(A weekday evening.  A man was cooking in his kitchen.  His dog sat nearby watching.)

Man:  (Humming) La, laaa, la, la, la, laaa…Laaa, la, la, la, laaa….

His Dog:  You are in a good mood today, Master.

M:  Um?   Ah, Richie…am I?

HD:  You seldom hum like that.  A good day at work?

M:  Oh, no.  Not particularly.  This is the tune I have just learned.

HD:  Learned?

M:  Yeah, Richie.  I went to a singing lesson today.  It was great!

HD:  Singing lesson??  That is very unusual.  I have never heard of you having a lesson in music.  I thought you went to work today.

M:  Ha, ha, ha, Richie, yes, of course I went to work.  But in my lunch break, I went to the Opera House for a one-off singing lesson.

HD:  Opera!!??  …Are you alright, Master, …may I ask…?

M:  What?  Of course, I am alright, quite alright.  What is the matter if I sing an opera?

HD:  No, Master, of course, no matter.   It is just…not very much like you.  I thought it was not your kind of thing, the opera….

M:  Ha, hah!  You are right.  I am not usually an opera person.  But, you know, I love music!

HD:  The music of different kinds, perhaps…?

M:  Yes, but sometimes the different genres merge.  Today’s lesson was one of the best of those sorts!  That was why I went, Richie.

Alright, the supper is ready.   Whilst we are eating, I will tell you my lovely experience!

HD:  I am all ears, Master!

 

M:  The Opera House’s main function is, obviously, performing well-known traditional operas.  But actually they do a lot of other things.  Mainly to attract a new audience, or sometimes as a service to the community.  One of these is an occasional informal singing lesson, to which anyone can attend, regardless of ability or experience.

HD:  Wow!

M:  They charge you, naturally, but it is only £5!  It is a big group singing, therefore, no fear or no complex.  All sorts of people come.  From a very young schoolboy to a retired lady in her 80s.  A good mixture of men and women, the young and the old.  Some may be semi-professionals, like students from music colleges.  Some are complete novices, like me.  We just come to enjoy ourselves, no less, no more!

HD:  Sounds great!!  But you sing…er…, Puccini, Verdi or possibly Wagner…I fear…?

M:  Hey, I don’t blame you, Richie, if you think like that.

Yes, probably, most of the time they do sing those.  But we didn’t, today.  Several times a year, they have this mass singing lesson, open to the public.  Normally, the song is chosen from the opera they are performing at the time.  At the moment, they are performing a modern opera of 1930s by a German composer.  I believe it’s a dark satire.  The songs from it are exactly the kind of songs which young rock musicians of 1960s and 70s, who were rebels, would love.

HD:  Aha…!  Now I understand.

M:  Richie, you know I admired Bowie as a young boy.  In my teens, he was one of my heroes.  He was, and still is, I must say, just so cool.  Always ahead of time, innovative, clever and extremely talented.  The good looks help largely as well.  When I was a school boy, I would go to his concert with my mother.  She and I would dance and sing to his songs together, mesmerised.

HD:  Wow!  Your mum was cool!!

M:  Yeah, she was not an ordinary mum, you know.  Anyway, my sister didn’t understand Bowie.  My father had no interest.  Therefore, mum and I went together!   She was another of his fans.  We would dress…sort of…quite appropriately, I can tell you, have a packed lunch of fish fingers and coleslaw, and have jolly good time!!

HD:  I have found a new respect for your mother.

M:  Ha, ha, she would be pleased!

Anyway, back to the subject.  The song we learned today was a song from that 1930’s opera, called Alabama, which Bowie featured in his record in the 70’s and loved singing in his concerts even much later.  The cool stuff.  You feel like you were temporarily a Bowie.

HD:  (“I hope this does not go on in this direction….”)

M:  As for the lesson, it was a proper lesson.  An Opera House instructor, a piano accompaniment in a large hall with high ceilings.  We started with some physical exercises.

HD:  Oh, I should love that!  Like a fetch?

M:  Er…actually, no, exercises of a different kind.  We moved our shoulders, arms, hands and feet.  We did stretch.  Swung our bodies, stamped the floor and jumped.  Then some massage.

HD:  Massage?

M:  Yes, Richie.  A face massage.  We used our hands to relax the facial muscles.  Moved our jaw, mouth and tongue.  Now, Richie, it got a little difficult and complicated here.  The instructor gave us various commands what to move and what not to.  Like, say, “move your tongue without moving your jaw”, and so on.  Oh, Richie…!  You are really good at it!!

HD:  Thank you, Master.  Our tongue moves freely.

M:  It seems so.

Now we had to accompany our voice to this.  No jaw movement, just our tongue, uttering voice with various tones.  …Oh, no, Richie, stop it!!

HD:  I think I was rather good.

M:  Yes, you were.  But we are eating!

HD:  Sorry, Master.

M:  Well, then we had to work as a pair.  All of us made a pair with the person next to us, regardless we knew each other or not.  We each hold the other’s jaw, so that it should not move, and utter various tunes, something akin to singing, with just our tongues moving.  Now it got a bit comical here.  We all laughed.  But quite serious at the same time.  Encouraging each other, we practiced.  Each pair looked at other pairs and laughed.  You could feel rather nice camaraderie here.  A good community spirit.  By the time we finished our warm-ups, we all feel like friends.

HD:  Great!!

M:  Yeah, nice feelings!  Then finally, we started singing the song, each having the sheet in hands.  Phrase by phrase, we practiced.   After all the warm-ups, your voice somehow came more easily than usual.  We strangely felt confident.  That really helped our progress.  I think the instructor was very good and experienced.   It was not long before we had all mastered Alabama.

There I sang, like Heroes, you know, the good old 70’s cover by Bowie.   Well, it is actually a song from 30’s opera, but for me….

HD:  Yes, Master, I understand.

M:   It was exhilarating.  Exercises and singing…it was quite liberating, too, Richie, in the midst of busy everyday life!

HD:  Yes, I can imagine.  I totally agree with you, Master, except…perhaps, it was rather more like Absolute Beginners than Heroes, in your case, I suppose….

M:  What?

 

 

#  This piece is based on the event happened in spring 2015, before David Bowie’s courageous demise.  RIP the great man, thank you.