Hallelujah, it's Lent (almost)!

Father, forgive me: I love Lent. The Dogma Dogs of Franciscan University of Steubenville have the same idea.

In fact, I celebrate the liturgies of Lent! The first time I attended an Ash Wednesday service, I was in RCIA. I was so thrilled to get to participate in a sacrament. . . even though it was not technically required. I loved getting those ashes. I didn't wash my forehead for days. I love attending Stations of the Cross and recalling the Passion. I love having some special readings and devotions in my purse. I love the huge changes in the Palm Sunday Mass, from the triumphant "Hosanna" at the beginning of Mass to the too-quiet, unnerving ending, a foreshadowing of the Triduum. I love processing through the incense-filled church to "Pange Lingua," then watching the altar being stripped bare on Holy Thursday. I love the long, long line to kiss the Crucifix at Good Friday. I LOVE IT!

Musically, to me, Lent is the Most Wonderful Time Of The Year. Everyone seems to get more focused, and when they do get loud, it's not a boast or a joyful cry -- it's a supplication. Simple melodies. Aching, yearning music. Everyone hearkens back to the "churchy" sounds that remind them of, well, church. Chanted Psalms, or at least chant-like. Palestrina. Victoria. Byrd. Purcell. Bruckner. Bach. And -- one of my favorites -- Allegri's famous treatment of Psalm 51 (here's a zip file of yours truly singing the highest part of the "Miserere" several, uh, years ago). I also like some new music for the organ-free Triduum, especially this treatment of the "The Reproaches."

In many ways, Lent is a 40-day feast for my ears.When parishes reserve chant and Bach, etc. for Lent, it always makes me grin like a Cheshire cat. It's no penance for me to have such music. At my previous parish, we always switched to chanting the Kyrie  and the Agnus Dei . . I never wanted Lent to end!

Lent is arduous for me when there is little to no recognition of its uniqueness -- when the music is the same old, same old stuff from "Breaking Bread" and other recyclable Missallettes, played the same way. If I had to endure this version of "We Remember" every day of Lent, that might be a proper Cross-- and I'd probably lose weight, too. Instead of giving up Facebook, maybe I should give up the St. Matthew Passion. The thought makes me shudder enough that I probably ought to consider it.

HAPPY LENT, Y'all!

"Chicago" for kids?

I recently attended a high school performance of the musical Chicago. I don't know what percentage of Broadway musicals trickle down to community theater and high school performances, but I'm guessing it's a high number. The prospect of greater royalties is just too tempting. And so we have Chicago for kids. I'm conflicted. No matter how good the performance, I'm uncomfortable with teenagers doing a show like Chicago, that traffics so heavily in the sexual and especially the cynical. I know, we're in the age of hypersexualized youth, "it's the culture", "can't turn back the clock", Shakespeare isn't clean either. That might all be true, but it doesn't make it any easier for me to watch a (hopefully) virginal chorus girl flash her bike-short-covered crotch right at her dad holding the video camera in the fourth row. I grimace when a Roxie without a driver's license tells me how bad her husband is in bed. I bite my thumb when the six merry murderesses crow over killing their men, when the only thing they've ever killed is time in study hall. I like the reassurance of knowing Velma's husky voice is the result of steadily diminishing, perimenopausal female hormones, not too many runthroughs of "All That Jazz".

My queasiness aside, this Chicago had many good points. The directing and staging was excellent, and the pacing was superb. The acting, in big and small roles, was well prepared and well executed. The pit band, which was placed onstage, was a fanatastic group of pros and semi-pros. I love the music of Chicago and it was a thrill to hear it played live.

The dancing was well-organized and the chorus was lively and engaging, but I think it's an almost hopeless task to choreograph Chicago. Bob Fosse's choreography is extremely controlled -- a turn of the ankle, a soft bump of the hip, a splayed jazz hand, a slow split of the legs. These tightly edited details keep the dancing from falling into bad burlesque. Most time-strapped choreographers lift a few identifiable Fosse steps, then add in some eight count struts, a whole lot of crotch flashing and leg crossing, and inexplicable stand-up writhing. It ends up looking like a mix of Madonna and marching band. Examples are all over YouTube. I don't know if it's possible to teach subtle sensuality instead of sashays, but I would dearly love to see more choreographers try.

