Another 3 days

Sorry everyone - no photos til we get back to New York!


Wednesday Oct 28th

We had a day onboard, and although we were in Boston, the small legs had had enough and refused to walk anymore!

There is so much to do aboard this ocean liner (in the hallowed halls of the QM2 she is only known as an Ocean Liner, and NOT a cruise ship!), and for the first time, I let the young members of the group go to formal dinner the restaurant alone, and I took myself off to Deck 12 to one of the five swimming pools, and had a decadent hot tub followed by a long and almost solitary swim, which was blissful.

I even ordered myself a non alcoholic cocktail called a Banana Mama ! It was fresh banana, coconut cream, mango nectar and crushed ice with elegant slices of banana delicately balanced around the edge of the hour glass shaped glass. For the duration of the evening wallow I felt distinctly ’rich’.

I was dragged uncompromisingly out of my reverie when they rolled back to the cabin and insisted I went to the show in the Royal Court Theatre. I knew it would be a mistake of magnificent proportions, and I was right.

A one man show with much indifferent tenor squawking of Andrew Lloyd Webber, proved to be too much for moi, and I managed 3 songs performed with much affectation and ‘split register’ (well ok, ripped apart register!) singing, then quietly, and with a dropping tear in my eye, left the theatre somewhat despondently, and spent the time from there to the quiet cabin retreat, making up excuses to give C as to why Seanmhair could not make it to the shows.....an old war wound perhaps, or a potential heart murmer brought on by a surfeit of his Lordship Andy !
At that moment the thought of a Gin and Tonic ran like a white water rapid through my mind !

Thursday October 29th

We docked at St John’s New Brunswick, our first stop in Canada, and the sun shone, the colours were glorious and the ship was brought to rest right at the harbour road, so near to the town centre that the prow was almost ordering a latte in nearby coffee shop. For such an enormous liner she certainly gets close in to many of the ports.

The children love the tender boats best however, they like being ‘supermanned’ on to the writhing lifeboats, which are rising and falling at quite remarkable rate, and only the bravest of the brave step off and on without the helping hand of a cheery deck hand!

We wandered through the St John’s Harbour Market, and then after a small discipline problem S headed back onboard full of ‘swimming is cancelled’ statements, to the moans and groans of the children who needed to flex the badly behaved muscles today!
I like this unassuming but historically important little town in the far flung New Brunswick stat of Canada. The folk are friendly, quite ordinary, but born of the of the sea, and the landscape is sort of Aberdeenshire with moose ! Come on, use your imagination!

The clapboard houses are cheerful and individual, and the shops are not touristy and overpriced, or full of tat. It is a place where real people live, and once in awhile we foreigners land and add a bit of excitement and income, and then drift off into the sunset, quite literally, never to be seen again.

As I write this we are leaving harbour, and the ship’s horn sounded loudly and with a Baritone resonance which would have made Bryn Terfel proud ! The lights of the town are fading into the distance, and we face the open sea.

The Commodore is called Bernard Warner, and he is a solid Yorkshireman who is fond of repeating himself. He has not the colour of the Italian captain I had on my first cruise, but his rather flat Yorkshire vowels definitely give one the feeling of being in strong (if a little unimaginative, and what my father would call ‘belt and braces’) hands. In the Daily Paper, his outside QM2 life was wholesomely staid and seemed to revolve around his allotment near Whitby!

Up the White Rose!

Saturday October 30th

The children did a 3 hour stint in The Playzone this morning. What a marvellous invention that is – 1 year – 17 years all have areas and rooms according to needs, and there are 9 nannies to take the punishment! Today, the excitement is building to a frenzy as it is Halloween tomorrow, so the children are Trick or Treating around the ship and playing tricks on the crew – apparently – does that mean we will end up sailing through the Panama Canal I wonder, or does it mean that the usually high standard cuisine will be changed to Pizza and Chips in every restaurant ?
Anyhow my 2 are raring for the morning, as I suspect is Mummy who will get to go to the gym in peace, and maybe sleep a little!

We are in Halifax Nova Scotia, and the saltires with the gold centre are in every nook and cranny, and flying from every ship in the harbour!
We braved a taxi to a large shopping mall to try to find Halloween costumes for tomorrow, and found a Dollar Store (identical in every way to a Poundshop incidentally, then high on E numbers we got back to her majesty the QM2 with an hour to go before sailing.

Halifax is a bustling town, and like Newport, the colours of the leaves were radiant and glowing in all shades of gold, red and orange. It has been a wonderful trip for the New England in the Fall classic trip. Last year when I came it was 3 weeks earlier, and the colours were only just changing. This year it is riotous and beautiful.

Titanic features a good deal of course, but as we did not go on a ship’s tour today it was interesting to explore the other Halifax, with the stories of immigrants, and the great fire of 1937 (I think), when so many died.

I am sitting in the Winter Garden writing this, a peaceful room decorated like a tropical conservatory in calming greens and creams. I had another n.a. cocktail with a profusion of fruits and redolent of a beach in St Kitts, without the heat!
A sea day tomorrow, more swimming, more decadence and more relaxing. It’s tough, but some poor soul has to do it!

