Ashley and I went to the beach over the weekend. Ashley fell asleep - I buried her feet AND built two sand mounds with motes :-)


Ivan and I "helped rescue" this little baby mouse from the library at Longy. (yeh yeh - i know it's a mouse...). He was taken outside and he looked hungry so I gave him part of my Luna bar. Oh - his name is Oliver and I called him Oli for short. Unfortunetely, Oli did not make it through the night.


Oli - so cute


She's a Kansas gal :-)


OH - IO!!


Sunshiney day!


Ashley, me, and Michelle


USS Constitution off of Castle Island - 4th of July


Arlyn and Karen - team "ghetto"


Brian and Karen and I on a Euchre night. I'm milking Karen :-) Don't ask... it's a Euchre thing.


Karen and I enjoying the sunshine at a studio picnic/bbq


Michelle getting ready to play Kubb!


Kubb! Karen on the "enemy" team doing her best to knock down a block


with the 'rents :-)


Me and Yi-Hui


Me and Yumi


Adam, me, and Sara

Ahhhh... finally. The first week for me where I don't have a rehearsal or a concert or anything officially scheduled in my book other than work. Friends at church were asking me yesterday if I feel any different now that I've graduated - but really, I don't. I think the biggest reason is because it's now summer and it really just feels like it always has for the past 3 years at this point. It's not until the fall when I think I'll feel "different" - once everyone returns to classes or whatnot and I continue working. And while I don't feel different since having stepped across the stage to recieve that diploma, life has certainly been interesting since graduation and I continue to wait patiently for what is to come next - in all things. Of course I'm still keeping myself busy with some practicing here and there (although I'm taking this week off - we'll see how long that lasts) as well the usual hanging out with friends. Last weekend we saw Shrek (so funny!) and also took a trip to Amesbury to Jaynes for a studio cookout she was having. Karen introduced us to the game of My Word and then we played several rounds of Kubb which is starting to become an annual tradition. I've been running - although I need to get up off my butt and step up the number of times per week I'm going out to do this. Motivation is very hard when my running partners are gone for the summer. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to run an 18 miler in the fall - but perhaps I need to do a 1/2 marathon first before I attempt an 18 mile run.
It's that time of year at Harvard now too. Books are being returned by the hundreds and hundreds. Literally. Harvard has a system where you can return any library book to any Harvard library. Those books, in turn, will get put in a bin for the library it belongs to and then a delivery is made once a day to that library with those books. Well, last week was a mad house. Normally we get 1 maybe 2 bins a day - last Tuesday we got 14 bins and Wednesday was a little lighter with 11 bins. It took 4 of us an hour to unload and discharge all those books. By the time we were all done we were a sweaty and exhausted bunch. This is why I don't need to go to a gym for weight training! Seriously.
The last Sunday for choir was yesterday so now the acadmeic year really does feel officially done. More free time in my weekly schedule is very welcome - but what do I do with it all???

Come down, O love divine,
seek thou this soul of mine,
and visit it with thine own ardor glowing;
O Comforter, draw near,
within my heart appear,
and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.

O let it freely burn,
till earthly passions turn
to dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
and let thy glorious light
shine ever on my sight,
and clothe me round, the while my path illuming.

Let holy charity
mine outward vesture be,
and lowliness become mine inner clothing;
true lowliness of heart,
which takes the humbler part,
and o'er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.

And so the yearning strong,
with which the soul will long,
shall far outpass the power of human telling;
for none can guess its grace,
till Love create a place
wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.

Words: Bianco da Siena, d. 1434;
trans. Richard Frederick Littledale, Jr., 1867

This Game will keep you occupied for days or even months - but it's easy to come back to. If you need a clue go to View in you browser and then click on Source and scroll to the bottom. Sometimes it's helpful and sometimes it is not. Have fun! You have to get to Level 5 to get additional hints on how to be successful with the rest of this game. One other clue I'll give: Any text answer required anywhere in the game will always be lowercase, not UPPERCASE!
Have fun and let me know what level you get to!

Watch out because I'm going to get all sentimental on you now.

Other than turning in my Experiential Education Program notebook,(which is basically putting the notebook in order...), I'm done. I'm done not only with this academic year, but my graduate school career at Longy. The past three years have been rewarding, intense, difficult at times, and - well, fun! I think that this year, in particular has been my favorite of them all. I'm not sure why - maybe it's because I feel like I finally fell into my groove as a musician and an artist, the first year in my life that I've felt a little more than competent at what it is I do, or it could be because I didn't have those *#$& profeciencies looming over my head and I could enjoy academics and know that I was definately graduating at the end of this year! Whatever the case, staying an extra year after my masters was one of the wisest decisions I've ever made - even if it put me more debt!
It's been an extremely intense and busy year filled with accomplishments as we well as disappointments with lessons learned - but even those were good.

