Artistic photos at La Dolce Vita in the North End
Angela and the ladies feet
Michelle and I blowing kisses with the painting
Yumi and the olive oil
Bree returning the look
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Monday, February 20, 2006
Week of February 12
Does anyone know Czech? Does anyone want to sing my Czech pieces for me?? I have an audition in one week and I have 3 out of the 4 completely memorized and the other one only slightly memorized. I have no idea why it's taking so long and why it's been so hard to memorize them. I can memorize Hungarian just like that - BOOM! - Czech isn't that hard! I've been agonizing over these songs so much lately that they are consuming my dreams in the form of anxiety dreams. In one dream I dreamt I was up on stage and all these kindergartners came in and started running around Pickman Hall while I was up on stage trying to do the audition. They were, thankfully, quiet - but still running around. Then Karyl, (our department chair) and Liz (also on voice faculty) started asking me to sing all these Czech songs that weren't even on my rep list for the audition. So then they said, "Well, since you don't know those Czech songs why don't you sing one by ________" and they started listing off "composer" names of people who were supposedly Czech but not only were they NOT Czech - I had never heard of them before. All the while, these kindergartners are still running all over the hall. I guess the nice thing about getting these learned now, however, is that I am doing them on my recital in May so they will be learned by then and I won't be agonizing over them days before my pre-recital jury hearing!
Soooooo.... this is all I can write for now because I have some more memorizing to do.
Does anyone know Czech? Does anyone want to sing my Czech pieces for me?? I have an audition in one week and I have 3 out of the 4 completely memorized and the other one only slightly memorized. I have no idea why it's taking so long and why it's been so hard to memorize them. I can memorize Hungarian just like that - BOOM! - Czech isn't that hard! I've been agonizing over these songs so much lately that they are consuming my dreams in the form of anxiety dreams. In one dream I dreamt I was up on stage and all these kindergartners came in and started running around Pickman Hall while I was up on stage trying to do the audition. They were, thankfully, quiet - but still running around. Then Karyl, (our department chair) and Liz (also on voice faculty) started asking me to sing all these Czech songs that weren't even on my rep list for the audition. So then they said, "Well, since you don't know those Czech songs why don't you sing one by ________" and they started listing off "composer" names of people who were supposedly Czech but not only were they NOT Czech - I had never heard of them before. All the while, these kindergartners are still running all over the hall. I guess the nice thing about getting these learned now, however, is that I am doing them on my recital in May so they will be learned by then and I won't be agonizing over them days before my pre-recital jury hearing!
Soooooo.... this is all I can write for now because I have some more memorizing to do.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Week of February 5, 2006
FINALLY!!! A somewhat normal, healthy, and most importantly - happy week! No accidents, no failing exams, no evil viruses - just a normally stressful and busy week with a blizzard to end it. I did find out that I have completely passed my history exam (thank you very much 2nd Viennese School of Music), but I still can't seem to pass the chorale harmonization on the theory exam. Both Michelle and I are in the same boat with that one and our piano. WE CAN DOOOO IT!!! (hopefully!). Thursday night at Harvard Graduate Christian Fellowship Jeff Barneson spoke to us about evangelism and we took some time to focus on a passage in Acts. It was a really good time, very thought provoking, and we had some good group discussion.
Friday night was the Longy Winter Gala (formerly known as the Longy Winter Dance - we changed the name so more people would come) and it was a blast. It was a Mexican theme with catered food from Jose's and a really great DJ. Even some faculty showed up! One of the best parts was that Ashley (my dance partner) and I tied for first in the dance-off!!!!!!!! It was like a 20 minute work-out at 10:00 in the evening but it SO much fun! Saturday morning I awoke at 6:15 and my body could barely move and I felt like I had a hangover-only I didn't have any alcohol the night before. Why wake up that early on a Saturday morning you ask? I asked myself the same thing. There was a good reason - I was getting up to run in the 5 mile Bradford Valentine Race in Bradford, MA. A group of us from Longy drove up and ran on a very cold 17 degree Saturday morning - but it was bright and sunny and the view of the hills while we ran was gorgeous-although the first mile of the race was up a hill that I didn't enjoy. Needless to say when I got home I slept for 2.5 hours straight and when I woke up my body was REALLY mad at me.
