New Post

Alas, a lot of my NY friends and family have inquired as to why their computer isn't showing my blog page. We then realized it was because I haven't updated in a week and a half. Oops! Guess that was their way of telling me to get on the ball with this!

Things here are mainly the same as always:

1)I sing. Recently I've been singing well, and thanks to my fantabulous teacher and her confidence in me, I believe I will be singing really well. Let's hope the reallys just start piling on there, really really fast :)

2) Classes have been happening, and they pass by leaving me relatively unscathed. Nice.

3) I've now signed up for netflix for those moments in the future where I'll want to do something fun, yet will be at school from 9-4, rehearsing from 4-5:30, masterclassing from 5:30-7, and rehearsing again from 7-10pm. When I get home I can now pop in a DVD and relax. Whee ha! I've seen 3 movies so far, and it's been easy, is relatively cheap, and I can rent all the silly cheesy movies everyone else has either already seen or definitely don't want to see. :)

4) I've been horrible at keeping up with my MSM friends--if you're reading this, please forgive me! I have generally never been a good friend of the telephone, and I haven't been calling you back. I'm horrible. Sliker especially, I hope you are feeling much better and that everything is going really well in NY. Miss you lots. As for Twisha, we haven't talked in sooo long. I hope that you are keeping busy, loving your new voice teacher, and are enjoying making wedding plans? ;) Bug, you know I love you, I'm sorry we haven't talked in a while, I'm getting update emails from mom youngbug, and I love reading them. Congrats on the new job and new singing gig! Good luck with all the overly cheerful kids and singing that high-D!

5) Dodef is visiting for a few days this coming week! I am so unbelievably excited and touched that he's arranged to come to b-town to see me. Stinks that Magic Flute rehearsals start this week. Hopefully we'll still have lots of time for catching up and lots of laughter. Any recommendations on things I should show Dodef in b-town are greatly appreciated.

6) Hmm, can't think of a 6. Time for bed instead :)

the Lowa

Say wha?!

To quote my teachers thus far:

Schwandt (ear training):

"Click your heels 3 times, ride the circle of fifths, and you'll be back to the tonic."

"Yes, that's a Maior sound, just in case your weren't sure" (what we students are known to mumble to the prof. when we can't decide between major and minor)

"You could have Hilda the Yodeler" (don't know what this was talking about, but I wrote it down anyway)

"Stratificationerie" (to stratify, having been stratified, what?)


Kiesgen (vocal ped):

"A person that is totally relaxed is either inebriated or dead." (he says this almost every class)

"Oh, let me just tell you a quick story" OR "that reminds me of this joke..." (again, said every class)

Sniff sniff, cough

so, I'm still fighting this potential cold. I am proud thus far that I can still call it a potential cold, as I feel fine most of the time. It's progressed from a throat tickle to being a little stuffy. Only 1 symptom at a time is good. Nothing a good bit of listerine can't solve :)

I'm really happy that I still have the optimistic outlook on this semester...I know that it's bound to go crazy on me really soon, but at the moment, I feel I can face each week with a calm, anticipatory response. Just gotta wear some armor against tiredness on Mondays, and once they're done, the week is not a problem. Thursdays are all about the voice lesson, and the more I learn from Ms. Wise, the more I want to work. She amazes me, and I feel that she is completely dedicated to her students' success. I'm learning lots and lots of new things, singing in new ways, and though I had termed the new sound "scary!" and have said "it feels like I'm taking a risk", she even wrote that down in her weekly lesson journal, and told me the next week that we're aiming for that "scary" sound, and always tells me to take risks. The sound is just a whole lot more carried by the breath, and is clearer and more projected. :) I've also noticed that singing is just unbelievably hard work when you do it right. At least hard work on your abdominal area. It's almost like a "no pain, no gain" kind of idea, but it doesn't hurt, it just really really works your breath control. I LOVE IT! Woohoo! This past week Ms. Wise even told me that WW2 Europe was paying the same amount of food stamps to opera singers as hard laborers. Wierd, huh? No wonder I almost passed out during our choral recording after I gave blood! Haha, what a dork.

Today I plan to be really hermity...gotta kick this potential cold! I'm going to come home after class, take a nap on the sofa, and watch some tv, read a bit of Arrowsmith (I haven't started it yet, but I will soon! Thanks, George!) and make a good meatless (it's Lent! crazy.) dinner, and just relax. Yippee!

And to those of you who haven't dragged your behinds to the MAC yet, you really need to see Bolcom's "A View from the Bridge". I would rate it a B/B+, and Adonis loved it, he'd probably give it an A. Even if it's the first opera you're ever going to see, don't worry about waiting until Traviata comes around, go see View! :)

I know I haven't written in forever, and besides that, I'm almost done writing for now. I've been busy. Things are going really well here. Tada. That's my life. Simplicity is complex enough. :) Nighty night!

No choir = Easy living

So, CVE was canceled both yesterday and today. Despite the fact that I feel bad for our conductor who is out with the stomach flu, I have been free to relax and do errands and such... starting as early as 11am instead of 4pm! What a difference an extra 5 hours makes! Woohoo!

So, more free time this week. Excellent. Not only that, but I've been really good about getting into bed early (except this past Sunday night, but once I was in bed, I was out like a light). I've been getting about 7-8 hours of sleep per night pretty consistently, which leaves me feeling great, avoiding the bugs going around, and hopefully ready to absorb as much information about singing as possible.

As far as the information about singing regarding teaching...well, that's a different story. Susan was so excited today about getting back into teaching. It was wonderful to hear her smiling through the telephone, feeling joyful because she has the opportunity to share all the things she knows with someone who has much to learn. A great symbiotic relationship, and one that Susan obviously excels at. I, however, do not feel that I excel at the teaching end of a teacher-student relationship (I can only hope that Ms. Wise feels I excel at the student part of one). I just don't think I have the drive and teachery-sensibilities to teach singing. Maybe part of me just wants to see instant results, and a lot of times I'm just not really sure as to what to say. I know what has worked for me, but the other person having a completely different body and being a completely different person will take the way I say something and most probably interpret it as something else completely. How can I be encouraging enough while still being critical enough to really teach something? Will I be doing a poor job if I (over)realize that it takes a good bit of time to learn things which require a change in muscle coordination and memory? I mean, of course it requires time, but I wish I could feel like I'm helping! Maybe once an accompanist is able to come to the lessons I can really focus purely on the person as a whole without a percentage of my brain working out what my hands are doing on the keyboard.

Akk! So, as you can tell, Lowa went a ranting-and-a-raving there. It's because I have my first in-class lesson tomorrow. It's just 5-6 minutes of warm-up routine with my student...in front of my whole class of peers, and my vocal ped teacher who has been singing and teaching voice and teaching vocal ped for decades. Hmm. Mentioning all this isn't helping the way I feel about it. I guess that as long as I'm not first I should be ok. I mean, even if I stink at teaching, as long as I try my best for the purpose of this class, I'm doing my best. I'd certainly feel badly for my student if she didn't get anything out of our lessons, but I just need to work at it and focus on helping her sing through her voice. Yes, that's the lesson for this evening, folks. I'm hopping into bed before I have to worry about it anymore. Wow, makes thinking about my audition on Thursday feel like a cakewalk. :)

Nighty nighty night.