Singing Chicago as a teenager is like running a marathon after walking around the neighborhood a few times. A couple of songs seemed to have been transposed slightly higher, but the overall low vocal range of Chicago makes it extremely difficult for young singers. Neophyte belters tend to just haul up the heavier chest voice, pushing it through a tight throat and soft abdominals, in an effort to sound more dramatic and full. In fact, it just sounds really loud. Slower passages are often sung in a very breathy head voice, equating "slow" with "soft." This is baby belting, and it can lead to vocal damage. But, it's avoidable (or correctable) with the right instruction. True belting is an ever-changing mix of head voice and chest voice, with very solid abdominal support and a very free throat. It can be learned and practiced, even from a young age. I teach it in my studio, and I practice it myself.

The sole non-belt female role in Chicago is Mary Sunshine, the ever-optimistic reporter. Her operetta-style singing is played for laughs (and often by a male singing falsetto), but it got me thinking. If a school is ambitious enough to program Chicago, why not program an opera? Not La Boheme, of course, but why not Bastien und Bastienne or another early opera? Early operas are loaded with female parts and choruses in a healthy vocal range. There are loads of English translations. The dancing is based on the Minuet and crotches stay covered. The music is in the public domain. It's a thought.

Hats off to all who were involved with Chicago. Overall, I had a great time. The (very talented) Roxie was one of my former students, and it was a treat to see her and her family. I can't wait to see what she does next.

(Dear theater teachers: The next time you want to mount an ambitious show about a sexy, criminal-minded woman with man trouble -- and a low voice, may I recommend this?)

Ornamenting and "oversouling"

My True Love brought an article to my attention, laughing as he clicked "forward." It was a reaction to Christina Aguilera's unfortunate Lyrical Malfunction at the Super Bowl (poor girl) while singing the National Anthem, but it was also about pop singers' tendency to "oversoul" the melody -- the singer adds quick lines of decorative notes and musical frills between the actual melodic notes, overdoing it to the point the melody is an afterthought. Exhibit A: Mariah Carey oversouling Hero. (Also note Mariah's fluttering right hand -- it oversouls right along with her.) Exhibit B: This completely desecrated version of a famous Christmas song.

In classical music we have vocal decorations known as ornaments. In the Baroque era especially, singers would add embellishments all over the melodies. Even now, coloraturas like me are expected to tastefully ornament our most famous repertoire. First composed on the spot by the singer, the most successful embellishements were written down and are now considered standard.

Classical ornaments tend to happen after a melody has been introduced "plain." They highlight the fact that the melody is on its second hearing. Ornaments tend to be used at the very highest point of a phrase or to end musical idea and launch into another one -- they are not scattered in the middle and they are usually very clearly stated. Classical singers try, but they can't over-ornament much because conductors and pianists can instantly stop them with the crash of a chord. Classical singers can be guilty of choosing the wrong ornaments (or just executing good ones badly), but because so much of the repertoire is standard, the ornaments are part of the vocal furniture now and are practiced carefully, and rarely moved. I've composed a few ornaments for myself, borrowing a bit from this singer and that score, but I'm careful to remember melody first.

Ornaments are for tasteful classical singing, oversouling is the sin of pop divas, but the technical term for all singer-driven note addition is melisma. Melisma has been around as long as there has been singing. (Show me a singer and I'll show you someone willing to mess around with a melody.) But, it isn't always the right thing to do, unless you know when to stop. When my voice students ask if they can do it. I usually say no, at least not while I'm watching. Good melisma can be an indicator of a nice healthy, flexible larynx as well a nice, healthy ego. Bad melisma reveals breaks in the voice caused by laryngeal tension. For examples of bad melisma and criminal oversouling, watch American Idol, Seasons One through Twenty.

Melisma is heard clearly in chants of the Catholic church. A Kyrie ("Lord Have Mercy, Christ Have Mercy, Lord Have Mercy") can contain just a few notes -- or thirty five. They start out with the same couple of notes, but they're quite different after that. I like both versions heard here (there are hundreds more). Sadly, very few Catholic congregations sing either one, those that do restrict it to Lent. (I don't find singing chant during Lent to be penitential at all -- it's like Christmas to me!) It's been my experience that parishioners are attracted to melisma as listeners -- it sounds very showy and emotional -- but they don't dare try to sing it in a group setting. Only the monks and choristers are willing to give it a shot. As a chorister, I would be happy to be the Melisma Representative for any parish that would want one. Too bad so few do.

