Bryce to Record Schubert CD, Project Launch

It is with great excitement that I announce the launch of my recording project.  Many of you know that this has been a long time coming for me.   Last week I stumbled onto a website called Kickstarter. com and after mulling around several ideas, I decided that using the site would be an incredible way to get my friends, family, colleagues, and fans (both of you know who you are)  to get involved with me on the project.  I have decided to tackle Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin, and I have asked my good friend Tim McReynolds to collaborate with me in recording this masterwork of the art song repertoire.

Please take 5 minutes to check out my page and the video.  Please help me promote my project by passing it along to your friends and colleagues who might be interesting in it, and if you feel so inclined to become a part of the project, I thank you in advance.  Every little bit counts!  (plus you can get some cool stuff in exchange for your generosity)

Thanks!

-Bryce

Recording a CD, Kickstarter...First Hurdle Overcome

Wow, what a fun 48 hours this has been.  From about this time two days ago and seeing the story about Kickstarter.com on the local evening news to today, I have been though a wild wave of excitement.   Now the idea of a recording project can finally begin to take shape.    Last night, my dear friend and colleague, pianist Tim McReynolds beat me to the punch and said he was "available" to record.  I was planning on calling Tim today or tomorrow to discuss the idea with him, so I guess the timing couldn't be better.

After a phone conversation this morning, he is on board with the project.  We both talked about the Schubert recital that we did, more than 10 years ago and I think that we both would like to revisit the work together now.  I am really, really excited.  I get off the phone with him, having discussed trying to use Kickstarter to help with the fundraising.   I told him that the next, and what in my estimation one of the most difficult steps of the process, I needed to find a way on to Kickstarter.com, since it is invitation only!

So, what does any smart person do, who wants to find an invitation to an exclusive website do?   I Googled, Kickstarter Invitation.  This came up with lots of invites that people were giving away (or at least a handful) in blogs and message boards.  Most of these invites had already been claimed, by others.  All of these invites were 3-8 months old.   This was not going to do!  I decided to try my search again, but this time only look for results within the last week.   I stumbled on to two possibilities.  The first one was a on a movie production site.   He had only posted a couple of days ago, but really seemed to be looking for other people trying to produce movie projects.   I emailed him anyway, hoping for a response, but as of now I have not heard back from him.

The second person I find on Emptees.com.  He has made a comment to a thread:

What is my favorite animal????   Ugh, I have no idea what my favorite animal is.   I click on the guy, and after going to his profile on the site it leads me Kevin at Top Shelf Records.  Kevin is basically the graphics design guru for the operation....check out some of his work, it is really cool stuff.  Anyway...I think, what the heck I should send him an email, maybe I can get this invite from him.  This is what I sent:

Kevin,

     I was hoping that you could help me out.   I found your website via a post that you made on Emptees.com where you mentioned that you had a couple of Kickstarter invites available.    I would love to at least float my project by you, in hopes that you might be so kind as to help me out with getting on the site. (paying it forward, so to speak)  I am a professional opera singer.  At the beginning of the year I set three major goals for my life for 2010.  Move to Germany to further my career, do an east coast recital tour (to help me fund my move to Europe) and to finally record my first CD.  

     When I first tell someone that I am singer, I usually get one of two responses, "Sing for me!" or "Do you have a CD?"  At some point, I would love for the answer of the second question to finally be a resounding "YES, yes I do..." instead of "No, unfortunately not, because...(insert lame excuse here)."   I also have several friends and colleagues that have recorded, and even a couple of Grammy winning colleagues.   I have patiently waited for "my turn," but I have finally drawn the line in the sand and want to make this year the year that I finally get the first recording done.   

      As you understand from your work in design and with bands, independent projects have a difficult time getting off the ground, mostly because of them being cost prohibitive.  Recording classical music is right there.   I have the people, the repertoire, basically everything in place...but to have a way to fund the project, that is really the only think holding me back.    When I learned about Kickstarter the other day on the news and did a little reading, the light bulb went off in my head.   It is as if  the big padlock on the door was finally cut off and I am able to procede with my dream, of recording, and leaving my legacy.   The idea that I can use the site to organize my efforts and spread the word through my large community of friends, colleagues, family, and patrons around the country so that they too can have a hand in my project is very exciting.

Anyway, thank you for listening to my rambling on and on.  I would love it if you would consider me for one of those invites that you have for Kickstarter, assuming that you still have them.  That would really, really make my day!

Thanks for your time,

Bryce

PS  favorite animal....Ibis, because of the curved beak and I can't figure out if the plural of ibis is "ibi" or "ibises"

 

Well....30 minutes later....Voila....I must have said the magic words, because....I got my invite! The first hurdle of my recording project is behind me....now to finalize the proposal!  

