{"id":3776,"date":"2015-09-19T08:44:23","date_gmt":"2015-09-19T12:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rockwellblake.com\/blog\/?p=3776"},"modified":"2015-09-19T09:22:19","modified_gmt":"2015-09-19T13:22:19","slug":"torino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/19\/torino\/","title":{"rendered":"Torino Bound"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer is starting to cool its heals, and leaf fall is already covering some lawns in my neighborhood.\u00a0 In short order, frost is going to bring my \u201cweeds war\u201d to an end.\u00a0 I\u2019m already planning the day that I\u2019ll have our traction expert<\/a> change those smooth rolling treads on car and truck for our noisy ice munching studded numbers.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been under wraps since spring\u00a0rang the bell<\/a> on\u00a0our quick bout with short sleeve temperatures.\u00a0 I am happy to foresee the snow<\/a> that Global Warming seems unable to steal from us, and the redirection of my energy from garden to Garcia.\u00a0 I still have a lot of work to do on Part 1.\"Falling<\/a><\/p>\n

I missed doing a master class in Plattsburgh this summer.\u00a0 When my wife and I retired, I believed that living in the North Country would effectively isolate us from the Opera addicted and we could cherish\u00a0just a few visits from our artistic friends. \u00a0You know, the ones that happen to be passing our little \u2018burgh<\/a> on their way to somewhere else on Route 87<\/a>. \u00a0I was also sure that students of singing would only venture this deep into the woods if they were really serious about asking my help. \u00a0Well, that isolation worked better than I expected this summer.\u00a0 Preparations were made, thank you Jo Ellen Miano<\/a>, but interest in visiting us in the woods just wasn\u2019t enough to cover costs.\u00a0 Thanks also to Dr. Karen Becker <\/a>for making herself available, even if we didn\u2019t get to work together this year.<\/p>\n

\"CONFERENZA<\/a>With weed wars soon to be well behind me, I am looking forward to a Master Class that is, happily for anyone wanting to attend, more convenient for traveling.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been charged with two Master Classes<\/a> in Torino<\/a>.\u00a0 The interest of potential participants in the upcoming Master is already greater in Torino than we saw in Plattsburgh. After the press conference scheduled for September 21\u00a0 that Armando Caruso<\/a> set for presentation of this year’s activities, see and click on little poster to the right of this text<\/a><\/em>, I hope even more participants will register to participate.\u00a0 Sorry to post an un-translated Italian document, but if you can make the conference, I think you can read it.<\/p>\n

For those of you, who don\u2019t dream of becoming stars of stage and screen in the shrinking Opera world but read my blogs anyway, please let me tell you why I think these Master Moments are important. There is no shortage of gifted humans among us on this earth, and I want to help those blessed with the gift of voice. Writing this blog and putting an English translation of Garcia\u2019s books back into print isn\u2019t enough. You may ask: \u201cEnough for whom?\u201d or even \u201cEnough for what?\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad you asked.\u00a0 Garcia was all about empowering the singer to a high degree of effectiveness with his\/her audience.\u00a0 Now that a century has passed since his death, I can see that Garcia\u2019s mission has become a little more complicated. \u00a0The need for \u201cempowerment\u201d is still with us, but I must add \u201cAudience Expansion\u201d to it.\u00a0 \u201cA.E.\u201d is on the mind of many an arts mogul and opera operative. \u00a0It has become a subject of \u201cHigher Learning\u201d and a professor of this subject has a clear view of the problem (click to read his latest evidence)<\/a>.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think he and I agree about what is needed to stop the audience shrinkage bothering the Arts, but he can see the problem as well as anyone else. \u00a0I would say it is just an added component to \u201cDevelopment\u201d (fundraising) as I first discovered it about a third of a century ago.\u00a0 I signed up with an able salesman hired by Houston Grand Opera to \u201cdevelop\u201d Texas citizens with largish bank accounts.\u00a0 What did I do? \u00a0I sang for quite a number of lovely ladies and a few handsome fellows in a number of living, meeting and dining rooms.\u00a0 My salesman friend wanted me to help him inspire these well-dressed individuals into donating large sums of money to the benefit of HGO<\/a>.\u00a0 When I sang for those small groups of happy and successful Texas types, I knew why I was there and did my best to get everyone excited with my singing.\u00a0 I must have been effective enough.\u00a0 Requests to come help out didn\u2019t stop until I was out of town.<\/p>\n

