Want-Ads

WANTED: Someone friendly to help me over the next month. I will need support through all the performances coming up--any help with memorization would be excellent; foreign language speakers [pronunciators] a + (German, Italian, & French). The person should also be proficient in the art of calm, so they can ease my mind when I'll think I've lost it. This can be a one time job or hopefully more. Payment will be given in meals at my house. If that is not appealing, I would be willing to assist this person with their crazy life, as long as it is post April 24th. EOE.

WANTED: Someone who can whisper sonority qualities in my ear Thursday, March 24th, 9-10am, and Monday, May 2nd, 8-10am. Clear diction a must, perfect pitch a plus.

WANTED: More time in the mornings. Eek. Gotta run for now.

I thought I'd finally put up a new picture! This is my friend Anna and I--it was taken the day of our graduation--(we're 1 block south of MSM). I'll see Anna this summer in San Fran! :)  

pizza!

Had lots of fun tonight at Suz's, once again. We made some awesome pizza, and I found myself very often in the kitchen, soaking up the oven rays with my wonderful friends.

Listened to a bit of The Cranberries album 2 tonight, again lots of memories flooded back. This time, the memories were lots older, none of them really reaching past my sophmore year of high school. Great memories, however of a younger and somewhat different Lowa. A lot more shy, a lot more insecure, but still basking in the christmas-lights atmosphere, staying-in late at night with friends over long conversation.

Well, I'm really lame, and I'm getting into bed around 12:15am on a Saturday night. Tomorrow I'm free as a bird, a hideous calm before the storm called school picks up once again...

the Wise Wise

I just love my voice teacher. Two of my studio mates and I met with her this afternoon for a 2 hour masterclass. She happily volunteered to work with us on our week off. :) Just wanted to write how happy I am!

Also, I love parking in this town over Spring break! I just drive straight to the music buildings and park in the lot--in the middle of the afternoon. If only this few people were on campus for most of the year! all these parking spaces, all these practice rooms... :)

Q's

*Why is it that I always want to start my blog with a comment on this particular day in relation to this week? [I can't believe it's already Thursday, soon it will be monday and my spring break will be over. I need a break from my break]

*Why is it that I live alone and can do whatever I please, but do not allow myself to settle on the couch for a good night's rest in front of the tv? [all I want to do right now is curl up on the couch and 'accidentally' fall asleep, as opposed to prepare for bed and then fall asleep where I am 'supposed to']

*Why does wine always make you a little tipsy in a good way, as opposed to being de-sensitized to a bottle of beer or feeling gross after hard liquor? [had 2 glasses at home tonight while Adam and I made cupcakes. Not tipsy anymore, but I was a little bit. We commented on this exact thought about wine as we poured our glasses]

So many more questions, too annoyed by them to write out more :)

...Had a good few days, I've felt relaxed and productive at the same time....after I finished watching a movie this afternoon, I suddenly felt very empty. Having gotten to most of my spring break goals, I realized that the rest of the break was going to feel very heavy, like an extended Sunday evening before a horrendous Monday morning test. The movie took me away from that feeling for a while, and Adam and my trip to baking-land was another great distraction. A few hours of good conversation and 3 cupcakes later I'm not feeling as empty. I fear that I will again feel weighted-down in a few hours, or at least by tomorrow morning.

I'm still thinking of NY and all my friends from undergrad. It's still all about the paradox that the more success I encounter, the less stable my life will be. Striking that balance (if I have that success) will be my greatest challenge....good thing I don't have to face that challenge tonight. :)

Sogni dolci, bonne nuit, gute nacht~

BLOG.

So I'm not even sure what I want to write, but I have some time, and figured I would. So, here I am, without anything to tell you:

-I am sooo proud of myself for getting my book review done before 1pm yesterday. Go me for being so productive! It's probably not the best quality thing I've written, but I think it's pretty satisfactory, particularly for having to comment on a book that I didn't gobble up like the fiction books I read. For all beginning singers, the book I read is Richard Davis' A Beginning Singer's Guide. Less difficult to read than other books, which are primarily for teachers, or are full of anatomical drawings and extreme descriptions of exactly each part of the vocal apparatus and what it does each second of singing. This book was pretty all encompassing, even discussing how singers should interact with their teachers, accompanists (Joseph liked that part of the book) and peers.

