Hello Tuesday!

Today was going to be such a great day... until I looked out the window and saw... SNOW. Seriously??
What a damper on my life. But I digest.

Yesterday's lesson went well, we covered the songs I'll be singing for my jury, and once again, my voice got tired before I was done. What is the deal? I'm still struggling with keeping the "egg in the mouth" sound consistent, and it's not working out so well. Trying to keep my soft palate from dropping is a struggle that I'm really starting to get annoyed with too. Garr!!! It's so frustrating! And yesterday, during the chorale concert, I felt like I literally had nothing to give. It was the first time I'd ever felt...how do I put this...not excited? I wasn't thrilled to be performing chorally, and usually I am. I love singing in choirs or small groups! The sound that is created is so amazing, and sometimes (in my opinion) much better than any one person alone (with the exception of Dr. Hepworth!!!).

I think it's the stress of trying to finish everything up before school is out, and we only have about 2 weeks left! We're all down to the wire, and life overall is becoming frustrating. I'm so ready to relax here in town this summer.

Good morning, Thursday.

This week's lesson went really well! Pie Jesu went pretty good, and Dr. Hepworth gave me several pointers about improving sound and resonance. I have to constantly think about having an egg in my mouth. But not the back of my mouth, or else I'd mentally choke.

Bahaha.

However, this has helped me move the sound to the back of my mouth, while keeping it bright in my nose. It makes more sense doing it than explaining it. I'm still struggling with consistency, but it's starting to come together.
Alma del Core went so-so, my voice got tired so fast during my lesson! Yuck! Kudos to those humans out there who can sing and sing and sing (and sing some more) and THEN get tired. Oh well. Maybe I'll get there some day.

I'm looking forward to next semester because Dr. Hepworth and I discussed some new material for next year and I am STOKED!!! Sooooooo stoked.

Ohh boy...

Whoo... I am on recital today, and my palms (among other things) are already sweating. In my opinion I haven't been on enough recitals to really be used to singing in front of people, but I think it's always good to feel a bit nervous before performing, testing, etc.

But "a bit" feels like an understatement.

I have my song memorized, funny facial expressions and gestures, and some new hot hot red shoes purchased as shoe therapy and out of nervousness, so nothing can go wrong, right? Bahaha! Everything can go wrong, but I can't think that! I'm a terrible B.S.-er, so if I blank and forget my words, I have no way of ever getting them back. Ever. They will be lost forever in the void of space between my brain and my mouth. Seriously.
I also have this terrible habit of making really awkward hand and arm gestures, even when I've practiced them over and over. But it's all because of nerves, and today I'm going to show them who's boss. Yep.
So if you decide to go to recital today at 4, watch out for my flailing arms!!!

EDIT:
So yesterday was the big day and my arms did NOT flail about as if independent of my body! Yay! The only part I messed up was the last page, when I sing "absurd." That's a part that's been troublesome for a long time, and I just can't seem to whip it into shape. Oh well.

However, I have found out my nervous habits are pacing (which I already knew) and drinking copious amounts of water before performing. I drank about 2/3 of my (super cool stainless steel) water bottle (which is green) in the 10 minutes backstage before performing and felt sloshy but good. Not until I got home did I feel the effects of drinking so much liquid in such a short amount of time!

I feel like this is the best I have ever done at any school performance, high school or college, and I am so thankful to have such an amazing teacher :)

It's Friday!!!

Yes! Today is the Friday before spring break, and unfortunately I'm not going anywhere except work next week. But while all the other ankle biters are partying hardy in South Padre or Cali, I'll be rolling in the dough! Wait, I take that back. I don't eat bread anymore, except on special occasions.

But I digress.

This week's lesson went really well! We covered The Green Dog's last page a few times, and, during some much-needed practice, I think I finally have it! I've also been working on some super hilarious facial expressions and body/hand gestures. Pretty excited :)

I've had more fun with this song than any other solo piece I've done. It's so funny! And as much as I'd like to deck myself out entirely in green, somehow my wardrobe won't allow it. I don't have enough green! How is this possible?!

It's memorized, and since it's a short song, that's not super amazing... However, Alma Del Core is almost memorized, minus the middle section, and that IS amazing! Pie Jesu is coming along nicely, and it'll be good to add some new "blood" to the lineup after break. I'm ready for it!

The Monday Grumpies

Good evening, world! So far, this week has been awful, and then awesome sauce was poured all over today. Which made it awesome...
Yesterday was awful. I woke up grumpy, my morning routine did nothing to wake me up (as it usually does), work did nothing to wake me up (as it usually doesn't) and then I had my lesson.
I was grumpy enough when I got to Dr. Hepworth's office, but when I started warming up, I sounded pretty rough. Which equaled more grumpy-ness. However, I locked that away, being in the presence of such a lovely teacher. We went over pronunciation again this week, ran through several songs, and added another song for me to really dig into. During "The Green Dog", everything but the last page was great! I was thrilled! (A slight dash of A.S.)
So the lesson was a success, as it always is. Grumpies on Mondays are never easy to deal with, that's for sure.

First thing's first...

I could post all the typical things about how I'm currently a student who is studying this or that, but I figured people might find that a bit boring. However, it is Valentine's Day and I probably should insert a typical mushy lovey-dovey hooray! for that. So...hooray for Valentine's Day!

Now that that's over...

I am thrilled to be studying under Dr. Hepworth! She is absolutely amazing, and I am so lucky that she let me into her studio! She'll probably laugh when she sees that I posted this a half hour before my lesson...whoops! I promise I'll get better at this!

I am currently working on 5 songs:
1. "The Green Dog" by Herbert Kingsley
2. "Alma del core" by Antonio Calda
3. "Lullaby" by Cyril Scott
4. "Let My Song Fill Your Heart" by Ernest Charles
and 5. "Pie Jesu" by Gabriel Fauré

So far, we've gone over the languages in the Latin and Italian and over pronunciation. We've added some ornamentation to "Alma" and boy... is it ornamented. The song I'm most excited about singing is "The Green Dog"...simply because I love dogs and the color green. Perfect song para mi.