Performance

[zmulls]

I have no idea where to post these thoughts but "random chatter" seemed appropriate.

 

I've been doing theatre (acting, directing) for over 40 years, and I have done cabaret performances. Now that I'm very deeply into BPAL and have a collection (and have a slate of favorites), it's part of the performance now to choose a scent.

 

Cabaret performances, I usually use Robotic Scarab, as it has an "alert" and bright scent.

 

Last year I played a murderer in DEATHTRAP, and enjoyed putting on Czernobog every night.

 

Tonight I'm making a sort of professional debut as a musician/songwriter. I've been writing lyrics for a number of years now, and some of my songs have made it into my rare cabaret evenings. And I've heard other folks do my songs at music venues. But I've been writing songs with Michael Ronstadt lately and I'm winding up as the lead vox on them. He's doing a House Concert in Ambler, PA tonight, and we're premiering two of our collaborations. So I'm stepping on stage not as a theatre performer, but as a music performer (and songwriter) for pretty much the first time.

 

I was going back and forth between wearing Iago (cause that's my go-to leather scent especially when hitting music venues) and The Music of Erich Zahn (because it's rare and music-related). But I think I'm settling on Enkhespalos, which is a dress-up scent I hoard jealously. I realized I've been hoarding it a little too much, I have a bottle and a half of it, and I have to wear it sometimes! So it's a leather/cognac evening for me....

[GoddesShel]

Congratulations on your "new" incarnation

[AmyO'Shields]

Oh how cool! Congrats on your success! This probably won't be helpful, but I have found that wearing Snake Oil makes everyone around me happy and the concert goes well (I'm a French Horn player in various ensembles including an Army band...) and I find that I play better (get lost in the sound more) when I wear Celeste, Mysterious Warning and Lust.

[Mountaingrrl00]

Sounds delicious and apt! I'm doing a singer-songwriter tonight too, and think I'll wear Leather Phoenix.

 

And zmulls, a good friend of mine plays with Michael Ronstadt periodically -- small world!

[Viridian]

Very cool, zmulls.

 

I'm an actress and a musician, and I honestly don't usually wear any scent in performance because it gets very warm under stage lights and I don't want to interfere with anyone else's breathing up there. I'll occasionally wear something simple and inoffensive, quiet and vanilla or lavender based so it's calming to me, but I don't want anyone else to be able to smell it in that particular setting.

 

I will, however, occasionally wear something that makes me feel super-crazy-awesome to auditions because most of my BPALs have low throw and auditioners aren't going to smell me all the way across the room. If I'm ever singing solo somewhere I might branch out a little more, too.

[TheFrenchWaffle]

First off, congratulations on your success, Zmulls. Personally, It depends on the venue that I am in. For instance, at the local opera company people tend to wear scents with a moderate throw, so I don't feel too out of place if I wear something like Dorian or Belle Vinu (smells nice up close, but not uncomfortable for others). While at a smaller theater where people limit their scents, I will wear something light like Mr. Ibis. Of course character also plays (PUN!) a role (another PUN!) in my scent selection as well.

Edited April 29, 2012 by TheFrenchWaffle

[Seismogenic]

I play a whole bunch of different kinds of music, and on performance days, I'll often try to pick a scent that's somehow relevant to something on the program that day.

 

It could be something very literal - ie, I wore Danse Macabre for an orchestra concert in which we played Saint-Saens' piece by the same name.

Sometimes it'll be wearing a Wanderlust scent related to where the music we're playing came from - I've worn Versailles for a concert of French Renaissance music, and Florence for a concert of Italian music. If we played a Russian program, you'd better believe I'd be wearing Country of Eternal Light.

If there's something relevant in a literary way, I might wear that. I went through all the Illyria scents I have (which is, granted, not hugely many) the year we did a program of English Renaissance stuff.

And there are times where I'll wear something that may not be relevant in name or inspiration, but have scents that I still associate with the music. As an example, the scents of clove and incense are ones I strongly associate with Javanese gamelan, since there's always incense in the rehearsal room, and since clove cigarettes are popular in Indonesia (and therefore among gamelan musicians). There's no Central Java BPAL (though that would rock), but Panther Moon has that clove-and-incense smell that's right for that in my mind.

[Wwindy]

Congratulations, zmulls! How did it go?

 

I always used to wear Romanti.Goth for band performances (we're going for a pagan-ish goth-y neo-medieval thing, and I thought RG was both appropriate and amusing), but lately my daughter's been objecting to that one. The last time we played and I wore scent, I chose Piper at the Gates of Dawn (on which "appropriate and amusing" front our bagpiper agreed with me!). We did play last weekend, but I was just coming down with plague and couldn't cope with any perfume, unfortunately! I think next time we perform, I might try Harmonices Mundi...