Here is another Kyrie in English by Marty Haugen, composer of the very well known setting, Mass Of Creation. Note how few notes are used in the melody, and how every word gets a note. I'm not a Marty fan and this Mass setting is sickeningly ubiquitous, but I recognize that he composed something that is singable for the average melisma-phobe. (Oversoulers, feel free to muck up Haugen as much as possible.)

The worst oversouling I ever heard was committed by a high schooler singing Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls. He oversouled "I'll Know," and the audience was instantly transported from 1950s Gotham to an Usher concert. Thankfully and incredibly, Broadway remains mostly free of oversoul. Hope it stays that way, but I'm not placing bets.

H/T Huffington Post

Ac-cen-tchu-ate The Positive

Well Hello There . . . I've had a lot of "Deep Thinking" this week . . . thinking a lot about music and liturgy, and faith, and life and love. This week marks the second anniversary of the death of my beloved teacher and friend, Prof. Paul Hickfang. I miss him more now than I ever did. He taught me a great deal about music, and life, and love. The more I teach, the more I wish I could pick up the phone and talk with him about my students and my life now. But, I believe he is happily watching me, and I talk to him anyway. That's not unusual.

In addition to wishing I could still have Prof. Hickfang on this Earth, I wish I could just walk into a parish down the road and open up the Liber Usualis and start chanting along with 200 other people, or even find a few sangin' friends and start a South County version of The Anonymous 4. But that's not likely to happen. So, I'm focusing on what I can do:

1. Play really good classical sacred music at home and in the car, and sing along. Or, when I'm feeling silly, I'll play the Dogma Dogs.

2. Volunteer for Catholic Charities, because works of mercy happen outside of choir lofts, too. I've volunteered for Salvation Army in the past and have supported seminary and pro-life fundraisers, but I think it's time to be a little more involved in the Church Universal.

3. Keep casting the net for like-minded musical friends, because even though I feel isolated sometimes, I can't be the ONLY person in a 50 mile radius who likes to sing traditional hymnody and chant!

4.  Relax and realize that all my frustrations are but temporary. The best is yet to come.

XO Eden

It's me or the vacuum

I recently attended a meeting of fellow liturgical laborers. It was a meeting of singing specialists who were not yet familiar with programming music for the Catholic Mass. I attended the meeting too, hoping to network with my fellow church musicians, maybe get a cantor gig here or there. Since I moved here I've heard a depressing sameness in the music in many parishes I've visited. There are organs, but they are all set to tremolo, which makes every hymn sound like it's coming out of a flocked-wallpaper funeral home. (I used to sell Lowrey organs, back in the day.) Hymn selection is heavily weighted towards folk tunes with lyrics my piano teacher used to jokingly call "Jesus-Is-My-Boyfriend." The cantors charged with performing this music are unpaid and untrained. One cantor I heard recently sounded like she had asthma, her voice was so small. The microphone had to be turned way up for her, so in addition to hearing her pitches, we could also hear every wheezy breath she took too. I was actually kind of worried for her.

Yep, I'm complaining, but this situation is not news to anyone who works in sacred music. Parishes everywhere have moved away from more classical sounds, and have embraced more contemporary sounds, rendering folks like me nearly obsolete. We dinosaurs have to sigh and admit that many people prefer contemporary worship music to what we would offer them. Even musicians trained in Bach and Mozart will program more Marty Haugen than George Frederic Handel -- it's easy, it's poppy, it makes people perky. Folks like me -- who go happily prostrate at the sound of transcendent Chant and powerful choral polyphony -- are fewer and farther between now. Prof. Thomas Day of Salve Regina University wrote a really funny book about this situation: Why Catholics Can't Sing.

Full disclosure: Even I like some contemporary music -- in very small doses. I like Gospel music in a Gospel church, and I love the traditional Gospel station on Pandora. But I don't want it at Mass each and every week. I just think if you're going to play music that sounds like Jesus whispering in your ear, play it on headphones or in a small space, not in a majestic, stone-built Catholic church. The church is a place for majestic music. I like to feel "out" of myself at Mass, and I feel very "out" of me and very close to God when I hear well-trained singers and organists playing centuries-old music expressly created for His praise in His temple. I like knowing that I am singing the same music that centuries of the Faithful have used to praise God -- it makes me feel connected to the saints. I fall right back to Earth when I am forced to watch cantors make YMCA signs at the front of the church while clunking loudly around the microphones.