Incentive Ideas for my CD/Kickstarter project

Earlier today I wrote about Kickstarter.com and my desire try to get on the website and get going with my CD project.   I have floated the idea past a couple of people, and everyone seems positive.  I am moving forward.

One of the key ingredients of the program is to have incentives to for people to invest in your project.   If you don't have incentives, then you might as well just be panhandling.  I thought I would work through a couple of things on my blog and see if my readers might help me as I develop a fair and exciting incentive program for potential backers of my recording project.  This is what I have come up with so far: (note I am still working on this and taking suggestions)

• $1 or more - SILVER access to exclusive online behind the scenes blog of the entire project.
• $15 or more - GOLD a digital download of the complete album, one week before public release 
• $30 or more - PLATINUM a signed copy of the CD, one week before public release 
• $50 or more - DIAMOND a signed copy of the CD for you, plus a copy to give away as a gift!
• $100 or more  - MEMBER limited edition t-shirt + Diamond level+ name in CD as Project MEMBER
• $250 or more - SPONSOR special DVD of behind the scenes footage of the recording process + Diamond and Member levels+ special recognition as Project SPONSOR 
• $500 or more -BENEFACTOR framed and signed limited edition print of the album art, signed by the designer and the artists+ diamond, member, and sponsor perks.  CD recognition as Project Benefactor
• 1500 or more - PATRON Listed on cd and website at the highest level of donor as a patron...Private recital for you and 20 of your closest friends + + diamond, member, sponsor, and benefactor perks.  CD recognition at the highest level as Project Partron
• 
  

Of course I am open for additional ideas and I am not quite sure if all of the "Price Points" are right yet, either.  Feel free to give me your feedback. I haven't established a running budget yet for the project, which is the next step, but I am estimating at this point, a fund raising goal of around $6000 or so to make this happen.

Thoughts?

My Recording Project, Kickstarter Worthy?

Last night, I was sitting in front of the TV, eating some leftover lasagna from the night before and I saw an interesting tease on the local evening news. The tease was about "new website" that was offering "thousands in free money for good ideas." Being a sucker for the words free money and good ideas, I decided to stick around and see what this was all about.

Two segments later I see the story on the news.  The story is about a website called Kickstarter.com .  I won't go into the news item, but it interested me enough to hop online and check out the website.   What I found on the very first page of their site really got me extremely excited.   "Kickstarter is a funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers..."

The basic idea behind Kickstarter is give people a way to organize fundraising efforts for their artistic projects.   Well, as I mention in my very first blog, I have three very, very specific projects for the year.   I have been talking about Germany a bit, but I haven't mentioned too much about the other two...the recital tour (which I need to seriously begin to put on the calendar) and the CD.   Kickstarter helps match up investors (as well as your social network) to help you meet your fundraising goals.  

Recording has to this point been a very large dream.  I have several people who have been asking me when I would record.   When I tell people that I meet that I am an "opera singer" they always jump straight to "Do you have a CD?"   I have to always answer, "Unfortunately, no."   One of the huge issues has always been cost.  It is expensive to record.   It is expensive to record it right. I often ask myself, "How on earth am I going to pay for the $5-$15k it would take to make a CD, the right way?  I have very difficult time asking people for any help; people want a CD, but are they willing to help me invest in this project?"   Last night I found a way to do more than test the waters....Kickstarter.

I have three things that I really must do to "set up shop" on Kickstarter, to help me get off the ground with my recording project.

• Settle on specific repertoire - This is important because it drastically affects the budget.  Recording with just piano is less expensive than with chamber musicians or orchestra.  Recording music in the public domain is less expensive than recording music of the last century.  Balancing what I want to record versus what someone would invest in is huge.  I have to define the project.
  
• Establish basic budget  - Once I have settled on repertoire, this will be much easier to accomplish
  
• Develop a pitch - This will include things such as a video presentation of the project, a written pitch, and developing whatever incentives that I will have for my investors.

I couldn't sleep last night, so I kind of worked this through in my head a bit, with the help of the fine folks of my Facebook fan page who I asked a couple of months ago, what type of CD I should record for a debut recording.   It seems fitting that if I am moving to Germany and will be singing more Lieder, that I should revisit Franz Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin.   This is a piece that I first sang in graduate school, and is a cornerstone piece in the Lieder repertoire.   This is also a cost effective piece as there are no royalties, it is just singer and piano, and can be recorded in only a couple of days of "studio time."  It also fits very nicely on one CD.  It also makes for a nice stand alone recital program.

