Studio of Dr. Jon Truitt

A legend passes...

2007-07-03T11:08:00.000-05:00

In case you didn't here, Beverly Sills has passed away.

You are studying voice today in some part, either large or small, because of her contribution to American music. If you want to learn more about her, you can read the link above.

I'm leaving town for about a month, but you can still reach me by email. I'll be back in early August.

DR T

Leonard Warren sings Prologue from Pagliacci (vaimusic.com)

2007-04-13T14:36:00.001-05:00

One of the greats of all time...Leonard Warren.

Jacob's recital

2007-04-04T10:35:00.000-05:00

Jacob did a great job at his recital on Sunday - ATTABOY!

Higgy recital on YouTube

2007-03-21T07:29:00.000-05:00

Beth's recital was great! Here are some links on YouTube to some videos -

The Verdi Set / The Mahler Set (presented in arty black and white)

AIDS Quilt Songbook Set / More AIDS Quilt Songbook

Carmen Aria

Give Beth a high five this week!

Way to go, Jaclyn!

2007-02-20T13:20:00.000-06:00

Jaclyn gave a great recital on Sunday, so be sure to let her know that in person. This was an Honors recital, meaning that she presented a recital that went above and beyond her degree requirements.

Holiday Performances

2007-01-23T17:12:00.000-06:00

Here's a photo of Jacob, John, and me performing with the Palladium Theatre in Die Fledermaus on Dec. 29 and 30. Jacob and John were covering, or backing up principle artists and both had performing opportunities.

Jacob's principle actually broke his leg the second day of rehearsal, so he got the opportunity to do a full principle rehearsal run and performance of the show, appearing in the program and everything else! John's principle became ill the second day of performance, so John got the chance to sing the part from the orchestra pit while the principle actor performed the part on stage (ok, I admit it, it was me - I had a raging respiratory infection - ouch!).

I was able to stage direct the show and sing as part of my work at the Palladium Theatre as their Opera Director. Future performances I have coming up as singer and director are playing Marcello and directing La Boheme in June, playing Belcore and directing Elixir of Love in December, and playing Don Giovanni and directing in June 2008.

Anyway, here we are on stage after the final performance -

The WORST O Holy Night in HISTORY

2006-09-25T17:48:00.000-05:00

I was played this by Carrie Beem, the cello teacher, and her husband David, the former cello teacher, this weekend.

Make sure you're sitting down - it's truly awful. The worst rendition of O Holy Night in the History of Man. I'm not kidding. Listen to the whole thing, the end is the best (i.e. worst) part.

CLICK HERE IF YOU DARE!

COOKOUT

2006-09-11T17:53:00.000-05:00

Here is the picture I took at the cookout. Jason had already left by this point. Thanks to all who came and hung out. Beth and I had a great time. We'll try to do something again in the spring with more notice so that hopefully more folks can come.

Important facts discovered at this year's cookout -

French onion dip tastes good on a hamburger

Paul is getting a degree in "amazingness"

My cat is generally fairly cranky

Back from Colorado - Back to School

2006-08-10T14:28:00.000-05:00

Well, I made it back home in time to do the pile of work required to welcome your happy faces back to school in the fall. This included moving into a new office (the door to it is Dr. Poon's old door, but the office is half the size - the other half is the choral office), figuring out how to assign the 20 something new freshmen coming in the fall, and starting to spend the suddenly expanded opera budget. This looks to be a great year for the voice area and for our studio, so I hope you are looking forward to it as I am. This semester will have one recital, also - Katie Neal's - so I hope you are all looking forward to that like I am.

Here are two cool pictures from my trip:

This one is me, the four young artists (which included Cat and Jacob in the middle), and the conductor, the absolutely fantastic Roland Kluttig (who is an excellent opera conductor from Germany). Cat and Jacob both did very well at the Festival.

The other is this, a gorgeous shot of a mountain double rainbow my wife took:

Jacob and I - gig in Florida

2006-06-16T14:27:00.000-05:00

Hello all, hope summer is well. Just wanted to toss up a few photos from Jacob and I in St. Petersburg singing with Florimezzo opera. Anyway, the show went GREAT (read the review here), Jacob did GREAT as the officer in the production (that's right, a real live PROFESSIONAL gig) and as the Basilio cover, and I had a great time directing and singing. Here are photos - I will also put some on Facebook.

Here's Jacob singing to great applause in the Cover Cast performance.

Here's the finale of the cover performance -

Here's a posed photo of the cover cast -

Here's the two of us backstage during a mainstage performance (or after, whatever).

And here's a photo of most of the cast, covers, the conductor, etc. from the wrap party.

Here's the Palladium Theatre

Here's a close up of the yellow sign that you can see on the front of the theatre.

Photos from Tartuffe

2006-04-03T10:02:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos of this year's opera produciton: TARTUFFE

Jaley's Awesome Recital

2006-03-21T09:29:00.000-06:00

Jaley gave a great recital this weekend, demonstrating great high notes, a big resonant sound, interesting interpretation, and the healing powers of bran muffins. Way to go!

You go, Cat!

2006-02-27T16:06:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post of congratulations for Cathryn Johns and her great recital performance. Cat really demonstrated all the wonderful growth and progress she has made in her three years of study (and that she can actually even sound like a cat, as she demonstrated in her last piece). Please share your feelings about her recital with Cat this week.

Way to go! We're all really proud of you, Cat.

Studio Class on Tuesday

2006-02-10T15:46:00.000-06:00

A word on Studio Class this Tuesday at 4 PM - Cat, Katie, and Richard will be singing, and we will also discuss visiting other students' lessons in the coming week. I'd like to hear your impressions of your observations at Studio the following week.

Also, Cat passed her hearing today, she did a great job.

Dr. T

Summer Young Artist Program

2006-01-26T18:51:00.000-06:00

I am going to be directing a young artist program this summer at Crested Butte Colorado as part of the Crested Butte Music Festival. This is a great festival with world class artists involved, so it would be a great experience for anyone.

For more information, click here to visit the website for the program.

Opera Scenes recording

2005-12-02T18:34:00.000-06:00

Hey, I heard the recordings of opera scenes today and they sound GREAT! The balance is good, and you can hear everyone very well. Woo hoo! Anyway, I hope to have it all up on the internet for your downloading and listening pleasure sometime next week.