I can't seem to find musical transendence in a Catholic church in my area at the moment, and it's very frustrating. I worry that I'm never going to find it.

I know there are many roads to God and that's a good and necessary thing. I like to imagine the road to God as a long, gold-paved majestic highway, that starts out as dirt and gets more golden as you get closer. The music helps keep me focused on the road ahead. When I hear music like this, it makes me imagine a road to God that meanders past a bunch of strip malls and county fairs, the kind of detour where you're forced to spend an hour watching someone demonstrate a fancy vacuum and then wheedle you for a sale. You can get distracted from looking forward. To me, it's distracting to the point of annoyance.

Even though I find the current music situation extremely frustrating, it's not going to keep me away from Catholic Mass. Sometimes I think that's the lesson that God is trying to teach me: Stay focused, Eden. The Eucharist trumps anything and everything. So I turn my focus to the readings, to the homily, to everything but the music, and I try to remember that it's not about me, it's about God. And there's always Adoration. And, I'm working on developing a small group of local, like-minded singers (yep, it will be a small group) who want to get together and sing a little traditional sacred music. If we're welcomed into a parish occasionally to share what we can offer, well, that would be nice but I'm not going to sit by the phone waiting for an invitation. Those vacuums are really loud.

Sometimes when I get out of Mass, I get in the car and crank up my iPod, and screech out of the parking lot to music like this. It helps.

How Not To Write A Play In Seven Hours

Hi All, I survived the 24-Hour Play Festival! My play Brother Will, Brother John was pretty lousy. I was cold and tired for the entire 7 hours I was writing, and I dozed through the auditions at 9:30am. But, I really want to write another play in 2012!

What I learned:

1. It's okay to have a few ideas beforehand. I had tried to empty my mind before I showed up for the midnight meeting. Unfortunately I succeeded. . .and it was really hard to generate ideas past a first page! I came up with 10 different scenarios but couldn't get anything going. I figured it would be cheating to have any preconceived notions; that was silly of me and yet another example of my diva perfectionism. Over the course of the year I'll write down a few scenarios that interest me, and then at least I'll have a small bank to draw on if I draw a blank. I'll also write down a few scenarios that I will forbid myself to use, so I don't turn into a cliche factory.

2. Don't read Sondheim. I received Stephen Sondheim's wonderful new book, Finishing The Hat, as a Christmas present and I savored a chapter each day. In the book, Sondheim dishes on how he wrote (and rewrote and rewrote) his brilliant lyrics, books and music. He also disses several of my favorite dead librettists. Reading Sondheim before writing dialogue makes one want to write like Sondheim, and that ain't possible. Everything I wrote felt clunky and uninspired after reading the lyrics to A Little Night Music, and I probably aborted several workable scenarios far too early. So, no more reading of the masters before this kind of assignment. Instead, I'll read the National Enquirer.

3. Good actors and directors can make anything better if you give them the space. I've written some pretty good stuff (no, no, really I have) and while sometimes things have gone well, I've also watched thoughtless directors and shaky actors suck the life and sparkle out of it.  I tried to control the damage, but was mostly unsuccessful. It was painful to witness and experience-- and it goes with being a writer.

I didn't know I could have the opposite experience. This time, the director and actors saved me. I turned in a ho-hum play at 7am and twelve hours later, I was amazed to find the actors rehearsing something that even they found amusing. They took my Edsel of a play and got it going, and I was amazed to hear actual laughter from the audience as they performed. I am grateful to them!

Les six

I'm one of six writers participating in the Contemporary Theater Company's Sixth Annual 24-hour Play Festival, January 8 in South Kingstown, RI. The writers will get some instructions at 12 midnight on the 8th, we turn in our plays at 7am, and then the directors and casts work on the shows for the rest of the day, culminating in a performance at 8pm that evening. I have never done anything like this, which is precisely why I am doing it. I'm a little unnerved about it. Could be entertaining, could be a trainwreck. Either way, I'm in!

Why yes, I teach

Want voice lessons? I teach in Charlestown, Rhode Island . . . with two shiny new annex locations coming soon to West Kingston and Westerly!! Contact me through this website. Prices are low, quality is HIGH!