Our Experiential Education Program project (EEP) at the Boston Arts Academy (BAA) was a hug success - HUGE! I was blessed to be working with Michelle and Bree, not only close friends - but also excellent musicians and overall creative and fun people. The combination of the three of us working together couldn't have been any better - we worked off of each other so well in the classroom and our mutual respect for each other allowed us to come up lesson plans that we could all agree on without compromising our beliefs in what we would be presenting and expecting of these 9th graders. Our project was a 4 week session (artist in residency program so-to-speak) dealing with poetry and song - more specifically taking art song and today's "pop song" and comparing and contrasting them by first taking a look at the text. The emotion of a song stays the same, (whether it be a 19th century art song written by Schubert or 21st Hip-Hop), but the means by which these emotions are expressed change - and also keeping in mind that every song is someone's story. This class of 20 some freshmen gave us a list of their favorite pop song - to which we spent hours pairing an art song with that pop song trying to match emotions or stories. We chose a different theme for first 3 sessions we held with the kids, (Week 1 - Love/Love Lost, Week 2 - God/Power of God, Week Three - Lonliness/Emptiness - an ambiguous story), and chose a pairing for each week. For example, in Week 1 we chose Aaron Copeland's Heart We Will Forget Him and paired it with Lil'Bow Wow's Outta My System. We first read through the text and explained the importance of subtexting - having the students subtext all of or portions of each song - even the rap song. We always worked with the "pop" song first, listened to it, and then transitioned into the art song - subtexting that and then one of us would perform it. Each week we followed a similar format - but with different activities to keep the kids interested, always emphasizing the importance of knowing the story and the emotions that are read inbetween the lines before the song was even sung. This was a huge success - the kids got it, loved it, and it was special to them because we used their music and their interests and didn't dismiss it. Week 4 ended in a concert given by the freshmen class in front of an audience of the sophomore class. It was so exciting for us and for them and the three of us felt like proud parents. The concert was going so well that we ended up staying an extra hour and gave a mini-masterclass for both classes of students re-emphasizing the importance of subtexting, knowing the text well before you sing and how to fit that emotion into the song - as well as the importance the accompaniment by reminding them that the piano part tells the story in some way. This program was such a success that the three of us were invited back a week later to adjudicate the senior recitals and also choosing those seniors who would go on to participate in the Honor's Recital. In addition, there is now discussion about our program becoming something permanant at the BAA starting next year with us having an actual "artist in residency program" and being compensated as professionals for our work! VERY exciting! The interesting part about this program is that while the basic premise and work would stay the same - the actual music would always change because it will always be a new set of students with a new list of favorite pop songs.
Our group was also asked to speak about our project at the spring Board of Visitors meeting at Longy and it was recieved so well by everyone there - including Longy's new president. We were approached by a Harvard professor who is on the board who asked us if we were interested in copyrighting this project and even to go as far as suggest creating a webpage about the project as a source for other teaching artists to use. This project was also highlighted in Longy's yearly newsletter. I mean, really - Go us!

Another big accomplishment this year was the honor of being a finalist in Longy's Concerto Competition with Berlioz's Les Nuits d'été. Although the outcome was not necessarily what I was hoping for, the privilege and surprise of having been chosen to advance in the first place was reward enough.

And then there are the non-musical aspects of my life that are just as sweet. Picking up the running again first with Ashley and our 5 mile training and then training with Adam for the 1/2 marathon which I didn't end up being able to participate in in the end - but the friendship that was built out of our daily runs and our weekend long runs (yay 9 miles!). The Saturday morning running squad with Arlyn, Adam and Brian that ended with breakfasts - and that will sadly be no more as Adam is running off and getting married and Aryln will be touring with Barrage. And of course, my girls - Bree, Karen, Ashley, and Michelle. What joy they bring to life everytime we get together (which is all the time). The favorite memories of Balderdash evenings, wine parties, Sunday evening Rome viewings, apple picking, birthday parties, watching Bree and Karen reading their romance novels to each other (I'll definately be killed for adding that one), St. Patrick's day and all the other absolutely spontaneous things that we do. C.S. Lewis said, "Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... it has no survival value, rather it is one of those things that give value to survival." All of these people - including the support and love from friends and family at home and abroad have made these grad school days more than just about singing and refining my knowledge and skills as a musicican.