Attagirl, Heather!

2005-11-21T19:10:00.000-06:00

Congrats to Heather on a great recital. She did a GREAT job and I'm very proud to have her as a student (and how about those high F's?). Everyone please feel free to comment with your thoughts on Heather's recital on Saturday.

Opera North

2005-11-21T10:21:00.000-06:00

I just put up a poster for the Opera North summer program that many of you might be interested in. They do good productions in New Hampshire in the summer and are a great stepping stone to bigger companies in the future. I worked with the director, Louis Burkot, earlier this year and he's a great guy and wonderful conductor. This company also has been known to hire singers your age in the past. There are lots of audition dates, but the deadline is mid-January, so get on it if you are interested. Their website is www.operanorth.org so check them out.

The Big American Voice

2005-11-16T08:09:00.000-06:00

I saw an interesting article in the New York Times about singing that you all might be interested in. It talks about how our current system of apprenticeships, etc. doesn't really encourage the development of big voices, instead favoring light singing in pretty packaging. A good read with lots of interesting quotes. It also mentions one of your "vocal cousins", my college colleague Marjorie Owens, who studied with my teacher at Baylor (Dr. Van Cura) when I was there. She has done the Houston program and is now doing Chicago.

Anyway, the article is here.

Pinafore pics

2005-11-08T07:53:00.000-06:00

Here are some pics from my HMS Pinafore with Opera Illinois last month - I would have posted them sooner, but the stupid junk mail filter thought they were an ad! Just FYI, that's me in the green uniform (and then the dorky sailor suit at the end).

NATS (it's over!)

2005-10-31T08:08:00.000-06:00

Just a quick "well done" to all of you on NATS. Congrats to Jacob for placing, but I also want to let you know that almost all of you were placed high in the scoring by at least one of your judges. Beth, for example, was voted 1st, 5th, and 13th by her three judges, and one low score like that can keep you out of the lists, as it did with several of you. Also, I want encourage all of you that the results of the contest aren't nearly as important as the act of participating. Many of you have now performed all of your jury music for a panel of observers, so we can now focus on really tweaking your music and singing or even work on new stuff.

Anyway, well done to all, I'm proud of each of you!

Dr. T

NATS

2005-10-06T11:40:00.000-05:00

Studenti,

I have placed the registration and judging forms on my door for NATS. The rep requirements for each person is taped to the wall off to the left of the door (email me if you are confused where you fall in the list there).

You will each take from the door:
1 registration form
1 judges form

What you will need to turn in to me:
1 completed registration form
3 judges forms (I would suggest that you fill out your blank one in black ink and make three copies)
$10 cash

I need all of this on Wednesday of next week.

Thanks,

Dr. T

Opera on the A-Bomb

2005-09-30T07:57:00.000-05:00

Thought this was interesting. The composer John Adams, who also wrote Nixon in China, a reasonably well known contemporary opera, has written a piece that deals with the Manhattan Project (which came up with the a-bomb) and its director, J. Robert Oppenheimer. It's called "Doctor Atomic"

You can read the story here.

Maybe a change is in order. "Dr. Atomic" does sound alot cooler than "Dr. T". Maybe I should pick a cooler nickname. Any suggestions?

Laundry on the line?

2005-09-19T16:02:00.000-05:00

How cool is this, Newsweek has a story that you can be emailed, text messaged excetera when your laundry is done at dorms at UE! You can read the story here. I'm sure all you dorm dwellers already knew about this, I just thought the story was cool.

Dr. T

Where am I?

2005-09-16T20:19:00.000-05:00

Just in case anyone is curious, I am rehearsing a production of HMS Pinafore off and on for several weekends and then the week of October 17-21. You can check out the Opera Illinois Website here , which will also have info on the Cosi I'm doing there in the spring. I'm currently researching getting you all at least a discount on tickets if any of you want to come and see the show.

Pinafore is a Gilbert and Sullivan show, which are always very funny and entertaining with lots of political references to the time period they were written in. These references seem to ring true in modern times because problems of that nature tend to stay the same no matter what the time or the country.

Dr. T

Help!

2005-09-16T20:10:00.000-05:00

Does anyone have any cable that can hook one tape deck to another tape deck to make a recording? If you do, please get in touch with Katie Neal over the weekend and let her know that. She will know what to do with them. It's in your interest - I'm trying to get a tape made of Tartuffe before it has to go back home on Monday.

Thanks!

Dr. T

Welcome and welcome back!

2005-08-25T08:32:00.000-05:00

Studenti,

Welcome to all new students in my studio, and welcome back to those returning for sophomore through senior years. It's going to be an exciting year, with many of you performing recitals, participating in ensembles with new directors, and moving forward through the college experience here at UE.

As always, please feel free to ask me (almost) anything you have a question about. I'm here to help you, so don't be shy! There are no stupid questions (well, there are some, but I won't laugh at you...much). Come and schedule a lesson if you haven't yet.

Dr. T

Cast photo from Barber of Seville

2005-08-09T11:49:00.000-05:00

Here is a cast photo from Barber, some of us in costume and some not. From top left to right - Jeffrey Picon (Count Almaviva), Krista River (Rosina), Roland Kluttig (Conductor), Keith Miller (Don Basilio), and Elizabeth Bond (Bertha). Bottom left to right - Vance Reese (harpsichord and rehearsal accompanist), Jon Truitt (your teacher and Figaro), and David Malis (stage director and Don Bartolo). Be sure to take a look at the program in my office if you want to read about the artists and their backgrounds. Also, you can read more about it on the web here.

Fall NEWS

2005-08-06T10:45:00.000-05:00

Well, welcome back everyone. There have been some changes over the last few weeks of the spring and the summer, so I thought I would get you all up to speed and head off some questions.