Dr. Zauberflote

Hello friends, I'm in the middle of two shows at the moment! It's been great working with Connecticut Lyric Opera on their production of Die Zauberflote . . . .here are the Three Ladies, minions to the Queen of the Night.

And I'm working on Seussical: The Meussical at Courthouse Center For The Arts . . . it's a great show for families. Click here for tickets. They'll sell out FAST.

Happy Thanksgiving. . .. .I'm the kind of gal who has to keep herself from putting up the Christmas tree on the afternoon of Thanksgiving. We'll see how long I last. I predict I will cave on Black Friday.

Marry The Man Today -- or at least this week

Hello friends, Two good things coming up . . . my impending wedding and . . . I'll be singing First Lady in Die Zauberflote with Connecticut Lyric Opera! Performances are in mid November and early December, all over Connecticut. I'm excited to sing First Lady for the first time! I just wish the first rehearsal wasn't . .. .the day after my wedding. Oh well, every day's a honeymoon, right? ;)

What's A Lady Like Me Doin' In A Joint Like This?

Well . . . turn your volume WAY up. I'm cutting and editing the tracks from "I'm The Queen And You're Not," my April 29 farewell recital at an Unnamed Midwestern College That Educates For Liberty. Someone asked me not to mention the college by name if I uploaded tracks from this recital onto, say YouTube. I guess they feared that if people knew I was singing there, no one else would want to go there! I'm using Garage Band to try to fix some of the volume swings in the recording, but it's slow going. If anyone can recommend an easier audio editing program, I'm all ?. . . ears!

This is the second song from the show . . ?I opened with the Queen Of The Night's first aria -- but the sound really fluctuates so I'm not posting it yet. Then, I segued into this funny tune by Murray Grand, then into a little patter. Aren't sopranos hilarious?

What's A Lady Like Me Doin' In a Joint Like This?

Musical Theater Merry-Go-Round

Hello friends, I'm pleased to announce that I'll be music directing several shows with Courthouse Center For The Arts in their 2010-2011 season. First up is Seussical, which plays December 17, 18 and 19. Whenever I think of Dr. Seuss in "performance," I think of this and smile.

In 2011, I'll music direct Grey Gardens, Runaways, Happy Days: The Musical and Annie.

I'm also looking for more playwriting opportunities. . . working for this guy,?aka Mr. Big my fiance . . .singing here occasionally . . .and auditioning for this local opera company in Hartford, CT.?I like Hartford because my sweet mezzo friend lives nearby!

I'm still working on dividing up my "royal recital" and slew of springtime performances into digital bites suitable for YouTube. As the 'Net is my witness, I'll have it done . . . . .soon.

My favorite websites

Hello friends . . . I've been in The Ocean State for a month now . . . ?settling in! I've just concluded a month of teaching vocal technique to young performers. These talented kids have a "really big show" next week! I started working on the music with them this week . . . it was fun to share music history with them -- they'd never head of Cabaret except for this. It's been a while since I've taught tweens . . . it's exhausting, but in a good way. I only had to do two or three Tween Smackdowns for talking during rehearsal.

I'm still planning my wedding to Mr. Big, so I spend time online looking for the perfect little hair accessory (still looking) and flower ideas, and when I can't stand that any more, I flee to my favorite blogs and websites. I'm listing my top favorites here.

1. Conversion Diary.?Raised atheist, Jennifer Fulwiler is now a practicing Roman Catholic. How on earth did THAT happen? Her blog makes a lot of the head-scratching questions about faith and Catholicism easier to think about. (She's also writing a book.)

2. Christus Vincit. Brian Michael Page is an organist, composer and self-proclaimed "Snark" living in -- Rhode Island!! I found his blog several years ago while googling "terrible liturgical music" after a particularly rough weekend, and I landed in a wonderful sinkhole of snarky comments about bad sacred music and how to battle it. Other bloggers are more diplomatic, but I like Brian's misanthropic tone. I can't believe we now live in the same state. We haven't met yet, but that's but a matter of time. Brian. . . we're gonna snark at a Starbucks soon, man.

3. Musica Sacra. The go-to website for all things related to Gregorian chant and traditional sacred music. I attended the Sacred Music Colloquium hosted by CMAA back in the mid 1990s, after I converted to Catholicism. . . ?I still use the skills I learned there. Glad to see that the Colloquium is thriving!

