February Newsletter

Healthy Recipe: Quinoa Salad

By Drew Sevel

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups dry quinoa (couscous can substitute)

1 1/2 cups cooked black beans

1 1/2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

1 1/2 cups cooked corn (Try roasting it!)

1 chopped, medium-sized green bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1-2 small chilies, minced. (Try jalapeno)

1/4 cup chopped, fresh cilantro

Dressing:

5 tablespoons lime juice (Try to get fresh limes)

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

A pinch of turmeric and nutmeg

1/3 cup olive oil

To prepare:

Boil 3 cups of water and generously salt. When boiling, add the quinoa and remove from heat. Stir repeatedly and cover. While the grains are cooling, toss vegetables and beans with vinegar. Whisk together all dressing ingredients except for olive oil. After fully mixed, gradually whisk in the olive oil. Combine vegetables and quinoa and drizzle with dressing. Chill.

Alternatively, for a warm dish, sauté onions and 2 cloves of garlic in olive oil for about 5 minutes, add other vegetables and dressing ingredients. Simmer until dressing mostly reduces. Mix with quinoa and serve warm.

Faculty Spotlight: Christopher Scholl, tenor and Ellen Scholl, mezzo-soprano

By Sarah Puckett

As a general rule, Christopher and Ellen Scholl do not use ice in their drinks, and never before singing. “It would be like putting your legs in a really cold ice bath and then running a race,” Mrs. Scholl says. According to the Scholls, the way you take care of yourself significantly impacts how you perform. So they are always thinking about how to eat, how to practice, and how to stay sane.

When Mrs. Scholl was in high school and went out to eat after concerts with her brother, his viola would get a chair before his date. Now he’s a violist with the Houston Symphony. But for singers, it’s a little different from replacing strings when they break and oiling valves regularly. “You are your instrument,” Mrs. Scholl says. “If you get sick, you can’t perform.” Mr. Scholl considers music as physically demanding as a sport: “I tell my students all the time that you are an athlete and you have to have the regimen of an athlete.”

An important part of an athlete’s regimen is diet, and singers need to be especially careful. “Singers are very orally oriented and we like to eat,” says Mr. Scholl. “When you get stressed out you turn to comfort foods. The foods you should eat in moderation you start to eat a lot of.” And unfortunately these habits can have a high cost in a profession where so much depends on your appearance.

“This has become the age of visual as well as aural,” says Mr. Scholl. “You don’t have to be Heidi Klum, but you have to be physically well.” Mrs. Scholl recalls a friend in Germany who was a talented vocalist but who had trouble being cast as a lyric soprano because of her weight. Often we think of the stereotypical opera singer as being on the hefty side, but that isn’t always what gets hired. “Pavarotti was actually a very thin man when he started his career,” Mrs. Scholl says.

It’s also easy to get too intense about being thin. “It’s always about balance,” says Mr. Scholl. “Obsessing about losing weight is just as wrong.” And finding the balance is necessary not just in eating, but in practicing, as well. Music students tend to love extremes, and many of us don’t know when to stop. This can lead to fatigue, strain, and even injury. Mr. Scholl learned this lesson the hard way when he was a young singer. “I had lots of work and I got sick, but I kept singing. Luckily with the help of a therapist I was able to get it back within two or three months,” he says. Now he and Mrs. Scholl discourage students from singing too much, and they teach alternate forms of practice like studying text or comparing different interpretations.

If the balance is thrown off, your homeostasis, both mental and physical, can be affected. “Once I became really unhappy about losing a job, and I got violently ill for a very long time,” Mrs. Scholl says. “It was really more emotional than anything else.” With time, realizing she wanted to continue with her career and having the support of Mr. Scholl, she got back on her feet. For times like these, the Scholls say, we need a social support system. “If you don’t have somebody, go to a professional,” Mr. Scholl says. “When David Daniels, a well-known countertenor, was here, someone asked, ‘How do you have a good career?’ and he said, ‘Get a good analyst.’”

If you don’t find the time to vent to friends, if you neglect your general wellness and you lead a narrow life, the Scholls warn there could be dire consequences for your career. Whether physical or emotional, it all contributes to your self-image. “How you feel about yourself can play a huge role when you sing,” Mrs. Scholl says. “If you feel like you’re creepy and ugly, you’re not going to sing well.” The answer, according to the Scholls, is not to obsess over anything, but to do everything in moderation. And in return, you will feel better about yourself. “This is a very stressful job,” Mr. Scholl says. “You really have to find time to relax and just get away from it all.” Mrs. Scholl agrees: “Try to live a balanced life in all aspects.”