Three Days in One

Sunday Oct 24th


It was a rip roaring 22 degrees in New York City, and all the New England/Canada ish snow clothes languished in the suitcases wilting, much like we were, in the heat of an Indian Summer. I hate heat, as any of my friends, pupils and family will know, so a fairly sunny and overly warm city brings out the ‘bear with a sore head’ syndrome !
The children wilt in the heat as well, only my daughter S loves the sun, so we compensated by moving at snails pace, and rehydrating frequently.
The Empire State Building was first, and we opted for the flashy simulated helicopter ride over the city prior to ‘elevating’ to the 84th floor. It was like Star Trek and a disaster movie all in one, and once pinned into our moving seats it proceeded to terrify me and the 7 year old, whilst delighting the 4 year old, who was in his seventh heaven when we crashed into buildings, the Hudson River, and the Subway, via being eaten by Jaws........S, who loves heat and hates heights did not venture to open her eyes at all I don’t think! The littlest one was our captain and commander for the whole ride.
The views from the top on such a glorious day were fantastic – a panorama of the whole city, it always reminds me of an introduction to a US TV drama, sweeping across the metropolis, sadly I can’t remember which one!
We refuelled with burgers – well when in NY do as the New Yorkers do eh ? – then the highlight of our day was a visit to F A O Schwarz, the hugest, sparkliest, buzzingest and brightest toy shop
(Shop ? = small town the size of Kyle) we had ever seen which was alive with bug eyed children, overdosing on Disney, Harry Potter, Narnia, Barbue and Ken with their entire family of skinny and beautiful offspring, and more improbably large stuffed animals than you could fit into an aircraft hanger.
Exhausted we trudged home back to the hotel and fell asleep by 8pm.

(All of us !)


Monday Oct 25th


The day had arrived, we breakfasted at Pop’s Diner in true American style with pancakes, over easy eggs, crackly crispy bacon and cream cheese bagels. C who is 7 tasted her first Grape Jelly on her toast and fell into a loving trance with the jewelly purple confection. ‘Can we take a jar home Mummy?’ I secretly hoped if we did it would not be in my suitcase! Some things are a step too far, even for an indulgent Seanmhair (Granny!) !
We left the hotel with enough suitcases to sink any ship smaller than the QM2, and arrived at Pier 12 Brooklyn Cruise Terminal at around 12 noon.
It was sheer luxury. Normally the queues to check in and board are like mile long snakes with attitude, but not today. I had researched on many internet forums, and they all said the same – go early – ignore your given time. So we did, and they let us on as soon as we arrived when there were about 27 other passengers and a couple of small testy Pekinese who were bound for the onboard Transatlantic Kennels. Easy Peasy, and with small hot bodies in tow, it was painless to the point of anaesthesia.
We went straight to our cabin and fell on the beds. The bunks had not as yet been pulled down from the ceilings, but the Ice Bucket with Champagne was there, the leather bound information tome sat on the desk, and the glittering and expensive Gilchrist and Soames toiletries were poised regally in the bathroom. Bliss, we really were here.
After a few minutes we opted to lunch in the Kings Court Buffet and began the exploration of cuisine journey. This is my 3rd cruise, and quite honestly, nothing matches the sheer elegance of this liner. The starched white jackets with dazzling brass buttons of the staff, the abundance of uniforms ironed until they probably stand alone, and the white gloves on all who serve.
The clientele are mixed, a cocktail of ‘old school’ Transatlantic intrepids, elderly folk who might have been offspring of the upper classes on Titanic, and families like us who took advantage of the ‘deal’ which meant the children cruised free for this one half term week.
We explored a little for an hour or so, then we did the Muster Drill, the ‘how to wear your lifejacket’ moment of the journey. After trying to fit little W into an adult lifejacket, the crew finally realised it was as big as he was, and in an emergency he could well have used it as a makeshift life raft, we were left to our own devices, and tea................................................
Butter sculptures, Ice goddesses, carved watermelon.
Just like home!


Tuesday Oct 26th Newport, Rhode Island


We were awakened by lively and raring to go children at 6.30am. Now that is not funny, so Mummy got the three of them dressed and vacated the cabin to do breakfast whilst Seanmhair recovered her equilibrium, snoozed and surfaced gently mostly because of a tray of medicinally strong coffee and a calm and sweet smelling shower.
We were meeting with my friends from Connecticut at 10am and it was another lovely day, but only about 17 degrees. They had hired a car to accommodate Ann and entourage and were taking us to Mystic Seaport in Connecticut.
It was magical. A ‘made’ traditional New England harbour where they were restoring old sailing ships, giving horse and buggy rides, selling miraculous old fashioned candies and all inside a traffic free village.
The children were so happy and excited, they were allowed to jump, walk, fall off as many enormous logs as they could manage, the horse was friendly and called Dook (Duke, in reality) and run safely anywhere they wanted. Bit of an expensive way to go to jump off logs I realise, but hey, what the heck!
My friends have no children, and were slightly nervous of a pair of under 10’s. However the children behaved beautifully, and it was a day made even more glorious as the colours of the leaves on our 60 minute drive through Connecticut kept S and I positively astonished. It was golden, bright and dark reds, yellows like the centre of free range eggs, and orange like ....... an orange ! Photos could never do it justice, but take my word for it, New England in a perfect Fall is magic.
Back onboard, tired and with feet like plates of meat, we got ready for the Formal Evening. Now I NEVER go to these do’s, but S insisted that I did one of them. The glitter, the bling, the sparkly costumes and the tuxedoes was a sight to behold, and we added our own blend of ‘posh’ to a primarily adult Britannia dining room. The waiters were thrilled to see children (can you believe!) and the pink vision (thanks Ruby!) with hair trimmings and silver shoes, combined with the suited and booted 4 year old who was flirting for all he was worth with anything in a sparkly dress, were a big hit!
The food was divine, the service was impeccable and the experience quite exhilarating.
That’s it, however, me and the flirt have done our ‘posh’ bit. From tonight, he wants to go to the Playzone to ‘do’ bedtime with stories and movies on beanbags with lovely nannies, and I will dine quietly in the buffet with a good book. Mummy and the pink ruffly girl are going to this evening’s Grand Ball, and then on to the Commodore’s Dance, and possibly a theatre show if they keep awake.
Gadabouts!

