Friday, April 28, 2006
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Sigh of Relief!!!!
So many wonderful things have happened in the past few days...
1. It's been WARM
2. EASTER!!!!
3. I got my computer back!!!!!!
4. I completed and PASSED my recital permission jury!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next on the list is to pass the piano profeciency and chorale harmonization so that I can go into my recital knowing that I can graduate 4 days after!!!! The jury went really well. I only had one major screw up - came in 1 beat early on one of the Handel pieces and OF COURSE it was in a place where I've never ever come in early and OF COURSE it's a piece that involves 2 other instrumentalists besides my accompanist who is so good at covering brainless mistakes! However, it worked itself out. Everything else was fine for the most part. Definetely not anything that kept them from telling me I needed to have another permission jury!
So I got done with that and I was sooooo elated and I wanted to jump around the building for joy!!!! LOL
Then it became an even better day because I went home and my computer was waiting there for me.
Last night was also our art song rep class concert last night too! It was all German Lied and it was fantastic. I actually remembered all my words on the super fast "witch" song that I had to sing. Check out "Hexenlied" by F. Mendelssohn sometime and you'll know what I'm talking about. I also sang a really pretty Strauss piece Meinem Kinde.
Easter Sunday was a lot of fun. I two services in the morning filled with lots of singing. In the afternoon the girls got together for a wonderful brunch. TONS of good food and loads of fun. I included some pics from the afternoon. The highlight was the easter egg game we played. One of the girls, Laura, took sixteen eggs and made them hollow, boiled them, colored them and then filled the shells with confetti. The eight of us broke into two teams and the first team of 4 hid the eggs. Then the second team came out to find them. Once they found 2 eggs they chased those on the opposing team (the ones who hid the eggs) and broke the eggs on the persons' head! Confetti flew everywhere! I've included pictures of our Easter fun! :-)
Well, I cannot believe that next week is the LAST week of classes. How is this even possible?
Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour...
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales.
So many wonderful things have happened in the past few days...
1. It's been WARM
2. EASTER!!!!
3. I got my computer back!!!!!!
4. I completed and PASSED my recital permission jury!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next on the list is to pass the piano profeciency and chorale harmonization so that I can go into my recital knowing that I can graduate 4 days after!!!! The jury went really well. I only had one major screw up - came in 1 beat early on one of the Handel pieces and OF COURSE it was in a place where I've never ever come in early and OF COURSE it's a piece that involves 2 other instrumentalists besides my accompanist who is so good at covering brainless mistakes! However, it worked itself out. Everything else was fine for the most part. Definetely not anything that kept them from telling me I needed to have another permission jury!
So I got done with that and I was sooooo elated and I wanted to jump around the building for joy!!!! LOL
Then it became an even better day because I went home and my computer was waiting there for me.
Last night was also our art song rep class concert last night too! It was all German Lied and it was fantastic. I actually remembered all my words on the super fast "witch" song that I had to sing. Check out "Hexenlied" by F. Mendelssohn sometime and you'll know what I'm talking about. I also sang a really pretty Strauss piece Meinem Kinde.
Easter Sunday was a lot of fun. I two services in the morning filled with lots of singing. In the afternoon the girls got together for a wonderful brunch. TONS of good food and loads of fun. I included some pics from the afternoon. The highlight was the easter egg game we played. One of the girls, Laura, took sixteen eggs and made them hollow, boiled them, colored them and then filled the shells with confetti. The eight of us broke into two teams and the first team of 4 hid the eggs. Then the second team came out to find them. Once they found 2 eggs they chased those on the opposing team (the ones who hid the eggs) and broke the eggs on the persons' head! Confetti flew everywhere! I've included pictures of our Easter fun! :-)
Well, I cannot believe that next week is the LAST week of classes. How is this even possible?
Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour...
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Week of April 9
Welcome Liam Christian Gibson!!!! and congrats to Aubrey and Jason as well as Aria on being a new sister!!!
LAST WEEK IS OVER LAST WEEK IS OVER!!! I thought it would never end. The master class with Warren Jones was really amazing - very scary pre-master class - but amazing non-the-less. He had a great sense of humour and really did a lot with involving the audience as well. It didn't end up being as frightening of an experience as I thought it would be!