I think the most important thing beyond cost is that  I want to do this with all of my heart.  This is a piece of music that has always spoken to me, since I first heard a recording of Fritz Wunderlich singing it.  It is a piece of repertoire that I can embrace living with for the next several months.  I would love to I think that now I have a deeper understanding today of the raw emotions of the text and the musical style than I did back a decade ago.  I could go on and on, but I will save that for the project itself... 

This all sounds great, right?  One small problem....you can't just hop on Kickstarter to set up your project.  You must have an invite.   So, goal one:  get a pitch ready in the next day or two and get an invite to the site.  I could go directly to the site (hundreds a day do this) and basically be put on a wait list.....or I could get creative.  This is what this is all about, right? Creativity.

I think my project is Kickstarter worthy....now I just have to get someone to agree with me.

A Burning Feeling (but the Lasagna Tasted Good)

I missed the last two days of writing on my blog, and I feel guilty.  I was planning on writing on Sunday, but after church, three hours of Gluck Opera, and dinner out, I arrived home pretty exhausted....nothing like a full 13 hour day to wear you out.   Yesterday, I had all sorts of intentions of getting a ton done on all fronts.  Cleaning, practicing, language learning, a couple of special projects...none of it really got accomplished.   However, I did decide to make dinner for my mom and stepdad.  (I tried to give my mother a night off from cooking)I set out to bake lasagna.


Lasagna is a dish that I have made enough times that I don't use a recipe.  I have baked lasagna for two; I have baked lasagna for 30.   This is one dish I know how to make.  I have also learned how to make it quickly, mostly by "faking" the sauce a little.  Basically I take one bottle of "pre-made sauce" and add to it, stretching it and adapting it.  Last night's sauce started off as a bottle of Bertolli's Marinara with Burgundy Wine sauce.  To it I added the following:

• Ground beef
• a bell pepper
• a Vidalia onion (a sweet onion)
• roasted minced garlic
• olive oil
  
• a can of crushed tomatoes with garlic, basil, and oregano
• a can of tomato sauce
• freshly ground black pepper

Notice I added no salt. There is already salt in the bottled sauce and in the cheese.  Plus Mayor Bloomberg would be proud that I am limiting salt intake.

So...I get the lasagna into the oven.  From prep to oven I can get a lasagna whipped up in about 20-25 minutes.   I have dishes cleaned up, and all I have to do is wait to put the garlic bread (yeah I cheated here too) into the oven with about 9 minutes left on the pasta so they will be ready at the same time.   After 55 minutes baking, I pull off the aluminum foil top of dinner to let the cheese on the top finish.  I up the temp of the oven to 400 (from 375) and go to grab the bread from the fridge to start it. My step father is there so I ask him to pass me the bread...and this is where things get dicey.

I pull out a metal baking tray to place the bread on top of to throw it in the oven.  As I am about to throw the bread on the tray, my step father stops me and places a small piece of foil under the bread (so that cleaning the tray would be rendered non-essential.   We did not bend the edge of the foil around  the edge of the tray.  I just was trying to get the bread in the oven.   Little did I know how this attempt by him to "help me" with clean up would prove to be a costly mistake.

Ding...9 minutes are up and I go to grab the bread out of the oven.  I open the oven door and smell the garlic, wafting from the oven.  "This is going to be good!"    I reach down with an oven pad in my right hand to pull out the tray.   As I am lifting the tray...the bread on the aluminum foil beings to slide and tumble off of the tray.  Somewhere in the back of my grey matter, an alarm goes off.  "MUST SAVE BREAD"

In a split second it was over....and the cold water was rushing over my left hand.   I had rescued the slipping bread by steadying the tray with my unprotected left hand.   In that split second, my bare fingers had met the 400 degree metal tray.   By the time I had realized what I had done, it was too late.  I had burned the cr@p out of three fingers and a thumb.  (Yes, my pinky survived unscathed!)   Note, I don't blame my stepfather for any of this happening to me.

Now I don't have much of a threshold for pain.  Pain management for a borderline 2nd degree burn on your hand is not easy.   Cold numbs the pain, the aloe helps the pain.  Move your hand this way no stinging and burning sensation...two seconds later a sharp pain that makes you want to scream, "Just cut it off, just cut it off!"   Somehow, I got to sleep last night, while gripping an ice pack wrapped in a damp washcloth.

I will say that the burn is not as bad (thanks to the ice and aloe treatments last night) as I feared when I woke up this morning.  I have small blisters on all four fingers (not the pinky) and a slight tingling to the touch, but I am able to type with both hands today without any pain at all!  And you want to know what the best part of all of this is?   The lasagna turned out great yesterday, and I get to have leftovers today!

Batsmen and Ballers, Am I really Avid?