My final recital at Longy was on Monday and it went well. I was touched by the support of friends from church and work, Longy, and even a friend from way back in the day at Capital. LOL! I was also able to share the stage with some fabulous friends and musicians - people who made the night even more special with dedication to making some fine music. Of course - the post-party back at the house is always a blast and I'll leave that up to all your imaginations ;-)

Summer is coming and graduation is upon us and there will be lots of saying "goodbye" in the next few days - something that I haven't really had to deal with in my past 3 years at Longy. Bree has already left for the summer and Karen and Brian will be in and out all summer long. Fortunately, Michelle and Ashley and Rachel (you will won't you?? we have to get our bike riding in gear this summer!) will be around (Ashley lives just down the street now - YAY!!!!) so I won't totally be alone during these summer months.
What will I do after graduation?? I'm staying here in Boston - will work at Harvard during the summer months and then hopefully will have a job lined up for next year. Can't really dealve into the specifics of that yet (I know, I know... why mention it if I can't talk about it?? I hate people that do that too), but I assure you that you will all know when everything is said and done.

And even though I'm done, I'm not really "done". I'll be doing a portion of my recital at a concert series at St. John the Evangelist in Beacon Hill on 5/23, and my 20th and 21st Century American Art Song class will be giving a concert for the same concert series on 5/30. THEN I'm done! There's always something!

Well I warned you - I hope I wasn't too over-the-top sentimental and sappy.

My parents come this weekend - it will be really nice to see them!

Pictures to come very soon....

Easter triumph, Easter joy,
sin alone can these destroy;
from sin's power do thou set free
souls newborn, O Lord, in thee.
Hymns of glory, songs of praise,
Risen Lord, to thee we raise;
Holy Father, praise to thee,
with the Spirit, ever be.

HE IS RISEN!!!
Happy Easter! :-)

Sunday promised hope for the future of this semester. Yesterday was a good day. Today was even better.
Naoko's hand is doing better and with more rest she will hopefully be fine. I was able to get my recital hearing changed to April 30 - no problem. Woo-hoo. I've had two great rehearsals for concerto and honors competition and a great coaching on the Bartok in my lesson today as well as another great coaching on one of the Handel pieces with flute obligato. I love my ensembles - and my teacher!
I also got my recital dress. It's soooo pretty. It's a full gown, Champagne-gold color with beading. The best part (besides it's being so pretty) is that it was majorly on sale - $37.00 which was marked down from $150!!! If you want to see it - well, you'll have to come to my recital!!! Seriously.

St. Patrick's Day
I love these girls!!!

We sang this in church on Sunday. For those of you familiar with the Episcopal Hymnal 1982 it's hymn 469. I love the tune - and I love, most especially, the words.

There's a wideness in God's mercy
like the wideness of the sea;
there's a kindness in his justice,
which is more than liberty.
There is welcome for the sinner,
and more graces for the good;
there is mercy with the Savior;
there is healing in his blood.

There is no place where earth's sorrows
are more felt than in heaven;
there is no place where earth's failings
have such kind judgment given.
There is plentiful redemption
in the blood that has been shed;
there is joy for all the members
in the sorrows of the Head.

For the love of God is broader
than the measure of man's mind;
and the heart of the Eternal
is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more faithful,
we should take him at his word;
and our life would be thanksgiving
for the goodness of the Lord.

SPRING BREAK!!!

Spring break for Longy and company started out with a Nor'easter that brought 6-7 inches of snow in the Boston area and a foot north of us. My mom says, "Well, you wanted to have snow for winter!", to which I replied, "BUT IT'S NOT WINTER! IT'S THE MIDDLE OF MARCH!!!!" I suppose I forget where I live sometimes.