Later

Update when we get to the liner..........................
Watch this space!

Day 1 and Time Changes

We arrived in New York City at 1.30pm lunchtime US time and around 6pm UK time, so as I write there are two very overtired children having a bath and getting into bed.

The hotel is in Queens, not Manhattan. The most reasonable Manhattan hotel was around $400 a night, which seems a lot when outside Manhattan was a quarter of the price! And, I would rather spend the extra cash on the cruise!

It is pleasant, residential and fairly quiet, but there is a subway nearby and a bus into the centre just outside the hotel lobby - so that suits us just fine!

I am a little tired for people watching, but the hotel bus driver is a bit of a card, and had a great line in chat and banter! He could have been Irish!

Sightseeing tomorrow, in a small way - with two children of 4 and 7, the day will be slow and steady with lots of breaks for rest and refreshment.

Talking of refreshments, we did clear the 'sweetie' machine in the lobby out of small person bags of chocolate chip cookies, something of a feat when we had only been in the building around 2 hours!



OK - the lobby has just filled up with Russian pilots and stewardesses, it has the ring of Murmansk about it, only 30 degrees warmer - believe me, I've been there in December!

Mounting Excitement

I had another great day with the Poor Clare sisters in Arundel. My poor leg was suffering at the end of the day, but we really pulled the Anima Christi anthem together brilliantly. We ended up in the beautiful but simple chapel where the acoustic is magical, and it sounded as though it were in a large cathedral.

They sing so well, even though I have not been for awhile and there were a few lazy vowels skirting around the liturgical edges! The whole, especially when it moves into 3 parts, sounded like honey in the chapel, where the walls are stone, the ceilings high, and even better than that, the sun was casting magical shadows on the white walls, through plain, but elegantly tall arched windows.

I had a good 'chat' at the end of the day with the Abbess and two other sisters whom I have known and laughed with for many years, and caught up on all the Arundel gossip, and left with them making me book another date with them before Easter 2011. I love my injection of contemplative life, and I have really missed it this last year, so it feels great to be back in the 'habit saddle' !

Well, we are off at 7am in the morning, and will fly from Heathrow at 10.35am if all is well and there are no delays.

From now on my blog will be my 'Travelogue', so I hope that does not disappoint any of my musical readers.

I can't wait to go on holiday, my grandchildren are at bursting point, so I don't think there will be much sleep tonight!

They normally jump on me at around 8am, if my daughter can rein them in until then, but this week they have been very good, as Seanmhair's poorly leg and arm could not have withstood the torture that is 'Under 8's ' in the morning ! The ibuprofen is doing wonders, and the colours of the bruises are seasonally autumnal - Lovely!

See you in New York,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Anima Christi and Animated sisters

I had a lovely day with the Sisters at the Poor Clare Convent in Arundel yesterday. Since I last visited there have been 4 new additions to community including a teacher of speech and voice studies at the Liverpool School of Performing Arts. She was young, vibrant and with a great voice - not the sort usually associated with singing the Office, more with Les Miserable ! She was a Post Grad at the RAM with a colleague of mine, Mary Hammond, and it was a strange mix of 'jobs' for her to be having a singing lesson and learning some beautiful sacred music !

She seemed very at home within the convent, and I hope will find her answer and decides whether or not she wishes to make her life there.

A quiet and charming young French sister is transferring from the Poor Clare Abbey in Southern France, and she too had a well trained voice, which with some encouragement will open up to a fresh soprano. She had been a very young Abbess so it seems, but needed a change of pace and scenery. She was so responsive and keen to do well.

I was teaching a piece using the setting of Anima Christi, by a young Italian composer which the Abbess had picked up when she was in Rome, and it is gorgeous! I had already got myself a photocopy - it is SATB, but obviously we only use SA and a solo part within the Abbey! I will, however, be using it with my band of miscreants back in Paradise!

I re use quite a bit of music that I glean from all the religious houses I visit. They seem to have a source of repertoire that I have not managed to penetrate as yet. Still, what I pick up is always beautiful, universally usable and most importantly, very accessible to everyone!

Am off in 10 minutes for my second day somust sign off!

Lazin' about...

I decided to have a couple of days off to regroup and rest before starting my next 2 days of workshopping, so I had a quiet travel day on monday. Actually I fell down the last 3 stairs at J's house and knocked myself about a bit ! Driving was ok, but walking around was very painful. I have bruises the size of eggs on my arms, and an ankle even less supple than usual, but the most pain is coming from my calf muscles and bones. Today is is slightly less stiff and achey, and I am hoping it can withstand the next 2 days of standing and teaching. It feels better when I move, but playing the piano will be a test!

