This past August, after a super quick 4 hour visit in San Francisco to see family, my wife and two boys – 14 and 8 years old – and I piled back into our 1986 Socata Trinidad at San Carlos airport. We had flown down from our home in Chico – a 185 mile trip by car – on our way down to San Diego for a week of vacation. It was already 7:30pm by the time I received my instrument clearance, and i knew we’d be in for a dark flight. Taking off to the north, climbing above Foster City, I pulled Trina’s gear into her belly and nose, pulled in the flaps, and began my right downwind turn towards the south, paralleling the runway. Over the radio we all heard “November Two Zero Foxtrot Romeo, remain within 2 miles of San Carlos Airport, contact NorCal Approach, have a good evening.” Heading off into the hills of Woodside, California, as the last flicker of sunlight settled behind the mountains separating the peninsula from the Pacific Ocean, I contacted Approach, and by the time I reached 6000 feet, my passengers were out cold from a busy day of packing, flying, dining, and playing with baby cousins.

AIr Traffic Control cleared me to my final cruise altitude of 11,000 pretty quickly, so I put on my oxygen cannula (not legally required, but not a bad idea, especially at night as it improves vision substantially) and settled in for the two and a half hour flight to San Diego. Prior to leaving San Francisco, I had checked the weather in San Diego, and it was overcast at 1000′ with ceilings around 4000′. Sounds like an actual instrument flight, which while legal for me, I had never done this

a) With my family in the plane and
b) Without an instructor

The whole way down I was thinking about the approach, looking over the procedures, and patting myself on the back for spending 1.5 hours with an instructor practicing approaches just two days prior to our trip. Being legal and remaining current is one thing, staying alive, well, that’s all on the pilot. I chose to play it safe and grab a lesson before the big trip, just in case, and was glad I did.

We were some 1.5 hours into the trip when we were heading over The Grapevine into Los Angeles, and my wife woke up in time to marvel at how pretty Los Angeles is from 11,000. I pointed out planes coming from our left, that were aiming towards LAX, and she saw LAX off to the right as well. It’s really interesting to see this three dimensional ballet hovering above Southern California while people were enjoying dinner a Spago, Canter’s Deli, or McDonald’s down below, but while she was looking out the window, I was looking dead ahead at the way the lights disappeared under the gray puffy stuff. The entire coast from just south of Los Angeles all the way down to Mexico was covered in a layer of low-lying clouds and fog.

I started checking the weather up ahead, and realizing nothing was going to change with the weather, began making plans to land at my alternate airport, just in case. We began our first of several descents from 11,000′ down to 9000′ and continued meandering our way down to San Diego, eventually settling at 6000′, just above the marine layer blanketing the San Diego area. Realizing that the ceilings were still pretty high at 1000′ (at least from a legal perspective) I resigned myself to the fact that I was about to make my first solo approach in the clouds. Except that I wasn’t alone, and it was dark.

It was about 10pm when SoCal approach cleared me for the runway 2-8 Right ILS approach – an almost 4700 foot of runway that’s too short for heavier, and faster approaching planes to land at night – followed by “change to advisory frequency approved.” Switching over to the tower frequency at around 10:05pm, I began calling out “Trinidad November Two Zero Foxtrot Romeo on final approach for runway 28 Right, 10 miles, descending through 4000 feet.” My wife was awake now, looking into the darkness, which got a little grayer as we descended into her first instrument approach in the clouds, and at night to boot. She hesitated before saying “Final approach to what exactly? And who are you talking to?”

“Well,” I said, “the tower is closed, so I’m making calls for any traffic in the area, but there shouldn’t be anyone that is not on an instrument approach. We’re in solid instrument conditions.”

“Where’s the runway?” she added.

“Uh, it’s about 9 miles ahead of us, about 3000′ below. We should break out at 1000′ feet above the runway, which is plenty safe. I’ll take us down to 800′ before making a missed approach and flying to an alternate airport.”