-I sit here at 9am, with a cup of coffee, eating a dutch coconut cookie. Very sweet, and perfect when dipped into the coffee, quickly crumbling in my mouth. Yum. Another Aruba item. Seems like everything from there is a little bit of Heaven. Sigh. At least the sun is out today.

-I signed my Basoti agreement yesterday, and will send it out in the mail today. I was assigned another scene since, so now I'm an understudy, and in 3 scenes. Pretty awesome. Plus, all of the scenes should be really different, which is super exciting: Gilda from Rigoletto, Lucia from Rape of Lucretia, and Norina from Don Pasquale. One quartet, one full scene, and one recit and duet. I'm super psyched. Woohoo! And only one name ends in an -ina or -etta. Ooh, I'm movin' on up. This little soubrette is becoming a lyric coloratura :)

-I am determined to have my recital memorized by the time I get back (well, everyone else gets back) from break (6 days). Well, I hope to have it memorized by then. I might. The Barber are memorized, but still need to be fit perfectly with the piano. I think I'm adding the Durch Zaerlichkeit, which is memorized. 1.5 of the 3 German are memorized, and 1 of the 3 French is memorized. I have yet to decide on my Italian piece, so it's not really memorized yet. Eek.

-Adam and I are going to have a dessert making/eating evening Thursday, which should be awesome. Sorry I'm missing the one he and Suz are having tonight. Both should be fun, and I'm happy to have hanging-out plans with the Goose, as I don't know him very well.

-Joseph and I are perfoming in Po-town May 16th, and it should be awesome. I'm so happy we'll be performing together. It's a pretty formal event, so I can get all glamourous (haha, that adj. makes me laugh) and we'll enchant all the audience members, hopefully making it a successful fundraiser for Rochellie :)

Well, I'm off to warm-up and rehearse for my Saturday cantoring. A fantastic day to all. Special love to mom for being a great listener, and for loving me so much :)

ouch.

Suz and I power-gymed it yesterday afternoon. It was awesome. I haven't been to the gym since last semester (and mid-semester at that!) and I rocked it out with the weights machines.

-they now have different ab machines. These ones are killer (it's not embarrassing just putting 10 lbs. as the lift amount, as most people I watched only did the 10lbs). I was able to do 3 reps (not sets) before realizing it hurt like a &%$*^ and decided that it was a poor move. Actually, Suz helped me decide as she watched my face contort into a million different grimaces in a matter of 4 seconds. Conclusion: This machine is super high tech and because it only works if you do the ultimate crunch, lifting your lower body and crunching in your upper body, I am officially super sore after those 3 select crunches. Let's see if I do a whole set next visit to the gym. Oooouuuuuccccchhhh.

-My favorite machine, the leg press, was very inviting. I instantly went back to the weight I stopped at months ago, with 2 sets of 90 lbs. on the machine (plus the weight of the actual machine) and then the last set at 140 lbs. It felt awesome. Last night I felt pretty good. Today my legs have decided to go on strike and their preferred message of picketing my actions has been to curse at me continuously. Conclusion: as I knew before (thank you Leanne for teaching me) muscle building is actually muscle breaking. Well, I certainly broke mine yesterday, and it looks like I shoudn't be doing it again by tomorrow. We'll see how up to it they feel.

Ahhh, the joys of the gym. Thank goodness for the endorphins.

Hmm.

Only 2 more classes left until a full week off! I'm not doing anything too interesting over the break, so I'm not particularly excited about it. I have lots of things to try to get done (memorizing my recital, preparing a French presentation, writing a book report, making sure I'm ready for all Papagena stuff, etc.) that it will feel more like a time period full of deadlines, riddled with procrastination, which will only cause me much anxiety and stress. Bleech.

