Happy Anniversary, Year 2

Happy two-year anniversary to the Voice Within Community Blog, TravisWhitlock.com, and the Voice Within newsletter! It's super hard work managing a website, blog, and newsletter-- or the Holy Trinity, as I like to think of it-- but it has been such a rewarding endeavor. Please continue to check out the blog for the latest rants, gossip, and craziness that result in my life as a musician and die-hard lover of opera and performance.

Thank you guys for all your comments and participation. Without you guys....these things are impossible!  Happy two-year anniversary!

Opera savants to punch your face

A common misconception is that opera is enjoyed by a small segment of people or that people don't really know much about the vocal art form, other than lessons taught by Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. The consensus is that most people just don't enjoy it, can't appreciate it, or don't care to understand it. Hmm, where's the fork and spoon? I'd like to eat those words.

Actually MOST people know a little something about opera beyond the fat lady with the shield and horns. And these same people have really great opinions about the performance practice, singers, and the art as a whole. So, despite its boogie beginnings, knowledge of opera has spread vastly into society and into the daily lives of people of all ages, races, and backgrounds. Granted, the art form will never be as popular as Lady Gaga, the TMZ gossip column, or products from Apple but it's out there and people know about it....more than ya might think!

I'm always singing or humming in the most awkward or inappropriate places. I can't help it. It's usually during these moments I encounter the unassuming-everyday-opera-savant:

Setting-- Locker room, My gym
Humming-- Una Furtiva Lagrima
Savant-- middle-aged man, scantily clad, short, smelled like Brut
Savant moment-- "I love that aria! Are you a countertenor or tenor....I always confuse the two. Please tell me you've seen Rinaldo at Lyric. I thought the production was fantastic. I saw it several years ago with my wife in London....we aren't opera people but I like Haidell...Hadell, Handedell...who is the composer again?"
Moral-- Secure your towel before your next audition. 

Setting-- Northbound bus, headed home
Humming-- Intricate cadenzas
Savant-- Older man in Bob Marley tank, dreads down to his knees, vagabond-ish
Savant moment-- "Man is that some opera stuff you're singin'? That's good man. Man, that Maria Callas was off the chain man. Did you ever hear her sing that Norma? Man she was off the chain...blew me away man."
Moral-- Is Maria Callas the Devil? Regardless, that smelly guy in the corner knows opera rep. 

Setting--Elevator in downtown
Humming-- Un Aura Amorosa
Savant-- Teenaged kid, with skateboard, listening to something kinda loud
Savant moment-- "Mozart is pretty cool, " as he walked out of the elevator
Moral-- People in elevators can hear you, no matter what. And they are ghostly smart.

Setting-- El train, headed north
Humming-- An unpopular Rossini aria, score in hand
Savant-- young women, holding some groceries
Savant moment-- "Excuse me, are you a singer of some kind? I think that's incredible what you guys do with your voices. Rossini? Wasn't he a bel canto conductor?"
Moral-- Stouffers is not all they sell at your local grocery mart.

Something old, new, borrowed, blue?

Remember the old bridal checklist... something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue? Who says these gals are the only people concerned about these requirements? After all, preparing for an audition is much like checking off these very points-- five arias, one musical theater, a monologue, contrasting styles, at least one song. Get the picture? Sometimes preparing for an audition is just as hectic and hair-pulling as arranging a wedding. At least one ends with cake and an open bar!

Commonly we all ask, what should I take, what's ready, and what's appropriate? So aside from keeping good records with the help of magic life-saving tools like Velvet Singer, YAP Tracker, or a simple Excel spreadsheet, ask someone! Preferably another singer or colleague is a great starting place. They are simple and easy enough to be the type of resource we overlook because we're scurrying to learn something new, find a pianist to rehearse, memorize the text, translate, yadda yadda yadda. All along our musical theater piece, art song, or 5th aria is that quick easy little number we sang in a performance class, in an impromptu rehearsal in the hallway, or casually at someone's birthday party. Most of what we need, we already have...so make it work!

Remember adjudicators know, on some level, singers are going to present what they have. Rarely would any singer show up having learned five brand new arias and three musical theater songs the week before. It's probably happened and it's probably happened with some degree of success; but let's not play odds. Instead, pull from the vault of music that's ready, in decent shape, and available!   

Thanks and Sayonara

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye! What a magical and fun 8 weeks of letting loose, getting wild and learning how to build real in-your-face characters. This is a small photo tribute to the whacky class of SPACE summer session one. Thanks for not dropping like all the other flies!

