fbpx

Seminar Summary and Doing Better

Posted byMezzoid Voice StudioPosted inUncategorized
Yesterday I attended Jeannie LoVetri’s seminar. It was the closing event at the 2013 Contemporary Commercial Music Institute Somatic Voicework™ the LoVetri Method program at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia.

Since I am certified in all 3 levels of the program, I attended a post-certification program on Speaking and Singing with the Same Voice, taught by Joan Melton. I’ve already discussed how wonderful this was. I had not attended Jeannie’s seminar before, and decided to do it this year – honestly, for political/networking reasons. And as the final day of the post-certification program ended, I was pretty much ready to go home and was regretting having signed up for another day’s work.

The seminar’s direction was decided by each participant. Jeannie asked, “What do you want to know?” and we all made our requests. Some people wanted to be warmed up by Jeannie, some wanted to discuss working on the high belt mix, some wanted to know how much chest was too much, one person wanted to know how to teach a rock scream, and I wanted to see SVW™ principles implemented with male voices. We did all these things, and I gained tons from it.

But we started out with a brief lecture by Jeannie and this is what I took away from it (somewhat paraphrased):

Like 12-step, it’s one day at a time. There are some days that you don’t do it (practice, sing, exercise, stay sober/straight), and you acknowledge that you didn’t do it and you try to do better. It’s a reflection on the state of your life, not your voice. You don’t have a bad voice – you’re just not working on it. 

So I acknowledge that after about 2 months of eating pretty healthfully and staying away from fast food, I didn’t do it last night (curse you, Wendy’s). And I will try to do better.

And my house and studio are not fully functional yet. I acknowledge that I have to spend some time in getting it to where it needs to be so that I can teach here in the fall. And I will try to do better.

And I have a beautiful voice and I haven’t been working on it. And I will try to do better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjdipLGUl00

Published by Mezzoid Voice Studio

Christine Thomas-O'Meally, a mezzo soprano and voice teacher currently based in the Baltimore-DC area, has performed everything from the motets of J.S. Bach to the melodies of Irving Berlin to the minimalism of Philip Glass. As an opera singer and actress, she has appeared with companies such as Charm City Players, Spotlighters Theatre, Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Theater of Northern Virginia, Opera North, the Washington Savoyards, In Tandem Theatre, Windfall Theater, The Young Victorian Theater of Baltimore, and Skylight Opera Theatre. She created the role of The Woman in Red in Dominick Argento’s Dream of Valentino in its world premiere with the Washington Opera and Mary Pickersgill in O'er the Ramparts at its world premiere during the Bicentennial of Battle of Baltimore at the Community College of Baltimore County. Other roles include Mrs. Paroo in Music Man, Mother Abbess in Sound of Music, Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, both Hansel and the Witch in Hansel & Gretel, and many roles in Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. Her performance as the Housekeeper in Man of La Mancha was honored with a WATCH award nomination. Ms. Thomas-O'Meally received an M.M. in vocal performance from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. She regularly attends master classes and workshops in both performance and vocal pedagogy, and is certified in all three Levels of Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method. Her students have performed on national and international tours of Broadway productions, at prestigious conservatories, and in regional theater throughout the country.

One thought on “Seminar Summary and Doing Better”

  1. I think that's true about everything in life. As long as we have the awareness to acknowledge where we fell short we can make changes. Beating up on ourselves and wallowing in guilt is counter-productive.

    Reply

What do you think?

%d bloggers like this: