1910's | An American Songline

So since my last post I’ve been poking around looking at the presentation aspect of performance. How will I present myself to concert goers? I’m not really a girly person, but I do want to look my best for you all when I’m out on the road.

I’ll be singing music from a 25 year period in the early 20th century (1913-1935), but for women’s fashion there were huge changes. The 1910’s saw corsets give way to more fitted but longer dresses. In the 1920’s skirt hemlines shrank, hair was bobbed, and clothing had long lines to show more of a “boyish” appearance. The 1930’s brought some middle ground of sorts-hair and hemlines grew a little longer, and curves were back in. All within a generation.

Looking at vintage fashions and fabrics online, one thing is clear for me: I will have to have whatever I wear built from scratch with non-synthetic fabrics (wool, silk, cotton). I cannot fit into anything historical-period. My 21st century frame of 5’10” (1.77 meters) puts me at least two inches taller (5cm) than the average man, and 6-8 inches taller (15-20cm) than the average woman of the time in America. I don’t even have to look into the weight part of it.

I’m not going to change costumes several times during a performance to show off these differences-this is not a Vegas show! I want to wear just one dress for each show, and have a backup dress to wear in case one is at the cleaners.

So I’ve got a few ideas, and I’m taking your input. What do you all think of these fashions? Would you feel weird/annoyed seeing someone sing something from 1932 that’s wearing a dress from 1916, or vice versa? While I will ultimately decide what to use, I would love feedback. The “non-girly” side of me needs your opinion.

Here’s some links to follow for fashion ideas if you don’t know the periods well:

The 1910’s

1917 Cocktail/Evening Dress

The 1920’s

The 1930’s

1932 Fitted Dress “Suit”

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Thanks!

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”- Abraham Lincoln

So I’ve been fairly quiet in the blog world this month. Not because I’ve got nothing to say (my beloved, friends, and family can attest to that), but because I’ve been working on so many other facets of the 2013 concert that are hard to write about.

I’ve been pouring over hundreds of pieces of sheet music from the 1910’s, 20’s and 30’s (some of them the original publications) thinking about what pieces of music I like and would work well for buy cheap viagra online the travelogue, as well as thinking about what format to sing everything in.

I’ve figured out the format now, and am still whittling down the songs for the concert in my own music practice (finding and sight reading all of these pieces takes a long time). I still need help in finding old concert programs from places along the highway. Hopefully I can find some programs soon.

The need to be on the road exploring the highway has been growing stronger since the conference. I was trying to figure out a way to see more of the highway this year, and I found it!

At this time next week, I’ll be driving on the Lincoln Highway for the annual “Buy-Way” weekend. I plan to drive through all five participating states to check out the areas and talk to anyone and everyone I can about the travelogue for 2013.

Here’s my rough itinerary:

I will leave Chicago in the middle of next week and drive east to Pittsburgh via the later alignments of the LH route. I will drive West the rest of the week on the original alignments on the days noted below.

Thursday: West Virginia and Ohio

Friday: Indiana and Illinois

Saturday: Illinois and Iowa (ending in Colo, IA at the famous Reed/Niland corner).

I will be writing from the road as I did in June. If anyone has any recommendations of things I should see while I’m out and about, let me know. I especially want to check out old theatres and opera houses of course.

If any of you will be driving too, please let me know! I would love to see you.

Safe travels!

Fashions and Figures

Absence makes the road call faster