This past weekend Helen, a friend of Angela's and mine from our time in Hungary, came to visit. She's a Ph.D. candidate at U.Mass Amherst. It was a short visit - but just very nice. Angela and I are a bit crazed at the moment so I'm afraid we were frenzied hostesses. I hope you had a fun Helen even though we were a bit mad over the weekend - and sorry about the whole towel thing!!! xxxx
It's almost Easter! I'm so excited. I was walking out the door to go to work this morning and there was a BIG box awaiting me on our doorstep from my parents! I was already running late to work so I couldn't open it! I think it has Easter candy in it though!!!!! MMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!! I can't wait. Karen said she is sending me a package too. Normally it's filled with PEEPS (my all time fav) at this time of year. But when I asked her if I was getting Peeps she just gave this evil laugh which scared me slightly.
One more week until my Jury. I'm mostly prepared and I think I'll be ready by next week at this time. It's only a little bit scary at the moment. I'm probably just freaking out a bit more than I need to be because I'm probably fine - but who knows! What if I'm not?????
My computer is still out of commission. I'm trying to find a time that DHL will be in the area and I (or another) will be home for pick-up. How spoiled was I a week before last??!!
Happy Spring!
Welcome Liam Christian Gibson!!!! and congrats to Aubrey and Jason as well as Aria on being a new sister!!!
LAST WEEK IS OVER LAST WEEK IS OVER!!! I thought it would never end. The master class with Warren Jones was really amazing - very scary pre-master class - but amazing non-the-less. He had a great sense of humour and really did a lot with involving the audience as well. It didn't end up being as frightening of an experience as I thought it would be!
This past weekend Helen, a friend of Angela's and mine from our time in Hungary, came to visit. She's a Ph.D. candidate at U.Mass Amherst. It was a short visit - but just very nice. Angela and I are a bit crazed at the moment so I'm afraid we were frenzied hostesses. I hope you had a fun Helen even though we were a bit mad over the weekend - and sorry about the whole towel thing!!! xxxx
It's almost Easter! I'm so excited. I was walking out the door to go to work this morning and there was a BIG box awaiting me on our doorstep from my parents! I was already running late to work so I couldn't open it! I think it has Easter candy in it though!!!!! MMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!! I can't wait. Karen said she is sending me a package too. Normally it's filled with PEEPS (my all time fav) at this time of year. But when I asked her if I was getting Peeps she just gave this evil laugh which scared me slightly.
One more week until my Jury. I'm mostly prepared and I think I'll be ready by next week at this time. It's only a little bit scary at the moment. I'm probably just freaking out a bit more than I need to be because I'm probably fine - but who knows! What if I'm not?????
My computer is still out of commission. I'm trying to find a time that DHL will be in the area and I (or another) will be home for pick-up. How spoiled was I a week before last??!!
Happy Spring!
Monday, April 03, 2006
April Fools and such...
The first week back from Spring break was actually not as bad as I had anticipated. Perhaps all I really needed was a break from classes and most of the stresses that occur during a normal week. Last weekend Karen C. came to audition at Longy. It was nice to see someone from and to catch up - reminiscing and talking about Hungary and the future etc. Her audition went well (according to all involved) and I hope she'll be able to come next year!
A great tragedy occurred on Saturday! My computer slipped out of my hands and the LCD screen is what hit the floor. It's actually cracked pretty badly within the screen and all these "spider-web" looking things are on the screen as well as these colorful horizontal and vertical lines. After 2 hours on the phone with a Dell rep. we determined that the screen is the only thing that is damaged and not the hard drive. However, my notebook is currently out of commission as I cannot see anything on the screen to be able to use it. It will be the end of April by the time all is said and done and my screen is fixed and returned to me. This is NOT a good time to have had this happen to me! Why not in January or in the summer when I need my computer the least?? Being that this all happened on April Fool's day I kept saying over and over "Please let this be a joke, pleeeeaaaase let this be a joke!"