If money was pulled from purse, pocket and\/or bank account, it wasn\u2019t because of the nobility of the Art of Opera.\u00a0 It was because those open handed\u00a0cash flush individuals\u00a0had a good time, and wanted to support a fun art form that was never really profitable.\u00a0 Opera cannot support itself or better yet, it is unsustainable without an excited fan club that can afford it.<\/p>\n

\"HGO\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Fort<\/a><\/p>\n

\"San<\/a>
\n\"Michigan<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Lyric<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Teatro<\/a><\/p>\n

News of unsold seats at the bastions of Operatic life make the big, BIG<\/span><\/strong> buttons: “DONATE NOW<\/span><\/strong>“, “BUY TICKETS<\/span><\/strong>“, “SUBSCRIBE<\/span><\/strong>“, “GIVE<\/strong><\/span>“, “DONATE<\/span><\/strong>” and “SUPPORT<\/strong><\/span>”\u00a0quite unsurprising.\u00a0 Unfortunately, just as unsurprisingly we see opera operative elites beginning to view dragging a big bag of cash out the\u00a0door before the roof falls in as an attractive\u00a0alternate\u00a0choice to the rigors of “A.E.”. Click to follow\u00a0one such\u00a0story.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Operatic roof no longer shelters my grey hairs, but I want the roof to stay up.\u00a0 The present and future generations of gifted singers seeking entry into the House of\u00a0Opera need that roof, and the roof needs them, or it will fall in.\"Mertopolitan<\/a><\/p>\n

My crusade includes the prayer: \u201cIf it be the Lord\u2019s pleasure, may all those relevant buttons on Opera Internet pages be clicked enough to break them.\u201d I believe Garcia has the answer for how to get people to DONATE NOW and BUY TICKETS to the Opera. Garcia offers an un-simple answer, but it is what Opera needs: Gifted and talented singers trained to excite their audiences.<\/p>\n

I wrote about Garcia’s\u00a0first ingredient offered to\u00a0 The Opera World in Factory Made.<\/a>\u00a0The relevant quote is:<\/p>\n

\u201cOften one needs an experienced judgement (sic) to recognize in the voice of the student the germ of the true qualities which it possesses.\u00a0\u00a0 Generally, these qualities are only in the rudimentary state, or well veiled by numerous faults from which it is necessary to free them.\u00a0\u00a0 The essential point is to first establish the existence of them; one then manages to complete the development of them by patient and orderly studies.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Garcia tells us\u00a0to discover in\u00a0the student a voice worth the effort, and then\u00a0develop that voice.\u00a0 Such developed vocal gifts\u00a0are Garcia’s first ingredient. The second part of his\u00a0 answer to the question:\u201cHow do we develop donations and sell tickets?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0is in his second book.\u00a0 In it he tells us how each artist should use his\/her fully developed gift with his\/her fully functional technique to excite an audience to ecstatic applause.\u00a0 That empowerment to excite is just the ticket to develop donations and ticket sales.<\/p>\n

I answer Garcia\u2019s first call to arms in every Master Class.\u00a0 I always\u00a0discover vocal gifts!\u00a0 Each class gives me a chance to help the owners of these gifts to develop them.\u00a0 When an artist with enough preparation shows up, I can put Garcia\u2019s second book to good use, and teach \u201cExcite your Audience\u201d.<\/p>\n

If you want to become a star and you have a gift sufficient to\u00a0carry you there, the Opera world needs you.\u00a0 I want to find you and I want to help you.\u00a0 Come to Torino.<\/p>\n

If you are an Opera lover, and want to see and hear how good singing is key to the survival of Opera, there is room for you.<\/p>\n

For the purpose of demonstration, I dust off my vocal chords every day in those classes.\u00a0Some have lamented about never hearing me sing in the flesh.\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s room for you, too.\u00a0 Come to Torino next month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summer is starting to cool its heals, and leaf fall is already covering some lawns in my neighborhood.\u00a0 In short order, frost is going to bring my \u201cweeds war\u201d to an end.\u00a0 I\u2019m already planning the day that I\u2019ll have our traction expert change those smooth rolling treads on car and truck for our noisy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3815,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,53,85,51,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-garcia","category-opera","category-singing","category-teaching"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Deep-Fall.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s2kj1l-torino","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3776"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3836,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3776\/revisions\/3836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}