Yesterday we had a blizzard! YAY! Although - we got a little jipped because we didn't have as much snow as NYC and not as much snow as we did last year. But it was still a blizzard and it was still fun! I made buttermilk waffles for breakfast and sat around and relaxed and worked on music all day long plus a little chatting here and there online :-D . I think overall we maybe got 15 inches of snow - although I am not sure what the exact count is. Pictures from that and all other adventures to come soon!
In our song analysis class we have to compose our own song over the course of the semester. In freshman and sophomore theory at Cap we had to do compositions every semester but I don't think I ever created a song. Composing a song is a bit more difficult, I think, because there is so much to consider: the poetry chosen and what exactly the poem is trying to convey, figuring out the meter of the stanzas so that the meter and rhythm you set in your song makes sense etc. etc. etc. Let's just say I'm NOT a composer!
I'll leave with the text I have chosen for my song which comes from Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis.
'Had I no eyes but ears, my ears would love
That inward beauty and invisible;
Or were I deaf, thy outward parts would move
Each part in me that were but sensible:
Though neither eyes nor ears, to hear nor see,
Yet should I be in love by touching thee.'
FINALLY!!! A somewhat normal, healthy, and most importantly - happy week! No accidents, no failing exams, no evil viruses - just a normally stressful and busy week with a blizzard to end it. I did find out that I have completely passed my history exam (thank you very much 2nd Viennese School of Music), but I still can't seem to pass the chorale harmonization on the theory exam. Both Michelle and I are in the same boat with that one and our piano. WE CAN DOOOO IT!!! (hopefully!). Thursday night at Harvard Graduate Christian Fellowship Jeff Barneson spoke to us about evangelism and we took some time to focus on a passage in Acts. It was a really good time, very thought provoking, and we had some good group discussion.
Friday night was the Longy Winter Gala (formerly known as the Longy Winter Dance - we changed the name so more people would come) and it was a blast. It was a Mexican theme with catered food from Jose's and a really great DJ. Even some faculty showed up! One of the best parts was that Ashley (my dance partner) and I tied for first in the dance-off!!!!!!!! It was like a 20 minute work-out at 10:00 in the evening but it SO much fun! Saturday morning I awoke at 6:15 and my body could barely move and I felt like I had a hangover-only I didn't have any alcohol the night before. Why wake up that early on a Saturday morning you ask? I asked myself the same thing. There was a good reason - I was getting up to run in the 5 mile Bradford Valentine Race in Bradford, MA. A group of us from Longy drove up and ran on a very cold 17 degree Saturday morning - but it was bright and sunny and the view of the hills while we ran was gorgeous-although the first mile of the race was up a hill that I didn't enjoy. Needless to say when I got home I slept for 2.5 hours straight and when I woke up my body was REALLY mad at me.
Yesterday we had a blizzard! YAY! Although - we got a little jipped because we didn't have as much snow as NYC and not as much snow as we did last year. But it was still a blizzard and it was still fun! I made buttermilk waffles for breakfast and sat around and relaxed and worked on music all day long plus a little chatting here and there online :-D . I think overall we maybe got 15 inches of snow - although I am not sure what the exact count is. Pictures from that and all other adventures to come soon!
In our song analysis class we have to compose our own song over the course of the semester. In freshman and sophomore theory at Cap we had to do compositions every semester but I don't think I ever created a song. Composing a song is a bit more difficult, I think, because there is so much to consider: the poetry chosen and what exactly the poem is trying to convey, figuring out the meter of the stanzas so that the meter and rhythm you set in your song makes sense etc. etc. etc. Let's just say I'm NOT a composer!
I'll leave with the text I have chosen for my song which comes from Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis.
'Had I no eyes but ears, my ears would love
That inward beauty and invisible;
Or were I deaf, thy outward parts would move
Each part in me that were but sensible:
Though neither eyes nor ears, to hear nor see,
Yet should I be in love by touching thee.'
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Week of January 29
If the past two weeks are an example of how the entire semester is going to be I don't think I'm going to be able to survive. The history exam and piano exam were both this week plus loads of first week homework. I've spent so much time studying for the exams that I'm already a little behind on all my other classwork. The history exam went fairly well. I was able to choose one of the five essays and write 4 pages on it. Hopefully Erik will think it's enough of the kind of information he's looking for and THAT exam will be done! I left him a little note on the front of my bluebook that said "please pass me!". Maybe that will help!!! LOL
The piano exam is a different story.... I played everything perfectly (sightreading, memorized piece, prepared piece, accompanied piece, and arpeggios plus 6 out of 7 scales) and the only 2 mistakes I made (according to the score sheets) was the fingering on a G-flat major scale and I didn't use the pedal on parts of the accompanied piece. I failed the exam. That's all I have to say about that.
