Ellen Denham's Blog, page 4

Welcome!

Welcome to my web page. I am a classical singer and voice teacher currently pursuing a doctorate and teaching voice at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Previously, I taught voice at Earlham College and a First-year Seminar in the core curriculum of Butler University. I am also a professional writer and a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop.

I’m a classic interstitial artist: I thrive in the places where genres and artistic disciplines intersect. Practically speaking, this means that I incorporate things like yoga in my voice teaching, sing everything from Bach to the Beatles, lead vocal improvisation workshops, write works for performance as well as for the page, and often combine several of my interests in one project. I believe passionately that singing is a vital form of artistic expression and that everyone should be encouraged to develop their own unique voice with a healthy technique. Follow the links above for more information about my work, interests, and publications, or read my blog below.

Bad blogger! No biscuit.

My poor blog has been suffering from neglect. I need to do something to keep it from feeling sad, so here is an update about some of my recent activities.

I survived my first year of doctoral studies! Among other fun activities second semester, I got to perform the role of “Jenny” in Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera with the University of Illinois Opera. The photo below shows me as Jenny with the dastardly Lee Steiner as Mack the Knife.

Mack the Knife and Jenny

I had a short story, “The Golden Larynx,” published in the steampunk ebook anthology Gears and Levers 3, which also contains 13 other great stories by a variety of authors. I love combining several of my interests in one package, and this story is close to my heart because it definitely does so. A famous opera singer dies, but thanks to the invention of a cunning doctor, her voice lives on. Sort of. For a while, anyway. One of the story’s themes is coping with mediocrity, or, what do you do when your desire exceeds your talent. A little close to home? Yes–I suspect all singers have days like this. You can buy the book here: Gears and Levers 3 and honestly, I think you will enjoy every story in the anthology.

I directed an interdisciplinary performance project on Otherness at the Indy Convergence in May, but I think that deserves its own post.

Now I’m gearing up for a summer of teaching voice at a Fine Arts camp and hoping to get some kayaking in whenever there’s a day without a significant chance of rain. Happy summer, all!

Bad blogger! No biscuit.

My poor blog has been suffering from neglect. I need to do something to keep it from feeling sad, so here is an update about some of my recent activities.

I survived my first year of doctoral studies! Among other fun activities second semester, I got to perform the role of “Jenny” in Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera with the University of Illinois Opera. The photo below shows me as Jenny with the dastardly Lee Steiner as Mack the Knife.

Mack the Knife and Jenny

I had a short story, “The Golden Larynx,” published in the steampunk ebook anthology Gears and Levers 3, which also contains 13 other great stories by a variety of authors. I love combining several of my interests in one package, and this story is close to my heart because it definitely does so. A famous opera singer dies, but thanks to the invention of a cunning doctor, her voice lives on. Sort of. For a while, anyway. One of the story’s themes is coping with mediocrity, or, what do you do when your desire exceeds your talent. A little close to home? Yes–I suspect all singers have days like this. You can buy the book here: Gears and Levers 3 and honestly, I think you will enjoy every story in the anthology.

I directed an interdisciplinary performance project on Otherness at the Indy Convergence in May, but I think that deserves its own post.

Now I’m gearing up for a summer of teaching voice at a Fine Arts camp and hoping to get some kayaking in whenever there’s a day without a significant chance of rain. Happy summer, all!

The end of the semester as we know it

I have survived my first semester of doctoral studies, and have to say I am loving it!

If I were a good blogger, I would have written a separate post about each of these things as they happened, but because I’m not, here is a run-down of a few things that happened this semester:

Performances

I sang a duet in a concert of Charpentier motets with Concerto Urbano, performed in two music/dance improvisation concerts with COLAB, and in my Krannert Hall solo debut, I was a soloist in the annual Salvatore Martirano Award Concert performing three delightful songs by Martirano, along with pianist So Jung Kwak.

