Once More...

Once more, I urge you to read your libretti over and over again. This is no different than a play where, if you had a role, you would read the script every day until you became totally familiar with the lines of every character as well as your own. Let's assume that you're Brad Pitt or Kate Winslow or, say, Helen Mirren. Let's also assume that you have been hired to act in a movie. Would you just learn your own lines? No! You would be well aware of what was being said to you and you would have worked out your reactions well in advance of any shoot. Moreover, because no movie is shot from beginning to end in one uninterrupted session, but in many, many individual takes, you would need to know your script from beginning to end so that each take could be edited into a whole coherent movie. That means you would need to know where you are in time and space within the context of the whole movie. The only way you can do that is to be totally familiar with your script. Now, the actor reads his movie script over and over again on a daily basis or else he/she will fail and hence his/her passport to millions of dollars of earnings will suddenly evaporate. You would need to be totally familiar with everyone's lines as well as your own or else the shoot would fail. Now, some of you are not even reading your libretto or even writing your words in, let alone anyone else's words. If you were actors, I would have to ask you if you are serious about pursuing an acting career. Why shouldn't I ask you if you are serious about pursuing a singing career? Are you professionals?

Some are rising well to the process of learning their roles but some are waiting for others to do the work for them. Sorry, the latter method is rank amateurism, akin to a belief in magic. It's like saying "I'm not learning or making any effort to learn. You have to teach me and then wave a magic wand so that whatever you teach me will be indelibly retained in my head." Do you think, for one moment, that Brad Pitt, Kate Winslow or Helen Mirren would say, "teach me my lines!" ? Sorry, we can only guide you on how one must learn, we cannot teach you your lines. You are singing actors and you must prepare to sing opera as singing actors. Your words should have been written in weeks ago. You should have read through the music and words, or if your reading skills are not good enough, listened to the whole opera over and over again. Time is running out. Some of you are prepared and some are not. If you are not prepared, use this weekend sensibly. Don't watch TV. Don't get distracted. Concentrate on having the whole libretto written into your score. Read your words and music over and over or, conversely, listen to your music with your English words in front of you, over and over. over and over, over and over. Don't come unprepared into rehearsal next Monday. You might not be perfect in your role but you will be as well prepared as you can be. If you haven't prepared, we will know it. Be prepared to put your score down, be prepared to make mistakes or be prompted, but stop holding that score. We can't work like that nor can any director of a play nor any director or musical director of an opera work like that. It's equivalent to an actor holing his lines in a movie shoot. We need your entire attention and you cannot give us that if you are glued to a score.

Guys! There's no substitute for a common sense approach to learning. If you were sitting for a school exam, you would sit down and study, memorize, in short, learn your work. What's different about learning an opera? Stop waiting for some teacher to do your work. You're not going to be ready.