Yesterday I was on Facebook, and though I realized that I have sworn off "time-sucks" for the new year, I ran myself right into a couple on a very quiet Friday evening.   I think that sometimes when you have a very busy November and December like I just had, you almost become stir crazy, when you have a weekend with no gigs.  So, here I was playing on Facebook, among other websites, last night and I saw an interesting status update for a colleague of mine:

Let's see how forthcoming my facebook friends are. Leave a 1 word comment that you think best describes me. It can only be 1 word. No more than 1 word. Then copy & paste this post on your wall so I can leave a word about you. This should be interesting....................

I decided that it would be appropriate for me to post one word about my colleague, and repost this in my status update.  I figured since I had 700+ friends, at least a couple of them would say something.  This is all about personal awareness and to me was more interesting than watching people post their bra colors for 2 days.

I received some very interesting ones.  My friend Russ starts off with "boob."   Great Russ, I was trying to avoid the bra thing.  I can tell that this may be rough.   Then the next two come in from Michelle and Michele (yep spelled differently) and they are both "talented."

Ok, so I get one person trying to prank comment my status update, and 2 friends with very complimentary, albeit rather vanilla responses.  Surely I'm not this boring, am I? The next few trickle in and I am feeling good about both myself and my friends. The following thoughts ran across my mind:

• I'm actually a normal person, and people seem to think positively about me.
• I am a creative person who has creative friends, and several of them got creative with the words they chose for me.
• I'm not the only complete loser that is home on a Friday night.

I eventually go to bed with a nice sampling of words, and a nifty pat on the back for not being a complete loser. (at least no one had the guts enough to say it to my face in a status update)  The next morning I wake up to two that I was shocked at for two completely different reasons.

The first of these:  Flirt  I am not shocked that this word was used with me...I am actually relieved that at least someone said it.  I was afraid I had lost my touch, as I kinda expected this (or something like it) much earlier on the list.

The second was: Avid   Now this one threw me off-guard.   I am not sure what I am avid at?  What does it take to be "avid" at something? So, I look up the definition.  According to Princeton, the definition of Avid is:

Adjective

• S: (adj) avid, devouring, esurient, greedy ((often followed by `for') ardently or excessively desirous) "avid for adventure"; "an avid ambition to succeed"; "fierce devouring affection"; "the esurient eyes of an avid curiosity"; "greedy for fame"
• S: (adj) avid, zealous (marked by active interest and enthusiasm) "an avid sports fan"

Let's look at the two definitions provided.  The first definition, I wouldn't say I am greedy.  Competitive, yes, but not so much greedy. Esurient means "extremely hungry or ravenous."   I think that for some things, I definitely come across as hungry. Excessively desirous might actually fit.   I actually like the examples. 

• Avid for adventure - looking to move to Europe, that sounds like adventure to me.
• Avid ambition to succeed - I am willing do everything that I can (within my moral fabric) to succeed.
• Fierce devouring affection - I will plead the 5th here ;)
• Avid Curiosity - this one is interesting.  Yes, yes, and yes
• Greedy for Fame - Not so much, more greedy for success than fame

So, definition #1 fits...what about #2

Zealous and marked by an active interest and enthusiasm.  I think at times I am definitely this...like well, being an avid sports fan. (or an avid craft beer fan)   I would be remiss if I said I was the perfect sports fan.  I had, until this evening, almost no knowledge of how to play the game of cricket.  Which is a major sport in many parts of the world.

I will admit I did a good bit of fast forwarding, but I did sit through the better part of a 7+ hour match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka so I could learn how the game was played.  There is nothing like picking up the Sport Section of a London Newspaper and not understanding 6-8 pages of it at all.   Now, my avid sports fandom, and ESPN 360 have given me a fighting chance.    I promise you, I will not be running out to watch batsmen and ballers again anytime soon.  I would rather watch paint dry.

Four Things Adsense Thinks I Am Blogging About

So, I was curious what Google Adwords might say about my blog and what it thinks my keywords are.  It always intrigues me what a computer things of your website. It also interests me what kinds of ads are showing up on my page.   ***Disclaimer here***  I have put Adsense on my blog, yes I have.   I am not going to do anything to jeopardize my account with them (as if I was earning more than air from them at this point)  I did however plug this blog into the free Adwords Keyword tool, just to see if anything fun came out.

Anyway, according to the Adwords tool, it looks like I have been focusing my blog on the following:

• German Online Courses -   I really don't know much about German on-line courses, but the more I study German (and fix my German)  I think that I will be visiting some of these on-line courses.  When I visit these websites, I will definitely report back about them. 
  