First, since Dr. Poon has left for the Far East, I am now teaching opera classes and serving as Coordinator of the voice area. For the opera part, that means we will do a fall scenes program and have a "workshop" class that will be open to all students, regardless of year or major. The class section for this will be the old "opera mainstage" section. Somewhere in October we will hold initial auditions for the spring production, "Tartuffe", an american piece based on the classic french play (sung in English). The opera will be double cast (as much as possible) at that time, and those cast will have the rest of the semester to work on the music on their own and in coachings with me and/or their voice teacher. I am hoping to have a weekend of rehearsals before the spring semester starts in order to jump start the rehearsal process. Then, we will work on music in rehearsals for about a month or so, and then stage for about a month. Those who have their music memorized at the beginning of the staging process will continue to participate in the production and perform in the opera at the end of March (there will be two weekend performances). Go ahead and plan now that the weekend (or at least Saturday and Sunday) at the end of Spring break will be used for rehearsals for the opera, since that is very close to show time. In any case, the rehearsal schedule will be planned far in advance and will hopefully only intensify the last couple of weeks before the production - the exchange for this will be a weekly opera commitment for the entire semester.

As for the Vocal Coordinator stuff, you won't really see much of that, except that I will send out administrative stuff from time to time that you will see. Somebody has to coordinate a little, and I got picked, that's all.

Secondly, we hired two new faculty associated with the voice area (both coincidentally moving here from Mississippi).

Dr. Greg Rike will be coming on board this year as a visiting professor of voice. He's a tenor with lots of experience and ability as a vocal teacher as well as a teacher of literature, pedagogy, diction, and other classroom voice issues. Also, he's a nice guy and I think you will like him.

Dr. Karl Nelson will also be joining us as Director of Choral Activities. Dr. Nelson is a great conductor and teacher and has lots of great ideas for the choral program this year. He also has the dubious distinction of being one of my LSU classmates (he even has the mark of shame of conducting on one of my recitals).

Anyway, the faculty searched hard and are very happy to have found such qualified and likable individuals.

Wow, that was a long post! See you when school starts! There may be some photos coming soon from my Colorado Music Festival experience, so keep an eye out.

Dr. T

Show pictures from Tosca

2005-06-02T11:56:00.000-05:00

Here are some show pictures from Tosca (I'm the one with the beard) :

More Tosca Info

2005-05-11T21:48:00.000-05:00

This photo is from the same rehearsal as the last one. Notice a few things - first, that the rehearsal is not in the theatre. In fact, we will actually spend very little time in the actual hall with the real set during the two and a half weeks of rehearsals. Similarly, none of the furniture is actually what we will be using. The pieces used are roughly the same size, and the set is represented by lines of tape on the floor. As you might guess, some imagination is required - just like in workshop classes. Opera Illinois is fortunate to have its own rehearsal space - there are many regional companies that rehearse in churches or other shared spaces. We will work on Act III tomorrow, so stay tuned...

Baritone stabbing 101

2005-05-11T15:01:00.000-05:00

Today at my Tosca rehearsal at Opera Illinois, you can see the soprano and baritone practicing the famous stabbing scene from Act II. They are practicing for "martial realism", where the bloody deed looks real from the audiences point of view, but without all that painful knife-in-your-guts-bleeding-to-death that happens with a real stabbing. Hopefully I'll be able to give you some more inside photos as rehearsals progress. You can check out the opera company's web page about the show here.

Dr. T

Did you see this?

2005-04-20T13:29:00.000-05:00

Check out this mention of Mrs. Dodd in the AceNotes today:

Elizabeth Dodd, assistant professor of music, came to the University of Evansville in 1995. She previously taught at the University of Tulsa, where she was an artistic assistant professor. She had also taught at Oral Roberts University. For several years, Dodd has served as a member of the faculty for the Operafestival di Roma in Rome, where she teaches voice and Italian diction and directs opera scenes. This year she will be co-directing Puccini’s "Suor Angelica" at the Operafestival di Roma.

Dodd earned her MM degree in vocal performances from the University of Tulsa, and her Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the University of Oklahoma. She has been a student of Elly Ameling, International Institute of Chamber Music, and has taken a Master Class with Elisabeth Schwartzkopf. Her specialty is German Lieder repertoire, and has studied the art of the leid with Ameling, Schwartzkopf and Rudolf Jansen. Many of her own students have been regional Metropolitan Opera Audition winners and many appear in local and regional opera companies and musical theater venues, including Broadway.

She also performs roles in opera, oratorio and operetta, and has performed with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra and the Gilbert and Sullivan Society. As an undergraduate, Dodd performed in summer stock with such stars as Don Ameche, Jack Jones and Bert Parks. She has been an adjudicator for the Colorado Metropolitan Opera Auditions.

While at UE, Dodd has been stage director for the University’s first full-length opera, Floyd's Susanna, and introduced the audience at UE to a new opera, Ghosts of Versailles. She has directed an Opera Workshop in which UE vocal students presented Mozart opera scenes entirely in Italian. With the assistance of John Meredig, Dodd established a Diction Computer Lab where diction students can listen to native speakers of foreign languages read art song and opera texts. Also during her years at UE, she served on the Professional Affairs Committee, the Assessment Committee and served as chair of the Voice Position Search Committee.

She will be missed greatly by all of us!

Dr. T

Little Red Riding Hood

2005-04-13T13:19:00.000-05:00

You can see a slide show from touring children's opera Little Red Riding Hood we presented earlier this semester here.

Dr. T

Song Forms

2005-02-15T15:02:00.000-06:00

The quality of your latest song information forms is very high - great job. All of you are really getting more skilled at recognizing the musical significance of your pieces and coming up with great character work for them as well. I have written comments on the sheets for you to look at, so you can come by this week and get them at your leisure.

Thanks,

Dr. T

Studio Class and More

2005-02-01T14:56:00.000-06:00

Thanks to the performers for today's studio class, Katie and Richard both did excellent work and will represent us well on today's masterclass. Molly, Elizabeth, and Jacob will be singing for next week's class. I currently have no one signed up for the following week.

I also want to let you all know how proud I was of all of you at the opera auditions. You should all feel that you represented yourselves well and gave compelling auditions. As I sat in on the discussions for casting, you can all know that you received serious consideration and discussion for a part in the opera. You all were well prepared, sang your music well, and read your dialogue well. This is all that you can do for an audition - the rest is out of your hands, as Ms. Dodd said at last week's Voice Hour.

Dr. T

Studio Class Performers

2005-01-26T10:56:00.000-06:00

Performers for next week's studio (2/1/05) are:

Richard Sears II
Katie Neal
Beth Higgenbotham

There is one slot left for the following week (2/8/05), but signed up so far are:

Molly Wilson
Jacob Pence

You all must sing in studio this semester.