Life has been interesting. A bit stressful actually. Organizing this recital has turned out to be really high maintenence. I was really excited about it for a long time. Recital's are always a lot of work - but the end result is always well worth the hard work that goes into it. Now, I'm just really stressed, and worried, wanting this all to be over with. Being prepared for the actual recital isn't going to be a problem (May 14), but being prepared for the pre-recital jury is a little sticky. My original date for my pre-recital had to be moved up by 9 days which resulted in two less lessons at my disposal as well as only having 3 lessons left until the *new* jury All of my piano accompanied pieces (my Mozart aria, Wolf set, and Juliana Hall set) are in good shape and memorized - woo-hoo! However, I have two sets that are collaborative sets - 1 set of three Handel German da capo arias for voice, harpsichord, continuo and obligato instrument (I've chosen violin for 2 of them, and flute for the other), and then a set of 4 Bartok pieces for 3 voices. The problem is that 2 of the Handel were coached last semester, 1 hasn't be coached at all, and NONE of the Bartok have been coached. I know, I know... this is my own fault for doing a recital so full of collaborating projects! But, I love working with ensembles - and sharing something like my recital with others can be a lot of fun. That's what collaborating with others should be about, right? So, the problem is fitting in those ensemble coachings in, in the next 3 weeks.
Then comes big blow to the recital #2. My accompanist, who've I've been collaborating with now for almost 3 years has an injured right hand! Poor Naoko - she woke up Sunday with pain in her wrist and couldn't open up her hand. A VERY bad thing to have happen to a pianist. She's not sure what is wrong with it but is going away for 3 days to play in a recital in S. Carolina, so can't get in to a doctor this week. She is going to rest it as much as she can - and depending on how bad it is she may (MAY) have to cancel everything for the rest of the semester. She said she will decide in the next two weeks. This means I either postpone the recital or get a new accompanist to learn all of my music in record time - in time for the recital hearing.
So, this is what is going on in the life of Rachael at the moment. If you haven't heard from me recently it's because I'm either never home or dealing with too much stress to want to talk to anyone. :-(

On a happier note - I'll add pics from our St. Patrick's day escapade Saturday night. The girls and I had a lot of fun - being our weird and goofy selves.
It is spring break and it's nice not to have classes or coachings this week.

On to tackle life...

Oh my - I'm delinquent yet again. Not only in my own personal blog but also in my 20th and 21st Century American Art Song blog. Only thing is - I'm not getting graded on this blog! Not to worry, I'll catch up on that one after this.
So must keep this very short.

Let's see...

Michelle and Bree's and my Experiential Education Program project has been going very well. We have been placed as Artsts in Residence at the BAA, The Boston Arts Academy,(www.boston-arts-academy.org/Pages/index), and we are working with the freshman vocal music class on a program we have entitled Poetry, Art Song, and Popular Song. It's been a HUGE success so far - and really makes me miss teaching. We are having a lot of fun and working our butts off way too much on this thing. Igh... I'll write more on our program when I have the time and energy to do so.

I'm running again!!! Woo-hoo! Saturday's are our long days, and Adam and I made it up to 9 miles yesterday! Yay us! We ran all the way down Broadway (my street) to the river and the Longfellow Bridge, crossed over into Beacon Hill, ran up probably one of the steepest hills I've ever run up (almost puked at the top because by now we'd already run 5 miles - Adam kept saying "don't look at the top! don't look at the top!), then ran down Beacon Street past the Public Gardens, and all the Brownstones, to to Mass Ave., turned down Storrow drive along the river and made our way back to Harvard Square. I did fine until the last 1/2 mile when I suddenly became absolutely starving. Didn't y'all want to know the route?? :-P
Then I came home and made an omlet with turkey bacon, avocodo, and cottage cheese. mmmmmmm.....
One hour later, I was starving again.

What else is new? One more week until Spring Break. During spring break I will do all sorts of fun things like, work, practice, memorize, and run. Basically what I do now, except without the classes. Life will be easier for one week.
That's all for now!

It's a a "Giant Slurpy" outside!

It's been a very interesting past 48 hours or so. Our mini-Nor'easter was just that.... mini and pitiful at best! It started snowing on Monday night and we probably had about 3 inches when I went out in the morning to walk Simon before work. In the following 12 hours it proceeded to sleet, pour rain, snow, sleet, pour rain. The land of Cambridge/Boston became one giant slurpy. Seriously. Ridiculous. Slush up to peoples knees in some places. It was so gross. My choir rehearsal got cancelled and then my ensemble group decided to postpone our weekly rehearsal. Woo-hoo! Happy Valentine's day to me :-)
After I got home from work I was relaxing for a bit when my doorbell rang. It was an older woman who asked me if I had a shovel because her car was stuck out in front of our apartment. I lent her a shovel and then went out to help her. She was seriously stuck. Slush, ice and snow. We rotated between shoveling and then her getting back into the car rocking it back and forth while I pushed. Yeh - right, ME pushing a car. It was freezing - I was soaking wet - well, we both were. So then there was this guy down the street who had been snowblowing and also had seen us in our hardship. The woman said she was going to go ask the guy if he would help me push because, really, that's all we needed -a little more manpower, one more person and boom the car would move. So she went to ask him if he would just help me push and he told her "no". No explanation just "no", and then turned away with his snow blower. NO? NO?! NO?!?! Can you tell that I am still furious about this? So anyhow, we were able to get the car out. My freakishly strong muscles proved themselves to be,um..., freakishly strong again.
Later in the evening Karen came over and she and Bree and I had a Valentine's dinner together. It was super yummy! Chicken au Champagne, brown rice with sauteed mushrooms, salad with a homemade lemon-olive oil vinigrette, and floating islands along with a rose wine.
Along with dinner came a "flash freeze warning". I have never heard of such a thing before! As turns out all that slush froze - absolutely solid. The slush on the sidwalk, the slush surrounding car tires, the snow on the ground was frozen solid. Simon and I went to the park and walked on top of the snow without leaving a footprint! What a mess it was this morning with people trying to get their cars out. Solid, solid ice. People with ice picks. It was a mess to walk on too. It took us 15 minutes longer to walk to school this morning than it usually does just because we were trekking across the Antarctic Plains otherwise known as the "route to Longy".
This tundra needs to go away soon. I can't run in this mess! Booooooooo!!
Yay for Fridays and weekends! :-)

