Summer is coming upon us! (Double entendre intended.)

June 1 is fast approaching as is HOT, HOT weather, crappy tv (oh, wait. Tv is already crappy.) and lots of summer slash and burn guerilla theater!

First on the horizon is a recital up to the UNT with my friend Sarah Daniels. We are performing scenes from Cavalleria Rusticana and Samson et Dalilah. It's the first time I've sung them and NO, you cannot come see it! It's nice to have a break from opera chorus. I was going to sit out a production next season but we're going to have a huge break from mid-November until the end of January so I don't think it will be necessary. And quite frankly, I need the money. I'm planning on FINALLY finishing up my DMA by next May so keep your fingers crossed! It will be a major push.

This summer I'm going to be directing two shows for Ohlook Performing Arts out in Grapevine. Little Women (musical) and The Who's Tommy. as usual with Ohlook there are limited resources and a very small black box space. Where many would panic and not know what to do, I see this as a wonderful challenge. I have a real issue with those people, and I'm talking about people in and around Dallas, who try to do a big budget, high tech Broadway show on a shoestring in a space not equipped to do big, fancy broadway musicals. The results are NEVER good and it just makes the actors, director/choreographer/designers/artistic director look foolish. The question I am asking myself as I approach these two shows is this: How do you tell a clear, moving story when you have a tiny budget and a performance space with no back stage and no storage for sets? Certainly not by trying to cram a lot of scenery and a cast of thousands onto a postage stamp size stage! Do you need a large cast because that's how they did it on The Broadway? Do you need lots of big, fancy costumes like they had on The Broadway? For that matter, do you need a set like they had on The Broadway? I say no! I have some interesting ideas for both shows so if you want to see what I have cooked up I suggest you trek out to Grapevine and take in Little Women and Tommy at Ohlook!

Things in the garden are going well. In the dark of the night last night I planted seeds for two kinds of pumpkins, two kinds of melons, both red and green okra and fancy french egg plants! The cucumbers and zuccini have poked their heads above the soil and the squash plant that mysteriously started growing out of the compost has overtaken half the garden and is putting on squash! We are also picking blackberries on almost a daily basis. It's great fun and always change and NO, it's not a lot of work when you love doing it.

James is tickling the ivories at a gig in Branson, MO until the end of June and then will be working with me at Ohlook as well as music directing Little Shop of Horrors at Water Tower Theater in Dallas. It will be a full summer for all!

That's about it. Nothing earth shaking to report. Maybe next time.


Remember: Do what you love!

Jay

oh sleep, why dost thou leave me!!!!

It's 6am right now. SIX A.M.! I am NEVER up this early. EVER!!!! But I cannot sleep! I'm exhausted, I haven't gotten much sleep over the last two days, I desperately want to sleep, BUT I CAN'T!!!!! So, I decided to write a blog entry and then I'll give it one last shot. (Dear God, I am so TIRED!!!!!)

Anyway, it's been a whirlwind couple of days. We had our dress rehearsals for Boris early in the week and opened last night. I can't help thinking it must be really boring. At least the middle section must be really boring. It just seems not a lot happens for a long time. There were a lot of empty seats last night and the audience gave it a very un enthusiastic reception. Opening night is not our best audience and rumor has it the other performances are selling well so we shall see. I am waiting to find out what idiotic drivel Scott Can't-tell is going to write.

Between the final dress and opening night I hopped on a plane at 7am and went to NYC to audition for St Petersburg Opera. NO, not the one in Russia! The one in Florida. Not nearly as exciting but you do what you gotta do. My audition time was 9pm which struck me as very odd, indeed. I went to an address on west 48th street I wasn't familiar with. It's a very non-descript building in the middle of the block. The "lobby", and I use the word loosely, is just a big, no-frills hallway leading to a VERY industrial-esque elevator. There were "studios" on the second floor that people could rent for rehearsals, lessons or auditions like the one I was there for. Lots of folks were standing around in the hallway all wearing dark suits and ties, the women were wearing their best sunday dresses. There is a sort of banter that singers engage in at these auditions. They act very friendly, and overly effusive with each other but it all seems to be an act and comes off as very fake. I was not wearing a suit, I was not engaging in banter. I found a chair in a corner and just sat quietly playing Scrabble on my phone and trying not to let the adrenalin rush we call nerves get to me.