• Online Spanish Courses -   I am not sure how Google came up with this.  I mentioned Spanish being the language that everyone else took when I was in high school.   I know for sure that I won't be focusing any of my energy on learning Spanish or Spanish courses, online, or otherwise.
• Sports Blog - Here, I did mention Sports in my blog the other day.  I am a big sports fan.   I am not a sports writer.  (though that would be a fun job)  I do plan on bring up sports from time to time in the blog.   Yesterday, for instance, I looked up the professional basketball league in Germany.   It seems like I will be able to follow the NBA (which I am not a huge fan of) in Germany, especially the Dallas Mavericks, since their big star, Dirk Nowitzki, is German.
• How to Blog -  I wasn't planning on writing about how to blog, but you know...it is something that I could do.  I am not great at blogging, myself, but I bet I could help others learn how to blog, or at least how to start a blog.

Basically....it seems that I have been focusing my energies at the beginning of this blog on foreign languages, and foreign language lessons.   It even recommends that I talk about Chinese and Spanish too.  Perhaps I am talking too much about my learning of Germany online, and not enough about Music.  Music and Opera were nowhere to be found on my keyword search.

What do you all think I should write about?  (Can you tell I have a little bit of writer's block today?)  It doesn't seem as if too many people were interested in the German word for Hippo or Couch potato.  What are you interested in?

How to Become a Couch Potato, 101

Since some of my friends know that I am a big sports fan, I have been asked several times about what I will do when I get overseas to keep watching/following my baseball.  I tell them that I will be able to follow baseball (and college basketball and football, for that matter) online with things like streaming audio and video.  I will even be able to keep up with my TV shows online.   I pretty much watched most of the last season of 24 a day late, streaming online.  This is just another way that technology has made the world that much smaller, and much more convenient.

Yesterday, I found the BBC foreign language learning website.  One of the categories on the German site gave several links to German TV.   Until then, I hadn't considered using the internet to watch TV going back the other direction.  I clicked on the first link, to German Channel 1, Das Erste (the first)  I thought that I would sit back and just watch a little TV, and see how well I could pick up what all was going on.  I decided that I would start with the evening news.

I have to admit, that the speed of the news anchor was too fast for me to catch everything he was saying. (I pretty much got every 5th word)  The lead last night in on Das Erste was about the Christmas Day "Jockstrap bomber."  It talked about the White House, Obama, the CIA, etc.  It was interesting to see the American front page news through the eyes of the foreign media.  The main discussion was on how the bombing attempt was affecting airport security in Germany.  The effect (note that I have used affect as a verb, and effect as a noun) that it was having was nominal.   There was a story about funding of a new museum in the eastern part of the country.  Then there was the weather report!

Now, here is a part of the news that I am sure to have better than a 20% chance of precipitation understanding.  I was right on this, but two things stuck out to me.   High pressure on the map was listed with an H, like you see here in the states, but low pressure on the map was with a T.  Low pressure in German is Niederdruck, so I am a little confused about that. 

Also I realize that I need to learn the metric system.  0 degrees means something to me (32 F) but -9, well I have absolutely no idea what that means.  Yes I know the formula:  Tc=(5/9)*(Tf-32), but I really don't want to have to convert back in my head every time I read a temperature.

Ok, all this talk about weather is really boring.  Let's see what else is on this station.  The next show I click on turns out to be a soap opera called Verbotene Liebe (forbidden love)  I only watch about 10 minutes of this, mostly because I don't want to get myself sucked into a plot line.  Anyway, two things stuck out like sore thumbs when I started watching the show.   The first, the theme song is "Forbidden Love" sung in ENGLISH.   Really?   Couldn't get David Hasselhoff to sing it for you?   In German?  Then one of the male characters leaves the room singing "Jingle Bells,"  again...in English!   This whole thing struck me as kind of funny.  Here I am trying to watch a German TV show, and I am getting English songs.

Anyway, I mentioned that I was watching German Soap Operas online, and a couple of friends gave me words that I found to be very interesting:

Dauerglotzer = Couch potato

Pantoffelheld  = Henpecked husband  (the dude with the nagging wife)

die Glotze = roughly idiot box....slang for der Fernseher, which is television.

Note that the slang term is feminine and the normal word is masculine.   Perhaps, the guy sits who is sitting in front of der Fernseher being a Dauerglotzer....is really a Pantoffelheld for spending way too much time in front of die Glotze. (in her honest opinion)

I want a Nilpferd or a Flußpferd for Christmas

Masculine, Feminine, or Neutral?   This is the question that I am starting to ask myself these days.   I took a couple of years of German in high school for two basic reasons:

1. I thought that it would be helpful if I went to Engineering school. (I went to Georgia Tech for a year, but never got far enough along to make the German pay off)
2. Because everyone else was taking Spanish and I wanted to be different.

