I'm not really a slacker...

Only sort of.

No, not really. I haven't been journaling much, but I have been working really hard on the music, and I already have most of a rough draft of the history section done... About 5 pages worth. Plus 3/4 of a synopsis.

So, I should catch up on what I'm learning:

First things first- School started last week, and with it my first-ever acting class. We established the first day that we "know nothing about acting, since this is our first acting class."-- Didn't have to tell me twice.

So, we've set out to build our operational definition of "acting." This is what we have so far:
-Acting is NOT about showing any emotion or mood- emotion is a byproduct. (but of what?)
-Acting IS listening and responding without thinking, and anticipating that something is about to happen.
The second one I get. The first one I still haven't figured out. Apparently we'll continue to add to this definition throughout the semester.

I sit in class and try to apply all these things to singing. Maybe the teacher will get annoyed that I always answer his questions with "as a singer...," but he'll get over it. So, to me, the second part of the above definition is what we're trying to achieve when we say to "have more energy." At least that's what it means to me. When I focus and sing with all my energy and concentration, this is what happens. The part I hadn't thought about though, is that part of acting is not knowing what is coming next. It's easy to over-anticipate things. Because we DO really know what's about to happen, it takes a new perception to act as if we don't (and in some performances, we might really not know... I've been in productions that scary). To establish this part of the definition, we played games. The teacher tried to instill in us the drive to win, but somehow we just couldn't muster it. But, that's what we were trying to achieve. The irresistable drive to win is the same kind of focus necessary on stage.

So when it comes to Dorabella, A) there's energy and focus, and B) there's figuring out how to be completely surprised at every turn of events. I'm excited to get to work on some more parts of the opera with other people. It's easy to imagine these things, but hard to know if you really understand them until you can put them into practice and interact with other characters. Now that I'm getting a taste of understanding, I desperately want more. I'm hesitant to go on stage, actually, until I know I can do it perfectly (another hazard of being a perfectionist), but I'll overcome that. It just has to get better every time.



Also, I've been trying to spend an hour or more a day working on the music. Some days this happens, and some days it doesn't. I THINK I have the first half down fairly well. I actually think I could almost do it in english. The biggest problem now is learning the Italian. The best way I've found to do this so far is to get out my trusty mp3 player and sing along in Italian with the opera in english (yes, it's a little confusing). Practicing this way helps me keep track of what's going on and what I'm saying though, so I'm hoping that will help the italian stick. The only problem I have with this really is that both recordings of the opera I have have fairly extensive cuts in recitative. This would be okay if I was learning it with cuts, but that's not the plan. So, there will be parts I have to find a way to learn without help.

The only part of the opera I haven't really worked on is the Act 2 finale. But, I'll get there eventually.

I met with Dr. Smith for the first formal time today. I have most of the history part of the paper written, but I'm missing a couple key elements. I know these things are missing, but so far I haven't had much luck finding the information. First of all, I need to know about Mozart's stylistic conventions. I need to know when to use appogiaturas in the recits, how to use all those fermatas he provides, etc. I also need to analyze how Mozart's music gives dimension to the characters, the significance in each characters' vocal lines, the differences in style between their arias, etc., etc. I can understand a lot of these things on my own, if I think about it, but I need to find sources to back me up. I've requested several books from other libraries that I'm hoping will yield some info. I've also found a few articles in magazines and journals that might be helpful, but I've yet to figure out how to access them. Still working on that one.

So, my objectives for the next few weeks are:
1) Find info about the fermatas, style specs, orchestration, etc.
2) Keep working on recitative
3) Finish full synopsis and write condensed one
4) Find translation and create another appendix with all of Dorabella's scenes
5) Ask experienced performers I know to try to explain their creative process to me
6) Set up times to meet with Dr. Lile

I'd better get to work.