Thanks,

Dr. T

Important Dates to Remember

2005-01-26T10:53:00.000-06:00

Studenti,

Just a few important dates for your calendar. First, your song forms are due on the following dates:

1st form - February 8

2nd form - March 1

3rd form - March 29 (if needed)

4th form - April 19 (if needed - if you have five songs, turn in the remaining forms on this day)

Secondly, you will be required to sing one of your Abt or Vaccai exercises for the class on February 22 from memory. This will be factored into your semester grade so don't blow this off and not prepare!

Thanks,

Dr. T

Suggestion for lieder book

2004-12-07T13:12:00.000-06:00

I saw this yesterday in the TIS catalog, and I would recommend it for those of you who haven't purchased a lieder anthology. Called simply "The Lieder Anthology", it has 65 songs by diffent composers and includes word for word translations and bio info on the composers. It comes in high and low versions. Looks like another good product from Hal Leonard, who makes the great French anthologies a few of you have. Click the link here to go to TIS for this book.

Dr. T

Lesson Sign-up

2004-12-06T11:54:00.000-06:00

Studenti,

If you are so inclined, you may come by and fill out a new studio information form and schedule card for spring. When completed, place the form in the folder marked "Completed Schedule Cards and Forms". I'll take the cards and do a probable schedule for next semester this week. This schedule will be subject to change at the start of next semester, of course.

Dr. T

Props to Dr. Reed

2004-12-02T16:31:00.000-06:00

Did you see this in the UE Announcements?

UE salutes...Douglas Reed, professor of Music/University Organist, who has had an article published in the December issue of The American Organist magazine. William Albright (1944-1998): A Birthday Tribute celebrates the life of the noted Indiana-born composer, three of whose compositions received their world premiere performances at the University of Evansville.

A review of Dr. Reed’s 2 CD recording In Memoriam William Albright (available in the UE Bookstore) appears in the same issue. Recorded on the C.B. Fisk organ in the Minato Mirai Concert Hall, Yokohama, Japan, the recording features a performance of Symphony for Organ, commissioned by the University of Evansville with the support of the Friends of UE Music, the Indiana Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Also included in the December TAO is a report on the UE American Guild of Organists chapter’s recent two-week organ study trip to France and Switzerland.

SNATS

2004-11-29T13:05:00.000-06:00

I have mentioned to some of you the possibility of starting a chapter of SNATS, which is a Student National Association of Teachers of Singing organization. As you may or may not know, NATS is the national organization that teachers of voice, like Ms. Dodd, Ms. Veazey, and I belong to, and it is dedicated to the teaching and study of voice. SNATS is an opportunity for us to have a student organization related to singing study, professional singing, professional teaching, etc. in a way that the Music Therapy and Music Education areas have student groups dedicated to their areas of study.

I know you already have a few questions, so I will answer them.

1) Will it cost me anything? - There are no national dues for SNATS, but the chapter might have to have a fundraiser or charge miniscule dues to cover small costs like photocopying etc - but this will be determined by the group and not by an outside body. Also, there might be cost associated with trips or other such activities.

2) What will we do? - That will of course be up to you in large part, but I have sent you all a letter from the SNATS national coordinator that talks about suggested activities like discussion of topics, trips to see performances, and other activities.

3) How often will we meet and how much time will this take? - That also will depend on you, but I would think one meeting a month would probably be what happens.

If you haven't already, read the letter I sent you from the SNATS Coordinator that offers more information about SNATS. We will need five members plus a sponsor (me) to start an official chapter. We will have a brief meeting after Voice Hour tomorrow (11/30) to determine the level of interest and to elect officers for the group, and then the officers will have a chance to think about stuff over the holidays before we really get rolling in the Spring.

Please email me with questions or post comments on this page,

Dr. T

Another Singing Legend Passes On...

2004-11-07T21:16:00.000-06:00

In addition to the loss of Robert Merrill last week, the singing world lost legendary Broadway baritone Howard Keel on Sunday. You might have seen him in the classic musical movies "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" and "Kiss Me Kate". You can read more about him here.

Dr. T

More from Jaley in England

2004-11-07T11:18:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone!How are you all? I hope this e-mail finds you welland in good spirits! This weekend was a good one, butit left me really tired. I am glad that I have Sundayto get over it. Friday we had a mandatory field tripto London. They drove us up in a bus and dropped usoff with a list of art work to go see and then we hadto meet back at St. Paul's Cathedral for a group tour. The paintings were amazing. I had already seen all ofthe ones on our list, but it was nice to see more inthe galleries. I did get to see Van Gough'sSunflowers. That was amazing. They had a few of hisworks on display. The only other work of his I wouldlike to see is Starry Nights. I don't know where itis located, but someday...I'll find it.St. Paul's is AMAZING! The art work in there is themost amazing thing. You all just need to go theresometime. It was built to rival St. Peter's Basilicain Rome. I'll be headed there in a few weeks so I'lltell you how well it did in the reveling. I climbedto the top of the dome though. It's over 450 steps andI made it all the way up for the most impressive viewof London since the London Eye. ...and for those ofyou who don't want to climb 1 million and a half stepssimply for a view...the London Eye is the way to go!After that I went to go see Woman in White with a fewfriends. The theatre there was so old is was raininghistory on us. I could only see Victorian Ladies intheir large gowns and men being oh so pleasant intheir tails. It was so rich with history. TheVictorians just haunt the place. It was AMAZING! Theshow was good too. They did an interesting thing withcomputers and projecting for the scenes...for thosewho are interested, I'll fill you in later.The musicians were so so and the plot was your averageAndrew Lloyd Webber plot, but it was a great show. After that I went to the place where the bus wassupposed to pick us up. There were 50 of us thereincluding 8 faculty members and the president of theuniversity and his wife. We waited for an hour and ahalf for our bus to come. It finally rolled in about1:00. From numerous phone calls between the pres andthe bus driver we found out that the bus was havingproblems starting and when it finally did start, therewas no battery left. I took shelter with three of myfriends on the steps of a church across the alley fromeveryone else. As we lay/sit there freezing, a groupof people walked by and asked us if we needed anychange. Yeah, he thought we were homeless.... But wefinally made it home around 3:30. I took a shower andat 8:00am I had to be back on the bus for anothertrip!Today we went to Cadbury World. It's the closest thingto Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory I've ever been tooand it was heaven! So much chocolate! It was divine. I couldn't imagine bringing my children there. Theybasically give you a life time supply of chocolatejust in samples while you are walking through. I wasgetting hyper a bit so I stopped but there werechildren there so wound up I thought at any momenttheir heads were going to fly off their shoulders. After that we headed to the Bullring. That's rightladies...the biggest shopping center in all of Europe.26 football fields long and 5 billion dollars tobuild. It's huge. I was excited for a whole hourabout it and then my exhaustion sat in. So, a girl andI got a while chocolate mocha from Starbucks (praiseGod for those!) and was just drank coffee for an houruntil our bus came. But, it was a good trip. Wednesday I leave for Paris! I can't wait. I loveyou all and I can't wait to see you again. Keep meposted on your lives! Much love,~Jaley