Balloon Wars and Toilet Troubles...among other things

What a weekend! First the Winter Gala (see pics in previous posts), then the Bradford Valentine race which has become an annual tradition for me, and then a day of church and EEP planning plus laundry and all that other fun stuff.
Backing up... on Friday Michelle and Bree and I went over to Graham and Park School to meet with the woman who is/was to be our cooperating teacher. We got there ten minutes before we were supposed to meet with her and then left a half hour later because she never showed. It was supposed to be her planning period - and this was a very important meeting for us - not to mention that we got up early and made ourselves look nice and then had to walk there in the freezing cold. Michelle had gone to the office and they called for her over the loud speaker but she never came to our location of meeting. So, we decided to leave. When we were signing out in the office the principal decided to go look for her - then came back and said "Well, ladies I'm really sorry...I have no idea where she is. In fact, we have a policy that if you leave the building you are supposed to sign out." So that was a bit frustrating. Then, when I got back to school I found out that one of my classes had been cancelled - WOO-HOO! It turned out to be a good day after all.
Skipping to last night... so Karen came over after I got done practicing and she and Bree and I watched Rome. Then this whole thing about Balloons came up because Bree brought home a bunch of balloons tied together from the gala. Bree commented that she got the feeling that I hate balloons because she noticed me kicking them around in a frustrating manner. I concurred. I hate balloons. They're a nuisance. They are an awkward size. They get in the way. They move slowly. They are clutter. If they hang from the cieling then the string is hanging down and you hit your head on it. So then they were making fun of me and we were trying to pass them off on Karen but she wouldn't take them. About a 1/2 hour later I found the balloons tied to my door. HA HA HA. Well, right before I went to bed I tied them to our bathroom door. The door opens "in" to the bathroom so when Bree would make her last bathroom run for the evening it would be dark, she wouldn't see them, and she would run into them... not to mention not be able to close the door! This morning I got up and the balloons were gone - Praise the Lord. I got ready for my shower, turned on the shower, looked up, there were the balloons tied to the shower head with water pouring over them and a big smiley face on one of them. Well - being the mature person that I am - I took those balloons and hung them down outside Bree's door so that when she opened her curtains to come out they would hit her right in the face. I just cannot wait to come home from work this afternoon and discover where those stupid balloons have made their way to next.

Our toilet troubles began a little bit before the balloon saga happened. It was overflowing!!! Thank God with nothing in it (sorry) - but still EWWWW GROSS! We tried plunging and that wasn't working. Of course it's like 11:15 at night and there's realy no one we could call so then Bree remembered a trick from her old apartment - Flooding the toilet. We have a huge mopping bucket that probably holds 3-4 gallons of water if not more. Bree plunged - I filled the bucket full in the tub and carried it over and just dumped it in. We probably did this about 10-12 times and finally the water pressure worked and it was fixed and it flushes and doesn't flood!!!! But then we had to spend the time mopping and disinfecting the bathroom floor! Good grief!

It's only Monday and I feel like it's never going to end. LOL

This past weekend was Longy's annual Winter Gala hosted by the SAC. This year's theme was Masquerade. It was a rockin' good time with catered food from an Italian restaurant in the North End, live DJ, Chocolate Fountain, fantastic door prizes, free Bar, and a dance-off. The pictures below only show a fraction of the fun we had!

Bree, Karen and Me


Bree, Me, and Michelle




Brian and Me


Me and Ashley - my running partner. This was a "pre-race" photo as the next morning we got up to run a five mile which, by the way, we ran our fastest mile since we began training 3 weeks ago AND we had negative splits!!!


Me and Mike who came back to visit :-)


Ashley, Karen, and Andrea