Rectials, reports and concerts (oh my!!)

It is that time, once again. Another week (and change), another post. Since we last left our heros... Oh. Wait. Wrong show. Haha.

So, this week has been a mix of emotions for me. There has been a lot of really good and some times of..... not..... so.... good. Monday started on a fairly interesting note. I had a paper due in my English class comparing and contrasting three different works of art in three different mediums with the same theme. I chose to use the poster from the original 1875 production of Carmen, a picture taken from the final dress rehearsal of the production the Met did last January (with Roberto Alagna about to cut Elina Garanca. Oh, no he didn't!) and a sculpture entitled "Carmen Castanets" by Salvador Dali. It was pretty fun to write the paper and I got quite fired up about it. (For those of you keeping score at home, that is one project down I'm doing on an opera) And then I talked to my prof. about a final project involving a painting entitled Salome and the opera Salome by Strauss. (2) Tuesday brought the extreme old age final for my make-up class. And that was..... interesting. :] My model looked more like a zombie than an old man after the latex, but what can ya do? I also got to go on a relaxing late night walk with a good friend. We were honked at like 3 times. What the what, Cedar. Wednesday was... very Wednesday-ish. I got a call from my aunt at 7:30 a.m., who thought she had called my mom. We talked about opera for a minute and then I frickin' ROCKED my practice hour. I nailed my high As in "In Uomini, In Soldati" from Cosi. And later, I had a hard time paying attention in choir due to the hilarity of myself plus the two other altos who stand next to me. Good times, oh, boy. We also had a night rehearsal. For our concert next week. At St. Jude's Episcopal Church. At 7:30 p.m. Also on Wednesday. I have a solo. In Latin. <<<That was not a shameless plug. Today was pretty dang good. The make-up final today was to make ourselves look like celebrities. I chose Bryce Dallas Howard and decided not to take my make-up off only to put more, different make-up back on. A lot of people kept telling me how good I looked. Esp. from far away. Baha. I also talked to my make-up teacher about doing my final project on a character from The Magic Flute (3). Different than the Queen of the Night I already designed for that class. (4). 

My thought this evening has to do with tomorrow. *Gulp* My first student recital. It may sound silly, but it's a big mile stone for me. I came here as a Freshman COMPLETELY TERRIFIED of all the talented voice majors. Knowing I wanted to sing in a choir in college, I had my voice teacher work with me on sight singing and aural skills for 2 or 3 months before I came down to school. Due to my involvement with On-Campus Housing, I had to be here a few weeks early. And the first thing I did after moving in was find out when choir auditions were. Or rather.... walk nervously into Prof. Guttenberg's office and ask if I'd already missed try-outs. And oh... the first day of choir. The first day of choir INDEED. (The music majors may skip this part, if they like. Because I've told this story a million and one times) :) I was so shocked that I had made it in to concert choir in the first place, terrified I didn't belong there and I knew not a single soul on top of that. Prof. Guttenberg recognized me and told me that I should be friends with a girl named Geneil, who hadn't come to class yet. A few minutes later brought the arrival of this Geneil-character. As is typical of Geneil walking into a room like that, everyone squealed her name as she went to sit down. (Don't even try to deny it.) I was so intimidated by this girl everyone loved and then we started warm-ups and I was downright petrified when I heard her sing. And not five minutes later did she ruin the whole charade by cracking some lame, ridiculous joke to the girl sitting next to her. That, ladies and germs, pretty accurately summarizes the way the rest of my experience has been in the music department. I try something new. I'm pretty ok at it. I get nervous. I psyche myself out. And then, I snap out of it because I realize that either a) everyone else is just as nervous as I am or 2) any variety of wonderful people help me realized not to take it too seriously. So, here's to...... consistency. :) Or, here's to hoping for it.