The Latest from Jaley in England

2004-11-02T13:22:00.000-06:00

Here is the latest from Jaley, our studio correspondent at Harlaxton Manor, UE's England campus, whis semester.

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all splendid upon reading this. I also hope that you are surviving the elections and that you all took your rights seriously to go vote. I voted about a month ago. A few of you have been asking about how people are feeling about the upcoming election in England. Well, every single trip I go on, even just running to town for a bit or taking a trip 4 hours away from Grantham, I get stopped at least once on the street. They ask what state I'm from, and if I will be voting. Then they give me run down on both candidates and their running mates and proceed to tell me who to vote for. They know all about both candidates, they know that Indiana usually swings Republican, that Florida is going to mess things up again, and that they want one candidate to die and the other to become our new president. They do not hesitate in sharing their political views here. I just listen for a bit and about the time they ask who I am going to vote for is when I end the conversation.

Trust me, it's the smart thing to do.

In other news, I had a divine weekend this weekend. It was much needed after last weekend. I went to London last week to see an opera...when I got there, the only tickets were 125 pounds...about $250. I couldn't really pull that one off and neither could my friend so we went all the way to London to eat pizza. It was less than thrilling, I missed a train and we were late the entire day we were there. The good things that happened were that I was able to run to Stratford Upon Avon and see Shakespeare's Birthplace, where he is buried, his family's houses and all that good stuff.

It was a nice trip. I felt weird walking into his house. It was quite odd. I felt remarkably close to this man who causes so many high school English students grief. It was unreal to be there and to see all of the things he had written about. That was a good trip.

This weekend was much much better than the last as I went to Oxford, Bath, and Stonehenge. Oxford was great, though I did enjoy Cambridge better. I was able to tour Christ's Church Campus which was where Einstein and Lewis Carroll went to school, and it is most popular (unfortunately) now because it was where a lot of the Harry Potter movies have been filmed. So there is a giant sign that says Harry Potter and a little tiny sign you can barely read that mentions Einstein and Lewis Carroll. But it was still neat to see all of that. We also toured the Ashmolean Museum which was neat.

Bath was AMAZING!! If I had to live anywhere in England for the rest of my life it would be in Bath.

I just can't tell you how wonderful that was. We shopped on Poultney Bridge, toured the Roman Baths, and walked around the most charming town I have ever seen. The leaves are changing colors here and the landscape is unparalleled to any I've seen. The houses are all so charming just nestled up snuggly in the hills and there are so many chimneys at any moment I expected Dick Van Dike to jump out of one of them and start singing to me. I even drank the Bath Spring water while I Was there. I paid 50 pence and a lady walked up with my glass to a fountain that was obviously about 300-400 years old, and the water she put in the glass was spit into the glass by a friendly looking fish. Skeptical, I drank the 85 degree nasty water. It wasn't as bad as I had anticipates, but still, I could only drink half a glass. Now I am supposed to be amazingly healthy because of it. We'll see.

Then on Halloween, by coincidence, we visited Stonehenge. From the highway I was most disappointed, but as I walked up to it, I too was amazed by it's mystery. It just has a way of making you stand there with your mouth wide open while you ponder how it was made. It's a wonderful thing to go see if you are ever around it.

I do apologize for the length of this e-mail and I hope I didn't bore you all. It was an amazing trip.

Bath is worth buying a plane ticket to come and see.

Keep me posted on all of your lives! I miss you all so much. I can't wait until we get back, drink tea, and talk like we haven't missed a beat of each others lives. Be sure to e-mail and keep me posted. Have a lovely week and Go Vote!

Love ya',

~Jaley

Robert Merrill - the Loss of a Legend

2004-11-01T10:57:00.000-06:00

Legendary operatic baritone Robert Merrill passed away last week. He's one of my personal musical heroes, and a real american original. In his honor, take the time sometime soon to go over to the listening library and listen to his singing, especially if you are a male singer.

You can read more about his passing here.

He will be missed.

Dr. T

Abt/Vaccai Day Next Studio Class

2004-10-28T16:25:00.000-05:00

Studenti,

The next studio class will be...

ABT/VACCAI DAY!!!

Whereupon you will be called to demonstrate your mastery of the vocal exercises assigned to you. For this performance, you may use your music, but I will expect them to be memorized at a future class day.

Happy practicing!

