Thursday, November 09, 2006
The Calm After The Storm
...is what we are experiencing today: yesterday, from dawn til midnight, this City was drenched in a thorough downpour of some of the wettest rain i have ever been out in! I mean umbrellas were practically useless (though my sturdy little black folding one held up miraculously, even through a windy walk through Washington Square Park!!) and finally, you just had to give up and accept that you were going to be wet, no matter what...it was an enormous sweeping rain storm and it lasted all day long. But:
TODAY is sweetly sunny, cool but pleasant, clear-aired and delightful. And, yet again, slightly on the warmish side, considering how November it is....a touch of tropical....so bewildering. And once again I notice how sunshine affects my mood. Whereas there was a certain Dickensian coziness in the atmosphere of yesterday's storm , not to mention it being a perfect day to work on the Chekov scenes we are doing in acting class, this sweet pleasant sunshine is a cheering thing. And I am glad for it. With the mess of stuff we have to accomplosh in this home of ours before we entertain Thanksgiving guests, a little sunshine seems to provide the extra energy needed to get it all done. I hope we have this sunniness for a few days anyway.
The new Red Dining Room is quite beautiful. And we have ordered two new styles of ceiling lamps to try, and the one we don't use in the Red Room we will use elsewhere in the apartment. This little note is for Anne J: we also discussed stenciling quotes on our new red walls like you did in your stunningly gorgeous Dining Room in Abingdon, but our quotes would have to do with food and music and love (..."If music be the food of love, etc....) but we realized we need you here to do that for us! Neither Peter nor I have the expertise (nor time...) right now...and it would be so gorgeous! So, our thoughts of such decor are an homage to you,dear much missed Ann!
E-vites went out last evening to our Thanksgiving Dinner....at least the first wave of them....it all looks pretty impossible to accomplish right now, with the mess the apartment is, but I actually have no doubts it will be wonderful, and that, as usual, we will accomplish all we need to do, and the dinner will be great. The important thing is to create a warm and loving atmosphere for people to enjoy "family" in...i woke up with the idea of making our Meditation Room the official football room, so people who want to go watch games and drink and snack will have a nice place to do that in...we have the space....we should use it!!!
I am having lunch with Bill W. today, and there is a list of things I want to discuss with him, ranging all the way from official (yet unofficial) policies on absences from class to more on the subject of acting teaching/vocal training we're all in the middle of discussing. Bill and I never have a lack of stuff to talk about....what I need to do is focus our conversation so i can keep learning more about what our "mission" at Steinhardt is. And then, as a teacher there, I can serve it better.
My personal goal is to free the student up as much as possible, to make them remember and understand the power of a calm, relaxed approach to their highly charged and emotional work. That whereas technique is paramount, it is not all there is to be concerned with. That personal memory and emotion are necessary and free access to both those things will serve them well.
How to do that and not get in the way of the fullest, most technically supported vocal production: that's the question on the table now. Essentially: if you reach the emotional center of a song, and it renders you unable to sing because you are weeping, then of course the point is to be able to sing...but where and when do you draw the line...how much vocal fullness do you sacrifice in service to dramatic truth...and when is it too indulgent. These are wonderful and interesting questions to think about. And in no way do i ever want to undermine the terrific work the voice teachers are doing. So I want to keep talking about it until I know how to do the best teaching i can do. Today's lunch with Bill W.: I would like it to be about that.
Meanwhile, the sun shines and tomorrow night, James C. amd I will go see Steinhardt's production of THE BOY FRIEND at Provincetown Theater. I could literally go to a performance every single night of the week downtown if i had the time and energy. And if I lived closer, I would go to more. But...well...there is this new red painted hurricane that just blew through our home and i feel the need to pay some attention to it! So, enough of this morning writing indulgnece,...I have to clear up some piles of stuff!!! So many piles! So little time!!!
TODAY is sweetly sunny, cool but pleasant, clear-aired and delightful. And, yet again, slightly on the warmish side, considering how November it is....a touch of tropical....so bewildering. And once again I notice how sunshine affects my mood. Whereas there was a certain Dickensian coziness in the atmosphere of yesterday's storm , not to mention it being a perfect day to work on the Chekov scenes we are doing in acting class, this sweet pleasant sunshine is a cheering thing. And I am glad for it. With the mess of stuff we have to accomplosh in this home of ours before we entertain Thanksgiving guests, a little sunshine seems to provide the extra energy needed to get it all done. I hope we have this sunniness for a few days anyway.
The new Red Dining Room is quite beautiful. And we have ordered two new styles of ceiling lamps to try, and the one we don't use in the Red Room we will use elsewhere in the apartment. This little note is for Anne J: we also discussed stenciling quotes on our new red walls like you did in your stunningly gorgeous Dining Room in Abingdon, but our quotes would have to do with food and music and love (..."If music be the food of love, etc....) but we realized we need you here to do that for us! Neither Peter nor I have the expertise (nor time...) right now...and it would be so gorgeous! So, our thoughts of such decor are an homage to you,dear much missed Ann!
E-vites went out last evening to our Thanksgiving Dinner....at least the first wave of them....it all looks pretty impossible to accomplish right now, with the mess the apartment is, but I actually have no doubts it will be wonderful, and that, as usual, we will accomplish all we need to do, and the dinner will be great. The important thing is to create a warm and loving atmosphere for people to enjoy "family" in...i woke up with the idea of making our Meditation Room the official football room, so people who want to go watch games and drink and snack will have a nice place to do that in...we have the space....we should use it!!!
I am having lunch with Bill W. today, and there is a list of things I want to discuss with him, ranging all the way from official (yet unofficial) policies on absences from class to more on the subject of acting teaching/vocal training we're all in the middle of discussing. Bill and I never have a lack of stuff to talk about....what I need to do is focus our conversation so i can keep learning more about what our "mission" at Steinhardt is. And then, as a teacher there, I can serve it better.
My personal goal is to free the student up as much as possible, to make them remember and understand the power of a calm, relaxed approach to their highly charged and emotional work. That whereas technique is paramount, it is not all there is to be concerned with. That personal memory and emotion are necessary and free access to both those things will serve them well.
How to do that and not get in the way of the fullest, most technically supported vocal production: that's the question on the table now. Essentially: if you reach the emotional center of a song, and it renders you unable to sing because you are weeping, then of course the point is to be able to sing...but where and when do you draw the line...how much vocal fullness do you sacrifice in service to dramatic truth...and when is it too indulgent. These are wonderful and interesting questions to think about. And in no way do i ever want to undermine the terrific work the voice teachers are doing. So I want to keep talking about it until I know how to do the best teaching i can do. Today's lunch with Bill W.: I would like it to be about that.
Meanwhile, the sun shines and tomorrow night, James C. amd I will go see Steinhardt's production of THE BOY FRIEND at Provincetown Theater. I could literally go to a performance every single night of the week downtown if i had the time and energy. And if I lived closer, I would go to more. But...well...there is this new red painted hurricane that just blew through our home and i feel the need to pay some attention to it! So, enough of this morning writing indulgnece,...I have to clear up some piles of stuff!!! So many piles! So little time!!!
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