[zmulls]

I knew I wasn't going to be the only one who went through this kind of decision making!

 

(Wwindy, it went well. Very small house. They usually get 15-20 people on average, but we only got 8 or so. But that was OK, as it felt like a test run for the songs. I'm sure Michael is going to want to do them again for more people next chance he gets).

[AmyO'Shields]

I play a whole bunch of different kinds of music, and on performance days, I'll often try to pick a scent that's somehow relevant to something on the program that day.

 

It could be something very literal - ie, I wore Danse Macabre for an orchestra concert in which we played Saint-Saens' piece by the same name.

Sometimes it'll be wearing a Wanderlust scent related to where the music we're playing came from - I've worn Versailles for a concert of French Renaissance music, and Florence for a concert of Italian music. If we played a Russian program, you'd better believe I'd be wearing Country of Eternal Light.

If there's something relevant in a literary way, I might wear that. I went through all the Illyria scents I have (which is, granted, not hugely many) the year we did a program of English Renaissance stuff.

And there are times where I'll wear something that may not be relevant in name or inspiration, but have scents that I still associate with the music. As an example, the scents of clove and incense are ones I strongly associate with Javanese gamelan, since there's always incense in the rehearsal room, and since clove cigarettes are popular in Indonesia (and therefore among gamelan musicians). There's no Central Java BPAL (though that would rock), but Panther Moon has that clove-and-incense smell that's right for that in my mind.

 

 

What great ideas! I hope you don't mind if I borrow them? I cannot believe I hadn't thought of this! My symphony does themed seasons...thank you!

[zmulls]

I was asked to step in for an actor who dropped out of A PERFECT GANESH, which is being performed in our Black Box theatre upstairs. It opens this Friday, I have had just over two weeks to memorize the part and create the character. I am doing it as a favor for the director, who's a longtime friend who has bailed me out plenty of times, but it's a good challenge and out of my wheelhouse.

 

I'm playing Ganesha, the god with the head of an elephant. I have a headpiece we borrowed or rented from a professional theatre company that did the play a few years ago, and I have ample vision and open space at the bottom so I can speak clearly, but I have to act with my voice and body, without relying on facial expressions.

 

Most of my scents are rough and masculine (Iago, Czernobog, Rumpelstilzchen, etc.), or upscale drawing room (Antikythera Mechanism, Dee, Robotic Scarab, etc), and simply not Ganesha-like. And I am a total fail for any incense or herbal scents. So I'm relying on good old Snake Oil for my onstage scent -- hopefully it will be the "queller of obstacles" that I need.

[dreamingjune]

Whenever I choreograph my belly dance/burlesque numbers I find a signature scent to match. It helps me get into character, as well as remember choreography. This means I also wear that scent every time I rehearse. Also, it is just fun figuring out which one of my blends best matches the character or idea I am trying to portray.

[eoifemacbeth]

I'm a classical musician (I play bassoon), so I never, ever wear more than a tiny drop of something in my cleavage to a concert, and only then if I know the hall is big enough to give me some elbow room --- there is nothing worse than having a musician come in reeking of perfume/cologne... no one in the wind section can breathe and it's miserable. But on the rare occasion I'm playing in a chamber group or, le gasp, alone, I do tend to match my scent to either the feel of the piece or the occasion --- I wore Snake Oil to my senior recital, for instance, because it's a scent my school of music friends associate with me, and it's comforting and radiant, which was exactly what I needed for calming strength that day. But then when I played Firebird a few years ago I wore Fire Phoenix --- it just depends on if a scent feels enough like the piece to me; otherwise I usually go completely scentless so as not to clash with the music.

 

It's been my dream for years and years for Beth to do a classical-music-themed collection with all my favorites --- Le Sacre du Printemps, Dvorak's 8th, Hindemith's Symphony in B-flat, Nessun Dorma from Turandot, Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, Beethoven's Egmont Overture, Rachmaninov's second piano concerto... I could go on, but you guys get the idea

[zmulls]

Snake OIl wasn't doing it for me, even though the Indian scents should have worked. I switched to Ogun, as the melon seems to be OK with Ganesh. That's also the scent I wear to yoga.

 

I tried one night being really radical and wearing Voodoo, but it was one of the worst performances I've given in a long time......saving my Voodoo for summer and spring when I'm feeling more mischeivous.....

[meadow_fabulous]

Whenever I choreograph my belly dance/burlesque numbers I find a signature scent to match. It helps me get into character, as well as remember choreography. This means I also wear that scent every time I rehearse. Also, it is just fun figuring out which one of my blends best matches the character or idea I am trying to portray.

I know this is an old post, but I love this idea and yay belly dance! Do you have a particular style that you coordinate with certain scent notes?