Little Sponges.

This morning, as I was on my way back from dropping Bray off at the transit station, I turned the radio to NPR. We usually listen to the kids' tapes, as Madeline loves to sing along, but today I wanted something a little bit more-well-educated. A dark, suspenseful passage, full of minor chord progressions came on, and I heard a little pretend-scared voice behind me say, "OH NO! It's the bad guy!" And then her brother chimed in, and as the music swelled, they both pretended that we were outrunning the 'bad' guy in the car. But, after a moment, the music changed, to light trills on flutes and oboes, high in the register. At this point, my daughter said, "Oh! That's not the bad guy! That's a biiird!" And my son agreed, saying, "Yes. There is the bird."
As I listened to this cute conversation, I was struck by how they so quickly picked up on the themes in the music. The dark sounds represented a 'bad' guy, and the light, fast, sweet trills were similar to the sounds of a bird. I, unfortunately, am rusty on my recognition of composers/pieces, and so waited till the piece was over to hear who and what it was. To my surprise, it was the Farewell (of Wotan) and Fire Magic section, from Wagner's Ring Cycle! If you recall, we took the kiddos to the children's version Seattle Opera put on several weeks ago. Not only did they pick up on the themes in the music, they remembered what the 'bad guy' part sounded like! Their brains are truly little sponges. And I need to brush up on my music skills-they'll be ahead of me before you know it!

Fire, Rings and Dragons

Ever since the kids were little, we've been excited for the day that they could begin attending operas. I always had it in the back of my head that, when they were older, I could send them to some of Bray's rehearsals after school, and they could watch their dad performing Mozart, Verdi and Rossini all while doing trigonometry and history homework. Now, of course, they aren't quite at that stage of life (unless we have some child geniuses on our hands-after all, they're only 2 and 4!) but they are old enough to sit still for a few hours, and listen fairly quietly.
Every year, Seattle Opera puts on a children's opera, and the last few seasons they have been doing an adaptation of Wagner's Siegfried and The Ring of Fire, Act III, by Jonathan Dean.
Bray thought that the kids would love it, and so decided we should take them for the last dress rehearsal. Since he shares a role with another tenor in the program, he was able to sit with us for the performance. I have to admit, I was a bit hesitant, as children are not generally welcome at operatic performances, but Bray reassured me that they wanted the kids there-as they perform it around Seattle's elementary schools.
On the day of the performance, we told the kids we were going to go see a dragon and fire at Daddy's work, hoping to get them excited for the show. They usually like to go 'get' Daddy from work, as there are 2 life-size plastic horses hanging from the ceiling in the storage area of the rehearsal building, but I wanted them to know this was different, special.
Since they take the opera around the area, the set pieces are minimal, but extremely colorful and dramatic. It is such a neat experience, because not only do they perform it for children age 7 and up, they also have 60 kids from each school perform certain parts and characters with them! A rare experience indeed in the opera world! They usually get to the school, and the 60 kids have been rehearsing their parts with their music teachers, so they then stage it, rehearse it with the kids, and the next day put on a full performance for the whole school, faculty, parents and anyone else invited to come.
I was fascinated at how well Jonathan Dean (who does all of Seattle Opera's super-titles) was able to translate Wagner to an elementary level. I don't know the story very well anyhow, but as I watched the show, I was also watching our kids and the others in the audience, and was amazed at how they seemed to understand it! Several times throughout the performance, I asked Madeline, our 2 year-old, questions about what was going on. Her answers showed me even she got the basics of the story!
For those of you who have never heard of Wagner or his ring, it shares similar story-lines as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Now, lest I offend any operatic folk, I mean that it hails to the making of the ring, the fighting over it's power, changing the holder of it, etc.. The basic story as I saw it for the adaptation, is that Siegfried, who does not understand fear, must go on a journey to break the Fire-god's ring of fire, save the Earth-Goddess and free Brunnhilde, a Valkyrie and daughter of Wotan, the fire-god. In doing so, he kills the dragon, finds the ring, gives it to Brunnhilde, and they then fall in love. Thus ends the 3rd Act.
The performance was fantastic, and the kids loved it, from the music to the slaying of the dragon, they were enthralled! Hobbes, our son, kept asking if they were going to kill the dragon, and then after the dragon was dead, he wanted to know if it would be 'put back-together?'. I thoroughly enjoyed watching their faces as much as the opera itself, and I am excited to take them to more!

Opera baby.

The first 'major' summer program Bray was accepted into was The Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA. At the time, I had just finished my senior year of college, and we were expecting our first child in late June. The program was scheduled to start in the second week of June, and so, without really hesitating, we decided to move down for the summer and have our son, Hobbes, there. Once again, the crazy label was applied to us, but we figured this was a great opportunity, and one Bray should not miss out on. Unfortunately, most summer programs do not provide married housing, so we found a place online in downtown Santa Barbara, and spent what little money we had at the time to rent it early. I have many stories related to that-I can't in good conscience say apartment-but I will save those for another day.

To make things even more interesting, Hobbes was 2 weeks late, and due to the 4th of July, I could not be induced until the 6th, much to the dismay of my parents who had flown down and needed to fly back for a conference on the 4th. On the 6th, I went and picked Bray up from rehearsal, and then went and checked in at the hospital. Hobbes was born the next afternoon, and Bray was able to spend the day with me. However, the show must go on, and so he had to be at rehearsals the next day. I was scheduled to be released from the hospital after 2 nights, but due to Bray's schedule, I had to wait till his lunch break so that he could come pick me up. He only had about 45 minutes, and after all the inspections, and double-checking to make sure they gave us the right baby, we went straight from the hospital to the campus where they rehearsed. I can still remember being in one of the beautiful, empty rehearsal halls, holding Hobbes and waiting for Bray to be done. Although unusual, it was actually a lovely afternoon, and I enjoyed sitting with my newborn son, listening to the sounds of opera singers rehearsing Cosi fan Tutte.

Hobbes was a hit with all the Music Academy members and audience, and was even given a lovely outfit from Marilyn Horne herself. He was a really good baby, and believe it or not, I brought him with me to most of the masterclasses. He has been listening to opera since before he was born, and I hope he continues to do so as he grows older!














Outside our 'apartment' in Santa Barbara, 1 week after Hobbes was born.