Joey's Poison-- Antoine, Edwin, Me, Steve

Me & Antoine McKay

The Emily and Jonell after party

Umm hair and makeup ladies?

With scene partner Craig Conover

Our small dysfunctional but FULL of life family!

Be brave. Expand your life.

"Life expands according to your courage," I read this once. Today, this idea came into perspective as I drove home from the last session of an 8-week acting class. My thoughts resulted in this...

In life we are given a host of variables on any one day. Sometimes they are favorable, sometimes not. Sometimes, they are fun and interesting while other times they are challenging and not at all happy. And, as we live, we learn more about the infinite variables that establish our daily lives, routines, and habits. 

But, when we desire to understand more and the patterns of daily life become too familiar, we quietly ask ourselves, "Is there more..." or "how can today be different...how can I grow?" With this question we ultimately ask, "how can I amplify my life, feel something new, and conquer different ambitions. Essentially this curiosity begs us to understand, "what all am I really made of?"

The answer, life expands according to courage, the ability to cast away routine, explore a different choice, and shake away thinking that binds us to our habits and safenesses. We are innately courageous beings, life won't have it any other way. Yet, sometimes, we forget. We forget how brave we are and deny the sparkling well of bravery, curiosity, improvisation, and experimentation surging within us.

Life calls to us every moment of the day. We are beckoned to ask, to participate, and to explore. We are encouraged to live. We must remember, we are alive; we are brave.

Swim, don't pee in the water...

It's hot! Summer is here and we are all looking to cool off and keep in shape. But the typical gym routine is becoming played out? There are only so many reps, so many lunges, and so many miles we can run on the treadmill before the body says "something different, please." Crazy fitness videos like P90x or INSANITY are interesting, but who has space and equipment in the living room?

Two thumbs up for SWIMMING, a health-seeker's new best friend and a singer's superior way to whip that breath support into wicked shape. Until four months ago, swimming was a complete myth to me. People did it, but somehow it wasn't real. Swimming was only for the arthritic, the constipated, or the pariahs of the gym trying to tread back to the locker room. That all changed. I gave it a shot and am learning a lot.  

Swimming technique boils down to breathing and coordination, the link between respiration, how it's used, and how it relates to the body. While swimming the body must be ridiculously relaxed while at the same time resiliently powerful and full of energy. Singers, sound familiar? Swimming puts breathing into action. I once read that swimming is one of the best activities singers can do. I'm a witness and will testify before God or audition panel. After swimming laps, breathing is much deeper, breath moves more freely, and there is more awareness of the breathing cycle. I almost feel...alive!

Swimming helps burn body fat, build muscle, lengthen the body, and increase endurance and stamina. Granted, it will take a few trips to the pool before you're able to identify these benefits. You might feel completely exhausted after your first 3 minutes and battle cardiac and respiratory mutiny, but stick with it. It's really really good for you. Baby steps in the beginning. In fact, most sources suggest simply wadding in the water or dipping in and out before learning strokes or swimming laps.    
 
Only YouTube and people-that-look-like-they-know have coached me on the basics. It is a very friendly and fit community that continues to welcome me. Great information is available online. Search for some. As a precaution talk with your doctor before do anything cray-cray. By the way, don't pee in the water.

Really, What's stopping you?

Often we dream about all the things we want in life, whether it's owning a new car, living in a foreign country, or starting a successful business. Dreams are exciting, they're big, and they contain reflections of the people we want to be. We each dream uniquely and differently. After all, the ambitions of a six-year-old are rarely the same as someone thirty years older. But the main point emphasized is that all people regardless of age, locale, race, sex, or belief, desire accomplishment in life, and this sense of accomplishment is manifested in the dreams we hold. We consider climbing Everest, a wedding in Fiji, or winning the Met Council auditions because these concepts are not beyond us. A familiar and quiet whisper inside always urges us to excel, to try, to conquer, always saying, "yes, actually you can."

With age and time we dream a little less. Life demands our attention in other serious ways and we start to believe that what we want is outside of ourselves. That only people of extreme luck, or elaborate career networks, or heirs to large fortunes or thrones can have the things we want. What we want becomes impossible, beyond us, and outside of reach.

But sometimes we forget the world is actually a finite place but of infinite possibility. When we mute our dreams because of inexperience, because we feel too old, or because we're afraid, we dismiss all possibility. We dismiss our passport to life and forgo the momentum pushing us along the path toward our ambitions. We smite the potential to really know, to really understand, or to really conquer, each being the ultimate theme of that faint whisper inside.

"The inevitable arrival of Death should be every man's motivator." ~Anonymous.