Dr. T

Jaley's Latest From Harlaxton

2004-10-19T07:56:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,I just wanted to tell you all hello and give you briefrun down of my adventures this weekend. I only have afew minutes, but e-mail me or check my live journaland I will be delighted to fill you in on everything.I miss you all and I can't wait until I can see youagain. God is showing himself to me in new ways everyday and I am continuing to change and grow as aperson. It's an amazing experience.I helped start a Bible Study here and every meeting wehave, we have doubled in size. We are up to 15 now outof 93 studding here! I am so happy about that. I leadpraise and worship on my guitar while I sing. It's agreat time for all of the people that come and we areall becoming wonderful friends.Moving on to my weekend in London. We saw the towerBridge and walked across it along with the Millenniumbridge, British Museum, Tate Modern Museum of Art,Westminster Abbey, Tower of London here there areagain the crown jewels and this time I got to see allof the castle and not just that part. This includedseeing all of Henry VIII's surviving armor andweaponry, the torture chambers, and many other neatthings from the time. I took a ride on a Double Deckerat night and saw London of an evening that way. Wealso took a ride on the London eye (the world'slargest ferris wheel...the ride last 1/2 hour) it wasAMAZING! We shopped (looked rather) at Harrod'sdepartment store, saw the lobby of the Royal OperaHouse (long disappointing story), enjoyed the eveningunder the stars at Covent Garden. The streets there were filled with musicians, poets,and actors all sharing their gifts with you as youshare special moments with the people you are eatingice cream with. I went to church Sunday Morning inWestminster Abbey. The music was nothing short ofdivine and I have never been so moved in a Mass in myentire life. It was a brilliant moment that I willnever forget.We did a bit of shopping, a lot of walking, and I canproudly say that I have mastered the Tube system ofLondon! Go me. We didn't get lost and I was the onenavigating the entire trip. I surprised myself on thatone.I went to Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum. It soundscheezy, but it was so much fun. I cannot tell you howgood it feels to pose in a picture with people likeHugh Jackman and Tom Cruise...even if they are wax ;).I went to #10 Downing Street, Buckingham Palace... Here, we'll do it this way, you name a place in Londonand say, "Jaley did you see___________?" and then in avoice similar to mine have someone say to you "Oh,yes! I did, and I loved it. It was just fabulous!You would have loved it there!" I did get caught in the middle of a 10,000 antiAmerica/Bush/War protest. I'll have to tell you morelater, but know that I made it out safely. It changedmy life and I count myself forever blessed toexperience that amazing moment in history. I am movedto see what it's like to be the enemy. I am beyondword to describe that I actually got a very smalltaste of what it was like to be Muslim in the USA. Iam forever changed...and forever blessed for such adefining moment.Okay, well I have to jip you all and not tell you allthe fun details but I do need to run. It is so late. Time just flies here faster than I can catch it!Love and only the best things,

~Jaley

Women's and Men's Chorus Concert This Weekend

2004-10-18T13:59:00.000-05:00

Just an FYI, you are all required to attend the Women's/Men's Chorus Concert this Saturday, October 23, at 2 PM. You are required to attend all vocal major ensemble concerts in the syllabus for voice, so make plans to attend. The concert will be in Neu Chapel and will last about an hour.

Thanks,

Dr. T

Song Interpretation

2004-10-13T16:02:00.000-05:00

Studenti,

Hope you had a good break. I have read through all of your song interpretations and have a few comments.

1 - John Wenzel, I don't have yours yet and the grade-o-meter is rapidly lowering.

2 - Many of you have vastly improved your work on these. I can see real growth in the musical interpretation portion particularly, but the dramatic side is also coming along.

3 - "look up longingly" is not very descriptive and could work in almost any song. Think of more specific terms and ideas than this. Several of you have variations on this theme in your reports.

4 - Many of you have wonderful back stories for your songs (props to Richard on this). Think of ways that your vividly described character stands, moves, thinks - this will inform your work with meaning and is the next big step to a mature artistic performance.

5 - Finally, some of you were not thorough enough (time crunch?). You know who you are, so maybe you would like to try again with a little more detail?

On a related note, we are getting to performance time and I need to hear all of the performance majors with an accompanist before your first Voice Hour, which is on the 26th. Also, please remember that the request forms are due at 5 PM the Thursday before the Voice Hour. Similarly, I want to have some of you performing at Workshop on Thursdays very soon, so let's talk more about that.

Keep up the good work!

Dr. T

Cookout Signup and info

2004-10-01T10:16:00.000-05:00

Please click on "comments" below to announce what you are bringing to the cookout (drinks, chips, cups, plates, etc.). You don't have to register or anything to post a comment, but make sure to sign your name to your comment. The food will be pizza, provided by Mr. Wenzel, so bring $5 cash with you to pay for your share. I will email you all directions and post some on my door today.

Also, Mrs. Truitt prefers that the festivities begin at 6 PM, so plan to arrive at or around that time.

Email me with questions....

Dr. T

Coach Me!

2004-09-20T13:59:00.000-05:00

The link above is to a new resource from JW Pepper Music that features libretto literal and IPA translation, as well as a native speaker reading through the libretto of various vocal works. This includes entire roles of operas. If you have been looking for recording of spoken languages, particularly of vocal rep, here's your chance.

Dr. T

Library Resources for the Singer

2004-09-16T14:54:00.000-05:00

Here is a copy of Mrs. Dodd's handout from class on Tuesday, 9/14/04

Diction and IPA

MT883.C64
Phonetic Reading of Songs and Arias
Berton Coffin

MT 883.A3
Phonetics and Diction in Singing (Ital, Fr, Ger, & Span.)
Kurt Adler

MT883.C27
A Singer’s Manual of Spanish Lyric Diction
Nico Castel

MT833.C64
Singers’ Italian
Evelina Colorni

MT 883.C69
Singers’ Manual of German and French Diction
Richard Cox

MT883.C37
Italian for the Students of Singing
Gina Cerminare

MT883.C44
Singing in Czech: A Guide to Czech Lyric
Diction and Vocal Repertoire (with disk)
Timothy Cheek

MT883.T48
Musical Diction
C. Thurwanger

MT883.A23
Diction for Singers
David Adams

Word by Word Translation

ML54.6.W65
Word by Word Translations of Songs and Arias Part I (Ger.& Fr.)
Berton Coffin

ML 54.6.W65
Word by Word Translations of Songs and Arias Part II (Ital.)
Berton Coffin

ML54.6.S39.W53
Schubert: The Complete Song Texts with English Translations
Richard Wigmore

ML54.6.W853.G52
Hugo Wolf’s Complete Song Texts With IPA And Translations
Beaumont Glass

ML54.6.B82.G52
Brahms’ Complete Song Texts With IPA, Word by Word Transcription, And Commentary
Beaumont Glass

ML54.6.M5R5
Ring of Words
Philip Miller

ML54.6J76.F74
French Song Companion(Translations and Commentary)
Richard Stokes, Graham Stokes

ML54.6.M34
Masters of Italian Art Song: Word by Word Translations
Timothy Le Van

MT115.S38.S3
The Songs of Robert Schumann Translations and Commentary
Eric Sams

MT121.F38.G37
Interpreting the Songs of Gabriel Faure (IPA, Word by Word)
Robert Gartside