Today we had a visit from 2 Paradisians who are holidaying in the 'metropolis' that is London, and they caught the train out to the depths of Sussex to come and see us and the grandchildren. We had such a lovely day, wandering around this Mediaeval market town, then picking up from school, followed by a splendid dinner at a nearby Harvester restaurant.

We all ate for Britain, a sure sign that a cruise is 'coming on' ! Salads, rolls, racks of ribs, half chickens spitroasted, and of course ice cream.

There was a delightful couple sitting on the next table who came over and presented us with a voucher for free ice creams for all of us............on reflection, there was no reason at all why they could not have benefitted from the free ice cream towers. What kind and generous folk they were.

The world is filled with good people, and sometimes I feel as though we need to be reminded of that !

Now off to bed to rest my bruised and battered body.
Zzzzzzzzzz

Run Rabbit Run

It was a hard day's singing, and the group that I was working with were pretty dead by the time we had finished. I am usually of the 'short and sharp' school of rehearsal, but today, much of the work they had been putting in for the last 2 months needed pulling together and stitching up, so to speak. These singers are a dedicated and hard working bunch, yet in some ways like some of my youngsters who suffer tension because of overdrive, I think the ladies had been putting in a great deal of slog and sweat for not much return.

Having said that, the notes and words were all there, the 'nuts and bolts' were in place, but somehow the joy and pleasure was not present. The reason why they usually are such fun to work with had vanished in a cloud of fear! The beautiful part song by Antonin Tucapsky 'I Saw Thee Weep', poem by Lord Byron, had been subsumed by the fact that they were simply scared stiff of the musical complexities. It sounded like a group of extremely nervous rabbits caught in 10 sets of headlights! Now given that there are a number of big personalities, and some very experienced singers in this small ensemble, the cold fear was almost tangible, and very surprising.

We come back, once again to relaxing, loosening up and remembering why we are doing it in the first place. Singing is tough at the professional end, tough at the amateur end, and tough in the middle, but we do it because we love it and it makes us feel good. If the feel good factor is missing then it is a waste of energy, and becomes quite depressing. I have known many of these women as friends and colleagues for oodles of years, and I know they sing because they love it.

Today, for a while the 'love' bit was missing. After warming up and singing through the song, hitting the wall of fear, I rethought the whole thing and decided to fall back on the old tried and tested ' count the windows in the hall whilst you sing', and 'count the chairs around the table'.....I'm not proud, I'll stoop to any level to disconnect the brain and the voice ! That went a good way to helping them forget themselves and let their voices do what (after all these years!) comes naturally.

It was Ann 1 Singers 0 by 11.15am !

Then after a much needed coffee we worked on a couple of pieces they know very well, and I could feel the joy returning like the prodigal soprano. They began to spark up and answer back - it was all coming back to life, and the score became

Ann 1 Singers 1 !

By lunch time, a tired but game and smiling band sat down to a fantastic spread laid on by my old duet partner the redoubtable J. A few glasses of wine added into the mix, and by the time we restarted we were all able to tackle the piece I blogged about last time I was with them, the Jewish 'Ya Ba Ba Bom'........only this time it had MOVES ! Feet, voice, and brain were tested to the limits, but I really think we cracked it. After much wringing of hands and shouting on my part, it was beginning to sound and look as if they were actually enjoying themselves.

This group of ladies generally have no conductor or director, so it is tough for them to keep the sense of vocal discipline and cohesion needed for tight and clean part singing.

So here in black and white are a few little rules to follow girls!!

a) Vowel shapes - no laziness please!
b) Warm up and have a laugh before you tackle anything harder than Twinkle Twinkle !
c) When things are going wrong distract yourselves with silly games !
d) When you are lucky enough to have someone to lead - use them !
e) Always remember why you are there, WE LOVE SINGING - WE LOVE SINGING WITH FRIENDS !

Laughing and Loving are the reasons for singing - is'nt that one of those great Novello songs ?

Ramblings

The journey came and went, and I took some photos along the way to show you my route. It was wintry , wet and a little chilly, but that pleases me much more than a hot sticky journey !



A Stop at the Real Food Company, Tyndrum, and a fab log stove !



Mid Glasgow Bypass !



City Lights and 40 miles to go !

I listened most of the day to the triumph of the miners in Chile being brought back to the surface and how they are coping with life after being underground for what must have seemed like a lifetime. The media were already talking about a 'book', film rights, and how much each man could expect to be paid for his 'story'. What will be the outcome, each man's take on it will substantially different from his work mates, and the younger men will feel quite differently from the older, more experienced chaps....what a dilemma for them. They are generally poor working people whose life could be changed in a moment if they sell their story. I hope it does not cause long term pain and antagonism if stories are told, and we hear about heroes, cowards and the like ?

Today my friend and I picked up the piano tuner who will tune the hall instrument where the masterclass is being held tomorrow. Piano Tuners are often the 'odd bods' of the musical world. They have fantastic aural perception, and the calm of 'Patience on a Monument', and must not mind the loneliness of working in solitary confinement, so to speak. This chap was a delightfully eccentric person, and who seemed to be living in the 1950's ! Not, you understand, that I think that is a bad thing - there is a great deal to be said for that quieter, calmer and less frenzied era - but he really was one of life's characters with the most crystal and sparkly ' received pronunciation ' that even I, having worked in the theatre world, have ever heard. He was rather more refined than Prince Charles, and marginally less posh than Lady Bracknell !

