When the going gets tough the tough get going.
I never liked that motto much, but it rings in my head these days. I guess I didn’t like it because I did a lot of going in my life, but had no illusions about being a tough guy. Besides, tough was not applicable to most of the goings on through which I lived, but….. We are in tough times now. I am older now, but no tougher by any measure I can apply to myself, but I will answer the call to get going.
I’m planning to return to Italy in just under two months. My friends are working hard on a vocal education initiative based on the teaching ability of this untough tenor. Please click on the poster to the right of this blog to get an idea of the new birth in the cultural life of La Toscana. I am so happy to know tough people in the Old World who are determined to keep singing, as we used to know it, alive and are willing to get going even when the going is tough indeed.
I am sure to be hearing a lot of voices new to me while I’m back in the birth place of Opera. I will get to hear students at Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Conservatorio Statale di Musica L. Cherubini in Florence before my friends in Montisi host the next Master Class featuring a tenor, Rockwell Blake, intent on teaching the stuff I keep writing about in these blogs. These goings on are part of my crusade to see things change. I know I am not tough or important enough to effectively push back the tide of darkness that I see and hear engulfing voices everywhere, but I stick my Garcia banner in the air anyway and in an untough manner wave it furiously in the hope that I may attract enlistments to my cause.
If the going turns less tough for Maestro Campanella, I may have the pleasure of working with him in Montisi, and the singers who come to Montisi may get some real wisdom from a real Bel Canto conductor. I caught him with a telephone call at his home recovering from a fall he took in Paris. Bruno used the arm that made my life on stage so much fun when he was conducting to save his head from a big bump on the boulevard. Now, with a dysfunctional head the arm isn’t much use to a conductor, but with a damaged “bachetta” wing it sure is hard to fly in his native environment. Even with this negative event still affecting his everyday life, Maestro Campanella showed his toughness and committed to participating in my crusade in Montisi, if his schedule and recuperating arm will allow. When I saw him last year he flattered me by telling me of his dream of founding a school of Bel Canto, and now I have to work really hard to reduce my Cheshire cat grin to avoid looking as crazy as I really am about working with Bruno….. Maestro Campanella. Sorry, it is so hard to maintain formality when speaking of such friends.
Please consider meeting me in Montisi. If you have already dedicated your life to singing and are crazy enough to believe a tenor could be helpful to you, then I’m your man. I’m not tough, but I am serious. I also happen to be honest. This often gets me into trouble, but I sleep really well because of it. The life of a singer can be wonderful. The life of a singer can be hell. I hope you will come to Montisi, either to let me help you travel down that wonderful avenue, or to allow me to divert you from traveling the toll road of frustration. You get the picture. Times are tough, the going is tough, my friends and I may not be tough, but we want to help. Come let us help you.