You could hear the tension in her voice, accompanied with her confidence in my piloting skills, as she added her standard bit about breaking off and landing somewhere else if I don’t feel comfortable. I continued to make a couple more calls, double and triple checking my navigation equipment to make sure I had at least two independent indicators telling me I was on course, and continued my descent into the foggy abyss. I made sure to call out altitudes to my wife every few hundred feet or so to make sure Nerissa knew I was aware of things like how high above the ground we were, and said “If I don’t see an airport when we’re 800 feet above the runway, or 1200′ indicated, we’re out of here (the airport itself is 400′ above sea level, and altimeters read in feet above sea level, not feet above the ground).

At thirteen hundred indicated, or 900′ above the ground, Nerissa saw a veritable light show splashing up from the tarmac, with blue and white lights guiding us towards the runway, and that tension I had been sensing all went out the window, as it were. I called out once again to the area traffic that we were on “Short final with the runway in site,” and landed without incident.

What pilots do while we’re in the air – often with friends or loved ones peacefully sleeping in the back – can be considered rather dangerous, but it’s our constant training that keeps us “greasy side down” in the clouds. However, the trust in our abilities not only as pilots, but even as drivers taking our kids to their ballet class is a grave and serious commitment to deliver our passengers safely to their destinations, smiling, bouncing, and ready to enjoy wherever life may take them. I don’t fly blithely through the air not contemplating the “what ifs” in life, nor should you drive down the road with that mentality. Remove the panic from your routine, try to have (almost) everything ready to go before you go, and don’t freak out if something’s not right – “where’s my other point shoe mommy?” – and instead focus on what’s really important in that instant. Because what can happen in an instant, can permanently change someone’s life.

1) To give fans an idea of what it takes to do what I do, and
2) To be more accountable to myself.

Well, it’s worked, and it hasn’t. While people certainly started getting an idea of what I go through to get anything done – flying a small plane for instance, or spending weeks in New York just to work with my voice teacher and coach, I haven’t been as accountable as I’d like to be with respect to my performing arts career. Sure I’ve been busy with other projects, but being distracted is no excuse for not executing, which is where I think my greatest failings are. But not to worry, knowing where you’re weakness lies is the first step in correcting these problem areas.

I know it sounds like I’ve recently spent a bunch of time in the self-help or business management aisles of my local bookstores, but honestly, I haven’t! OK, I have read those books in the past, and I’ve even bought products to help me stay organized, from software to date books and organizers, and none of it helped. My distractibility coupled with a brain that chugs along at several times light speed is good for something, but I’m not always sure to what end.

For instance, I often make references to people that are obvious to me, but many times people don’t connect the dots. Recently my son was working with a former NCAA Division 1 tennis player who only coaches for fun (he still competes) as his current business profession affords him a great life, and he’s able to travel the world with his family and enjoy an enviable life. Just speaking to him it’s obvious he’s very educated, but somehow during a conversation about playing clay courts versus grass my reference to King Henry the VIII’s summer home tennis courts completely escaped him. Mind you, he had seen these courts recently, and he’s a tennis player. I had seen the courts recently as well while on vacation with my family, and was fascinated from a historical perspective, but I’m no tennis player. However, in an attempt to find some common ground with this obviously well educated businessman/athlete, comparing our trips to London and specifically King Henry’s indoor courts, I had failed to make the connection clear enough for him to understand. My brain doesn’t always take me on a journey of discovery, it just goes, but it’s up to me to steer it.

This previous tangent illustrates what I go through every day trying to hone my craft. Even the fact that I chose a tennis lesson to prove my point goes to show you how far out my thinking is at times. One minute I’m trying to focus on Massenet’s opera Werther, and before you know it, I’m reading about early 19th century handguns (Werther commits suicide with a handgun). Handguns in Europe is a fascinating subject (well to me anyway, because I find anything fascinating for a few minutes at least) and when you add in the political elements of 19th century Germany – which is where Werther takes place – one could get lost for hours without learning any music. Before you know it I’ll be discussing Werther with someone and start talking about handguns, and I sound like I’m off my rocker.

