A Skiers Guide to Opera Singing 1. Go down a Mountain

Based on my inspiration of mentor, I'd like to introduce you to a new, brief mini-series on this blog: A Skiers Guide to Opera Singing.

I did some work at Opera Colorado as a young artist.  At the time, I was amused that I had a clause that I would not go skiing or do any "extreme sports" during the length of my contract.  I believe I was the only person in the cast who actually followed that through that point in the contract. That is not a judgement, I was just paranoid about messing up the gig.  Hey... I was young!

When we decided to get season passes to a lovely little mountain this year for our family here are some of the general worries I had:

• I have not skied in years.  I'm too old to try.
• I don't have any gear.
• I have a big singing engagement coming up in NYC, don't break your neck.

There were a million more reasons.  I pushed through them with the help of Kitty and my relentless brother-in-law, Kev-lar. (Congratulations! You scored a code name.)

Just after Christmas, the three of us went up to the mountain and brought along The Spud, who was anxious to try out her new skis.  Kev-lar gave me and The Spud some pointers.  Kitty was ready to get out there and hit the slopes.  While Kev-lar patiently trained The Spud on how to turn and how to stop, Kitty and I left the training area and went down one of the beginner slopes.

A lot has changed since I last went skiing.  I had never skied on real snow.   From the first trip down the mountain, I immediately learned that this was an activity that I could relate to and enjoy.   You might say that skiing is my new golf.  One of the first things I'm going to do when I get back from my gig in NYC is to get back to our little mountain and do some more runs. I'm learning a lot about myself and I want to learn more.  I want to go down the mountain again and again.