He wore the uniform of a 1950's fictional schoolmaster - a Mister Chips, or of a sweetly solitary prep school music master, who plays the organ each morning in chapel ! Tweeds and linen and paisley cravat.

He did a lovely job on the piano, which in fairness is not exactly a Steinway, and took great pains in telling us that it was approximately 1/8 th of a tone down, or 'doywn', and he was most 'appallingly sorry' that he could nothing about it !

Thank goodness, there is still room in the world for eccentrics ! We just don't have enough of them.

Don't conform - that's what I say!

PS There was no Costa......................still boarded up..................it had to be the Wild Bean Cafe....................my life crumbled.

On the Road again...

Well, the car is packed, the suitcases are bursting (and I hav'nt even left the country yet!) the travel snacks are sitting enticingly on the passenger seat and the tank is as full of unleaded as I can get it.

The house is clean thanks to a great deal of help from my young 'Housekeeper' R, and the washing is all done.........it's time to go.

I only taught 3 lessons this morning, and they were relaxed and easy, so stress did not set in, knowing there was still, at that point, lots to do before I sleep!

I had dinner with my parents, who HATE the fact that I am going away, in the local fine dining hostelry, which was delicious, so there is not even a speck of washing up to do ! The food cupboard and the fridges are naked, and the kitchen floor is gleaming.

Now, what have I forgotten ? If indeed I have it will come to me, with any luck, between now and tomorrow morning.

I have had some lovely feedback from yesterday's post about Dame Joan, and I am glad a number of folk took the time to listen to the glorious Caro Nome. I just listened to it again ! And yes, it is still as beautiful, as unstrained and liquid as it was yesterday, and as it was 41 years ago. So I even cleared up that little pre leaving dilemma.

There is something so satisfying about clearing and cleaning, and it feels so pleasing to leave order and calm behind, and knowing that it will be just as tidy and peaceful when I return. I think I thrive on order, maybe that is why I love Bach and Handel so much ? Such wonderfully '4 square' music, so within the box, and uncluttered by rubato and flamboyance.

Rather like Dame Joan's voice, it has order and purity, simplicity and elegance, but never overblown sentiment. Sometimes, even the 'galant' of Mozart can be a little too rich. Then only Baroque will do.

Listen to some recordings of Handel arias like 'Tornami a vagheggiar' from Alcina or 'Dopo Notte' from Ariodante, and 'Piangero' from Julius Caeser. You will be astonished and thrilled by the excitement and furore of the music. It is like sailing on a musical speed boat !

Am off - will try to find my usual Costa Coffee on the motorway - they better have finished the flippin' renovations or there will be coffee hell to pay!

End of a golden era

Dame Joan Sutherland Died Oct 10 2010

I had so many recordings of Joan Sutherland as a youngster, and she was a fantastic inspiration to many young singers, and I am just sad that I did not have the privilege to meet her.

She has a voice like liquid gold, and the tone was remarkable. Sometimes you could not hear all her words, especially when she sang above top A's and B's, but somehow it did nor seem to matter! You will never - repeat, never - hear me say that ever again! Her recording of Donizetti and Verdi lighter roles were quite remarkable, and utterly definitive of her era of singer. We could all learn something from her glowing tone and remarkably easy delivery.

The end of an era.



The life of celebrated soprano Dame Joan Sutherland

Dame Joan Sutherland, one of the greatest operatic sopranos of the 20th Century, has died in Switzerland at 83.


The Australian star, who retired from the stage 20 years ago, had been in poor health following a fall.

Dame Joan made her debut at London's Covent Garden in 1952, going on to appear in productions around the world and making numerous recordings.

Her family said in a statement: "She's had a long life and gave a lot of pleasure to a lot of people."


Dame Joan was married to musician Richard Bonynge for 56 years
''She's a very important person all over the world, but for us this is our family and we're just trying to come to terms with this,'' said Dame Joan's daughter-in-law Helen.

The singer performed with other greats during her career, including Luciano Pavarotti, who described her as having "the voice of the century".



Pavarotti toured with her in Australia during the 1960s when he was a young man.

Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballe once said that the singer's voice was "like heaven".

Dame Joan was dubbed La Stupenda for her vocal range and stage presence after a 1960 performance at Venice's La Fenice opera house.

She sang at the Sydney Opera House when it opened in 1973, and bowed out with her final series of concerts there in 1990.

Her final stage appearance in opera was alongside Luciano Pavarotti in a production of Die Fledermaus the previous year.

It was in 1947 that Dame Joan made her first major foray onto the stage in Australia, playing one of the major roles in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.




This is how I remember her on TV and live at Covent Garden.



Dame Joan and a young Luciano Pavarotti performed together in the 1960s
Her career in Europe took off five years later in London, while her recording career began later in the 1950s.

Dame Joan went on to record some 40 recordings of 33 different operas, anthologies and other music. She won a Grammy in 1961 for best classical performer of the year.

She became associated with the lead role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, singing it 233 times during her career.

The soprano was appointed a Dame in the 1979 New Year's Honours list.

After her retirement, Dame Joan continued to nurture burgeoning talent and was a patron of the Cardiff Singer of the World competition, presenting the main trophy for the last time in 2009.

