CoachCraft

Hello, bonjour, welcome, bienvenue, willkommen, ciao, bienvenuti a tutti!

It‘s January 1st 2024 - a new year and a new platform for my writing! After some research I’ve settled on this ghost platform, after decades on blogspot (which was terrific but not really set up for moving forward with my new plans!) I’m hopeful this site will allow for more flexibility and content, including subscribing and - fingers crossed - a podcast or two!

My old blog, https://patricksoperablog.blogspot.com/ recently passed 300,000 views. Although quite proud of the content and its impact, I’ve become less enamoured with my blog since the pandemic as it was too focused on opera and also (have to admit it publicly) often too operatic in length. It’s 2024 and time for a new focus.

Us coaches (been one since 1980) typically work with the art, with artists, making art for public consumption. We have long scarves, glasses on the ends of our noses, libraries of ancient scores (though I’ve moved to FourScore and never want to turn back to carrying heavy scores to and from gigs), tuxes, gowns, and lots of trappings, yes. But more importantly we have CRAFT. Knowledge gleaned from others and from years working. We are artisans, let’s admit it. To get to the art, you need the artisanal but way way way too often, this is overlooked or - worse - hidden in the “mystery of the art” (said with a pronounced English accent like Emma Thompson as Professor Sybil Trelawney).

Witchcraft, from whence comes my new title CoachCraft, has through history been the subject of thousands of books, tv episodes, and movies dedicated to its endless tropes and mythologies - some historical, most fantastical, often times incredibly tragic. I’m interested in the craft part of that compound word. Witches needed craft, dedicated themselves to their craft, and were celebrated and persecuted for their craft. They had knowledge others didn’t, or at least others might not acknowledge. Throughout the ages, witches - those who practiced the craft - could heal, bring life into the world as midwives, cast magical spells into the air that often might actually come to pass, meddling and delving in chemistry, herbology, alchemy, surgery, medicine, astrology, psychology, story-telling, and all sorts of natural world phenomenon. In a word, they were coaches.

COACHcraft will seek to talk, illuminate, discuss, and cast as many spells as it can to demystify what we do, how we do it, and why it’s vital to the live performing artist. But it’s not just for coaches - no siree bob or barb - I’m hopeful these thoughts will create a community of like-minded musical/magical folk who will start to talk amongst ourselves in order to change our worlds - whether those be opera, musical theatre, pop, folk, singer/songwriter, choreographer, director, stage manager, conductor, creator, composer, or writer galaxies. All those points of light swirling about in our spaces of false emptiness. We are all connected in so many ways (as are our atoms on the quantum level) and I hope to try to bring those connections to light.

Looking forward to making some magic, opening up some cauldrons for new potions, cajoling us to dump out some old notions and thoughts of what we think and how we think about the world of singing and playing and entertaining, and exploring these unbelievably cool forests filled with all sorts of folk, ideas, emotions and sights!