Spring is Icumin

The weather the past few days has been unbearably wonderful.  I'm one of those people who worships the Winter, and I get really upset when the weather warms up and the sun comes out for Spring.  But, every year, I realize I'm a crackhead and Spring is actually really wonderful.  I mean, the sun's been out, the grass is green, there's a steady breeze that ripples said grass, and people seem on the whole a lot cheerier.  Maybe that's just because school's almost out...  

But one thing about Spring that frightens me is the crazy crackheads who emerge from their winter domains to enjoy the sunlight like everyone else.  You know?  The people with severe social disorders, crazy cat ladies with no bras and mumble as they walk... those people.  They're EVERYWHERE.  I mean, they scare the crap out of me, but they also make me miss Mark and our Saturday morning dates to WalMart to see the crazies.

Last night the weather was too perfect.  It was about to rain, so there was a breeze and the grass was dark green.  I drove to a friend's house for game/wine night with the car windows down, and Bloomington NPR was playing 1940s piano jazz ballads with commentary from two old jazz crooners (probably an old couple reminiscing).  They reminded me of the parents from Hannah and Her Sisters.  And even though I'm claiming to the rooftops that I'm no longer a romantic, this really got to me.  So today I broke out my Woody Allen "Classics" cd and I'm listening to "You Made Me Love You" with Harry James and His Orchestra.  I'm a sucker for this shit.

Maybe this calls for an evening of dim sum and Annie Hall?

Busy-ness Business

A busy week. But it's going well so far. Instead of prepping for the tidal wave of concerts at the end of the week, I've been drinking some great wine, sewing a skirt, and cooking galore. My apartment is in shambles. Apparently cleaning it didn't make the cut.

I've been getting a little sad lately because Sunday is Pro Arte's John Poole Farewell concert (the Haydn Mass). It makes me sad because this is Mr. Poole's last concert at IU. It makes me sadder to know that I only just met him on his last semester. He's a wonderful man, with terrific energy, and a vast knowledge of he choral repertoire. I would have liked to work with him much longer, but I am very privileged and thankful for the opportunity to sing the Creation Mass with him. It's funny, by the way, to think back to when I first found out we were doing the Mass instead of the actual Creation. I was very upset and felt almost cheated, but now I think it's an amazing piece of music and I hope everyone that CAN come does, in fact, attend.

If you got past the poor grammar in that last sentence, I applaud you.

But enough about how busy and stressed I am! I mean, my emotions are pretty predictable (I'm happy to be here but IU is stressful, blah blah blah) so I don't know why I blog about them so much.

You know what I really love now? Classical music. Yes, that's right. I'm taking a Classical performance practice class and have discovered that, if performed correctly, classical music can be incredible. And I also discovered, sadly, that I had never heard classical performed correctly.

I always hated Mozart, and found Haydn bearable. I know it sounds like blasphemy, but I always found it so boring. Especially with recordings of divas singing all the operas and masses from the late eighteenth century in the same style they would sing Strauss. And then I heard this, which is life-changing:

(It's even better with Sylvia McNair)

And now I want to snatch up all the classical music I can find and sing it as long as I can.

Good timing for the Haydn Mass, eh?

Stressin'

Hmmm... Last week was beastly.  This week is beastlier.  Next week?  I don't even want to think about it right now, but let me just say that I have three concerts in four days.  Last week I had a concert, and it was stressful.  This week I had two concerts.  It's been crazy stressful.  I don't even want to know how next week will be.  Plus my parents will be in town...

Last night was the American Choral Scholars concert in Indy, with us performing Lassus's Lagrime di San Pietro, conducted by Brian Schkeeper.  The concert was kind of a hot mess, but it was a great opportunity for me to sing with some musicians I really respect, so not a total mess.  We all got trashed last night to celebrate.  

Tomorrow night is the EMI Chamber Concert, where I'll be singing a solo cantata by Caldara.  It's on the verge of sounding like either a hot mess, or a hot FEST.  So we'll see how it turns out.  

I uploaded a my recent performance of Shepherd on the Rock onto my myspace, if you're interested in hearing it...  The first phrase is god awful because it was the first time I'd sung in that space ever and my breath was all messed up, so don't listen to that.  And I breath in weird places because I was kind of whack.  But I like the recording otherwise...  Take a listen.  