The opera star requested a small and private funeral service.


I found this in a Newspaper called 'The Australian' and I could not have put it better myself......

''Sutherland also managed her talent through a long career. Unlike contemporary singers who are often pushed beyond their limits too early, she had the time to develop. She was a star at a time when audiences valued the voice above acting or appearance and when the great houses were happy to offer the operas so suited to her talents. Her type of singer is increasingly rare, with the industry often rewarding youth, beauty and acting ability along with, and sometimes above, voice.''

Below is the finest performance of Caro Nome from Rigoletto by Verdi that I have ever heard. I have such vibrant memories of being utterly distracted and full of far away dreams of stardom whilst listening to this recording, when I should have been revising for my A Levels ! That was in 1969 ! She recorded this in 1960. Happy days................

All exam Music to be Learnt by This Week........

I'm on the final two and a half teaching days before leave for my holiday, so the packing bug in my brain is awake and screaming. I am such a light traveller when I go away to work - just the adjudicating/masterclassing smart clothes and beyond that, absolute essentials only. I only ever travel with hand luggage unless I am driving. For this next 4 week ish I will need something of everything as well as evening wear and 'smart casual' for the ship! I may need to do more shopping when I arrive in Sussex !

This week is my 'All exam music must be memorised' week, so I can go away with some sense of calm. One is not obliged to sing all pieces from memory in Grades 1 - 8, but I absolutely insist. Performing is not about reading from scores, apart from an oratorio, and even then not for just one aria ! Memorising music means I can then begin to actually teach it. There is no room left in the brain if one is still scraping around for the notes and words, and the sense of 'performing' is completely lost on both audience or examiner. So starting today this week will be about the stress of memory.

People ask me all the time 'How do I memorise', but I have no magic wands or clever tricks - it is simply plodding away until one absorbs the music and words almost by osmosis. I reckon that if enough practice has been put in the memorisation is largely done. I think one can't help but take in the text and melody if you sing it often enough!

As a performer in my youth, I could never have learnt a 3 hour Mozart role if I had to bang out the notes on the piano. I learned it in bite sized chunks, then wandered around the room singing it in half voice whilst 'doing the moves'. I am not even sure that the 'feet' made it easier to learn ! I often talk about moving around, and I know it works for tension and open tone, well maybe it also works for the 'leetle grey cells' !

I also used alliteration quite a lot. I tried to find letters in one sentence which would jog my memory for the next one, and that worked quite well in a simplistic way, if I was having real trouble! Sometimes I hear folk say 'Singers have it much harder because they have to remember words and tune', I completely disagree, the fact we have words helps us know what is coming next, and when all else fails and one is singing in a foreign language at least, we can sing fake Italian/German/Russian with aplomb and gravitas, and generally not a soul realises. Shhhhhh, the singers best kept secret! Sing mumbo jumbo if you must, but do it with conviction and authority ! Hard won experience tells me that all singers do that more times than they would care to remember!

I would love to say that all the years of memorising have kept my middle aged brain as fit as an 18 year old, but sadly, although I can remember lots of music, words, piano chord sequences and inner parts, sometimes I am hard pushed to remember what I had for supper last night.

Hmmm. Different area of the brain I think. So I will probably have split personality alzheimers when in my dotage. Can't remember the day or my name, but can spout for hours on English Art Song and the finer points of abdominal wall breathing. My carers will love that, what !

Heavenly Song

I was making a short film on my computer using some video clips which I took last Christmas. They were random snippets of the grandchildren and my elderly parents, and worth keeping in a safe and secure way. I learnt , rather by trial and error, how to use Windows Live Movie Maker, and ended up with a very sweet, if not very professional 9 minute film.

I then noticed that I could add music ! Well, what joy, I could play around for many wasteful hours finding music to download from the internet. This may surprise you, but I have never downloaded any music, so it was a start from scratch job. The world of eclassical music is as wide as the Atlantic, and I was so spoilt for choice for a moment I felt as if I did'nt know the first thing about the subject!

I pulled myself together and began to trawl for Christmas music which I love - well it was a Christmas DVD - and I listened to titbits of everything from Palestrina to Harrison Birtwhistle (which I quickly dispensed with!!!), and came round to my favourite style, my Desert Island Disc genre, the musical love of my life.......4/5/6 part complicated, soft and controlled choral music.

I looked for Christmas Choral music, and came up with a wide and 'diverse' collection. There were collections of 'supermarket' muzac in profusion, sliding and cheesy versions of Rudolf...and Jingle Bells....and an almost in tune rendition of Away in a Manger, for 'Lazy Baritone, 'Synthsizer' and backing track. Need I say more!

I could feel the despondency setting in, the moment when I think everything I have based my career on seems worthless to Joe Public - but I retreated, regrouped, had a strong Yorkshire tea and thus fully refuelled, I tried again !

Then, like a sunburst of solar energy I found it !!

Why had I not thought of searching by performer. In a nano second I typed in The Kings Singers and waited with bated breath...................

There it was, staring me in the face, the most wonderous arrangement of 'O Little One Sweet', and I am so joyous about it I want you all to share in the bliss of supreme choral singing outside of a great Cathedral Choir.

Made my week.

O Little One Sweet - The best home videos are here

I made the short film, as it would not let me upload simply music - video yes, music no.......this is NOT the one I made for private use!! But the little ones are mine!