So finally I went in and sang. There were three people behind the table. I little, mousy fellow who is apparently a bassoonist turned conductor, a rather large, lesbionic woman and a man who was working hard at wanting me to think he was pretty (he wasn't). None of them introduced themselves which isn't uncommon. I sang Recondita Armonia which wasn't bad. The room was very live and I am, by nature, a loud singer so in a way a live room is stacking the deck against me. It's easy to push in such a ringing space but I think I handled it well. I then sang about half of the Flower Song which went well but they stopped me before I got to the hard/high part. The only conversation we had was when the puny guy asked me when I'd been at the Crested Butte Music Festival. Apparently, he was there too but didn't remember our group. Oh, well.

I have no idea if they liked me or not. They had a sort of pokerface response. Maybe I scared them with my lack of a black suit and my nonchalant attitude toward the whole thing. Maybe they thought I wasn't serious? Who knows. I was actually very serious about this audition and while it was expensive to go do it, I'm glad I did. Auditions are such an excellent gage of where one is in one's development and how one does in a high pressure situation. They are always a learning experience.

I have another audition in NYC next week. I'll report on it, as well.

Now I'm going to try to get some sleep. See you soon!

Of course, they were running late

Spring, moving, and all that jazz

It's been months since I posted a blog. A lot has been going on and I just haven't had the time or the inclination to sit down and write about it. Today promises to be busy so I will give you the highlights version. If you want details you'll have to email or call me.

The big news is that we have FINALLY moved all of our crap into the house! For those of you who don't know, this is the house in Plano that James grew up in for the most part. We've remodeled the master bathroom, put down wood floors in almost the entire house, and done LOTS of painting. It really looks amazing and feels almost as if we've moved into a new house!

Of course we are still overwhelmed by all the moving boxes. When we moved in, the house was already full of furniture so we've made the living room the temporary storage extra furniture and a place to stack all the boxes. Eventually we'll mix our furniture in with what's already here and take whatever is left over to the Salvation Army. Many of the boxes are full of books (James and I have decided we don't read NEARLY enough!) and we can't unpack them until we get our bookshelves set up back in the game room/office. That's going to be our library and office. I keep saying it's not as bad as it looks but I think James is feeling overwhelmed.

That's the biggest news. The opera season is almost over. Boris Godunov opens April 1 then the season is done. The garden looks great. A few plants survived the freeze and are now flourishing. We have planted parsley, cilantro, two or three kinds of peas, fennel, a few flowers, beats and some lettuces that we hope mature before it gets too hot. The figs and grapevines are waking up. The lemon trees are doing their thing, putting out LOTS of blossoms so we're hoping to have lemons someday. James still wants chickens and I keep trying to change his mind.

That's about it. I have a couple of auditions coming up and a recital or two. Staying busy and trying to keep my head above water!

More to come!

New Years: New Beginnings or the same old sh_t?

It's the third day of 2011 and I'm sitting here wondering what I'm going to do differently this year. My thoughts go first to what needs to be finished that wasn't finished in 2010.

This damn doctorate comes to mind. Other students have begun and finished their doctorates while I have dragged my feet. I think I've taken my time for a lot of reasons. One, this last phase is the most nerve wracking. My course work is mostly done, now I have one more recital to do, then the infamous lecture recital, then writtens and orals. (This last part seems a little redundant seeing as you also write a thesis but no one asked me.)

Two, what I want to do when I grow up has changed. Now, I'm less interested in opera and more interested in musicals, concerts, cabaret, directing and starting a theater company. Opera seems for the most part to be interested in being a living museum. A place where they trot out all the old standards with the same old sets and costumes. The artistic directors, stage directors and performers aren't interested in presenting exciting, living theater set to beautiful music. And most importantly, for me anyway, is that in my experience there is no sense of the company in the opera world. In opera we are not a group of talented, like-minded individuals coming together to create a production. This may just be at Dallas Opera (I hear this is the case.) but it takes the fun away from something that should make us feel like we did when we played dress up as kids. It's all very discouraging and makes me wish I wasn't there.