So I’ve had to create schedules and plans, and to simplify my approach and clearly define my goals for working on certain things, lest I get nothing done. I jettisoned the complicated datebooks, software, organizers, and calendars in favor of an all paper system that requires no batteries, with one exception: my family life. For that, we all use Google calendar which sends text messages to all household members days hours and minutes before soccer practices, dental appointments, and/or school plays. Other than that, it’s all paper baby. I guess the electronic thing works best in work groups, and I don’t work in a group when I’m working on my own, which is where the paper system comes in. I won’t go into details of how I do it, but I will tell you that I look at my main notebook throughout everyday, and instead of setting timers and trying to do 10 things in a day, I have weekly goals and simply plow through my lists until I’m done. There’s something very satisfying about crossing things off my lists, yes, multiple lists, that you don’t get when using electronic tools, and I’m not slowed down the least by this method. But how much can an opera singer work on in one day, or one week? Why is taking so long to organize my performing arts career? Here’s the problem:

In addition to singing, I also

Opened a piano rental business in Chico, Ca, and am starting another in San Luis Obispo. I shop for and buy used pianos, arrange for the moving, and service them in the warehouse myself (yes, I’m a piano tuner). Currently we’re building a website which will allow customers to rent pianos by looking at our inventory online, including photos and a video of the actual piano being played. The site will be launched this October, and in addition to buying pianos, we have a marketing plan at has me visiting pianos teachers and music stores, and creating affiliate marketing plans through these folks. I’m also planning on recitals specifically for the local music teachers and their students and families, creating a little cross marketing.

I have developed a social network application that functions like nothing else out there, and am being personally mentored by an internet mogul who started with nothing and created a $250M/yr business in 10 years (he’s worth over $100M and is not yet 40 years old). I just launched an alpha version of the system, which means it’s not open to the public yet, and everyone is shocked that it works. I’m not shocked, but I am extremely pleased. I designed, wrote the specifications for, and found, hired, and directed the developer through this process, all in my spare time, By the way, all the details for this system are in my notebook, although the specs for the system are stored electronically.

I have a fairly complicated financial life, with an anesthesiologist wife who works 65 hours per week and can’t be bothered with anything other than work and family. Our kids are her primary focus when she’s not working, so everything else falls on me. It doesn’t sound like much, but managing retirement accounts, taxes, several businesses, meeting with your bookkeeper weekly, and the CPA 1-2 times per month takes its toll.

I cook a couple times per week, and take my younger son to school everyday. I make his lunch 4x per week, and make sure he practices piano, does his homework, and brushes his teeth. I also am the guy that reads to him every night (currently we’re reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban). Unfortunately I had to stop picking him up from school since it cut deeply into my day, which starts at 10am, but I always try to pick him up from practice, or whatever activities he’s doing, to wrap up his day.

I work out 6 days per week in a warehouse with an exercise guru that beats strength, stamina, and results into his clients in what is best described as personalized training. He personally oversees all workouts, since there are no walls, and everyone does one of two workouts each day (there are two levels). Exercise takes time, but being in shape allows me to do more in less time. While a cost benefit analysis has not been done, I feel great!

Now that you know what I’m up to, I believe it will be easier to continue to write these blogs, because if I don’t I start getting emails from people asking me what I’m up to. Stay tuned for more of A Day in the Life of The Flying Tenor. Next time it’ll all be music. There’s a lot happening on that front.]

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The Flying Tenor

In considering the standard operatic repertory, roles like The Duke in Rigoletto, Canio in Pagliacci, and Massenet’s Werther, often come up. A power-thirsty serial rapist like the Duke, an overbearing, impotent (my take) alcoholic murderer like Canio, or a suicidal jilted lover like Werther offer fascinating insight into not only the twisted mind, but the twisted portions of the “normal” mind as well. I don’t get too sentimental with these guys, I don’t feel sorry for them. They do however cause one to pause, and depending on how the actor portrays them, make the viewer/listener feel empathy, compassion, anger, or disgust. For if someone similar to any of these characters came close to affecting someone in your inner circle of friends and family, it would take years, even decades to overcome. Indeed these characters are best left in the theater, never to cross into our personal lives. Yet they do exist, and there are many more of them than we’d like to admit. When you add up the sexually questionable not-quite rapists, the abusive heavy drinkers that never kill, but rather get too drunk a little too frequently and get violent, or those that never attempt suicide but cause us great pain while they go through their processes, these characters start to hit a little closer to home with greater frequency than we’d like. But that’s life, isn’t it?

