FINALLY...

After years of partying with the big kids, but being left out in the booze area, I am proud to announce that I am finally 21, and able to actually do things with my,uh..."older"...friends. I don't think that I am quite as excited about the drinking part as I am about just being able to go out with people on a saturday night when every freakin' awesome spot cards you at the door! Don't get me wrong, I will probably get absolutely schwasted tonight, but I think I respect my voice too much to do it every weekend like some... BUT, that does not mean that I don't want to go out and have a good time! So, if you think of it, go ahead and invite me to your next night of frivolity at the local club or bar, I would love to. Plus...you know you've been waiting for this!!!

Goodbye, Professor Bouman

My freshman year of college, I began studying with a voice teacher for the first time. Her name was Sandra Bouman, and even though I didn't realize it at the time, she did a lot for me. Even though I was kind of familiar with a little classical music, she completely introduced me to the world of classical vocal music. Even better, she introduced me to my first opera experiences. During my studies that year, I was constantly getting frustrated because I had so many technical errors that needed fixing, and it seemed as if I would never get it. I was seriously considering finding another major. She wouldn't hear of it, though. She constantly reassured me that although I had a lot to fix, and it didn't sound great at the time, I was on the right track and I would get there eventually. She helped me through my lack of music theory knowledge, and taught me so much about music I thought my head would explode.

Even though I didn't have her for my 2nd or 3rd year, she was still always there to answer questions and provide a very helpful point of view. She was just a great all around teacher and person.

I found out June 22, at about 9:30 in the morning that she had passed away after a 12 year battle with breast cancer.

Today is her funeral, and even though I have come to accept the fact that she is no longer with us, it is still hard to think that she won't be there to hear all of her students progress. On my recital comment sheet (that I recieved about 8 days after she passed away), she had so many great comments, and said that she was anxious to hear more. I feel that I still had a great deal to learn from her, and I think that it will be a hard year not only for me, but for all of the voice students at SIUE.

Goodbye Professor Bouman, you will be greatly missed!

straight A's

That's right, I did it! I got a 4.0 gpa this semester, and I am really excited about it. The question is, can I do it again? This semester only consisted of 13 credit hours, and most of those were fairly easy music classes. After my summer load, it's back to 18 hours and hard classes again, but we'll see...

In the meantime, I am looking forward to learning french over the summer, and beginning work on Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings symphony!

Oh yeah, I need a summer job too, so if anyone hears of any opportunities,let me know!

almost there

I am just about finished for the semester, and I am really excited! I passed my recital jury, so that's a go, and I just passed my last few scales singing tests (they were all of the modes, pentatonic, octatonic, and whole-tone)and all I have left is my cells test. (For anyone interested, that's a test based on being able to sing random intervals at the drop of a hat.)

I will have a few finals, and those are happening at the same time as the Carmina Burana concerts with the symphony, as well as my moving out of my apartment at school.

2 weeks after that, I go back to school for a course called "intensified french" I am taking an entire year (2 semesters, or 32 weeks) of french in just 10 weeks. It shall be interesting.

Anyway, life should be interesting for the next few weeks!

Throwing in the towel

I am kinda giving up on the color blogging thing.

I never seem to have the time or the drive to actually sit down and do it, and with the schedule I have had lately, and will continue to have in the near future, I just don't see it happening.
From the time we started our dress rehearsal week for Haydn's Creation on May 10, I did not have a free day until this Monday, May 31. I had a major rehearsal, or a Symphony concert, or a church concert, or Opera rehearsal, or opera performance, or a major project to do, or a recital to prepare for (which I am still doing), or a trip to Chicago, or SOMETHING!!!
This week, I have dedicated a few extra hours to preparing the rep for my upcoming recital in the beginning of May, as well as the singing tests I desperately need to pass.

You know those cute t-shirts that say "I can't, I have rehearsal"? Well, I need one that says "I can't, my life is rehearsal"!

Oh well, at least after this semester I only have a big summer load and about a year or two left, and then grad school...yeah, never mind, I'm in school for forever!!!

BLUE!

Wow, it's been a while, sorry ,I have been running non-stop at school for a while, and my mind has been elsewhere.

I don't know about other people, but I always associate weather with a color. The hottest days of summer are bright red and orange, the nice days in spring are a green and yellow, the fall days are more burnt orange and gold, and the freezing rain and snow in the winter that I hate so much are white and BLUE. It seems like the only color I have been able to associate with outside lately has been blue (and maybe gray). And most people like to think of blue when they go outside, ya know, blue sky or something, but mine has more to do with rain, ice, snow, melting snow, and all over wetness and slush. I got a slight glimpse of a springy green this weekend, but I woke up this morning to find that it had quickly turned back into a nasty, winter blue again.

I guess the only other thing that comes to mind (and I am laughing now because you will have this song stuck in your head for the rest of the day) when i think of blue is that crazy song by Eiffel 65 that came out when I was in like 7th grade...

I'm Blue, Da Ba Dee Da Ba Dye

Green

It has been soooo cold and nasty outside, that when I started thinking if green, all I could think of is how much I can't wait for spring. It used to be that I loved winter because it meant hot chocolate, warm, comfy clothes, and beauty in the bareness of the world around me. Now, I walk outside, and I find myself cursing the snow falling from the sky. Even when I have a day with nothing to do, meaning that the weather shouldn't bother me, I just hate the winter.

All I want is 60 degree weather, with little or no wind, and for the love of God, no more precipitation for a while. Maybe if that happens, everything will be...green.