Just when I thought things couldn't get worse-well they did! Friday morning I was coming back from a kindergarten classroom observation in Somerville for this study I'm helping out with at Tufts. Without going into too many details, it was pouring down rain - I was looking for a street - and I just didn't see the guy coming up over the hill. I turned left at the green light right in front of him. He hit me pretty much slightly to the right of head-on. Luckily it wasn't as bad as it sounded (literally) and he was really nice about the whole thing - probably b/c I looked like I was going to start sobbing right on the spot - but I was strong - I didn't cry! At any rate, the really ironic thing about the situation is that we found out from each other's driver's licence's that we were born in the same week of the same year and that we both live in the 400's on Broadway but one in Somerville and the other in Cambridge. At least it was something to laugh about. Save for a few bruises and my body feeling a little bit out of alignment I'm fine - mostly just a bruised and embarrassed ego.
The week actually was not all that bad - save those examples. Thursday night we went out to a Jazz club to see Patrice Williamson (http://www.riverlily.com/) and her Jazz Band for our Vocal Jazz Improv class! It was fun to go to a club as a "class assignment" (it gets us extra credit). My song for Art Song also ended up going really well considering I had not very much time to learn it in! We're German Lied (my favorite!) this semester. My next assigned song is "Hexenlied" (Witches' Song) by Mendelssohn. It looks wicked hard.
Tonight (Saturday) I went to Harvard Law School's mid-winter semi-formal at the Fogg Art Museum. Angela's friend Noah had an extra ticket so I went with him and Angela and Amy and Bernard-all her HLS friends. It was a lot of fun and a good way to end a very hectic and stressful week. Tomorrow is the beginning of a new week and hopefully a new start at this life here!
If the past two weeks are an example of how the entire semester is going to be I don't think I'm going to be able to survive. The history exam and piano exam were both this week plus loads of first week homework. I've spent so much time studying for the exams that I'm already a little behind on all my other classwork. The history exam went fairly well. I was able to choose one of the five essays and write 4 pages on it. Hopefully Erik will think it's enough of the kind of information he's looking for and THAT exam will be done! I left him a little note on the front of my bluebook that said "please pass me!". Maybe that will help!!! LOL
The piano exam is a different story.... I played everything perfectly (sightreading, memorized piece, prepared piece, accompanied piece, and arpeggios plus 6 out of 7 scales) and the only 2 mistakes I made (according to the score sheets) was the fingering on a G-flat major scale and I didn't use the pedal on parts of the accompanied piece. I failed the exam. That's all I have to say about that.
Just when I thought things couldn't get worse-well they did! Friday morning I was coming back from a kindergarten classroom observation in Somerville for this study I'm helping out with at Tufts. Without going into too many details, it was pouring down rain - I was looking for a street - and I just didn't see the guy coming up over the hill. I turned left at the green light right in front of him. He hit me pretty much slightly to the right of head-on. Luckily it wasn't as bad as it sounded (literally) and he was really nice about the whole thing - probably b/c I looked like I was going to start sobbing right on the spot - but I was strong - I didn't cry! At any rate, the really ironic thing about the situation is that we found out from each other's driver's licence's that we were born in the same week of the same year and that we both live in the 400's on Broadway but one in Somerville and the other in Cambridge. At least it was something to laugh about. Save for a few bruises and my body feeling a little bit out of alignment I'm fine - mostly just a bruised and embarrassed ego.
The week actually was not all that bad - save those examples. Thursday night we went out to a Jazz club to see Patrice Williamson (http://www.riverlily.com/) and her Jazz Band for our Vocal Jazz Improv class! It was fun to go to a club as a "class assignment" (it gets us extra credit). My song for Art Song also ended up going really well considering I had not very much time to learn it in! We're German Lied (my favorite!) this semester. My next assigned song is "Hexenlied" (Witches' Song) by Mendelssohn. It looks wicked hard.
Tonight (Saturday) I went to Harvard Law School's mid-winter semi-formal at the Fogg Art Museum. Angela's friend Noah had an extra ticket so I went with him and Angela and Amy and Bernard-all her HLS friends. It was a lot of fun and a good way to end a very hectic and stressful week. Tomorrow is the beginning of a new week and hopefully a new start at this life here!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)