Thoughts on singing and a sound file

Stephan leaves tonight for a trip to visit his family in Switzerland. If the schedule and finances allowed, I'd be going too, but I've got plenty of work to keep me occupied here. Some of his relatives have been bugging him for years for a recording of my singing. He finally has the technology to upload the audio from a videotape of a performance several years ago. He made some cd's of me singing five Schubert songs with texts by Goethe, which was I believe in 1998.This was a collaboration, and the original idea came from the pianist, Dan Peelor. Dan and I were determined to convert Stephan to liking Schubert as much as we did. The good news is, we succeeded! Stephan and I listened to lots of Schubert songs and picked some that seemed to have the possibility of a rough story line. He choreographed a piece using those songs, and Dan and I performed them live at the dance concert.Some of my friends, relatives, and students bug me for recordings too, and wonder why I haven't made more. I think the truth is, I love performing live, and if someone records it, fine. But I hate going into a studio and recording. There is too much pressure to be perfect, and I really like the interaction of having an audience to sing for.I listened to the recording, and really, I only winced a couple of times. If this were a voice student of mine I would give them a pretty good grade. I keep toying with the idea of going back for a doctorate in voice, or possibly an MFA in creative writing. The main reason for the doctorate in voice would be so I could keep doing what I do now, but have a better chance at getting a full-time teaching position with benefits. Not to mention refreshing my training and probably learning a lot of great stuff in the process.I figured out years ago that I have a dime-a-dozen soprano voice. I never really pushed hard for a big performing career because of this, and because it's just not my style. Sure, I'm well trained and have lots of strengths as a singer. So do many others. If I get a supporting role in an opera or a solo with orchestra, it is not because I'm the greatest singer out there, but because they know I'm dependable, and in the case of the opera, can act and move well.At any rate, listening to the old recording felt pretty good. If I can get an excerpt uploaded, I will edit this post to link to it.ETA: A link to a sound file of Gretchen am Spinnrade, from my 1998 live performance. This is one of my favorite Schubert songs ever and it is a thrill to sing. You can read a translation here: translationAnd here is the Sound file of Gretchen am Spinnrade, Ellen Denham, soprano, Daniel Peelor, piano(I couldn't make the embed tag do anything except put a non-clickable web address for the sound file so I just made it into a link.)