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 With "Caro Nome" finally done,  I can finally move on to material I am much more excited to sing.

I still cannot believe I get to type and utter the words, "I'm done with Caro Nome."

The work, unfortunately, never stops, but now I get to at least move on to material I actually enjoy. (*Rocky voice*, "and now here's something you'll really like!")  I have been having these pieces rattle around for a while, but are being  studied in earnest. I am definitely confidently along in both. "Vissi d'arte" only needs a little refinement, and "Chacun le sait" of course needs work on the French and the obnoxious F6. But, generally, I am very, very happy with how well those are both doing right now.

I LOVE singing both Puccini and Donizetti; I see it as "cross-training" for my voice. It's like my regular workouts, which also involve cross-training. I do the elliptical for 30 plus minutes and then 10 minutes or so of kettlebell core. (Both of these are excellent for the voice on top of their more obvious health benefits, btw!) Puccini is just such a thrill to sing. It's so satisfying to just luxuriate in these soaring, emotional vocal melodies. It's very rich, like a decadent chocolate cake. Donizetti is light and refreshing, like my favourite Pellogrino peach sparkling water. They both require different styles of athleticism from my voice, both of which my voice easily finds itself home in. The one thing about Puccini is that I could never sing any of these roles in earnest outside of recitals or as "stretch arias" during auditions because of how massive his orchestras are. But if we are talking about just singing for myself? I love it.

I am also going to be retooling large portions of the Doll Song aria. I haven't worked on that in over a year, and I have had some vocal break throughs since then. I think I could do some minor refinements and finally nail that A6.

I've been thinking a lot lately about "composer's (composers') intent," because I notice that I do disregard it entirely a lot of the time. If the core is the same, what does it matter that someone in a studio recording decided to do a little embellishments on something that's been sung and recorded thousands of other times by thousands--if not millions-- of singers? Especially if I don't care for the composer, he's been dead for at least a HUNDRED YEARS, why should I care about his intent or not?

Tonight I am on vocal rest, so I am blogging instead of  practicing, but it was good to have a little reflection  on how much progress I've made in the last couple of weeks. I never give myself enough credit, because as soon as something is finished, I've already moved on to the next thing. I never get to pause and take in any of my accomplishments. I'm always dopamine horizon chasing.

However, in this specific case, I worked on this slog of an aria for 8 years, and I am happy to be rid of the SOB and onto something that makes me much more excited.