More from Varenna
So, I received a nice little email (from a person who shall remain anonymous), asking for more information about Varenna and my time there. In my haste to post something, I may have been a little too skimpy with the details. Here are some answers to the questions I received.
Varenna is a lovely, rustic town. It has an ideal location on Lake Como, close enough to highly-touristed Bellagio, but on a rail line just one hour outside of Milan. There's one main road, which winds its way through the one main piazza (Piazza San Giorgio) and on to the other neighboring towns. The year-round population is older, and (from what I can tell) the place is filled mostly with summer homes. But what a place to summer! In order to get from the piazza to the lake, you have to go down winding, narrow stairways, cut between pastel-colored houses. Each passageway is literally a postcard picture. Down by the lake, the horizon opens and you have a perfect view of the terra cotta-roofed houses of Menaggio, another small town directly across the lake. There are walkways overlooking the lake where, in the evening, you can watch local fisherman hard at work with long poles that bob gracefully against the sunset. As Kathryn once told me, "There's not much to do besides go out on the lake in a boat and think about your song." She's absolutely right.
With that said, it follows that my days were filled with singing and, in my off time, I either napped, rehearsed my songs or strolled the winding lanes. I did have a chance (at the very, very end) to go swimming on the sandy beach behind Signora Seta's house, but I decided against renting a boat (the ones I saw were all the high-power kind that seemed to ruin the ambiance of the lake for me.) Rick Steves has discovered Varenna, much to the chagrin of Kathryn and Terry, who don't appreciate the extra tourist crowds, and he suggests that you stay around for a few days "just to see how slow your pulse can get." Even with the heat and singing, my pulse dropped a few notches, and it took some adjusting to get back into the higher energy frame I tend to use when I travel. It's a delightful place to vacation and relax, which is just what I did.
The people of Varenna are also delightful. Signora Seta and her maid (who speaks no English at all) took great care of me, doing their best to communicate through broken English, slow Italian and broad gestures. Signora Seta has a striking resemblance to my great Aunt Gilda, which had me doing a double take every time I entered the house. The maid and I tried our best to communicate, but the only thing I think we actually communicated successfully is that I am an American, but that my great, great grandfather came from Italy. Once that was clear, however, we were buddies. The other locals I met were mostly wait staff in restaurants who were always insistent that I speak as much Italian as I could muster. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I had a copy of an Italian textbook with me at all times (Kathryn lent it to me when I arrived so I could brush up on my pronunciation), but I like to believe that another part is that nobody wanted to believe that I was a visitor. Many an evening I would order in English, only to hear a reply in Italian. I could usually catch enough to answer in one language or another.
In class, Alexander Technique and vocal technique went hand in hand. The Alexander Technique is a mind-body exercise of sorts, dealing mostly with finding ways to perform movement as easily and with as little tension as possible. The Technique is based upon what Alexander called "Primary Control," or the relationship of neck and shoulders. There is a sense of freedom and height that comes with the release in class and, by the end of a lesson, I often felt much taller and freer, both physically and psychologically. And it didn't just help me sleep. By releasing unnecessary tension, especially in the neck and shoulders, you can allow your larynx to suspend, thereby offering a freer and fuller sound to form. A sound that, in my case, becomes darker and approximates that of an opera singer. And a sound that, in my case, leads towards that Italian tenor sound. My model for the week was Pavarotti. He has almost a sigh in his voice, a color that is classically Italian, where it is deeper and richer than my bright, musical theater voice. The sound is good for classical work, but also for more traditional Broadway stuff (one of my "hits" from the week-long class was Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Younger than Springtime"). We opened new doors and I have a huge amount to think about for a while, but I can definitely feel and hear my vocal apparatus starting to become more free and full, which is exactly what I was hoping would happen.
So, there are some additional thoughts on Varenna and my week there. It's a fantastic place to check out if you make it to the Lake Como region.
Varenna is a lovely, rustic town. It has an ideal location on Lake Como, close enough to highly-touristed Bellagio, but on a rail line just one hour outside of Milan. There's one main road, which winds its way through the one main piazza (Piazza San Giorgio) and on to the other neighboring towns. The year-round population is older, and (from what I can tell) the place is filled mostly with summer homes. But what a place to summer! In order to get from the piazza to the lake, you have to go down winding, narrow stairways, cut between pastel-colored houses. Each passageway is literally a postcard picture. Down by the lake, the horizon opens and you have a perfect view of the terra cotta-roofed houses of Menaggio, another small town directly across the lake. There are walkways overlooking the lake where, in the evening, you can watch local fisherman hard at work with long poles that bob gracefully against the sunset. As Kathryn once told me, "There's not much to do besides go out on the lake in a boat and think about your song." She's absolutely right.
With that said, it follows that my days were filled with singing and, in my off time, I either napped, rehearsed my songs or strolled the winding lanes. I did have a chance (at the very, very end) to go swimming on the sandy beach behind Signora Seta's house, but I decided against renting a boat (the ones I saw were all the high-power kind that seemed to ruin the ambiance of the lake for me.) Rick Steves has discovered Varenna, much to the chagrin of Kathryn and Terry, who don't appreciate the extra tourist crowds, and he suggests that you stay around for a few days "just to see how slow your pulse can get." Even with the heat and singing, my pulse dropped a few notches, and it took some adjusting to get back into the higher energy frame I tend to use when I travel. It's a delightful place to vacation and relax, which is just what I did.
The people of Varenna are also delightful. Signora Seta and her maid (who speaks no English at all) took great care of me, doing their best to communicate through broken English, slow Italian and broad gestures. Signora Seta has a striking resemblance to my great Aunt Gilda, which had me doing a double take every time I entered the house. The maid and I tried our best to communicate, but the only thing I think we actually communicated successfully is that I am an American, but that my great, great grandfather came from Italy. Once that was clear, however, we were buddies. The other locals I met were mostly wait staff in restaurants who were always insistent that I speak as much Italian as I could muster. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I had a copy of an Italian textbook with me at all times (Kathryn lent it to me when I arrived so I could brush up on my pronunciation), but I like to believe that another part is that nobody wanted to believe that I was a visitor. Many an evening I would order in English, only to hear a reply in Italian. I could usually catch enough to answer in one language or another.
In class, Alexander Technique and vocal technique went hand in hand. The Alexander Technique is a mind-body exercise of sorts, dealing mostly with finding ways to perform movement as easily and with as little tension as possible. The Technique is based upon what Alexander called "Primary Control," or the relationship of neck and shoulders. There is a sense of freedom and height that comes with the release in class and, by the end of a lesson, I often felt much taller and freer, both physically and psychologically. And it didn't just help me sleep. By releasing unnecessary tension, especially in the neck and shoulders, you can allow your larynx to suspend, thereby offering a freer and fuller sound to form. A sound that, in my case, becomes darker and approximates that of an opera singer. And a sound that, in my case, leads towards that Italian tenor sound. My model for the week was Pavarotti. He has almost a sigh in his voice, a color that is classically Italian, where it is deeper and richer than my bright, musical theater voice. The sound is good for classical work, but also for more traditional Broadway stuff (one of my "hits" from the week-long class was Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Younger than Springtime"). We opened new doors and I have a huge amount to think about for a while, but I can definitely feel and hear my vocal apparatus starting to become more free and full, which is exactly what I was hoping would happen.
So, there are some additional thoughts on Varenna and my week there. It's a fantastic place to check out if you make it to the Lake Como region.
posted by Ethan at 6:00 AM
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