This coming week is going to be quite busy. Wednesday, Warren Jones (http://www.warrenjones.com/) is coming to Longy to do a Master Class. I am soooooooooo nervous. More nervous for this than I am for my recital jury and I'm only singing two songs! We've all been asked to have ready two German Lieder so I chose Und gestern hat er mir Rosen gebracht by Joseph Marx and Meinem Kinde by Richard Strauss. The words of Brian keep resounding in my mind "We're paying this man big bucks to come - KNOW what you are doing!!!" What if I forget??????
The honor's competition is on Thursday so once Wednesday is over it's time to switch gears to more contemporary music and something much more sad. Amy and I are entering with the Lori Laitman song cycle I Never Saw Another Butterfly for Soprano and Alto Saxophone. The 6 songs in the cycle are poems written by children who were held in the Terezin concentration camp. It's a very moving cycle. *A little plug... I'll be doing these on my recital as well* :-)
Spring is here! Yay! Now let's just get some consistant warm weather going! :-)
The first week back from Spring break was actually not as bad as I had anticipated. Perhaps all I really needed was a break from classes and most of the stresses that occur during a normal week. Last weekend Karen C. came to audition at Longy. It was nice to see someone from and to catch up - reminiscing and talking about Hungary and the future etc. Her audition went well (according to all involved) and I hope she'll be able to come next year!
A great tragedy occurred on Saturday! My computer slipped out of my hands and the LCD screen is what hit the floor. It's actually cracked pretty badly within the screen and all these "spider-web" looking things are on the screen as well as these colorful horizontal and vertical lines. After 2 hours on the phone with a Dell rep. we determined that the screen is the only thing that is damaged and not the hard drive. However, my notebook is currently out of commission as I cannot see anything on the screen to be able to use it. It will be the end of April by the time all is said and done and my screen is fixed and returned to me. This is NOT a good time to have had this happen to me! Why not in January or in the summer when I need my computer the least?? Being that this all happened on April Fool's day I kept saying over and over "Please let this be a joke, pleeeeaaaase let this be a joke!"
This coming week is going to be quite busy. Wednesday, Warren Jones (http://www.warrenjones.com/) is coming to Longy to do a Master Class. I am soooooooooo nervous. More nervous for this than I am for my recital jury and I'm only singing two songs! We've all been asked to have ready two German Lieder so I chose Und gestern hat er mir Rosen gebracht by Joseph Marx and Meinem Kinde by Richard Strauss. The words of Brian keep resounding in my mind "We're paying this man big bucks to come - KNOW what you are doing!!!" What if I forget??????
The honor's competition is on Thursday so once Wednesday is over it's time to switch gears to more contemporary music and something much more sad. Amy and I are entering with the Lori Laitman song cycle I Never Saw Another Butterfly for Soprano and Alto Saxophone. The 6 songs in the cycle are poems written by children who were held in the Terezin concentration camp. It's a very moving cycle. *A little plug... I'll be doing these on my recital as well* :-)
Spring is here! Yay! Now let's just get some consistant warm weather going! :-)
Monday, March 20, 2006
Week of March 19
What time is it? It's spring break time!!! Woo-hoo! How appropriate that it begin on the first day of spring as well! However, it feels a bit like January outside being that it's 10:30 in the morning and it isn't above 30 degrees! Flowers are blooming in little gardens and I look at them and want to say "Oh no little flowers! Hurry! Go back in the ground! You live in Massachusetts and it's still winter until June!!! Go back Go back!!!" Oh well - the sun IS shining so I cannot complain.
Let's see - so I've commited this Spring Break to some serious work and I hope I can stick with it! I'm going to study like mad for the chorale harmonization exam I need to take in May and my goal is to practice piano 2 hours a day. Why do I put this on here, you ask? Well, now I'm held a little bit accountable for my actions - so now everyone can send a little email saying "are you practicing those silly little scales and arpeggios like you said you were going to?" HA HA HA! In addition, my other goal is to solidify two more songs for my recital in May. I haven't had a voice lesson in 3 weeks now and I am going a bit mad! After the break I am participating in two masterclasses (Janet Bookspan and Warren Jones) as well as the honors competition and then in 3 weeks my recital jury! Oh! It's all coming around too quickly! This is why my spring break will only be a break from classes! However, I will try to fit in a little fun by going shopping for a recital dress :-)
We've started a running club at Longy. We now meet on Sunday's to have a fun run together and then a little socializing afterwards. It's nice because I'm still meeting and getting to know people outside my department and we are doing something other than playing or singing in an ensemble together!
