Attention!

As a performer of live music, where do you focus your attention while in the midst of a performance? This, to me, is an interesting consideration since you have to juggle the demands of your craft- your technique, if you will- with the need to connect with your audience.

Put another way, how much do you break through the fourth wall, consciously or not, and how much do you strive to maintain your character and musical persona behind it?

Depending on whether or not the performance is staged, semi-staged or in concert, whether it is an audition or competition, or whether there are there costumes, sets, props and lights, can all influence your decision. And of course, let's not forget to mention the most important thing of all: you, the performer. How do you feel about it?

Cinematic actors don't have to worry about this, for they have movie cameras and microphones all around them. They just have to be their character and the director and film editors do the rest. This is hardly an easy task, however, for it takes an incredibly disciplined individual to do this well. How distracting must it be to have everyone around you, knowing their equipment is picking up every nuance of speech and gesture, while you have to maintain focus?

Still, it is not a balancing act: if you remain 100% in character then you've done your job. There's no decision to be made.

Performing live is a different thing entirely. Not only must one speak, sing and gesture in a way that it is visible and audible to everyone, but he must also play to the imaginary fourth wall that separates stage from spectator. Lack of awareness in this respect translates to a poor performance, with lines, expressions and gestures getting lost in the wings or upstage, or in self-indulgent introspection.

In addition, there is immediate feedback: you can tell if you're reaching the members of the audience- or, far worse, leaving them cold- and try to adjust accordingly. It's a wonderful way to hone your craft and improve your performance, all at the same instant!

Nevertheless, there must be something in your performance that remains “true:” true to the character, true to the musical intent of the composer, true to the director's concept. You cannot pander to the audience and put yourself above the art itself. Artistic integrity should never be compromised.

I also really dislike seeing performers who swing completely the opposite way from movie actors, engaging the audience in an insincere or totally shallow manner. To me, they are no better than the ones who indulge only themselves.

It is really a fine skill to learn how to balance the art with the need to communicate. Only a few master it, and their efforts are on a far different level from those blah performances one usually sees.

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About the author: Ralph Schatzki has been a lawyer and a teacher but always remains an opera singer, husband and father. He tries to sing whenever he can and to promote great music and singing throughout our world.

http://www.ralphschatzki.com
http://www.la-coffee-melodie-suite.com

Coffeelosophy - Conclusion

Coffeelosophy

With the bad economy, the first thing to go is arts funding. Singing is a profession that is taken for granted just because we sing as a natural part of our existence. If the profession were not respected before, it is worse now. Gafaae and Ralph have seen a lot of artists at different levels striving to keep their heads above the supply-over-demand-in bad economy-water. Sadly, news coming out from opera companies is not good news. Gafaae and Ralph would hate to see fellow colleagues turning away from pursuing their dreams. There is a solution, and all have to join hands and address it together. It is their belief that the problem has to be addressed at the root level, but we need everyone's help to make the change happen sooner for all of us.

La CoffeeMelodie Suite

We do what we can with our own two hands, with many pairs of hands we will achieve our goal sooner. Gafaae and Ralph focus their attention on three aspects: The artists-musicians of today. The audience -keeping today's audiences happy while developing and recruiting in-coming audiences. The up-coming artists-musicians-music lovers of the future. Coffee and baritone build the suite to be a hub for people sharing the same profession, to keep our performance-goers happy, and to pass along the knowledge to the young musicians and audiences-to-be. But because Gafaae, especially, gave up her wonderful, high-paying, first rate day-time job when she relocated, they can't offer the use of La Suite with out any compensation. TAVADesign, Souvenirs, CoreMelody, and CoffeePrograms are good examples of how Gafaae and Ralph would like to generate an income in order to compensate the cost of putting up this community. Of course, there is a page inviting anyone to become a patron. These pages are self-explanatory, and we hope that if you have read this far you would also spend a little more time visiting them.

The big picture

Exclusive Artists-Musicians Lounge & Gallery- Gafaae and Ralph hope to see a good mix of artists, musicians,, coaches, teachers, directors, conductors, orchestras and even opera companies joining La Suite. The time that we all did our own things individually and minded just our own business is gone. We all need friends and together we stand proud and strong. As much as Gafaae's&Ralph's wishes are that you would hire TAVADesign to

produce your next you tube video, or come to them for PR Consultation in order to gain the benefit from a profile page and the use of the discussion and announcement board, they would settle for an agreement from you to embed LCMS link to your website in exchange for a profile page with your name on the URL. Not a bad deal, is it? The sooner we have profile pages up, the sooner we build our community. Souvenirs is a market place provided to aid you in selling your CDs and other fine products at a low cost .















