The other day I decided to try something new. I went to the opera.
Mind you, this is huge for me. The only opera I have previously been exposed has been what we have covered in my Mideval-Baroque Music Literature class, and... let's just say the art form took quite a while to perfect. What has really bothered me the most about opera to this point has been the utter stupidity of the characters. One song in particular we listened to was about "Fair Phyllis," who bemoans the eventual loss of her youthful beauty, although she is still has it at the moment she is singing. I have very little patience with people displaying that behavior while in real life, so why would I want to go watch them sing about it?
What really made me change my mind about the genre was a conversation with a vocalist friend, JD. She said something to the effect of "Opera is about emotion. It doesn't matter if the character you are singing is a complete idiot, that's who they are, and you have to make those emotions valid. You have to pretend they are real children of God, and sing them that way." It occurs to me that learning to sing opera, or any other acting discipline, would be a great way to learn empathy. You have to learn to communicate as someone else, and do that in such a way that the rest of the world believes you.
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