Mindful Eating

By Sarah Puckett

“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves—slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.” -Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Buddhist monk

In the February 7th, 2012 New York Times article, “Mindful Eating as Food for Thought,” Jeff Gordinier explores the Buddhist practice of tuning in to your dining habits. When we think about mindfulness, we often think about meditation, or even music practice, but we don’t usually consider eating.

According to Gordinier, mindful eating isn’t about making yourself eat healthier. Instead, it’s about experiencing food more fully in the present moment. Like many practice techniques that musicians use to develop full-body awareness, mindful eating is about observing your sensations as you eat at an excruciatingly slow pace.

“It’s about experiencing food more intensely—especially the pleasure of it,” Gordinier writes. And sometimes you might be surprised at what you discover. “You can eat a cheeseburger mindfully, if you wish. You might enjoy it a lot more,” says Gordinier. “Or you might decide, halfway through, that your body has had enough. Or that it really needs some salad.” Often, when we become more aware, we make better decisions. If you want to try it at home, Gordinier advises turning off the computer and TV, keeping conversation to a minimum, creating a peaceful environment with flowers and candles, and chewing slowly while you eat.

December Newsletter

Seasonal Tips

By Sarah Puckett

This time of the year, we not only have the pleasure of increasingly miserable winter weather to deal with, but exams are also just around the corner.

Look around. When our eyes become fixated, our bodies become rigid. If you have to focus for a long time at a computer or in a practice room, take a break roughly every 20 minutes to release your eyes from the screen or your music and let go of any tension you’ve been holding before resuming work.

Make time for fun with friends. It’s easy to go into a practice/study cave towards the end of the semester. Setting aside time for socialization, even just to commiserate about all of the work you have to do, is a good way to recharge.

Invest in waterproof gloves. For those who have a long walk or bike ride to school or who drive and have to clear snow off windshields, waterproof gloves are essential to keep hands from losing heat (which saves time when you get in the practice room).

When it comes time for juries and exams, don’t drastically change your routine. We perform best under normal circumstances. If you normally eat a pop-tart for breakfast, cooking an eggs and bacon feast on jury day will probably throw you off.

Laughter Yoga Alone

By Sarah Puckett

Do you tend to get road rage driving around town by yourself? Does it feel like your world is crumbling if you can’t get a cup of coffee in the morning? You might need Laughter Yoga Alone.

Dr. Madan Kataria of Mumbai, India developed the practice of Laughter Yoga in 1995 to help people find relief from normal physical and mental ailments. Now people all over the world get together and practice laughing for no reason with the idea that the bodily process of laughing has the same physical and emotional benefits whether you believe something’s funny or not. And often, fake laughter leads to real laughter.

With Laughter Yoga Alone, Dr. Kataria gives some ideas on how to achieve the same physical and mental benefits even throughout the day when you don’t have the support of a group. For example, he suggests laughing in the bathroom. You might even try doing it regularly with your morning shower to condition the physical laughter response as soon as you turn on the water. The car is also a great place to laugh without any self-consciousness and cure the stress of traffic jams. To lighten your overall mood, he suggests laughing at yourself when minor things go wrong. Instead of getting upset when your cat spills your cereal all over the floor and you have five minutes to get to class, say “haaaaa” a few times, even if you don’t feel like laughing. Sometimes just feeling ridiculous but being willing to act a little foolish is enough to trigger real laughter.

If you’re not sure how to start laughing, use Dr. Kataria’s instructions: say Ho Ho and then Ha Ha, and repeat (if you don’t like the sound of your own voice, you can even do this exercise without making any sound and it will still work). These syllables work the abdominal muscles, and, after a little warming up, will trigger mental relaxation.

Check out Dr. Kataria’s website for more information:

www.laughteryoga.org

Feeling tense? Need a break from end of the year stress? Try a Lie Down!

By Drew Sevel

The Lie Down is an exercise commonly utilized in the Alexander Technique to relieve tension and allow the spine to gather into its normal position. This technique places the body in semisupine position.

What you need:

1.       Firm surface such as a floor or table—avoid beds. Softer surfaces provide less support.

2.       An exercise mat or rug

3.       2-4 books

4.       A small towel

Here’s how to do it:

1.       Place the rug or exercise mat over the firm surface. Stack a couple of books at the head of the rug. Fold your towel on top.

2.       Gently lower yourself onto the ground, eventually lying on your back. Your knees should be comfortably bent.

3.       Lift your head and place the stack of books under it. Adjust the height of the stack as needed. You will need enough to prevent the curve of your neck from flattening but not enough to feel your chin pressing against your throat. Experiment to find what works best for you!

4.       Rest your hands on your chest under your sternum.

5.       Ideally, you will lie here for at least ten minutes but even a couple minutes are better than none! If you feel one of your knees becoming tense, gently straighten your leg and allow it to relax for a couple of minutes. Take this time to mentally scan your body. Notice any tension you may still be holding and let those muscles relax.