Role Preperation

I would like you all to start placing yourself, not in rehearsal, but in performance mode. Do not stop if you make a mistake. Simply carry on and pick up again as fast as you can. That is what you would have to do on stage. We might stop you, but don't stop yourself.

With the exception of the Tenors, on whom we have placed additional learning tasks, no singer should be holding music. If you don't know the role by now, you will not sing it. Even if you are not sure, take a stab at it. You will not learn it with a score in your hand.

However, one thing applies to all of you - Preparation. We must not wait until we get up on stage to prepare our characters. That is too late. We must have those characters prepared before we even come on Tuesday night. They must be as familiar to us as any member of our family. What are the tools that give us imagination. Primarily, reading comes as the first and major tool. Reading broadens our view of the world, provided we read good literature where the author takes us inside peoples' minds, into the period in which they live, into their lives so that we can understand how or why they mingle with the other characters in their lives. Quite an amount of understanding can be acquired by reading the libretto several times. The words are the only thing on the written page that allow us to define our characters and their relationships with each other. Apart from the words, some composers, (most of the latter period French, Russian and Italian composers) improve on the guideline of our characters' words by musically painting the very mood and manner of the delivery of those words. Are you going to walk on stage like yourself or like the noble Don Ottavio, in love with, and the avenger of, Donna Anna? Is your very body and stance going to show the conflicted emotions of Rigoletto, fierce avenger, gentle father, vengeful yet compassionate, as he exposes the Duke's character to Gilda or are you just going to be your usual self singing a damn good tune? Are you going to be a Carmen who is so convinced of death as she draws the Ace of Spades, that she is shaken to her very core? Carmen is a gypsy, a member of a tribe that originated in India many centuries before and who scattered over many lands, still with their ancient language built on Hindi, with superstitions that seem real to them. Even today, another people, the Australian Aborigine retain superstitions that will not die. I have seen men lie down and die after the Bone has been pointed at them. They die within 24 hours because they believe they cannot escape death. To us it is merely a bone that is being pointed. To the Aborigine, it is worse than a dagger piercing his heart. He virtually disintegrates. The Ace of Spades is like a dagger piercing Carmen's heart. It is more real than Don Jose's dagger. So , are you going to be yourself and pretend you are scared, or are you going to feel struck to the heart as Carmen feels? In short, let us learn to leave our personalities at the door as we enter on Tuesday night, and become, instead, the characters we are portraying.

In certain operas such as Boris Goudonov, Andrea Chenier etc., We must deal with masses and the the delusion of masses which is important if you are ever to play in an opera or play about any revolution. There is a perpetual sense of uncertainty which grows into a sense of fear, which eventually becomes a sense of terror and suppression and suffering. A great experience can be gained from another's words rather than our living such experiences. But that's exactly what we do in our craft. We take other peoples' experiences and make them convincing for our audiences. So we must live those experiences through reading about them. Words are our weapon of choice. Music is our paintbrush. Let's get to work.