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What’s the point of having people sing a story instead of
just telling it like in a movie or a play or a TV show?
Yeah, why do opera singers sing? It risks looking
pretty silly, right? Well, try something out at home:
imagine you’re having a conversation
with your friend, and you start to get
into an argument. At first you’re talking
normally, but then you start to get mad.
You can feel your cheeks getting flushed,
you can feel your pulse, and you raise your
voice. At the moment when you raise
your voice, listen to yourself: you just
sang. When we raise our voices—if
we’re really excited or overjoyed
or angry—we push them closer to
music. (Imagine yourself yelling
“MOM! MOOOOOOOM!” You’re
basically singing.) And opera is
the world of
that
music—the
music of human passion, of the
things that we express in music
because speech doesn’t
say it strongly enough. It’s
a way of letting our passion
and emotions out into the
world without hurting each
other.
What’s your advice for
someone interested in being
a composer?
Listen
. Just listen to and absorb as
much music as you can—and not
just music; listen to the music of the
world around us. And if you want to
make music up, find some friends
that you want to make music with!
What’s your favorite zoo animal?
Flying squirrel
sic
re.
Sally Dolembo’s costume design sketch for Bonobo.