MT121B73.S36
The Songs of Johannes Brahms (Translations and Commentary)
Eric Sams

Art Song and Aria Interpretation

MT892.B4
Interpretation of French Song
Pierre Bernac

MT121.F38.G37
Interpreting the Songs of Gabriel Faure
Robert Gartside

M 892.55
An Interpretive Guide to Operatic Arias
Martial Singher

MT892W.5
Master Lessons on Fifty Opera Arias
Weldon Whitlock

MT892.G64
Bringing Soprano Arias to Life
Boris Goldovsky & Arthur Shoep

MT892.H44
The Third Line: The Opera Performer As Interpreter
Willian Beeman & David Hefgot

Vocal Pedagogy

MT820.A59
The Science of Vocal Pedagogy
Ralph Appelman

MT821.C65
Sounds of Singing
Berton Coffin

MT825.V4
Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique
William Vennard

MT820.F756T.5
The Tenor Voice
Bruce Humphries

MT820.M6
Training the Tenor Voice
Richard Miller

How To

MT892.C35
The Performer Prepares
Robert Caldwell

MT892.E54
The Art of the Song Recital
Shirlee Emmons

MT892
Power Performance for Singers
Shirlee Emmons & Alma Thomas

MT820.C788
Singing on the Stage
Robert Page

MT955.W24
Opera Scenes for Class and Stage
Mary Wallace & Robert Wallace

MT956.D42
The Singing and Acting Book (Games and Exercises)
Thomas Burgess & Nicholas Skilbeck

MT892.T6713
Introduction to the Art of Singing (Trills, Turns, Portamenti)
Johann Agricola

Updated List of Singer Websites

2004-09-06T10:53:00.000-05:00

Translation/IPA/libretto

IPASource: http://www.ipasource.com/

IPASource is home for accurate word-for-word translations of songs, arias, and operas with International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions in the user-friendly PDF format. It is all free for your private use.

The Lied and Art Song Page: http://209.16.199.17/lieder/

An archive of 16,824 texts used in Lieder and other classical Art Songs as well as in many choral works and other types of classical vocal pieces (25,136 settings and growing). Thousands of translations to English, French, German, Spanish and other languages are also offered.

Classical MIDI with words: http://www.recmusic.org/midi/

Featuring art songs with synchronized lyrics and translations. This site has MIDI files of accompaniments of various songs and arias and has a karaoke style player that can scroll lyrics along with the music.

The Aria Database: http://www.aria-database.com/

The Aria Database is a diverse collection of information on over 1000 operatic arias. Designed for singers and non-singers alike, the Database includes translations and aria texts of most arias as well as a collection of MIDI files of operatic arias and ensembles.

The Libretto Page: http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/librettim.html

Public domain libretti and other texts.

Three Good Online Translation Sites:

Google Translation: http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en

Babel Fish (Alta Vista): http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/babelfish/tr?

LOGOS verb conjugator:
http://www.verba.org/owa-v/verba_dba.verba_main.create_page?lang=en

Online music purchase/procurement sites:

TIS Music: http://www.tismusic.com/

An excellent online source for ordering music from a fairly local distributor (Bloomington). Most shipments arrive in a few days even with the cheapest shipping.

CD Sheet Music: http://www.cdsheetmusic.com/index.html

A source for music in the new CD ROM format. For example, you can pay $20 for a book of Schubert songs or pay the same or less for EVERY Schubert song. All you do is print them out copyright-free

VARIATIONS: http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/

This is Indiana University's online resource of public domain scores. This are available in pdf format, so you just print them out and their legal (and yours!).

Schubertline Online Scores: http://www.schubertline.co.uk/index.htm

A site to purchase and download individual song scores.

Professional organization sites

Classical Singer: http://www.classicalsinger.com/

This is a subscriber site that is THE bible of auditions for the opera industry. It has lists of competition, summer program, opera company, crossover, and even temple/church position auditions. The site is also searchable by the experience required, the size of the company, and more. Friends can get together and buy a subscription without breaking the bank.1

NATS Online: http://www.nats.org/

This is the online site for NATS. It has all kinds of useful info about upcoming events, contests, publications, and SNATS (campus chapters similar to Music Ed. Or Therapy student groups).

Opera America: http://www.operaam.org/

The website of American Opera's professional association.

Informational/Research Sites:

American Opera: http://www.usopera.com/index.html

Obviously, a site about American Opera.

Opera Glass: http://opera.stanford.edu/main.html

Stanford's really interesting site featuring a wealth of interesting information about opera, links, and more. Be sure to check this one out.

Yale WWW Music Resources: http://www.library.yale.edu/musiclib/webres.htm

Yale's online listing of WWW music resources. Many University Libraries have sites like these, and they can be very helpful in finding other online resources.

Our Library:

UE Library Site: http://libraries.evansville.edu/

Our library has several expensive resources available to you for free, including the Grove Dictionary of Music, which has tons of great biographical information. We will find out more about this on Thursday at Workshop in the Library.

Jaley's latest report from Harlaxton

2004-09-06T07:32:00.000-05:00

Below is the latest report from studio member Jaley, who is at UE's England campus at Harlaxton this semester.

Dr. T

Hello everyone,

I'm most excited to report that I have settled infinally and have gotten over that retched thing called Jet lag! I'm finally finding my way around the manor and I don't have to leave an hour early to class anymore to find my class (in case I get lost). The food is still leaving me begging for college cafeteria food (yeah, it's not that great), but all in all, I love it here.I have just returned from an extended weekend in London. Just a quick review of things experienced, the Tower Bridge, St. Steven's Tower (Big Ben), the houses of Parliament, The Tower of London including the crown jewels (I'm asking for one for Christmasthis year ;)), #10 Downing Street home of Tony Blair, Buckingham palace home of the Queen, changing of the guards, Sweeney Todd, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar square (where I got ran over by a bicycle...but that'sanother story), I toured the British museum where theParthenon Marbles are on display along with many other wonderful things and the National Portrait Gallery. I paid $9.00 for a smoothie in Leicester Square...Good thing I don't live in London. I could never afford it.I also toured Hampton Court Palace. This is whereHenry the VIII lived also William and Mary and a lot of other important figures. Go ahead and sing it, because I know it's in your head now..."I'm 'enry theVIII, I am, I am..." The most magical place in the world lies in the Henry the VIII apartments in his Great Room. This is where Shakespeare's plays where shown to the King. It stood in awe that I was standing on such a prestigious stage. I stood amazed that where I was standing, Shakespeare once stood. What an amazing feeling. I wanted to hug the floor or something ;) it was just amazing. I also toured Westminster Abbey. That has been a dream of mine forever. Inside, amongst the many amazing things, lies the tomb of Chaucer. At this point I began quoting the Canterbury Tales. I walked up to his tomb and touched it hoping some of his literary genius would rub off! lol. Anyway, all in all, great trip! I had a wonderfultime. I pray this e-mail finds you all the happiest you've ever been and in great health.