Little did I know that I would again take German in college as part of my language requirements for music, and that I would end up singing a ton (like 60% of my repertoire) of German music.  Somehow God seems to point us in the right direction. I could only imagine taking Spanish in high school, and not German, and trying to now sing the amount of Bach, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven, Mozart, etc. that I do.  I would struggle with it, I think, the way I have to work hard at singing French repertoire.


All of this being said, I did kind of skate by with my German classes in both high school and college.  I have never been great at language per se.  I have enough problems with English grammar and spelling. It is no shock that my SAT math scores were 150 points higher than my English scores.  Like many young men, I was drawn to science and math, and so I read less, and I wrote even less than that.  So, when it comes to German grammar, (which has its own very different structure)  I need a very heavy dose of "crash course."

On an artist's budget (or non-budget)  I cannot really afford Rosetta Stone to help me beef up my language skills.  On my trip to northern Italy this past summer, I had some private German lessons. (mostly because I was further advanced than most of my colleagues, who speak Italian, but not German)   I can honestly say that I didn't learn much actual language, but I did learn what I needed to learn before I moved to Germany. I need to focus my learning (or relearning) of German to two key areas:

1. Vocabulary, vocabulary, and more vocabulary.   It does me no good to only really know 5 verbs and only basic German when you are trying to build relationships with conductors, agents, and other colleagues.
2. Grammar, grammar, and grammar.   The expanded vocabulary does me no good if I use it like a three year-old, just pointing at things and saying what they are. For example,  I see a lemon; I point at it and say "die Zitrone."

Since Rosetta Stone is a bit out of my price range.  Ok it is $500 out my price range.  I found a suitable replacement in 9 discs worth of Instant Immersion German, in 3 levels for my computer.   This coupled with my dictionary, my box of 1001 flash cards, my German verb workbook, and a couple of other tools will be my guide in the near future to get myself back to a basic level of fluency.  From there, I was advised by a German colleague in Munich, that I should then grab a newspaper and start translating it.  I have also stumbled across the BBC websites' free on-line language learning center.   Now this site is really cool.



So, what cool words did I learn yesterday?    I learned:

• der Frosch = the frog
• die Ente = the duck
• das Nilpferd, das Flußpferd = the hippo

I am not quite sure where I will use them.   I am not quite sure why the German language says that a frog is masculine, a duck is feminine, and a hippo is neutral.  Perhaps it is because frogs turn into princes, ducks are cute and cuddly, and well, I am still confused about the Nile-horse/River-horse.   All I know is that I have three new words in my new vocabulary!  Now, off to learn 3 more!

Avatar, Germany, and Me.

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.  If you talk to a man in his own language, that goes to his heart. - Nelson Mandela

Yesterday afternoon, I went to go see the much hyped, much anticipated movie Avatar.   I had been planning on seeing this movie since Christmas day, and I finally made the time.   I promise I will not spoil the movie for you if you haven't seen it yet. 

I have a bad habit in movies like this of becoming "part of the movie."   I catch myself holding my breath, grinding my teeth, directing my tension where I have learned to direct my tension when I sing. (Yep, my left knee was sore when I walked out of the theater.)  The movie itself was thrilling.  There is no other way to put it...it was complete eye candy.   The few that complain about the "originality of the plot," are the same that would complain that the "perfect diamond" was "too perfect."   We may very well look back at this movie in 10-20 years and compare it to Star Wars in the ways that it may very well change film making.  So, if you have the chance, spend the extra couple of bucks and see Avatar in IMAX 3D.

One idea that stuck with me in Avatar was this idea of assimilating one's self into a culture or place that is foreign to you.   There are so many different ways that I could take this, but for the sake of this blog I want to talk just briefly about how this affects my move to Germany. I will let others play out the "politics of the movie."  One general theme of Avatar is how much you can gain from, and even become one with, a culture that is different than your own, especially if you allow yourself to be an empty canvas.

In Avatar, the scientists have said that they want to know about the Na'vi tribe.  The scientists have learned and know the language, they study these "humanoids" as if they were lab rats or actually some sort of Anthropology project, but they basically approach them as if they (for lack of a better way of putting it) were a bunch of know-it-alls.   The Na'vi refuse to trust them, because their brains are "already full." The acceptance of Jake Sully by the indigenous people only occurs after he shows that he is in fact a clean slate, and allows him to be completely immersed in their life and culture.

I was reading on a website yesterday that laid out some generalizations that Germans and Americans make about each other, and about how foreigners could be perceived.

