Wait... But I'm a Percussionist

I'm not sure if I have told you previously, but I am a classical percussion. I play solo repertoire, chamber music, and large ensemble literature on various percussion instruments; you name it, I've probably played it. As an instrumentalist, it's easy to have an outside perspective of Opera Roanoke. Before my time here the only opera I had been exposed to was in music history class. We only studied the surface (and maybe a little deeper than that) of the genre, not knowing certain specifics that are common knowledge for opera singers. Even though I'm only the administrative apprentice, I can't help but be surrounded by opera, as you could imagine.

 Because I am around the singers, performances, and staff at Opera Roanoke, it's become possible for me to pick up on things that I didn't learn in music history. Like the fact that there are many, many vocal types with subcategories inside categories all sang by different character types. Or that there is a difference in the responsibilities of a stage director and an artistic director. Do all instrumentalists know these details? I suppose they do if they really enjoy opera, but what about those who don't?

Instrumentalists may rarely think about vocalists and vise-versa. In fact, the case is often that they don't get along all the time. Why? Colliding personalities perhaps? Who knows for sure... But I think embracing different areas of your art is important in musical growth and knowledge. Whether we "drummers" like opera or not doesn't matter. It is the duty of musicians, instrumentalists and vocalists alike, to emerge ourselves into other forms and genres of music; only then can we grow outside the boundaries of our voices or instruments. 

Opera Roanoke has allowed me to dip my toes, perhaps even my feet, a little further into the large ocean that is opera. I've been to performances and events, become friends with the apprentices, and have gone through so many articles, music, props, and costumes that it is practically impossible for me to have come out of this experience without any additional knowledge of opera than I already had. Not to mention how much more time I have to listen to the morning classics on the local public radio station driving between Roanoke and Radford.

With that being said, when you're listening to music, try listening to something that's way outside of your comfort zone. I know it's easier said than done. I often listen to tons of marimba music and symphonies without remembering to expand my noggin by listening to something else. I once heard that good art should make you feel uncomfortable and awkward at first. Well then, musicians, I suppose the same applies to us. If you're listening to something and it makes you uncomfortable, turn it up... You must be doing it right.