BWW Blog: Jakob Creighton - First Set of Rehearsals and the Bane of a Performer's Existence

Friday September 9th was the first opera rehearsal for the Université de Moncton opera workshop production of "Dido and Aeneas"!!

It was definitely a learning experience... Overall though, it didn't go too badly! Timing is difficult with Baroque operas, so (at least for me) this rehearsal was getting used to the tempos (or rather "tempi"), particularly since most recordings vary so it is always difficult to predict what our tempi are going to be. Luckily, for us, there's not too much pressure.

We had our second day of rehearsals on Monday, September 12th! Of course, I was cursed with the bane of any performer's existence: The Common Cold. While for most "regular folk", it is merely a nuisance and doesn't have too much impact on their jobs in general , for performers it is a nightmare because our voice is a huge part of what we do.

Actually, as I write this blog post, I don't have a voice because I'm at the point where the Cold itself is done, but I have to wait out the lingering effects and also for my voice to return to normal.

This blog will be a bit shorter than the others, but it has given me the topic for my next blog: The Pronunciation of 17th Century Terms. It is something that I've been beginning the notice (and even question my pronunciation). But that's for the next blog!