Writing

My gender-bending fairy tale, “Homo Homarus,” was published in Daily Science Fiction. This is among my favorite pieces I’ve written, so I was very glad it found a good home! You can read it here: Homo Homarus by Ellen Denham

My steampunk opera dystopia, “The Golden Larynx,” was accepted for publication in the anthology Gears and Levers 3, forthcoming from Sky Warrior Books. This piece received honorable mention from the Writers of the Future Contest and got lots of very nice personal rejections from top markets. I’m glad it has found its home.

I also wrote a paper “Schubert and Goethe: A Transcendence of Competing Aesthetics” which was very interesting to research and write. The subject of translating material from one art to another (poetry to music in this case) and how artists collaborate (or don’t in the case of Goethe and Scubert) is fascinating.

I have an opera libretto project in the works but no details to report at this time.

Other News

I joined the Executive Board of the Interstitial Arts Foundation, where we have some really exciting projects coming to fruition soon. My bio from the IAF site is here: Ellen Denham.

Cindy Marie Jenkins interviewed me for her arts outreach conversation series, here, in which I talk about doctoral studies, Homo Homarus, and other work: Artist Check-in: Ellen Denham

Intimate Opera of Indianapolis, with which I performed the role of Violet in Rorem’s A Childhood Miracle in January, included an update about my current activities here: December 2012 Newsletter

And I’m excited to report that I’ve been asked to direct the Umbrella Project at the 2013 Indy Convergence! More details to follow.

That is my semester in a nutshell, but that only tells you a few activities and accomplishments. I’m not sure I can adequately convey how thrilled I am to be back in school, how much I love my classes, professors, colleagues, students, and everything I’m learning. It’s not always easy (hello to breaking years of habits ingrained into my muscle memory and to learning to live on a teaching assistant income), but it’s always enriching and productive.

The end of the semester as we know it

I have survived my first semester of doctoral studies, and have to say I am loving it!

If I were a good blogger, I would have written a separate post about each of these things as they happened, but because I’m not, here is a run-down of a few things that happened this semester:

Performances

I sang a duet in a concert of Charpentier motets with Concerto Urbano, performed in two music/dance improvisation concerts with COLAB, and in my Krannert Hall solo debut, I was a soloist in the annual Salvatore Martirano Award Concert performing three delightful songs by Martirano, along with pianist So Jung Kwak.

Writing

My gender-bending fairy tale, “Homo Homarus,” was published in Daily Science Fiction. This is among my favorite pieces I’ve written, so I was very glad it found a good home! You can read it here: Homo Homarus by Ellen Denham

My steampunk opera dystopia, “The Golden Larynx,” was accepted for publication in the anthology Gears and Levers 3, forthcoming from Sky Warrior Books. This piece received honorable mention from the Writers of the Future Contest and got lots of very nice personal rejections from top markets. I’m glad it has found its home.

I also wrote a paper “Schubert and Goethe: A Transcendence of Competing Aesthetics” which was very interesting to research and write. The subject of translating material from one art to another (poetry to music in this case) and how artists collaborate (or don’t in the case of Goethe and Scubert) is fascinating.

I have an opera libretto project in the works but no details to report at this time.

Other News

I joined the Executive Board of the Interstitial Arts Foundation, where we have some really exciting projects coming to fruition soon. My bio from the IAF site is here: Ellen Denham.

Cindy Marie Jenkins interviewed me for her arts outreach conversation series, here, in which I talk about doctoral studies, Homo Homarus, and other work: Artist Check-in: Ellen Denham

Intimate Opera of Indianapolis, with which I performed the role of Violet in Rorem’s A Childhood Miracle in January, included an update about my current activities here: December 2012 Newsletter

And I’m excited to report that I’ve been asked to direct the Umbrella Project at the 2013 Indy Convergence! More details to follow.

That is my semester in a nutshell, but that only tells you a few activities and accomplishments. I’m not sure I can adequately convey how thrilled I am to be back in school, how much I love my classes, professors, colleagues, students, and everything I’m learning. It’s not always easy (hello to breaking years of habits ingrained into my muscle memory and to learning to live on a teaching assistant income), but it’s always enriching and productive.

