Clair de Lune

Last week was a rather rough week. This week: everyone is going crazy, students and professors alike. I am blaming it on the full moon we had. ;)

I don't even know how to begin to say how everyone has been acting around here, but it has actually been a pretty good week regardless. I have had some marathon days. Little sleep, lots of sugar and PG Tips to get me through. SO much music!

Also, I am kind of legitimately concerned that my professors think that I am actually crazy. Either that, or they just don't know what to do with my energy. Last Friday, my diction coach walked past at the same moment I was performing/dancing a terrible rendition of "Dancing Queen" for my friend Edwin. (That'd be just one example of the chaos I create around here...what ever are they going to do with me?! Maybe I am truly crazy...)

Monday, I sang for our weekly masterclass. It went so well! :) I sang Debussy's "Clair de lune" - the first version. AH! Such a beautiful song! Such beautiful poetry, too: "Au calme clair de lune, triste et beau, qui fait rever, les oiseaux dans les arbres et sangloter d'extase les j'ets d'eau sveltes parmi les marbre..." (The calm light of the moon, sad but beautiful, which sets the birds in the trees dreaming and makes the fountains sob with ecstasy against the thin marble statues...)  I was prepared to be torn apart for my French diction, but I got the shock when I was praised for it! (Guess my French isn't as terrible as I thought!) 

Lessons learned this week:

Eating half a bag of sour patch kids before diction class is a brilliant and terrible idea at the same time. 

My diction teacher is apparently worried I may need therapy due to my frustration over the indecipherable difference between nasalized [oe] and [E]. Not sure why because I really am not that concerned...I just want to be able to pronounce it properly. haha!

Ornamentation and Recit class won't actually kill me. It's a challenge but that's part of the process...all a learning experience.

A cup of PG Tips seems to give me a crazy awesome amount of energy while also calming me down. :)

When you are sleep-deprived and sugared up, you will do stupid things...like decide the green light for the cars to go is your cue to cross the street. Oops! haha!

Sometimes, one glass of wine turns into three...

When you wash out a new pair of jeans in the bathtub (because you don't have time to go do laundry), it will tint your bathtub blue. Oops, again. ;)

And, I have the most amazing teacher in the world! =D

I am so incredibly lucky to get to study and sing and make music every day.

And THIS is why you always have extra clothes in your locker.

This morning, I made a grand entrance to the day at school by managing to spill an entire travel mug of tea all over the front of my pants. I apparently thought that'd be fun. And I'm not talking, "Aw, man! I just spilled tea on me." No, this was drenched in tea like I'd been thrown in a swimming pool. Luckily, I had a black skirt stashed in my locker from some time I had to sing last semester, so I changed into that for the time being. Then, I went back to clean up the mess all over the table and floor (still trying to figure out how that much tea was in that cup!).

Of course, the boys in my chamber music group would be there to witness the entire ordeal and the soprano tantrum to follow. The one complimented me on the skirt, trying to make me feel better, and I responded by stamping my foot and exclaimed that I did not want to be wearing that! Seriously?! Did I really just do that?! Unfortunately, yes. :-/ I think perhaps the stress of my workload this week may have been getting to me and chose that moment to pour out. I am so sorry, boys. That was totally uncalled for.

My lesson followed this fiasco, and in turn, Jayne got a bit of the leftover frazzle and a re-enactment. Sorry to you, too, Jayne. Not sure what's gotten into me today. Not cool! She has a way of always calming me down, though, and reminding me that "it's just tea". She's right.

After my classes this afternoon, I had a couple hours before I had to go into work, and I couldn't go in wearing my snazzy skirt or the tea-soaked jeans, so I ran into work and grabbed a pair of cheap jeans off the sale wall. At least, I got a new pair of pants out of the day. I still can't believe I actually stamped my foot, though. It's like that story my mom tells of the only tantrum I ever threw in a department store when I was three and she just standing there watching me kicking and screaming, not knowing what to do because I didn't ever act that way. We'll just label it my own mini mad scene. Ha!

Tomorrow, I will be taking an entire outfit with me to school to keep in my locker...