As you can tell, I'm not my normal bubbly self. I haven't been for about two days. I'm just feeling like a really old woman, or at least the stereotype of one. I feel nostalgic for the past, which is only the past and cannot be the present or the future. I feel sad for the present because it will soon be the past, and depressed thinking that the future will seem to skip the present all together and end up just another memory.

I went to a composers recital tonight, and it brought back memories which completely flooded my brain. The first composition was a percussion duet...it reminded me off all my percussionist friends from MSM...the times we had from the first week of school all the way up until our final recitals...lots of laughs, lots of drama, and unbelievable percussion ensemble concerts, as well as a version of Barber's Adagio played by 4 marimbas (part of one of those final recitals)...sigh.

This composers recital continued, and each piece brought back more memories...my old composer acquaintances, premiering in their pieces, listening to music with them....then I remembered singing with other friends, and then all the other memories that weave themselves into the MSM tapestry of my past. It was one big nostalgic trip. Amazing how this concert, composed entirely of premieres, brought back more memories than all the other centuries-old-music laden concerts I've been to recently...

Ahhhh.

So today was a beautiful day. It was in the 60's here--I didn't need to wear a hat, gloves, or even a coat! Woohoo! :)

I went to brunch with Adonis, who I haven't seen too much of recently, and that was great. Then I returned home to get some work done (I still have to copy my scribbles of the french journal entry due tomorrow) and then went to school to see Suz' concert. I haven't been to a band concert since senior year in high school (6 years ago!) and it was fun. I really enjoyed this one Danielpour piece, and the Barber was funny. He was kind of thumbing his nose at the people he composed it for, and that was pretty great.

I then practiced and went to church, came back, ate a piece of chocolate for dinner (well sort of vacuumed it in my mouth as I changed into choir clothes), and sang a choir concert. I was a little nervous about the concert at the dress rehearsal, but it was really fun, and I enjoyed every bit of it. It was focused around the composer Joaquin Nin-Culmell--renaissance motets that he arranged, solo art songs and piano pieces he composed, and then two works by composers who were influenced by him. Of particular interest was the song cycle I was able to sing one movement of: Seis Canciones Populares Sefardies. I intend to include the whole set on my recital next year, as it is beautiful, sexy, cute, and exciting all in one. Gotta love Spanish music. :)

At the end of the concert I felt satisfied and warm. It reminded me of all the times in elementary and middle school when I would play in orchestra concerts with my friends, and then our parents would take us to the nearby Friendly's, where the service was always slow as molasses, but the ice cream was sooo good. Our parents would let us sit at our own table as they supervised from a few tables away (while we pretended we were old enough to be there alone). Those trips to Friendly's were a wonderful tradition--made me sad that we didn't go out after this concert...ahh, to be young again.

So, the best news of today: I heard back from Basoti, the summer program in San Fran I wanted to go to. I got accepted, and was given the understudy for Olympia in Tales of Hoffmann! Seems like lots of people have faith I can do that role, so I guess I better find some of that faith in myself! Also I was given scenes from Rigoletto and Rape of Lucretia. I am so pleased and excited. Plus living in San Fran for 7 weeks should be lots of fun. :)

Well, I need to get back to writing that french entry. Bleech. Too late for a decent dinner now, best I hop into bed after writing and just get to sleep.

Bonne nuit~ la Soubrette

Just Kidding

This is what we were really like :)

Having Joseph here has been so wonderful. We've talked non stop when we've been together (though we haven't been together much due to Magic Flute rehearsals and class and such). Dinner Wednesday was a success, and we had a blast smushing together on the couch (like above) and playing encore and Gronk!. Having Joseph here really made me understand what a great bunch of friends I've got in b-town. We were all ourselves, and we make a fun and glorious bunch. As I watched us all interact, I really felt blessed for everything that I've found here in this little midwest town. (sniff sniff, haha).

Have a wonderful day! Enjoy the Fridayness of it!

When one has a little shindig, the should enjoy themselves immensely. They should sit on a couch and sigh, with thier heads on their hands, sipping some wine, or reading a book while others sit by silently or poutily. Yes, this is what we did Wednesday to introduce ourselves to my dear friend Dodef:

Oh so sewious.