4. Cote de Texas. "Interior design porn" for those attracted to Americanized French decor. Won't ever do it in real life but there is no harm in looking, right? Unless it leads you to buy?here. Then, you have a problem and you need professional intervention.

5. Intimate Weddings. This site helps me maintain perspective as I hurtle into planning my fall wedding. It reminds me to focus on?the relationship and the marriage, rather than the wedding. (Been there, done that.) Small is beautiful! It can be done!

6. And here's the polar opposite. Good for flowers, but awful in other respects because it makes me think I am a Bad Bride for not canning my own preserves as wedding favors. Why do we have wedding favors, again?

7. Garden Design is my new favorite magazine . . . I still like Fine Gardening and Better Homes and Gardens but I love the ideas I'm getting from this one! And the blog is great, too.

What? Did you think I'd tell you that my surf history also includes visits to here, here, and here?

Hello from the Ocean State!

I'm all moved in to my new home in Rhode Island. I'm getting married here in October. I'm in a beautiful house near the ocean, with four cats, a dog, a snake, and lots of weeds to pull. I'm teaching part time at Courthouse Center For The Arts.

And now . . I'm looking for new adventures. I'm a Catholic looking for a parish, a classically trained soprano cantor looking for a choir loft and a priest who likes "Ave Maria"s, an organist looking for an instrument. I'm a performer looking for a stage, a writer looking for a story (and some quiet place without boxes around, to write it!), a teacher looking for students to inspire. I'm a gardener looking for flowers and back yards to delight me, a traveler looking for new places to explore, a mom of a tween and a stepmom of a kindergartener looking for support and advice, a divorced woman looking for prayers as I take the ultimate leap of faith into the future.

So. . . email me, if I don't find you first. ;)

Soprano At Ease

All done! What a great time that was . . . I enjoyed singing for the last time (?) at Hillsdale College . . . ?I will post some sound files when the recordings are sent on . . . thanks to all who came out. Here's a shot of The Queen and her Prince, apres-show. Thanks, Jim Rowen . . .

And now, what? I'm moving to Rhode Island for a very good reason . . . will be working here for the summer . . . come sing with me . . . and after that, we'll see. ;) I have a few ideas. . . . but first, a nap . . .

Hilarity Ensues!

Oi! Oi! Tryouts for "Bride and Flatulence" (and all the other student directed plays and student written shows) are this Tuesday and Wednesday, 6:30pm, Hillsdale College Black Box. Here, a little bit of "Bride" for you.

BRIDE AND FLATULENCE:?A Short Play With Music By Eden Casteel

SCENE ONE: THE BALL

EMMABETH FAIRFAX, 18, headstrong and prejudiced

MARYJANE FAIRFAX, 20, deliberate and sensible

FITZWALTER DARBY, 24, taciturn and really really rich (he shows up later)

A Regency era ballroom, suggested by several elegant chairs and perhaps some potted greenery. Beautiful young sisters Emmabeth and Maryjane Fairfax sit on chairs side by side, drinking punch from glass or ceramic teacups. Minuet music plays in the background during the scene.

MARYJANE: Emmabeth, you look like you are ready to shout to the sky. Whatever is the matter?

EMMABETH: I have just been humiliated by Mr. Darby.

MARYJANE: You mean, the wealthy Mr. Darby of PennybrookEstate?

EMMABETH: No, the rude Mr. Darby at the other end of the hall. But I suspect they are one and the same.

MARYJANE: Are you certain it was a calculated effort to hurt you?

EMMABETH: I happened to find Mr. Darby standing next to me, so I asked the gentleman if he cared to dance, and he immediately said, ?No.? I innocently asked him ?why?? and he replied, ?Find a looking glass.? The impudence!

MARYJANE: That is rather rude. Even for a rich man.

EMMABETH: Ten thousand a year can?t purchase good manners.

MARYJANE looks across the room: He does not seem arrogant now. In fact, he seems rather strained.

EMMABETH: Yes, is very tiring to appear to be suffering the happiness of the lower class as they dance in front of you.

MARYJANE: Your tongue rivals the punch for tartness, my sister. Emmabeth smiles at her Good heavens, Emmabeth!

EMMABETH: What is it?

MARYJANE: Your teeth!

EMMABETH: What is wrong?

MARYJANE: Did you partake of the spinach tartlets at the buffet?