I guess my other piece of news is that I was accepted into the GPD program (Graduate Performance Degree) at Longy so I will be in grad school for 1 or 2 more years trying to get this instrument under a bit of control. I'm hoping this will be the last of school for a while-but if you know me, you know that this is never the truth! Although, giving myself some credit, I did have 4 years in the "real world" before going back to school! :-)
What time is it? It's spring break time!!! Woo-hoo! How appropriate that it begin on the first day of spring as well! However, it feels a bit like January outside being that it's 10:30 in the morning and it isn't above 30 degrees! Flowers are blooming in little gardens and I look at them and want to say "Oh no little flowers! Hurry! Go back in the ground! You live in Massachusetts and it's still winter until June!!! Go back Go back!!!" Oh well - the sun IS shining so I cannot complain.
Let's see - so I've commited this Spring Break to some serious work and I hope I can stick with it! I'm going to study like mad for the chorale harmonization exam I need to take in May and my goal is to practice piano 2 hours a day. Why do I put this on here, you ask? Well, now I'm held a little bit accountable for my actions - so now everyone can send a little email saying "are you practicing those silly little scales and arpeggios like you said you were going to?" HA HA HA! In addition, my other goal is to solidify two more songs for my recital in May. I haven't had a voice lesson in 3 weeks now and I am going a bit mad! After the break I am participating in two masterclasses (Janet Bookspan and Warren Jones) as well as the honors competition and then in 3 weeks my recital jury! Oh! It's all coming around too quickly! This is why my spring break will only be a break from classes! However, I will try to fit in a little fun by going shopping for a recital dress :-)
We've started a running club at Longy. We now meet on Sunday's to have a fun run together and then a little socializing afterwards. It's nice because I'm still meeting and getting to know people outside my department and we are doing something other than playing or singing in an ensemble together!
I guess my other piece of news is that I was accepted into the GPD program (Graduate Performance Degree) at Longy so I will be in grad school for 1 or 2 more years trying to get this instrument under a bit of control. I'm hoping this will be the last of school for a while-but if you know me, you know that this is never the truth! Although, giving myself some credit, I did have 4 years in the "real world" before going back to school! :-)
Monday, March 06, 2006
The past week has kind of been a blur. Most likely because I slept through most of it!!!
Monday I had my preliminary audition for the Artist Diploma and although I did not get invited to the the actual Artist Diploma audition, I did get accepted into the Graduate Performance Diploma program! The audition itself went really well but the technicality was that I suppose I don't have enough outside performance experience (this was what I was told at least). So..... yay! So now I just need to decide whether I want to do the GPD in one year or two years -- oh... decisions.
Tuesday morning the stress of this audition caught up with me b/c I awoke with what would be the start to a yucky yucky cold virus which kept me in bed most of the week. I'm feeling much better now (yay!) and although the voice isn't 100% I have a lot more energy.
Saturday Ashley, Michelle, and Bree and I went to see Munich at the Harvard Square theatre. WOW! I don't think I've seen a movie that's effected me so much in a long long time. When it was over (all 3 hours of it) the four of us just sat there and stared at the screen - it was just so much to take in. I mean as the movie went on I sort of began to empathize with this Israeli counter-terrorist team as they go around killing the PLO terrorists responsible for the massacre of the Israeli atheletes in the 1972 Munich Olympic games - but then had to keep reminding myself that "Hey! these guys are killers too - they are also assassins!" Revenge is just a never ending, hate-filled cycle. I would highly recommend this movie!
A new week has begun and I'm ready for it!!
