“Life Is Short. Opera Is Long.”
I saw that on a T-shirt once. It made me laugh out loud. Having never been a fan of opera (sorry, opera lovers), I got quite a kick out of it, because the idea of sitting in a theater and watching large costumed people sing in a foreign language falsetto at the top of their lungs for four hours seems somewhat tantamount to torture to me.
Of course, at the time, I missed a couple of the deeper meanings of that shirt. Looking back on it today, I see a couple of distinct messages at work in that shirt’s slogan.
“Life is short,” the shirt said. Boy, isn’t that the truth? Every day, I look back at the day before it and wonder exactly where it went and how it got there so fast. I’m trying desperately to hold on to the hope that I won’t one day blink and wake up and find that another 20 years of my life have gone by, although I suspect that’s inevitable. So I try (and sometimes I succeed more than others) to really live life unafraid. It’s not that I’m going out skydiving or quitting my job to follow a music group around the country, but I really have spent the past several years of my life trying to open myself up to new things, whether it’s trying a new food or a new genre of music on my iPod, or adopting a new attitude or taking on a new challenge. It’s not always easy, but I can tell you one thing it has always been: rewarding.
And that leads me to the “Opera is long” portion of the shirt. In all honesty, I still have yet to sit through an opera. The difference is, now if the opportunity ever arises, I might just give it a shot. Do I think I’ll fall in love with it and suddenly become an opera aficionado? Probably not. But I’ll never know for sure unless I try it out. I mean, really, what’s the worst that can happen? I lose a few hours to a new and potentially interesting experience that didn’t turn out to be as enjoyable as I hoped. That’s not the end of the world as far as I see it. So don’t be surprised if one of these days you run into me in full tuxedo and white gloves at some big opera event; I might just have decided that the time had come to try something new.
And, hey, maybe after all this, the shirt was just meant to be funny, and I’m purely extrapolating deeper meanings here. But I’m choosing to look at it as a reminder that the world’s a big, exciting place and that life is too short not to at least try to experience as much of it as I can.
After all, what have I got to lose?
My parents insisted on buying season tickets to the Lyric opera in Chicago. As a middle school student, I can tell you, it was not my choice to go. But every month we would drive from St Joseph Mich. to Chicago; attend the opera that evening and drive back home that night. I did not understand much of it since it was usually in a foreign language, but I became familiar with the libretto, and learned to appreciate the vocal techniques(no mics or sound systems there!)and became intrigued with the sets and costumes and pagentry of it all. I saw some famous people and grew to love the voice as an instrument. Its why I became a singer, a vocal instructor, and now a voice actor. Nothing shows vocal talent and technique like a skilled opera singer! The purity of the venue is like nothing else! Try it! You will learn to appreciate it! Mozz
Thanks, Debra! It’s fantastic that a life experience like that when you were young could lead to your career choices! I’ll let you know when I finally make it to my first opera!
Mike, maybe try thinking of opera as “voice over the orchestra!” On a night when everything lines up, one can be moved to tears or gales of laughter. If you have the opportunity, choose a comedy like The Barber of Seville. (Last fall you could have attended for free in Washington DC at the Nationals Ball park. Opera, brats and beer…how does that sound?)
If you want more ideas, let me know, because when I am not behind the mic,I am singing opera! Thanks for the irresistible post.
Jane, thanks for the valuable insight! All of you opera fans are starting to make me think I’m really missing out on something! A comedy definitely sounds like the way to go for my initial foray into Opera. Thanks!