Love ya',

~Jaley

Improve Your Language Skills/ Cultural Knowledge

2004-09-04T08:44:00.000-05:00

Did you see this in Acenotes?

Friendship Conversation Partners Looking for Participants
Do you like meeting people from different countries? Want to learn about different cultures? Want to make a friend? Friendship Conversation Partners pairs an American student with an International partner in order for them to learn from each other, practice conversing, and form relationships. If you're interested, please print off and fill out the application in the "Student Information" section under the "Links" in AceLink and return it to the International Center (Union 206) or stop by our meeting on Tuesday, Sept 7 at 6:15 p.m. in Moore Hall Lobby. Contact Amanda, ac83@evansville.edu, with questions!

First Week of Lessons

2004-09-02T16:02:00.000-05:00

Well, everyone, the first week of lessons is now over and I am very pleased with how you all are doing. The NEW GUYS, Jeff and Richard, are both great additions to the studio and our department and I hope you all take the chance to get to know them.

Make a point to find someone else's lesson that you can visit on a regular basis (if it's ok with them). The experience of observing is often more valuable than your own lesson. It enables you to gain confidence in the techniques that you are learning when you see them work for someone else and it also gives you insight into problems that you might be having when you watch someone else work them out.

Also, get a PRACTICE BUDDY. This is just someone else that you can occasionally rehearse with that can be a pair of ears and give you honest feedback. Find someone you trust on a personal level that you feel confident giving criticism to and from whom you can receive it.

Get started finding your ACCOMPANIST. There is a list posted on the Choral and Vocal Website under "current students" or just click this link. I also can recommend talented students for you to ask. I expect an accompanist at your lesson in about a month.

Finally, especially you non-freshman types, get to work on your DICTION. The standards are higher this year for all of you and I expect it to be really good. This is an important part of your development as an artist, and it cannot be crammed, so start now!

I'm very excited about the prospects for this year. You are all greatly talented students and I know it will be a great semester.

Dr. T.

Jaley's Report from Harlaxton

2004-08-27T16:16:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone!

Thank you for your prayers and for patronizing me, Imade it to England in one piece! We arrived to themanor around 3:30am your time. Since then it has beennonstop excitement, jitters, and random people justpassing out asleep. ;)It is beautiful here and I wish you were all here withme to see it. Mrs. Awe I am constantly thinking of theromantic tales of the medieval times we studied inyour class as I walk through some of the most amazinggardens I've ever seen. I live in the Manor, that castle looking thing you seeon all of the Harlaxton stuff. Half of the studentsare living in the Carriage house, which is fabulous aswell. The girls have nick named my room the princesssuite. There are three of us there and we have ourown rooms with a curtain door a coat area, a sink, weeach have a desk, nightstand, and closet thing aswell. There is a seating area with a table to whichwe were already talking of pulling our desk chairstogether there as a seating area. As we were talkingthe staff brought up a full sized couch withoverstuffed pillows, and two winged back chairs. Totop it off the view from every window in our room isbreath taking. We have it made. We even have threeshowers all to ourselves...the other girls aren't ashappy as we are needless to say!I expect only great things. It's better than I've ever imagined. As promised, here is my mailingaddress.

Harlaxton College
Harlaxton Manor
The British Campus of the University of Evansville
Jaley A. Montgomery
Box # 33Harlaxton, Granthom, Lincolnshire, NG32 1AG, UKI

hope this e-mail finds you all in good health andeven greater spirits!Love ya,'~Jaley

Helpful Web Sites For Singers

2004-08-22T17:28:00.000-05:00

Studenti should find these sites very helpful...

The UE Choral and Vocal Web Site This has a lot of forms and other useful info for UE music students.

IPASource.com A great source of IPA and literal translations for hundreds of songs and arias.

The Lied and Art Songs Page Another great source of texts and literal translations.

TISMusic.com A great place to buy almost anything I would assign you at good prices. Since they are located in Bloomington, the stuff gets here fast without having to pay a lot for shipping.

The UE Library We have a lot of music available in our library that you can check out for free. They have a web based online catalog, so you can even see if they have something without having to leave your dorm room.

VARIATIONS This is Indiana University's online scores library. They are public domain, so just print them out and they are free.

Foreignword.com This is a strict language translation site.

OperaGlass This is a page with lots of information on opera.

The Aria Database This is, surpisingly, a database with information about arias, including translations, recordings, etc..

More to come...

Dr. T

Prospective Student Post

2004-08-18T11:05:00.000-05:00

If you are a student interested in studying voice and/or interested in attending the University of Evansville, please feel free to post any questions you may have about our University, our Department, or the Vocal Area. Either some of our current students or I will hopefully be able to address your question. Just click on "Post a Comment" below.

Dr. T

What I like about studying at UE

2004-08-17T16:44:00.000-05:00

The purpose of this post is for current students to offer comments about their experience studying at UE. What have you learned, how has vocal study in our department helped you improve as a musician, etc. This will be an opportunity for prospective students to hear from you about your experiences at UE.

Remember, the better your colleagues are, the more opportunities you will get as a student and as an alumni.

Dr. T

Advice for new students in the studio

2004-08-17T16:41:00.000-05:00

This post is an opportunity for current students to post advice for incoming freshmen or transfer students. Post a comment letting a new student know a pitfall to avoid or something that is a good idea to do.

Also, new students can post questions that more experienced folks can respond to.

Dr. T