Racism in everyday life is less prevalent in the US than in Germany, and it is discussed more. Americans do not (and cannot) assume that someone who cannot speak proper English or has brown skin must be a foreigner. In Germany, slight grammatical errors as well as foreign features are usually cause for scorn and different treatment. Foreign-looking people are constantly asked to show their papers by police. While some right-wing politicians ride the anti-immigrant wave in the US, the general population's view of immigrants is much more positive than that in Germany, where it is not at all uncommon to overhear a comment like "all they do is steal and take our jobs".  Axel Boldt

I think that part of the problem with German's (or any culture for that matter) acceptance of "outsiders" is partially the "outsider's" fault. People, even though they may "learn the language," do not actually allow themselves to become "one with the culture."   The old "if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck" is not good enough.   This, as Mandela says will only go to "his head."   Now, if you really put yourself in the duck's webbed-feet, listen, and allow yourself to be open to the possibility of not knowing everything, or perhaps anything, you may actually be accepted by the ducks as one of them, as you learn and grow from them.

I know that I have so much to learn from being in a new culture.  I think that my appreciation for the music, the art, the language, and the people can only be enhanced, by being there and living in it.  The great common language here is music.   I also realize that I have so much to learn about music that has been written in a language to be understood and heard by performers and audiences where German is their native language.  I know I can't begin to learn or experience this getting my doctorate or from reading a bunch of books.  I can only learn this by going in with no assumptions and an open mind and heart.

My New Map, Finding Wherever There Is

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there" - Lewis Carroll

I plan to move to Germany, but I have only a faint idea at this point where I will land.   Since I am trying to downside downsize my life, I thought it was not appropriate for me to give myself a Christmas present that I couldn't use either immediately, or take overseas with me.  While I was in Jacksonville, FL for my last of six Handel's Messiah gigs, I wandered into Borders to do some holiday shopping and found this $12 map of central Europe.

Granted, I am like 99% of Americans who, if you stuck a blank map of Europe in front of them, they could probably fill England, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Russia...and get pretty much everything else on the map wrong.   Shoot, half of Americans can't name all 50 states on a map of the United States. (Is it Vermont next to New York, or New Hampshire?)   Makes you wonder if we didn't learn this stuff back when we were in school, are these things on "the test" that our teachers are teaching to today?  Anyway, I digress.

So, I find this map in the store.   I actually tend to have a very good sense of direction.  (I am not afraid to ask for directions if I am lost, though)  I can follow a map.  I can follow a GPS.   Perhaps this has to do with living in several different places like Atlanta and suburban Washington, DC where you must have a car to get around.   I have a good sense of where I am going, and usually if I have been there once (unless there are a zillion turns involved)  I can get there again!  

...Europe...Germany....now that is another issue.  I know that Berlin is in the east, Munich is in the south, Hamburg is in the north, Frankfurt is west central, and Cologne is west.   This is probably better than most, but if you start spitting out smaller cities to me, I really have no idea.   I know that the land area of Germany is about 1/2 the square mileage of Texas and is roughly the same as Montana, but with a zillion more people. (actually closer to 85 times more people than Montana)  The fun thing is that there is about 50x more classical  music (not a scientific number at all) performed there than here, and getting to much if it is like taking a train from New York to Boston (or less)!

So, I have my map in hand.  It is time for me to figure out where all of these towns and cites are, so I can plan an audition tour and figure out who to sing for and where.

First step...learn my map!  However, I am sure that any road I take, will get me there, wherever there is.

Gift of the Magi or We 3 Kings Helps Bryce's Back

Today was Epiphany Sunday on the Christian liturgical calendar. I know the actual holiday is the 6th of January, but many churches actually celebrate it on the Sunday before the 6th. (that being today)  Now I am not going to go into a whole long discussion of what Epiphany is, as we really celebrate two things during Epiphany, the baptism of Christ, and the 12th day of Christmas (12 drummers drumming) and the arrival of three 'wise guys' from orient far that followed yonder star.

I sat in church today and listened to a sermon about gifts and talents, and that we all have gifts, whether we deny them or not.  The priest actually preached about opera today, (yep, I payed attention to the sermon, at least the beginning) as he referenced Gian Carlo Menotti's one-act opera Amahl and the Night Visitors.   The little boy gives up his crutches to the "Three Kings" at the door, to take with them as a gift.  Our priest then went on to describe the three kings, or astrologers, or wise guys. (you know this church loves the three wise fellas when we sing this hymn on Christmas Eve, the Sunday after Christmas, and Epiphany...yep three Sundays in a row)

Anyway, he went on to describe the "spiritual meanings" of the travelers from afar and their gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.   I'm not going to go into what they were, or their specific properties.  You can read that kinda stuff here.

Anyway, It got me thinking about the best gift a chiropractor (or in this case, my friend Deb) can give some one... SAMPLES!

