m grateful. We are and were pioneers for the whole process.

Some things to consider for the next time:

• Marking certain moments in each aria during a recording with a timing (like 2’34”) to indicate cues where something began….since measure numbers are of no use while performing from a recording…..

• Building in ritards or cadences, in ways that are comprehensible for the singers. In this instance I counted aloud to give them cues or explained verbally how I brought the tempo down to half, and then continued to the end or snapped back into the final refrain.

• Next time I'll try perhaps to video my piano tracks instead of making mp3s so I can give visual cues or breathe as I would while conducting from the piano… I won’t speak of all the time it took to record (well, practice and then—record AND often re-record—about 35 arias.)

• And finally this WAS a “first”: the group recitative online sessions during which we read aloud the libretto were STRIKINGLY SUCCESSFUL according to everyone…… and FUN!! This sort of preparation sessions rarely happens even in productions done in the “before” times, due to time restrictions or the director NOT knowing Italian. Now I consider them an integral, useful aspect of any future work on any Italian opera but especially essential for those with secco recits: Handel, Mozart, and bel canto!!!

In so many ways this was a great challenge from which the take-aways are HUGE. And for that I’m grateful as well as always deeply thankful for Handel’s music and psychological genius (and his librettist Nicola Haym’s) for such a masterpiece that resonates as much now as it did at the premiere in 1724, almost 300 years ago.

COVID Inertia: It's a real thing

Covid INERTIA. It's a thing. It's why we sleep later, and run out of steam earlier. It's harder to commit to things and we can't seem to muster up enthusiasm for much of anything---except eating and cooking maybe......

Great ideas for projects which might keep us on our toes OR AT LEAST HAVING SOME FUN as musicians and scholars (roll your eyes if you must!) seem to dissolve in the face of the UNknowing about what's down the road.

Covid-INERTIA and maybe lack of disposable cash......

Today I suggest that you cut yourself a break. Some days you may feel the inertia more strongly than others or more than other folks. Everyone's coping mechanisms are different...... BUT only for so long can you be your own cheerleader and an idea-creator and an engine for making things happen in the face of a void without it taking a toll. So BE KIND TO YOURSELF.

So give yourself PERMISSION to take the weekend off from ALL of this. And just enjoy what you can....in quiet reflection.......or any other sort of distraction you like that won’t hurt you…and might even be a good thing….

I’m off to make some jicama chipotle fries!

xoxo

MID-Pandemic: Where do we go from here?

While the pandemic is still on, and has taken over our lives in so many ways, it has resulted in an emotional shutting down and/or depressive state that has affected everyone. I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. BUT there are certain skills and interests that we can move forward with in order not to lose our sharpness, our readiness and our motivation and goal-oriented studying and learning. (We're all perpetual students anyway, aren't we?)

So under the SINGTHROUGH CENTRAL umbrella, I'm offering things like ITALIAN CONVERSATION classes on TWO different levels, an online ARIA REBOOT CAMP SEMINAR and SPECIAL FOCUS ARIA WEEKS!!!

An ITALIAN ARIA WEEK: June 7-13 and A FRENCH ARIA WEEK: June 14-21 for specially low fees. You can find details for all this on the website if you roam around.

Also, have you dreamed of playing the piano better than you already do? I have some special techniques that I'd love to offer in a series of GUIDED PIANO LESSONS, not to learn to play sonatinas and stuff you had to do in school to pass out of piano proficiency, but practical work with emphasis on keyboard topography and sightreading and chord study (and with it harmonic competence!!!)

IT WILL PAY OFF. Have you seen all the pandemic produced vids where singers are accompanying themselves, some brilliantly? YOU don't have to aspire to go public..... you can just GET BETTER to get better and help yourself learn a role!

Because a lot of us are on restricted budgets fees will be reasonable, with sliding rate so that it's something many can do. This way we’ll jointly commit ourselves to improving and discovering more about our artistry and our abilities to teach ourselves!

WE’RE GETTING STARTED IN June, which is HERE ALREADY! So please reach out ASAP as these will be highly curated and personally tailored sessions, seminars and events and limited in size !!!!

DON’T miss out!!!! Can’t wait to have you onboard!