The First Game. #YearofPlay

Here we go, gentle readers.  This is the first game of the Year of Play.

I've defined my first project and will announce it soon.  In the meantime, you will see a number of posts here, tweets and Instagrams that will lead up to the announcement.

The Winning Move: Announce my project and launch date.

How to score points:

Eapen will

• Tweet about some aspect of the Project: 1 point
• Post a picture that captures some aspect of the project: 2 points
• Write a blog post about his process: 3 points
• Make a podcast about the Year of Play: 5 points

Here is my question for myself.  If I announce on May 30, 2015, how many points can I score leading up to the date?

Let the game begin!

You can follow along in a number of different spots:

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/eaps

Instagram

https://instagram.com/eapenleubner/

The Tenor Eleven Miles Away Blog

http://tenorelevenmilesaway.blogspot.com/

Podcast details:

Coming Soon!

The Random Top Ten for 2013-- A found post

I never posted this back in 2013.  I'm posting it now. I guess this means I should do a random top 10 for 2014 as well.

Every year, I post a series of reflections on my top ten experiences.  They are in no particular order and they have no thematic similarities except that they happened to my family and I.

And here we go!

Number 10-
The Murphy Bed.  Living in Brooklyn and adding to the family means getting creative with your space.  In this case, we invested in the most awesome Murphy Bed.  For those that may not know, a Murphy bed is one that is installed into the wall and you pull it down every night to sleep.  Keep reading to find out why we made the investment!

Number 9-
The Second Pot.  Every morning, our coffee pot goes off.  This year we switched things up a bit and now, instead of one extra large pot of coffee, we have two very large pots of coffee.  Why?  Keep reading to find out!

Number 8-
Living in Brooklyn.  There are moments when Kitty and I collectively feel like living here is a singular experience.  Example #1- In 2012, I joined composer Andy Laster singing at The Stone.  At the concert, I sang a song called, "The Pressure Zone" with poetry by D. Nurkse.  This summer I went to a poetry reading in the heart of Brooklyn and who was reading at the show?  Mr. Nurkse!  I went a little fan boy.

Number 7-
My solo debut at Carnegie Hall.  A special shout out to my team-- agent, voice teacher and coaches.  After much hard work, I sang my solo debut in Schubert's Mass in G at Carnegie Hall with Mid-American Productions.  It was the realization of a dream, but only the starting point.  My whole part was about 3 minutes of singing.  It was lovely, but over far too soon.  I am inspired to keep at it until I get a five minute solo!

Number 6-
Continuing living in Brooklyn- The List Serv.  Kitty has become enmeshed in following listservs for various neighborhoods in Brooklyn.  On one occasion, a person advertised a carpet for sale that was exactly what we were looking for.  I went out to pick it up and, in the course of conversation, I discovered the man was a musical theater singer. Small world, huh?

Number 5-
We consumed two large bottles of Sri Racha over the year.  We are a quarter into our third bottle.  It is an addiction.

Number 4-
Continuing living in Brooklyn- reading the New York Times.  One Sunday morning we woke up and saw our carpet-selling musical theater friend and his wife in the paper!  Small world, huh?

Number 3-
Going to the theater.  It has changed a bit, though.  What was once "A Chorus Line" and "Avenue Q" has been replaced by "Stuart Little" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" with my two daughters wearing their ball gowns.

Number 2-
Continuing living in Brooklyn- singing with my good friends at Encompass New Opera Theater on their concert celebrating the life of Sheldon Harnick.  I sang with some of the biggest stars of the musical theater world.  But what does this have to do with living in Brooklyn? Remember the carpet and the musical theater singer and his wife?  Turns out his wife sang at the gala as well!  This is exactly the reason why we live here.

Number 1-
Welcoming Baby Maraca, our new son into the world The Spud and Little Heartbeat were thrilled to have a brother.  We were grateful for a happy healthy child.

Here are some other fun experiences:
January 1, 2013- I make my debut on Albanian National Television as the 2012 Tre Tenoret Concert gets broadcast to an entire nation.

Little Heartbeat is a Human of New York.

Dumplings Continue.  Panda Dumplings briefly eclipse Prosperity as our favorite, but then Panda closes down.

I may end up writing more to this.  It's been hard to compose my thoughts.  2014 musical preparations have already begun and the hour is late.

Happy New Year to you all!
Eapen

The Year of Play Starts Now.

I am not much for New Year's resolutions.  While I have tried them numerous times over the years, it was rare that I ever made one that actually "stuck."

What does he mean, "New Year's Resolution" in April?

Technically, this project began in January with a resolution.  I didn't announce anything because, like most resolutions, I was not sure if I was going to be able to make it stick.  After almost three months of playing around, I'm ready to start sharing my little adventure.

What is the Year of Play?

The Year of Play (YoP) began after a couple of years of very hard work as an opera singer.  I've continued to study with my musical team.  I've spent a good bit of time on stage and I've had some very successful musical experiences.

In January, I looked at my calendar, saw the gigs coming and realized that, while I work a lot, I have not had many musical endeavors that were truly for me and truly for fun.  I wanted to fill the spaces between shows with musical activities that I could share with my friends and family.  These small musical events would be outside of my world of the opera stage and concert hall.

Most importantly, I wanted to have fun with music where it was not necessarily my "job."  I decided to spend a year making something out of nothing, making music with friends and sharing it.  I'm calling this year my "Year of Play".

Why "Play"?

There are a lot of people who have touched my life as a musician and artist that, at the core of their teaching, center the art of making music on play.

Play is a huge part of what teaches us as children and recreation is an integral part of modern life.

Over the Year of Play, I'll be talking to some experts on the subject of Play.  I'll be learning music and infusing the process of learning with the joy and wonder of "play".  There are going to be a number of posts, tweets, instagrams and other surprises in store.

And all of this comes from when a "Serious Opera Singer" walks out on stage, looks at the audience, and says, "Let's have some fun."