And don't make fun of the fact that I have a myspace!  I know nobody actually visits it, but it's there for fun.  So don't judge.

Kinda Blonde

BEFORE:

AFTER:

So, I'm kinda blonde now.  I'm totally liking it.  Back to my roots, you know?

It's been such a crazy week since I came back from Spring Break, but maybe the blonde is improving my quality of life, because things have been totally okay.  Busy, but good.

My apartment is a mess.  Atrocious.  OMG.

Singing and Chardonnay

Still haven't decided about my hair... hm... The dying of my hair from blonde to brown four years ago was kind of ritualistic, as it aided in a huge life change.  So I feel like the dying-back needs to be ritualistic as well.  It's hard when I've put that kind of pressure on a dye job.

I've had a long day.  I think I learned how to sing today.  Recently I've been surrounding myself with Youtube videos of Edita Gruberova and I think somehow something clicked.  Yesterday I went to the practice room and sang for two hours, and today I did the same.  And I sounded like a different person.  So I got home at 7:30 and was exhausted.  I'm making curry and just opened a bottle of Charles Shaw chardonnay, and nothing seems like a better reward.  

It seems like the secret to singing is confidence, inspiration, and a clear idea of what you want to sound like.  God, I've been having so much trouble singing lately.  And I think it's because I've had strange ideas of what I need to sound like.  And when I heard Gruberova I heard the voice I wanted to sound like, and had the potential of sounding like (uh, I by no means think I'll ever be able to sing Zerbineta or even sing as high, but I'm talking about her general sound...).  And as soon as I had a new sound ideal in my head, everything about my singing changed.  And how long has it been since I've spent two hours in the practice room two days in a row?

By the way, some day I'll post about my fab New York trip with Kyle.  But now I'm too uninspired :)

Blonde Renewal

Me, a few months ago--with brown hair.  This is what I look like.

Me, four years ago with blonde hair (and Matt).  

Should I dye my hair blonde again?  Suggestions?

No Drama!

Lord knows why I'm sick all the time... ugh.  It's pretty ridiculous.  This semester I had a brief cold to jump start February, then I got extreme food poisoning on Valentine's, and now I have the cold virus of death.  Sunday I threw a Pro Arte Potluck (otherwise known as "No Drama" Potluck, because drama wasn't allowed!), and by the end of it I had completely lost my voice and felt like death.  Ah well, it was a success.  But Monday I woke up with an over-the-top fever that lasted the entire day, and it's kind of morphed from sore throat to fever to sore throat to runny nose to sore throat to horrendous dry cough... it's been absolutely ridiculous.  So I'm sitting at my computer with my nose as red as a rudolph (that's the oldest comparison in the book).

Oh well, that's a shot of the Pro Arte Potluck, with absolutely no drama.  And plenty of sweaty, sweaty drunkenness on a school night.

Speaking of Pro Arte (and drama), there is drama with me and the choral department, and none of it is my fault.  It's a long story, but the basic jist is that one choir wants me in their concert, and so does Pro Arte, but they both rehearse at the same time, so I was snatched from Pro Arte and put in the EMI choir and now there's drama.  You know, I just want to sing and I don't want to make people angry.  I just want the whole world to be a No Drama Potluck.

Ah, everything at IU is drama.  Choir, my singing, my PERSONAL LIFE, money, my health... oh God I could just go on and on.  But I won't.

Because I'm going to visit Kyle in New York tomorrow!  Yes, after a full week of HARDCORE stressing due to choir drama and its schedule conflicts with my trip planning, and after + $300 in fees to change a plane ticket for a later time in the day, and hours of hotel searching over the phone with Kyle, not to mention lots of time spent crying in my bedroom because my life is too stressful, I will FINALLY be spending the weekend with Kyle away from Bloomington, spending money I certainly don't have in the big city, eating cupcakes and watching Natalie Dessay.  I guess that's the life.  But what I neglected to consider was that Sunday is Daylight Savings... and my flight out of Newark is at 6:50 in the morning...