Classical Music Lovers Social Club- As Gafaae and Ralph are writing this long page and building the website , they introduce themselves in the community and offer their musical services and

educational programs to everyone. They hope to use the club to be the center where their audience can share music activities. You can do the same with your communities, too, and please do not underestimate the power of local fans. You need to come home to where you will be embraced by people who support you. And, please introduce them to our club so they can mingle among all like-minded music lovers. The more members we have, the better it will be for what we stand for.

Coffeeni - While offering our arts, we cannot forget that we have to build and prepare our future artists, musicians, the next coaches, teachers, conductors and directors. At La CoffeeMelodie Suite we provide education through CoffeePrograms and Core Melody. Piano accompanist apprentice award and Outreach Program are also given
through Coffee Programs. Gafaae and Ralph hope to build a Coffeeni Center for our up-coming musicians and provide musical activities and a comfort zone for our young musicians.

Please join us at

La CoffeeMelodie Suite

American Idol and Artistry

That's quite a title, isn't it? I'll nip your protests in the bud and tell you that I now find the two virtually incompatible. The fact that Adam Lambert made it all the way to the finals of season 8 of American Idol might make one feel good about our society's perception of artistry; but I submit it is, rather, a clear indication that most of the public remains truly ignorant of what art really is.

Now, don't get me wrong: I think the winner Kris Allen is a perfectly capable performer with a nice voice and seems like a genuinely nice fellow (as does Adam), and I think he'll find a modicum of success as a musician. But if you watched American Idol this season, you could see from the outset all the way to the end that Adam was in a different class from the rest of the contestants.

As a professional musician I marveled at the thoroughness of Adam's preparation week after week, and how he yet made everyone feel that he was just effortlessly gliding through a song as if he were a “natural.” Now, of course he is a supremely talented individual, but I suspect most who watched couldn't grasp the work that he had put in behind the scenes in order to create that image. To me, it was perfectly apparent that Adam is the first AI contestant who is a real performing artist (and I do not use that term loosely), one who makes conscious decisions about every aspect of each performance.

Why am I disappointed? Well, the fact that more Americans preferred Kris's performances to Adam's is a clear indication they prefer the generic, simple things to the well-thought out, crafted ones. Perhaps I'm being an elitist, although I think there are connotations associated with that word that overshadow its true meaning, namely one who likes the best. I do think that many didn't like Adam because they thought he was “too much,” or “over the top,” but I have to ask these folks, then, what it is they want from their performers.

Yes, Adam made it to the finals. He impressed enough people with his prodigious ability to enable himself to finish second. It's disappointing, though, that America prefers (even good-tasting) white bread to an hearty, artisan multi-grain. Perhaps that's the lesson, after all: if you're going to offer fare to the public, give them what they want. Don't put pearls before swine.

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About the author: Ralph Schatzki has been a lawyer and a teacher but always remains an opera singer, husband and father. He tries to sing whenever he can and to promote great music and singing throughout our world.

http://www.ralphschatzki.com
http://www.la-coffee-melodie-suite.com

Sing&Play&Meet&Eat

When: Saturday, April 4th,2009
Where: A private Residence in Easton, PA - will be reveled with a RSVP 'yes'
To RSVP please go to http://www.meetup.com/Classical-Opera-Musicians-of-the-Lehigh-Valley-COMLV/

What: "Sing&Play&Meet&Eat = Make great music, make good friends and have great food (I was told many times that I'm a good cook!!!)

Since last month's meeting was an introduction, this up-coming meeting should include 'action'!!!! I would like to invite all members to get together for Sing&Play&Meet&Eat This is an informal setting. The idea is for all of us to share our talents by performing to and for each other - singing, playing instruments, etc - in a positive and friendly environment. Members who are 'Friends in ' Classical/Opera Musicians & Friends of the Lehigh Valley, please, do come and enjoy the arts with us! Let's plan to meet around 4 pm. The actual Sing&Play will start at 4:30 until 5:45. If you are/have friends who are pianists and like to accompany voice, please come/invite them along, otherwise, we'll just take turn accompanying each other! We'll have time after the Sing&Play to Meet&Eat - I will provide food and beverages (non-alcoholic) - both for vegetarians and non-vegetarians. There is a small charge of $6.50 for good food. Please RSVP soon!

Please prepare up to 3 pieces that you would like to sing and/or play for us!

I would love to see all of you and can't wait to share our talents and experiences."

Please go to COM-LV official site for details http://www.meetup.com/Classical-Opera-Musicians-of-the-Lehigh-Valley-COMLV/

Singers Unite! - by Ralph Schatzki

http://www.meetup.com/Classical-Opera-Musicians-of-the-Lehigh-Valley-COMLV/

I've posted before about how singers have to take the initiative in creating performance opportunities for themselves and their audiences. Not only is it good business practice, but it is such a unique privilege to be able to bring great music into peoples' lives. There's nothing quite like a live performance to enrich the soul.