EMMABETH: Yes, they were delicious. I had three of them.

MARYJANE: I can see that!

EMMABETH: How?

MARYJANE: They have stuck to your teeth! You have green lines of spinach between your teeth!

EMMABETH: Horrors! Help me rid myself of them! Maryjane surreptitiously helps Emmabeth scrub out her mouth with a napkin and some gulps of punch. Emmabeth sits, demoralized

EMMABETH: Do you suppose . . .

MARYJANE: That Mr. Darby was gently trying to spare you further embarrassment when he suggested you find a looking glass? Yes, that would be a logical and charitable explanation of his behavior.

EMMABETH: I am still put out. Mr. Darby should know better than to offer a food that would leave his guests open to ridicule.

MARYJANE: The fault lies in the spinach, not in the man.

EMMABETH: I condemn the menu and the man who approved it!

To the tune of ?Now Is The Month Of Maying?

EMMABETH: The spinach tart has shamed me, yet Mr. Darby blamed me!?Fa la la la, fa la la la.?Why should he take offense? My anger is intense.?Fa la la la la. . . .

MARYJANE:?His observations dental were delicate and gentle,?Fa la la , fa la la.?You could choose to abhor it, or simply to ignore it,?Fa la la la, fa la la.

MARYJANE: The crisis has passed, sister. Forgive the cook and forget the faux pas.

EMMABETH stands: I shall wait for you in the carriage.

MARYJANE: Go ahead, dear. I spy Mr. Bingolee and I would like to try a quadrille with him, if he asks me.

EMMABETH: But I have been shamed by spinach! I cannot remain here! Maryjane sighs

MARYJANE: Very well. We?ll depart. She stands and departs with Emmabeth

My favorite photographer

Dear Friends, I've gotten lots of positive comments about the photography on this site . . . visit www.ronaldcowie.com to see more work by this amazing artist.

Yes, he likes opera. He just doesn't know it yet.

Climb every mountain . . .

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Prof. Paul Hickfang, RIP

My first and favorite voice teacher, Prof. Paul Hickfang, died February 6 in Columbus Ohio after a brief illness. He was 82.

I met him when I was 13 years old, outside Linworth United Methodist Church. I wanted to sing more solos at my middle school, so my mother dutifully sought a voice teacher. Prof. Hickfang, all 6 feet 7 inches of him, unfolded out of the car. He had me sing a few scales inside the church's choir wroom, and suddenly I was a voice student. Thus began a beautiful 25 year friendship. And, I immediately began getting more solos! (The first one: "As Long As He Needs Me," from "Oliver.")

I remember so many Sunday afternoons, standing in front of the Steinway in his carpeted living room. Teenaged me, trying to make sounds that he approved of. Occasionally succeeding. Him, shoeless but wearing dark socks and dress pants, long legs crossed and swiveled away from the keyboard, pointing to his mouth and saying, "Meh! Like this! Meh!" Or, motioning me toward him so he could punch me in the stomach to see if I was supporting adequately. Or, shouting down to Laura Lee in the basement, "Could you play this for Eden?" Or, holding my hands in one of his and saying, "Good job, Miss Casteel."

Prof. Hickfang truly changed my life for the better. I saw him perform in "La Boheme" and thought, "I want to do that." He understood. He also discovered that I had perfect pitch -- I thought everybody could identify notes without hearing them being played. He sent me to University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music to study with his old friend, Patricia Berlin. He sang at my wedding. He named one of his sons after his voice teacher Chase Borromeo, so I named my son after him. He coached me through recitals, roles, performances. He also coached me through life. "How are you singing?" he would always ask. "What are you working on?" He always wanted to know.

After years of really wonderful health, and 22 years of post-retirement voice teaching ("it keeps me young," he said) he suffered a stroke. I visited him before Christmas. I am so glad that I got to hold his hand, and tell him all the wonderful things I was doing. He knew my singing was good and my life was great. And he knew I loved him. And, despite his paralysis, he flirted with my mother as always. He flirted with everyone. Including Laura Lee, his wife.

In two days I will sing at his memorial service. I am honored to do it. Every time I sing a note or teach a student, he is with me. That helps.

Good night, my dear Prof. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Well, THAT was fun!

"Bel Canto Cabaret" was a huge success! It was great fun to sing with my dear friends. Thanks to everyone who came to support us, hope you enjoyed the show!