Monday I had my preliminary audition for the Artist Diploma and although I did not get invited to the the actual Artist Diploma audition, I did get accepted into the Graduate Performance Diploma program! The audition itself went really well but the technicality was that I suppose I don't have enough outside performance experience (this was what I was told at least). So..... yay! So now I just need to decide whether I want to do the GPD in one year or two years -- oh... decisions.
Tuesday morning the stress of this audition caught up with me b/c I awoke with what would be the start to a yucky yucky cold virus which kept me in bed most of the week. I'm feeling much better now (yay!) and although the voice isn't 100% I have a lot more energy.
Saturday Ashley, Michelle, and Bree and I went to see Munich at the Harvard Square theatre. WOW! I don't think I've seen a movie that's effected me so much in a long long time. When it was over (all 3 hours of it) the four of us just sat there and stared at the screen - it was just so much to take in. I mean as the movie went on I sort of began to empathize with this Israeli counter-terrorist team as they go around killing the PLO terrorists responsible for the massacre of the Israeli atheletes in the 1972 Munich Olympic games - but then had to keep reminding myself that "Hey! these guys are killers too - they are also assassins!" Revenge is just a never ending, hate-filled cycle. I would highly recommend this movie!
A new week has begun and I'm ready for it!!
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!
Thursday, January 26, 2006
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That sure went quickly! A month goes by very fast when one is having fun and not a slave to researching and practicing (although I should have been - bad Rachael!!). In short I spent the past month with the fam, spent time with friends and all the babes, got hooked on House (thanks Sarah!), laid on an operating table and gave the best "humming" performance of a lifetime (of which I have no memory), and brushed up my right-hand piano skills on scales and arpeggios (lucky me!). Needless to say, I was able to get by all last semester and all break without a sore throat, runny nose, and one of those "tell-tale" sneezes. But as fate would have it the day before I left to come back to Boston I was attacked by an evil, evil virus! What a joy it was to drive back 14 hours with this special little friend. So special that I got to miss the very first day of classes.
So now I'm back, not unpacked at all and already have so much to do it's unbelievable. No research classes this semester, but an audition and recital to prepare for. Classes for the semester include: Vocal Seminar, Alexander Technique and Feldenkreis in Conjunction, Vocal Improvisation for the Classical Musician, Words and Music: Analysis of Song, Art Song Repertory, and applied voice lessons as well as my Master's Recital (May 17 !!!). I think my favorite new class so far will be the Vocal Improv class. It's probably also the scariest for me as I am an avid improver ONLY in the privacy of my own room and/or shower. However, there are only 6 of us in the class, I love the prof teaching the class, and the first day was already a lot of fun and really not so scary. The first 6 weeks of the class will focus on jazz/standards and the last 6 weeks on Baroque and then we'll have a class concert as a culmination of the course. Hey, who knows - I may come out of this whole grad school experience as a highly successful improvisitory lounge singer! Now that would be a sight!
Other things that are beginning to pile up are the usual SAC (student advisory council) stuff and I'm back to work at Harvard doing my thing at the circulation desk (that would be being very helpful to the patrons, and doing homework in front of the computer). In addition I have agreed to help out two students at Tufts University with their master's thesis "Music and Reading Subskills in Kindergartners". For the music portion of the study they are using the MAT (Music Aptitude Test) which was created by my dear friend Katie (that's DR. Katie Overy) who also suggested me to help them out with the test scoring and Kindergarten observations. (Many, many thanks to you Katie if you're reading this!). So basically, I score the rhythm tests taken by the kindergartners as the tests come to me and will eventually go into two different schools, at least one that definetely uses the Kodaly concept, and write up an observation of that lesson adhering to some specific guidelines of what to look and listen for. It's like music ed observations all over again!! It's nice to be doing something with music and using knowledge from a degree I've already earned as well as the opportunity to earn a little extra $$ on the side! (again... thank you Katie!)
Well, alas, the fun of blogging must end for the evening as scales and arpeggios are calling me! If anyone has suggestions on how to learn melodic minor scales easily pleeeeaaase give me some hints. I'll take anything at this point. Pics with this entry include: Me being attacked by darling little children (can you see me? i'm in there!), Me and Seth and Aria, and snow from our porch (can't really see much, but it's def. snow!!!)
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