Fabulous Friday

It has been a truly glorious day today. The Car thermometer showed 21 degrees and bearing in mind we are in the 2nd week of October, it has been a wonderfully summery day, yet the autumn colours are vibrant.

My new camera arrived today, in readiness for my holiday to the US and Canada, so I spent most of the day taking photos and playing with them on my laptop. It is not an expensive camera, but technology has moved on so quickly that it seems positively sci fi by comparison with my old one.

The aforementioned 'old' one, actually about 6 years old, so where does that put me in terms of obsolecence ?! will now go to my little 7 year old grandaughter, who will think I have given her the moon, and will provide hours of photographic bliss on our holiday.

Thus, as you all know there is NO singing teaching on fridays, I thought I would just show you some of the photos of Paradise which I took today.

Enjoy

Big Bad Wolf

Habits, habits and bad habits ! Sometimes, one has to busrt a bubble to allow for some real progress. Today, one of my talented 16 year olds came for her lesson and was all fired up and happy about a concert performance at the weekend. She was received with adulation and applause, and felt wonderful about herself. She is very good, and has such potential, but I had to prick her balloon so she could move on to a more adult performance, and take the risks involved with that, or allow her to remain in the 'child place' and not fulfil her considerable potential.

Oh Dear....she was not a happy bunny, but she is a gritty girl and took it like a man, so to speak! Her performance of the Handel aria was transformed beyond recognition, and I am sure she will set too and work at it with real determination.

It is one of the worst parts of teaching, breaking down and putting back together, and some youngsters cannot find their way through the mire of hard slog.

Young M is made of tough stuff, and I feel certain she will do the slog and come out on the other side smiling and strong. It is so easy to fall into bad habits, and I have not taught M for a long time, and sadly the truth is, at 12 - 18 years old, weekly lessons are absolutely essential to keep a baby, but growing voice disciplined and under control. M's parents are so supportive, and will do all in their power to make it possible, but they live 2 and a half hours away, and the weekly drive is daunting and tiring.

It is really needed now, at this crucial stage, her voice needs watching over and 'reining in' on a regular basis, so the bad habits can't set up problems which will magnify 100 fold when she is older ! The bigger the instrument, the more it needs a short leash ! In fact it is like a large and galumphing puppy !

I know they will make very effort to regularize the lessons, and I know it will be fine in the end.

I just hate and detest being the big bad wolf. However, having a sizable Grrrrrrrrrr.... is a fundamental qualification for a successful teacher !

Jigsaw Pieces

My young dance teacher pupil - of the Dance evening which was so professional - came today. A trained and professional 'Musicals' singer and dancer for many years, and now in her mid 20's she has decided to sing more seriously, and work on her classical technique. She is one of the most responsive pupils I have ever taught, and even more importantly, possesses one of the most free and unlocked voices I have worked with. Each week is a tangible move forward, she grasps what I am asking, and gives it the same quiet intensity of thought to her work which she so clearly used in her electric choreography and production skills.

She is an adult sponge! She falls into a kind of 'no man's land', which makes the challenge so much more alive and exciting. A mid 20's voice, relatively untutored, yet brimming with performance skills, bursting with artistry, and with a great deal of intellect thrown in for good measure. Some weeks I feel all I am doing is putting in the last jigsaw piece, and thus completing the whole package. It is such easy teaching in one respect, and yet an unknown area in others.

She is taking her Grade 6 exam in November, and to be honest, is above that standard but taking into account all the other 'stuff', aural, sight reading, and the fact she has not taken a singing exam before, I think it is an easier lean into the world of music exams to stay one step below her real ability. It is in many ways like witnessing a small and glistening flower fully unfold. All the petals are on the brink, and only the last one is waiting for the sun. She is such a joy to teach.

On another tack, the days are closing in, and would you believe it, tonight the bulb blew on my piano lamp which clamps to the music stand ! Just as it is getting too dark for me to read with any certainty even 50% of those naughty little black dots, the light goes out in Paradise Music Room ! I need to find something quickly, tomorrow evening 2 of my long distance pupils are coming for their bi monthly lesson, from 6 til around 7.45! By the end of the evening it will be too dim for me to play Twinkle Twinkle Broken Lamp !

The lightning was violent this evening, the hail fell for about 10 minutes, and then the sun shone and produced a rainbow over the bay......my mega voiced young mezzo M could barely sing for the shock of flashing lightning and the timpani thunder, which made her jump at least 20 times, scrambling all the musical jigsaw pieces of 'Madonna and Child' by Eric Thiman, a Christmas song which is meant to be lyrical, supremely peaceful, and with an undisturbed legato line!



That was never going to happen!

Now the wind is whipping around the house, and making that familiar, and yet oddly intriguing soft screamy moan.

I love it.

A Smiley Day

From Blogger Pictures

A long day today, but full of youngsters and lively banter! Of course my, oldsters are always full of life too!
Monday really is a day of the 'after school club'. The get off the school bus, or are dropped by car, and suddenly my kitchen is like a Paradise High School classroom - lots of homework going on and the custard creams committing suicide in the face of such a mammoth onslaught.