Dreams coming true

Here’s an excerpt from a journal entry I wrote early on Saturday, September 8:

I had a beautiful and surreal dream early this morning. I stood at the top of a deep valley at sunrise. Before me, a gentle path sloped straight ahead over rocky ground to the bottom of the valley, which held a natural stone arch in front of a small, perfectly round pool of blue water, reminiscent of a cenote. Behind the pool on the other side of the valley were high cliffs surrounding the pool on three sides, so the overall shape of the valley was something like a keyhole. Above the cliffs was a plateau, and above the plateau, layers of clouds streaked with pink and orange from the sunrise. I believe the sun was actually behind me though I did not turn around to see it.

I noticed a long column of spiderweb going all the way down the path in front of me. I detached a few strands of this from the rocks, which created a kaleidoscopic chain reaction effect of motion going all the way down the column. Deciding I needed to document this, I took out a video camera and began to film and narrate. I realized when I panned up to the clouds that I had missed the prettiest part of the sunrise as the sky no longer had so many pretty colors. I also realized that there was no way the camera would capture the spiderweb action. I spoke to document the experience, noting that I was on my way down into the valley for a morning swim in the pool. I panned from the stacks of now mostly blue and white fluffy clouds on the plateau on the other side down the rocky face and finally to the pool. I put away the camera and began the descent.

The dream fizzled out soon after that, but the images were so vivid that they colored my morning. Later in the day I realized I was making lots of progress blasting through my to-do list and should have some time to go for a hike on Sunday. The weather was beautiful. I texted Stephan and proposed a hike in Turkey Run State Park, which is about halfway between Indianapolis and Urbana. We had a lovely hike on Sunday and it occurred to me that while not exactly like my dream landscape, Turkey Run has many features in common with the one in my dream: deep, round glacially carved basins with tall walls of rock, for one. On my drive into Indiana the clouds were stacked in white, fluffy bands, not unlike the ones in my dream. Perhaps my subconscious needed me to get outdoors.

I think I am going through a phase where dreams become real. This is certainly true of my experience so far with doctoral studies.

Dreams coming true

Here’s an excerpt from a journal entry I wrote early on Saturday, September 8:

I had a beautiful and surreal dream early this morning. I stood at the top of a deep valley at sunrise. Before me, a gentle path sloped straight ahead over rocky ground to the bottom of the valley, which held a natural stone arch in front of a small, perfectly round pool of blue water, reminiscent of a cenote. Behind the pool on the other side of the valley were high cliffs surrounding the pool on three sides, so the overall shape of the valley was something like a keyhole. Above the cliffs was a plateau, and above the plateau, layers of clouds streaked with pink and orange from the sunrise. I believe the sun was actually behind me though I did not turn around to see it.

I noticed a long column of spiderweb going all the way down the path in front of me. I detached a few strands of this from the rocks, which created a kaleidoscopic chain reaction effect of motion going all the way down the column. Deciding I needed to document this, I took out a video camera and began to film and narrate. I realized when I panned up to the clouds that I had missed the prettiest part of the sunrise as the sky no longer had so many pretty colors. I also realized that there was no way the camera would capture the spiderweb action. I spoke to document the experience, noting that I was on my way down into the valley for a morning swim in the pool. I panned from the stacks of now mostly blue and white fluffy clouds on the plateau on the other side down the rocky face and finally to the pool. I put away the camera and began the descent.

The dream fizzled out soon after that, but the images were so vivid that they colored my morning. Later in the day I realized I was making lots of progress blasting through my to-do list and should have some time to go for a hike on Sunday. The weather was beautiful. I texted Stephan and proposed a hike in Turkey Run State Park, which is about halfway between Indianapolis and Urbana. We had a lovely hike on Sunday and it occurred to me that while not exactly like my dream landscape, Turkey Run has many features in common with the one in my dream: deep, round glacially carved basins with tall walls of rock, for one. On my drive into Indiana the clouds were stacked in white, fluffy bands, not unlike the ones in my dream. Perhaps my subconscious needed me to get outdoors.

I think I am going through a phase where dreams become real. This is certainly true of my experience so far with doctoral studies.