Three, and this is a big one, I honesty I think I started this degree for the wrong reason. At the time I was working at American Airlines and very, very unhappy but I knew if I left American I had to have something to go to, so I decided to go back to school. I didn't really have an overwhelming desire to be a college professor, I still don't, and in my time at UNT I've been relatively bored. I haven't felt challenged by the course work. In fact, I have discovered that in most cases if you just show up for class you're going to get an A. So much for the challenges of Doctoral programs, at least this one. I have entertained the idea of not finishing but I'm so close I need to just buckle down and get it done.

Now to more positive things! What am I looking forward to in 2011? James and I still talk about starting the theater company and I'm sure this year it will happen. Part of the problem is having the time to do it! Our schedules fill up so quickly. My summer is already filling up as is James'. I'm going back to the Czech Republic and James is going to be working with the Three Redneck Tenors in Branson. Also, we're getting our feet wet on the administration side by working with Ohlook Performing Arts Center. James is now on their board and I want to be on the board, as well. It gives us a good opportunity to learn about running a company and what happens behind the scenes. I think we are getting involved at a good time as they are getting ready to move into a new building. There will be fund-raising to do and new shows to mount. I think this will be a learning experience for both of us.

Also a learning experience is taking our production of [title of show] to the Edinburgh Fringe. So far it's been mostly talk but now things are about to ramp up. We are going to a Fringe Roadshow in NYC this weekend and we're about to start our fund-raising in earnest. We are planning some benefit performances in the next couple of months. My biggest fear is that we'll plan the event, send out the invitations and no one will come. James says it's just a vampire giving me trouble. It stresses me out so I just keep telling myself it will all work out. You just have to stay organized and have faith!

Ok, that's it for now. MOre to come!

Lots of news and happenings

Posting career info on your Facebook page is pretentious. I don't care about what gig you have this week. I don't care about with whom you're performing. I don't care about where you're performing. I don't care to see pictures of the food you've been eating while you're performing in said city. I don't care to hear about the traffic in the city where you're performing. I DON'T CARE! Facebook is a social networking cite. Save career info, photos, etc. for the website you use to promote your career and use Facebook to increase the number of people on your friends list.

Now that that's off my chest I can say that a lot has happened since I last posted. As everyone probably knows, James' mother passed away very suddenly about two or three weeks ago. I saw her on Friday morning of that week as did a couple of the neighbors. James talked to her that same day as did his aunt Alice and she seemed fine other than an upper respiratory infection that was getting better. The next morning, Saturday, her neighbor Jan found her on the floor of her bedroom. It looked like she'd started to get up, like she always did, and was struck by a sudden heart attack. James was in South Carolina with the Tenors and couldn't get back until early sunday morning. My mother was kind enough to let James' brother fly back from Toronto using one of her passes on American Airlines.

Everyone seems to be doing great. James and Johnny have never been the kind of people to wallow in sorrow. They are taking it in stride and doing their best to move forward. They have up and down moments. James said he was in a book store the other day and realized he was looking for books for his mom or he thinks of something he needs to ask his mom.

Also in true McQuillen fashion, the day after the memorial James started making plans to have all the bathrooms in the house remodeled. His grandmother had her house remodeled which his grandfather died and James's mother had a large part of the house redone when James's father died. Having the bathrooms renovated was something James been talking about with his mother so he figured why not go ahead and get it taken care of. The bathrooms haven't been touched since the house was built and are in desperate need of updating. They are decorated in tan, beige, brown, taupe and any other shade or hue of brown you can come up to. It's pretty bad. We are planning to move into the house after the bathrooms are finished. They mortgage on the house is almost paid off so we're going to move into the house when the bathrooms are finished, hopefully around the first of the year.

the other big news is that I recently auditioned for the Metropolitan Opera chorus. I sang well but I have no idea when I'll hear from them. I would be hired as extra chorus which means I might only be in one or two productions. It depends on what they need. We'll wait and see.

that's about it for now. Things are scooting right along. More soon!

New Post!!!!!

It's been ages since I've posted anything. I am finding that I'm not one of these people who blogs constantly. I don't have a thought and then, quick, write in my blog. I also feel as though my day to day life is pretty mundane so I don't feel the need to be writing things like, "I went to the store, I got gas, I paid the electric." They have that feature on Facebook now, which I'm convinced is a government conspiracy created to spy on us civilians, where you can punch in where you are all day long all the time. I don't want folks to know where I'm having dinner or where I'm buying my underwear! That's none of their damn business! Anyway, I shall endeavor to catch my teeny, tiny audience up on what I've been doing lately.