Still, musicians often feel that they are “against the world” in their endeavor to perform. Let's face it: it's not as if the want-ads are full of job listings for freelance performers, and audiences aren't usually beating down our doors clamoring for us to perform.

There's a bred-in-the-bone distrust of fellow musicians, as well: in the past, the few jobs that were available were fiercely fought over, and musicians would often try to keep whatever information they had secreted away from others in an effort to remove their competition and hold onto their precious domains.

Now, the competition-cooperation dichotomy is one that truly fascinates me, and I could devote many, many chapters of a book to its discussion. Don't worry: I'm not going to subject you to that, here. What I will say, however, is that we should make a clear distinction between jobs that are advertised versus ones we create.

When the Metropolitan Opera throws out a casting call, you'd be a fool to inform your five closest rivals. After all, you want to be the best singer that gets heard. This is the traditional way of thinking about getting hired.

In creating jobs, however, we are not in competition with each other at all. In fact, there is tremendous strength in numbers that only our cooperative efforts can bring about. If singers can get together and brainstorm various ideas about how to generate performance opportunities, it's the better for all of us. We can introduce each other to our acquaintances thereby generating a large audience base, and we can be there to troubleshoot each others' ideas.

Remember that your product is unique, so there's no need to worry that someone will preempt your product. If I buy a Mercedes today, that means I won't buy a BMW tomorrow. But if I go to a soprano's recital on Thursday it doesn't mean that I'm done with recitals until I get a new one, and that the baritone's performance on Sunday is off-limits.

It's a rough world out there, and we need friends to help weather the storm. Don't be one of those artists who sits on the sidelines and complains about the unfairness of it all, and how you don't get a chance to perform. Take charge, and along with your colleagues band together to strengthen the community of artists wherever you find yourself. It's not only in your best interests, but your duty to the Art.

http://www.pradichaya.com/coffeemelodieandcommunity.aspx

Singers in 2009 by Ralph Schatzki

It's 2009, and we have our first African-American president. We're in a recession, if not a depression, and an unprecedented stimulus bill has been approved by Congress. And opera companies- an important portion of this country's artistic community- are failing.

We are all of us in the position of having to make difficult decisions, and there's no doubt that having food on the table (never mind having a table) takes precedence over an evening of music. Still, I don't believe that the arts should be relegated to (or beyond) the fringe of human activity. As a singer and performer I'm rather biased in my views, of course, but I will nevertheless defend the arts over many other activities as being worthy of our time and effort. Entertainment is a facet of our lives that we crave: it diverts, it enriches, it makes us feel complete. And music is something almost everyone enjoys on a daily basis.

But that discussion is for another time.

For now, I want to rally fellow musicians to the cause. The old saying goes, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Well, I believe that the tough times we are entering- and things are not getting better anytime soon- actually gives rise to the opportunity to make the arts both stronger and a more integral a part of American life.

What we need is action. We can no longer wait for any opportunities to come our way, but rather we must make them. Yes, it's true that people will now spend less on entertainment than what they may have used to, but that doesn't mean they won't seek it out or they need it any less. And I believe this opens a door of opportunity.

It's time to approach audiences at a grass-roots level, to introduce them to artists that may, one day, be world-famous. Then, they can say, “I knew him when he was just starting out.” Do you know any movie or sports stars? If so, isn't it great? You can say, “I know so-and-so,” and everyone looks at you through admiring eyes. If not, don't you wish you did? (Come on, admit it...)

But even if 99% of performers will never achieve stardom, it doesn't matter. A live performance, whether it's a play, opera or basketball game, is infinitely more satisfying than a recorded or televised one. We've become such a media-driven and media-obsessed culture, that the “true” experience has become something of a rarity. Still, even the most jaded audience (and by that I mean a group of high school teenagers, but the premise applies to all) never fails to be impressed by a live event- especially if it's relatively intimate- where it becomes something tangible, real, to be touched and savored. It becomes something that touches them somewhere deep inside, and connects them to an aspect of themselves that before they didn't know existed.

We need to bring music to the living rooms, the way it used to be one, two, three hundred years ago. We can increase the number of people who love great music, which in the future will pay untold dividends for generations through more music lovers and more support. For most of us, a major performance at an international venue is even more of an unattainable dream than ever before; but that doesn't mean we can't create and bring great music to audiences that will enjoy it equally as much.

This means each of us must become an advocate for this art form in which we passionately believe. We have to take the initiative, to advertise and promote, to “talk it up.” We have an advantage, too: we can bring music into people's homes where a lot of entertainers are actually constrained by their grandness- movie stars can't bring a film production to a house, and Kobe Bryant wannabes don't shoot hoops with neighbor kids for a few bucks. It just isn't done that way, but we musicians can touch people on an individual level in a live performance. That's what it's all about.

And that's what we need to do.

Please visit http://www.pradichaya.com/coffeemelodieandcommunity.aspx for details.