I’m not sure why I’m drawn to these characters, but I am, especially in opera. The tenor-as-lover roles don’t always have the meat in them that I personally require as an actor to sing the roles as they are meant to be sung. Not that they aren’t good roles, but they simply aren’t the roles for me, and here’s the quandary:

Operatic roles are often chosen for vocal range, weight, and color, not drama.

This is an unfortunate circumstance for me, since most tenor roles are not in this vein, at least the ones people have told me for 15 years that I’m ideally suited for. This has finally led to a shift in my thinking and my taking control of what I think is a good role for me, as opposed to simply choosing roles based upon what others with similar “voices” have done in the past. Sure, that narrows the number of roles for me, but I’m not in this to learn 100 roles, I’m in this to portray real people, for real people; to be an actor first, and let the drama drive the music, not the other way around.

I, like many other singers, have had hundreds of coaching sessions with a variety of conductors and coaches, and very few may feel the way I do. Some of them may think I’m downright crazy, although I believe at least the better coaches understand what I’m going through, whether or not they agree with all my choices vocally. For instance: not being a dramatic, or even a spinto tenor, I should not sing Canio. But if it doesn’t hurt me vocally – which it doesn’t – and the house is not too large, and finally, the producers of the show like the sound of my more lyric voice in the role, then why not? True, the last time I played Canio I was still pushing my voice, but I don’t do that anymore, and I won’t do it. So if the audience enjoys my portrayal, I’ve done my job, and I don’t need someone else telling me out of context that Canio is not a good role for me. On the contrary, it’s a perfect role for me, albeit the largest of the bunch.

Here are some other roles I like:

Rodolfo, La Boheme – He’s not as sweet as he’s typically portrayed. He has a dark side, is capable but afraid of love, is extremely jealous, likes his booze, and thinks he’s smarter than he really is. He deserves every ounce of pain that he creates.

Faust in Boito’s Mefestofele or Gounod’s Faust – Seriously? This guy never accomplished a thing, and gets a re-do via youth granted by the devil. The real question is: What would you do?

Madame Butterfly – In the end we realize that Pinkerton has become exactly who he NEVER wanted to be: his father. People should rightly hate him, but feel sorry for him too. His American wife Kate tries to save Pinkerton, but in the end, he’ll probably kill himself to join Cho Cho San, since the thought of looking at their child everyday is simply too painful. Well, I guess that makes him a coward, doesn’t it?

Act first, then sing. It’ll make for a better show.

Vincent Chambers
The Flying Tenor

tenor@vincentchambers.com
http://www.vincentchambers.com

Now performing in Shostakovich’s Moscow, Cherrytown:
http://www.longbeachopera.org/2011-season/moscow-cherry-town

Listen to my latest voice-over demo:
http://www.vincentchambers.com/voiceover/

Follow me on twitter:
http://twitter.com/vincentchambers

I’m currently having a Pinkberry treat in downtown Long Beach before rehearsal tonight, and it was deliciously fun, if a little light. I suppose I should say Lite, since they basically are a hi-end non-fat yogurt shop that has delicious fruit toppings, as well as lovely crunchy toppings. Yes, it’s like Coldstone Creamery with non-fat yogurt and modern Asian influenced decor including acrylic chairs, and trance music lightly emanating from the sound system.

I’m pretty swamped and must get back to work, but please check out my website in the next few days for my new Voice Over Demo. It sounds great, if I do say so myself. One funny thing about it is that my opera singer friends are always so impressed by this stuff, where in fact singing opera is MUCH harder. Then again, vo is a tad harder than one would expect, but still…

Cheers!
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The Flying Tenor

So what to do for a month while you’re gone? Well, get settled, for one thing. Unpacked your things as quickly as possible, and make your new home seem like your old home. If you brought books, CDs (hey, operas sound better on CD than in MP3 format!), and a boom box or whatever, set it up right away. Then unpack your clothes, and organize everything like you’re gonna be there for a while, because…
you are. Then get into a routine as soon as possible. OK, so it took me 5 days, three rehearsals, and seeing a play on Saturday night to get there, but I believe I am ready to make the total transformation.