I began with L, and was so excited to be able to play with new repertoire, thus getting her as excited as I am, and feel the musical temperature rise as we gather a programme together! I have given her, Mad Bess by Purcell, the 'other' Sextus aria, 'Parto Parto', which I sang to distraction in my youth, and won many prizes with I have to add! Then we moved on to my favourite Vaughan Williams song 'The New Ghost', which is so full of shimmering poetry and long wandering melody lines. After that I gave her the shock of her small life and said she could tackle 'Gretchen am Spinnrade' by Schubert, and she almost fainted with joy! Another early Italian aria, 'Pieta Signore' and we were almost done.

One happy young lady!

My younger set were almost as happy, and there was a good spirit in the room. My newly returned teenager has turned a real corner, and is now talking about taking her singing further, which I think may be a possibility, but given she is only 14 this week, we may have to raincheck in a year or so! The babies of the day, H and K were great. K full of laughter (?! NB Granny!) and a new Liza Jane song made her smile and comment, 'I like Liza Jane songs ' she said with an odd mixture of gravitas and twinkle, and young H sang his entire Grade 1 programme without a mistake, beautifully in tune, and more importantly, without jiggling around!

After I finished teaching, L set too and photocopied the entire programme to take back to University, but fear not, she will purchase her own copies, so no copyright breaching here! She could not resist sitting at the piano and positively 'marinading' herself in Gretchen, a song she has nagged me about for the last year!

She will set off tomorrow for her journey home around the same time as all the others will be setting off for school or work, and another day begins.

Journeys in a Small World

Long journey, but I am finally home, and now will just rest up in readiness for the onslaught of Monday, and my own pupil paragons, who will sing just as beautifully, and with never a 'questioning' or a 'comment' - in my dreams !

Back to reality !

It will be great to be back to actual repertoire however, sometimes I just crave to listen to some Lieder or Purcell.

I have a young lady arriving tomorrow evening from Nottingham. She comes every 3 weeks or so, although this will be her first lesson since the end of the summer term. She is a most interesting, and very talented, bright and full mezzo soprano who has sung since she was very young.

The lovely thing about L is that she started at school with a former pupil, who students are those I masterclass in Durham, then she entered the JRAM and studied with my daughter for 3 or 4 years, so she is a true Betty Middleton product by 3 generations. How amazing is that, and how proud would Middy be to know that her tremendous talent and style are timeless and stand today as effectively and brilliantly as they did in 1965 ( and before that of course, just not for me!!)

I took L on, and she took on the challenge of the long travel to Paradise, after a non productive and dismal first year at university, where there was no singing teacher of the quality she needed.

She is bright eyed, ambitious and so musical, and soaks up what I give her. She is, however, one of those youngsters who seem to ooze confidence superficially, but infact is rather lacking in core confidence, and her ebullient 'front' is exactly that: a front. Scratch the surface and there is something of a marshmallow hiding underneath. (but don't let on I said!)

One of the reasons I love teaching her is that I can give her all the repertoire which I sang 30 years ago, I had a bright and high mezzo with a decent top A/B, and not too much growling chest register. So L gets the best music in the whole vocal toolkit !

Both of the fantastic Sextus arias from Clemenzo di Tito by Mozart, a few of the big English Art songs such as La Belle Dame san Merci by Stanford, and some of the Britten smaller arias. Scrumptious......................

She will fly to Glasgow then get on the bus to Paradise and alight at my lane end around 7.30pm.

It is astonishing that one can travel so far and then stroll 100 metres down the lane to 'home'. I once came from New York to my lane end in just 2 steps.

Small world. I am always shocked how small a world it is when I look and see that kind people are reading my ramblings from all corners of the globe.

It really is a small world, and thank you, all my global readers for your interest. Let me know who you are. Please!

Solo Slots

Lots of individual slots today, and the 'sign up' was pleasing. At least my plenary sessions did not put folk off coming for a little one to one teaching.

The individual lessons are only 15 or 20 minute in length, and everyone is so keen to get as much as they can from them it makes teaching such a joy. Many of the not so confident singers blossom with a bit of positivity, and the fact that they can sing out loud! This may sound like a strange thing to say, but in monastic life, the choir singing is based on blend, and not individualism. Anyone with a slightly larger voice which may stand out in a crowd, spends almost their entire religious life trying to 'keep it down' so as not to disrupt the overall tone quality.

Thus, once in a while, the best thing I can offer is the time and availablity for a good old belt. It gives those large voiced singers such a feeling of libration, a freedom, which by the nature of their lifestyle is hardly ever opened up, to use muscles and feel the resonating buzz which come hand in hand with a feel good factor.

We used the chapel, which, whilst modern and carpeted still has space to move, to sing and generally let rip.

I taught 2 Grace and Compassion Sisters who are based in Sussex, but whose native language is Tamil. I often come across nuns and monks who are from other cultures and whose native tongue is not a Western language. The vowel sounds are totally alien to me, and equally they find English vowels difficult and tricky.

These two were absolutely delightful, and they laughed and laughed at each others' attempts at an EE vowel and an AW vowel - we ended up in a 'win some lose some' situation ! They worked so hard in their attempts you might have thought it was a 'gurning' contest, where the most lip contortion and nose crinkling would win a prize ! They are from an order whose main vocation is in caring for the very elderly and very sick, and somehow the ability to sing a good EE vowel seems relatively unimportant in the great scheme of things - but not for these two brave young women ! We got there on OW and OO but EE and AW will need a little more time and patience!

Each small slot of time brought a new challenge and a new personality, but the overiding positivity lights up the day like a musical candle.