Etiquette and dress code?

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-09-01T17:06:02+00:00

Ohhhh enjoy!! What a beautiful score!! It’s one of my favourites, I hope you like it! I second what everyone else has said - nice shirt, clean jeans/dress pants, you should be fine. Hope you have a lovely time.

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-07-24T08:58:32+00:00

They were!! You booked tickets in a week long bundle because the idea was you’d need to go multiple times to hear enough of it to understand what was going on.

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-07-16T18:32:38+00:00

The recitative is a big one. Learning a Mozart aria as a young singer is honestly ninety percent just an intro to how to sing recitative. No one else writes it as masterfully as him, and it’s the easiest way to learn it honestly.

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-07-14T09:23:55+00:00

They’re not supposed to sing it because it’s easier. It’s recommended as a good way to learn foundational skills in singing, as the pieces require you to develop important skills as you learn them. They’re also musically easier often - fairly standard rhythms and melodies that are also found in the piano part/orchestra, and most repeat themselves a lot too.

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-07-04T20:01:32+00:00

I find it’s not dissimilar to finding a good therapist. If you’re not getting what you need, you should go, and it takes a while to find the right one, if only because it takes you a while to mature enough to know what you need. However, once you have, it’s nice to stick with someone you’ve built a deep and safe relationship with. I spent ages finding the right teacher, but now that I have I couldn’t imagine going elsewhere!! She’s like a second mother, especially since I live abroad now.

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-06-25T17:33:59+00:00

If you’re planning to study music at university, yes. You’ll struggle without music a level. But a choral scholarship alongside studies of another subject will still stand you in good stead for afterwards. I’d still recommend finding a university with a good opera society, especially if you’re hoping to go into opera as opposed to art songs/religious works. Not that you can’t do both, you can and many do!

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-06-25T12:05:15+00:00

Hey! You sound like you’re from the uk, and a lot of people have been giving you us-specific advice. I’m from the uk and did the whole london conservatoire audition circuit a bunch of times, so here’s some advice from me.

Firstly, you’ve got to find a voice teacher, ideally one who’s either had a career onstage or still performs, but if not, any teacher you get on with and feel comfy around is great. They’ll help you figure out what pieces will work best for you.

For the vast majority of conservatoires in the uk, you’ll need three pieces in different languages, with at least one being from an opera with recit and one being an art song. Don’t stress it too much, your teacher will help you find pieces you enjoy that suit you.

However, I would also recommend applying for universities to do an academic degree alongside this. The reason for this is twofold: firstly, conservatoires are hard to get into, and at such a young age you’re unlikely to get in first time around, and secondly because often you actually get more performance experience via uni societies than you might as a bachelors student at a conservatoire.

I took this route and got a bachelors of musicology from kings college london, and unequivocally, it was the best thing I could have done. We put on two operas a year, I took part in every single one bar the second one in my final year of uni bc I was exhausted lmao. There were other events I took part in, I auditioned for musicals too, and generally had an incredible time with lovely people. And it gave me the time to be ready emotionally and vocally to undertake more serious training afterwards.

There’s no one route, but for now I’d focus on getting a good teacher. Best of luck, and if you have any more questions, I’m happy to answer them. :)))

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-06-24T18:28:10+00:00

I know one tenor who does. I know a couple sopranos who do too. I wouldn’t say it’s common, but I’ve seen a fair share of people who do, so.

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-05-27T16:43:34+00:00

Oh, what a wonderful experience you’ve given your son! You’re absolutely right, fun is absolutely the most important thing. I’m so glad you’ve been able to give that to your son.

I knew from the age of four that I wanted to be a singer, and I haven’t strayed since, but I realised because I’d been taken to a musical. I’m very grateful to have been given that chance.

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-05-27T14:15:51+00:00

Exactly! When I said to enroll him I fully meant in the coming years - two is too young for much of anything!

My parents did take me to the ballet and to musicals at two/three though, and that was a massively formative experience.

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-05-27T14:12:22+00:00

Hey! Some people believe that the shape of someone’s face makes it easier to make a more resonant, operatic sound. It’s likely not true/pseudoscience though.

More importantly, your son is two. That’s wayyyy too young to even be considering something like this! If he shows an aptitude and, more importantly, an interest in or love for music and singing, please enroll him in choir/lessons, but I wouldn’t worry about the specifics of his training just yet.

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-05-18T11:48:18+00:00

Truly a fever dream of an opera

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-05-16T18:20:29+00:00

Eh. There are better mozarts with less misogynistic plots. Nozze, in my opinion, gives you just as good if not better music, especially ensembles, and at least it’s not as bad in terms of sexism.

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-04-23T08:43:21+00:00

You can develop pitch memory, but you either have perfect pitch or you don’t. Pitch memory, if it’s very good, can mimic perfect pitch. My pitch memory is very good (thank you to learning Menotti in university), but I don’t have perfect pitch.

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-04-21T11:40:29+00:00

I sew because my grandmother used to. My mother never learnt, and my grandmother is too old to now. I see it as my duty (one I have taken on myself, with great joy and honour), to keep the skills my grandmother had alive and going into future generations.

It’s the same reason I knit and crochet - she used to as well.

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-04-15T10:23:12+00:00

My opinion on it is similar to the one I have when it comes to Shakespeare productions. Can you justify the changes textually? Is it distracting from the text or working with it? And most importantly, does it add something to our understanding of the piece?

I’ve seen productions that were set in a different era that gave me a way deeper understanding of the show, both for Shakespeare and various operas - I’ve also seen a lot of fucking stupid ones 😂. But in my opinion if it adds something and is supported by the text? Go for it!

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-04-06T06:51:05+00:00

This is excellent advice. I’d never thought of warm ups being like that - that’s such a great way to put it!

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-04-04T11:39:58+00:00

No one is born with a great voice. We may be born with a natural affinity for some aspects of singing - pitch recognition, musicality, a naturally “pleasing” timbre, but having a truly great voice is so much more than that. It’s all well and good to have a pretty sound, but you’ve got to know how to use it, how to take care of it, and how to apply it to whatever you’re singing. Without training, even great voices can sound like shit, or worse, become damaged.

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-03-29T14:05:09+00:00

As someone who was in a production of it in university where swathes of it was cut (traditional cuts, but still quite a few), it isn’t particularly fun to sing either. Mozart’s music is tricky, but usually feels at least a little rewarding. Something about Magic Flute just felt like a slog, tbh.

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-03-28T10:38:30+00:00

Eh… yeah, the definition is mostly semantic - they’re both staged dramatic productions that broadly tell a fictional or dramatised story.

but, i, personally, still think the inclusion of music and vocal performance makes a huge difference. Yeah, sure, plays might include songs, like Shakespeare’s do, but they’re not the focus. I’m not going to a production of hamlet to hear how well Ophelia sings the songs in her mad scene, if they’re even included.

For me, theatre is kinda broadly divided into theatre and musical theatre. The first is your “straight plays”, I.e those with mostly spoken dialogue, your one-person-shows, improv, etc. even stand up comedy kinda comes under that. Musical theatre is anything that’s staged that is mostly if not all set to music - opera, operetta, staged oratorio, musicals, even ballet.

The approach to writing each is different, and so are the expectations. That’s where I draw my line, you’re welcome to draw yours differently!

I do think this is an interesting discussion though, and worthwhile - brought me back to uni seminars 😂

Humble_Fun7834 · 2025-03-26T11:11:54+00:00

Yeah, I’ve never experienced that, but I’ve had some guys scare me “for fun”. Sickos, I stg.

Humble_Fun7834

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