In addition to working on the opera, “Moscow, Cherry Town”, I will be fixing some issues with our summer vacation, working with my accountant on some little projects, studying French on Rosetta Stone, and reading several books.I’m most excited about Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin:

http://www.amazon.com/Talent-Overrated-Separates-World-Class-Performers/dp/1591842247

Tomorrow is Tuesday, and after I warm up the cords and work out, I’m meeting with a pilot friend for lunch in Long Beach to discuss flying, and the breaking in of his new engine. I might need one someday and I’m really curious to see how that process works. Then it is off to rehearsal for Cherry Town, then back home to dig a little deeper into this French. I will let you know how rehearsal went.

Au revoir!

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The Flying Tenor

Perhaps a better term would be “woodshed”. Humans strive to improve, and striving – and improving – is what I’ve been doing. I recorded a few things in the second half of 2010, but mostly I was working on vocal technique, and I’ve really arrived. There is no tension in my body, my breathing is low, but in a natural way, and my singing, well, the sound just pours out of my mouth. Now I’m simply going through pieces and making sure that there are no old habits creeping in (easier said than done).

I’ll be recording a couple of oratorio pieces in the next week or two, and will continue to work weekly with my voice over coach in completing a voice over demo. I’ll also be learning the music for Shostakovich’s Moscow, Cherry Town which I’ll be performing in May of this year.

Short and sweet, but it is back to the kitchen, my ratatouille, and packing for a one day ski trip with my 8 year old.

I’ll send out an email announcing the release of the oratorio pieces; in the meantime, be good, work smart, and enjoy the music!

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The Flying Tenor

There are times when I am super busy, but somehow manage to find the time to write about my process. Yet, there are times when I’m at home trying to follow a schedule, and it just doesn’t seem newsworthy.

For instance, every morning at 6am, I spend about 30-45 minutes studying one stock I plan on buying or that I already own (I’m a small investor, but am planning for the future!) I then have to get my kid up, off to school, and either get myself to the gym, or spend an hour doing something productive while I wait for the gym to open, usually studying Italian. Then it’s music and text studies, singing,  some errands, including preparing dinner. Fortunately there are no restaurants worth dropping serious coin on just for the experience, which saves us a few bucks, therefore, I’d rather cook at home. Time consuming, but worth it.

Anyway, at 4:30, I get the kid from aftercare and take him to wherever he needs to go which is usually karate or piano. Then it’s dinner, homework, and bedtime, by which time I’m pretty exhausted, and I fall asleep on Zig’s bed while reading Harry Potter! I wake up about an hour later, ready to put in another hour planning for the next day. Ultimately, I only get a 6 hour work day out of the deal, which is fine, unless I have to do something else like see a doctor, deal with broken things (more toys = more broken things, a house = many broken things).

So while this rambling appears to be somewhat pointless, there is something that both you and I can learn from it, and that is, to realize that we all have less time on our hands than we think, that every minute must count, and that you’ll never be younger than you are right now!  My use of multiple cliches in one sentence notwithstanding, make your plan, stick to it, adjust as needed, but never let your goal out of your sites. Wow, I did it again.

So you’ll pardon my brevity, while I listen to Nicolai Gedda and Maria Callas perform Bizet’s Carmen in the background. You see, while I made some great plans and progress this year, I simply must get back to my Italian studies, and stick with my list.

I am making this prime number year a Prime Year for all my hopes, dreams, and plans, and… you should as well.

Cheers everyone!

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The Flying Tenor

I hope your December is shaping up nicely, that you were able to get together with friends and family for Thanksgiving, and that you have some relaxation programmed for the next few weeks. I’ve been busy recording demos for the website, and I wanted to share an early release of Ah! Leve-toi soleil from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.

Next year is sure to be a busy one, and I certainly hope to visit your town soon. If not, the recordings will have to suffice, and there are a LOT more coming. Also, check out my blog which chronicles my travails of travel and music to make this career a reality. Travails? Music? Flying an airplane? Seriously, how tough can that be? Quite taxing, I assure you. I also have a few other surprises for 2011, which I’ll save for later. For now, enjoy this clip, and most of all, have a fantastic holiday season with your family and friends!

Please click the player below and enjoy the music!

Thanks for subscribing to VincentChambers.com!

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The Flying Tenor