A couple of years ago, she introduced me to some samples of Far Infrared Cool Herbal Patches called Golden Sunshine.   These are herbal medicinal patches that I use for sprains,  backaches, and pulls and things.   The active ingredients are Menthol, Tourmaline, and Wintergreen oil. (Yep, sounds a bit like Vicks in patch form instead of Vaseline form)

With these samples, however, I believe that Deb became to me more than just a friend or chiropractor.  She is, in fact one of those "We wise FOLK of orient are" (I guess the Presbyterians, Methodist, Episcopalians, et al need to go back and change some more lyrics to hymns, as no one anticipated a female WiseMAN)  Let me give you the full ingredient list of these Golden Sunshine Patches:

Sesame oil, resin, zinc oxide, frankencense, myrrha, angelicae dahuicae radix, angelicae sinensis radix, paeoniae rubra radix... I could go on, but I don't fee like typing it...

Yep, that's right! My magic (or Magi) patches are fit for a savior..and good enough for my sore back that feels like the 12 drummers have been beating on it all day!   They are Golden Sunshine (as in gift 1 and the light from the star closest to us) and they contain gifts 2 and 3! They are officially what I now lovingly call:

WE THREE KINGS PATCHES! 

Thanks Deb! I thank you, the Lord thanks you, and most importantly so does my aching back!

Time Sucks; a New Year's Resolution

"Dost thou love life?  Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of." - Benjamin Franklin

I have done a lot of thinking over this past week, as we start a new year, a new decade even.  Several questions come to mind as I reflect back.  Where was I ten years ago?  Where has all of this time gone?   How far have I come in the last year, or last decade?  What were the most influential moments for me in the last decade?

I decided that perhaps I would write a year in review, or even a decade in review blog.  Lots of people do them.  You see them all over the tv, print, and internet.   The 10 best (insert something here) of the decade.   The 10 worst celebrity (insert word here) of 2009.    We are bombarded by these lists.  We debate these lists, and we even make our own silly lists.

Along with these top 10 lists of the past year/decade we also sit down and "resolve" to do something better next year.  Most of us resolve to go to the gym, or be more organized, or make more money, or just not have as bad a "year" as we just had.    We set several arbitrary goals, many of which don't last through the end of January.  When we fail these "arbitrary goals"  we then become like Cubs fans every season saying, "Maybe next year."   And so we go, around and around like a dog chasing its tail.

So, for my first blog of 2010, I could write a list of the top 10 things that influenced my last decade.  Things like my Master's degree, National Cathedral debut, Adams fellowship at the Carmel Bach Festival, moving to Connecticut, getting divorced, 9/11, quitting singing, starting singing again, moving to Florida, meeting Sherrill Milnes, meeting Dave Brubeck, my first trip to Europe, etc.  I really wonder, what good does it do me to reflect back on the last decade?  Perhaps writing such a list is just a way to "waste time;"  time I could spend moving forward in this decade.

Wasting time!  Now there is a novel idea.  I wonder, do we make New Year's resolutions because we  "wasted time?"  Perhaps we have wasted so much in the last year, that now we have to resolve to not waste as much time in the future.  We waste time in a myriad of ways.  For me most of these things are just time sucks.  Little things that we do during the day that, before we know it, have accumulated into big chunks of time.   When you have too many time sucks in your life, they become like leaches, sucking the life right out of us.  I know I have several of these time sucking leaches.  My most recent one is revisiting Farmville on my Facebook account.

I try to live my life by the motto of "I may not be rich, but I live a rich life."   It is a credo that most of us that are artists can agree on.   Last night I was talking to my sister on the phone and I mentioned that I might resolve this year to ask myself the following question before I do something:  "How does this help me get to Germany?"  Having slept on it, I think this question might actually be too specific.   I really need to look at my New Year's resolution in terms of two things, living a rich life...and you guessed it limiting time sucks.

A better resolution for me then might better be phrased;  "How does this help me live an even richer life than I have today?"

Yes, we all need our down time or our entertainment.   I am not going to cut off the baseball or college basketball completely, but I do need to realize that sitting there for 8 hours on a Sunday afternoon when I could be productive is not just a recharge, it is just a time suck.  Playing Mafiawars, Fishville, Farmville, Cafe World, Farkle or some other mind-numbing game on Facebook doesn't really help me live a rich life at all.  These games just leach away at my time.  Even things that are viewed at speeding up your life like eating crappy fast-food is a time suck.  The food is lousy and makes you fat and less productive, and then you have to waste time and energy trying to lose the weight that you put on because of it.   Even accumulating piles of "stuff" to clutter my life is a time suck too....

Ok, I could go on and on, but speaking of piles, I have a couple I should work down tonight, so that I can lead a richer life!  Leading a richer life...this time my New Year's resolution doesn't suck.