First big thing was that I came down with the flu a couple of weeks ago. It really put me out of commission for a day or two. At first I thought it was just allergies but as it got worse and worse and I started to feel achy I knew it was much more than allergies. It only lasted a day or two but ever since I've had a nasal infection. I finally went to the the fabulous Dr. Presley Mock who gave me some meds for that and also gave me a new prescription for Aciphex which is for my acid reflux.

Things are going well on the vocal front aside from swollen cords caused by drainage from said nasal infection. Other than that I've been singing really well. I'm not sure what happened but late last August something clicked. I realized that I didn't have to "try" to support. Support is a tricky word because it implies that some kind of physical strength is being applied to make something happen so it's probably not the best word to use. All my life I've had a lot of teachers, especially my undergrad teacher, tell me That in order to "support" I had to hold the rib cage open or I had to resist letting the rib cage collapse, I had to feel the sensation of pushing down as I sing as though I'm going to poop, etc. I have been told MANY different things and I've come to the realization that all of them cause TENSION in the THROAT. Any sense of holding or pushing or forcing is going to set up tension because you're trying to make your body do something it's not accustomed to. This manipulation puts tension right into the throat and so the larynx isn't free to do what it needs to do. BIG "ah ha!" moment for me.

So, back in august I decided to just try taking in a comfortable, full, expansive low breath and just let the air out as the voice sounded. Don't get in the way, don't try to keep anything expanded, just let body REACTE to what the voice is doing. Basically, what I was doing is getting out of the way so the voice could do what it needed to do. Ever since then, things have gotten better and better. I have found that the voice goes right into the grove where it can resonate freely and when it's not in that grove I can tell that they air isn't doing what it needs to do. The top 6 notes in my voice, basically from the passaggio to the C, have all gotten MUCH easier to sing. I can leap octaves much easier now, I can start a phrase on a high note without getting tied in knots. Most importantly, I'm not scared of high notes anymore. They stay hooked into the rest of the voice and they stay connected to the body.

I had a lesson the other day where we did 30 minutes of vocalizing and then worked on a couple of demanding english art songs. Things were great! All the high notes were connected, resonant and easy to access, my legato worked and it was actually FUN to work on the songs! At the end of the lesson I felt as fresh and ready to go as I'd felt when I walked in the room.

What's most exciting is how consistent everything has become. I know what the notes are going to feel like, I know how the air needs to react to the voice, and I know how the voice feels when it's resonating correctly and I know how took keep it in the groove so it will keep on resonating. It's all very exciting and makes me want to practice (when I'm not sick) and learn new music!

That's it for now. I have a busy afternoon planned. I want to talk about what's going on with my pottery so more later.

HUGS!

Fall posting. Not much to report.

There's not really much to say right now but I haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd leave an entry.

Fall has fallen, sort of. school is back in session but I have pretty much finished my course work so all I'm registered for right now is voice lessons. I'm finding now that there are lots of odd loose ends to take care of. Quals, writtens and orals, a recital and a lecture recital, foreign language barrier to pass. It's all stuff I have to register for but it doesn't require that I go to a class on a regular basis so it's hard to get motivated. James suggested I make out a "to do" list in chronological order. What needs to be done first, second, third and so on. I can then check things off as I go along and hopefully this damn degree will be finished sooner than later.

Opera chorus has been going full tilt for a few weeks although those of us who aren't in Giovanni have almost three weeks off which is nice but I'd rather get the pay check. We seem to have a nice cast for Anna Bolena and a wonderful director in Steven Lawless. We're back on the Globe Theater set with the addition of some very tall, louvered walls mounted on wheels so they can be pulled into various configurations by supers. It seems to divide the stage into smaller playing areas and I think will be very effective.

I realized recently that I've barely mentioned my pottery! I have been taking new pics of my pots in anticipation of putting some pieces up on etsy. I haven't done it yet because I'm afraid my works not good enough and will be rejected by the etsy shopping community. This is just a vampire, I realize, but it's looming large for me at the moment. I'm sure I'll pluck up the courage soon and put a few pieces up for sale and see what happens. when I do I will let you all know.

I could write more but it's late and I'm ready for bed. More to come, I promise!

nighty night!