The most amazing comic strips ever!

The other day in the conservatory, I saw these comic strips posted on my music theory professor's office door. They are brilliant! And so hilarious!

http://www.comics.com/comics/peanuts/archive/peanuts-20080217.html

(The second one is a Peanuts comic strip, but it won't allow me to post it, so the link is above.)

Oh, the mind of a music major...

I have realized that everything I write pretty much revolves around music, singing, my lessons, etc. Such is the mind of a music major/musician. Maybe boring to some, but no apologies from me about it, though. Music is my life. It's just who I am. And I love it. :)

Cups of tea and made up German...

Spring break! (Really it is just mid-semester break, but my university likes to call it "spring" break in the middle of winter.) All scheduled papers and exams completed...and with only one freak-out I might add! In my melodramatic tendencies, I have been known to stress out and freak, but I am doing much better about it. (One of my good friends says that God's still working on me.) I just sat back and said to myself that everything would get done without me worrying about it, and it did. I only freaked when I got upset about something entirely unrelated. From there, everything started to get to me, but I got over it quickly enough and was fine. I am not sure how well I did on my exams in my general education courses, but it'll all be alright. I had to choose between studying for music and studying for gen. eds. because time does not stretch to allow for everything, and I chose what means most to me. And I do not second guess my choice in the least. Friday, I sang on recital hour, and it was pretty great. We ended up in the hall again rather than the recital hall. (In the conservatory, we have two halls...the concert hall, which is like a big auditorium, and the recital hall, which is more intimate and where students have their degree recitals. Every Friday morning, we have a recital hour and alternate between general recitals, which is the entire conservatory in the concert hall, and area recitals, which divides the instrumentalists and vocalists in the two halls. The vocalists normally get the recital hall because we're a smaller department, but once in awhile we get the big hall. I love singing in both but for different reasons. They have such a different sound.) It was really cool for me because I am so used to the concert hall after all those rehearsals and the competition in there. Before, it used to scare me...such a big sound. Now, it's fun. Just have to remember to "make yellow shimmer all around you!" hehe! I sang two pieces, one Italian and one German...kind of made up some German near the end of that piece...memory blanked and I could not remember what can next, but's all good. Afterwards, I just threw my hands up in the air and said, "How fascinating!" I got that new philosopy from The Art of Possibility, which I finished last night...finally! It's pretty much an absolutely amazing book! My teacher told me afterwards that I did everything we had talked about in my lesson on Thursday...we worked on my technique and sound, and I was making some really exciting sounds...it was a really good lesson! YAY! I love it when things actually sink in! I am not sure what I would do without Lynn. She takes such good care of me. She calls her students "my lovelies." A bunch of us decided to design a t-shirt that says "Lynn's Lovelies" with our names on the back. Can't wait till they come in! Fabulous! My grandparents were at recital hour, too...they came in the day before because they were bringing me home for break. And, of course, my grandma made cookies just for Chadwick. If she could, I really think she'd adopt him. And Chad's love's my grandma...probably because of the cookies! He told me in my piano lesson that he'll miss me while I'm in Hungary, but he'll especially miss the cookies. Oh, Chad! Speaking of Hungary, I do not know anything yet. Lynn said to me in my lesson, though, that she was so glad I was going because it'll be so good for me as a musician...and help me with my inner pulse. Argh! So frustrating, but it is true. It will help me so much. It's just really scary. I am so excited, but there is always fear in anything worth doing. Hopefully, I will hear more about my application soon. So...now I am home in PA for the week. It only took 8 hours for a 3 1/2 hour drive. It was an adventurous trip. Snowstorm, two hour traffic jam, 45 min. traffic jam, a sheriff guy coming from nowhere walking to the front of the line of traffic and back twice. It was craziness. However, we made it. Back to slow internet connection and the house of crazy. Gotta love it. Now, I am sipping my cups of tea and doing pretty much nothing. I have no plans for the week. Just practicing a bit and learning some of my really sweet repertoire for this semester (finally all chosen...and it's fun!). Maybe some more reading, colouring and watching movies with my little sister, maybe some knitting, bonding time with our little yorkie Rafiki, so many possibilities! I probably won't be writing much until I get back to school...although choir will be consuming my life for the whole first week I'm back...Eric Whitacre is coming to the conservatory for a festival featuring our choir and then choir concert tour the 7th thru the 9th. Fun!

Singing and sparkles...

Well, the competition concluded about an hour ago, and might I say I did brilliantly! It was great fun singing. I love the feeling of performing. It just feels so right. There's just something about it. I cannot really explain it. The lights, the sound, the moment of nothing else existing but the music...nothing in the world compares. It is purely a gift from God. Lynn let me wear some of her "bling," so I sparkled onstage. I love how supportive and encouraging she is. Such a sweetheart she is! Dr. Mathias, the professor in charge of the Hungary program and who tutored me last semester (she is such a sweetheart, too!), walked in before I sang as well. I did not expect to see her there, so that made me more excited. Isaac was great on the accompaniment. I could not have asked for a better stand-in. Of course, I ran and danced down the hall after I performed because I was so excited, and Lynn greeted me at the end of the hall. I did not win, but all that matters is that my performance was fabulous. I did it for God, Lynn, and myself. That's all that counts. And I had a wonderful time singing, too. I am going to perform on recital hour (we have a weekly recital at 10am on Fridays) this coming week, and my parents may be there. Spring break is the following week, so I'll be going home Friday night. They don't get to see me sing much, so it'll be cool. Five more days of classes and then a bit of break, which is much needed! Five days of classes, a paper, a composition project, 5 essays, and four midterms left to go. Oy vey! But it'll all get done somehow. :)

Muppets, music, and giggles...

The Hoops and Yoyo cd my mom sent me is hilarious! So ridiculous but I have laughed so much listening to it. It's amazing! Any cd whose first song is entitled "The First Song on the Album" must be listened to. It'll certainly make you smile. :) Yesterday was a much better day than Wednesday, although it had a bit of a rough start. General education courses are a pain! I think that liberal arts is really important, but for my life, they do not hold precedence over my music curriculum. It really frustrates me that they are weighted more than my music courses, but that's another story entirely that I do not care to delve into yet again this week. Anywho, it was my lesson day, so it automatically had to be a good day. My lesson was fabulous...the best I've had this semester (or in quite awhile for that matter). There were so many laughs and lots of progress, too. Lynn and Chad are brilliant! Putting them together (although hazardous at times! hehe!) makes life all the more fabulous. It was like the "Lynn and Chad Show" when Isaac came in at the end of my lesson to run through the piece for tomorrow. The two of them sat on the sofa in Lynn's studio making commentary and giggling. They were like the two old guys that sit in the box at the theatre in the Muppets. We also cast the Muppets version of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)....we think they should create a whole new series: Opera Classics. How amazing would that be?! BRILLIANT! We decided Kermit would definitely be Figaro and Miss Piggy would be Marcelina (after much debate of her as Cherubino). I want to email the Jim Henson Company with this idea....I just might... After my lesson (and choir) was yoga. I think that class is going to save my life this semester. So relaxing! I didn't want to leave at the end of class. I just wanted to sit there in my own little world (although much of the time I am in my own little world anyway!). Of course, I had to leave and go back into the crazy world with a to-do list longer than there is time in the day. Today, I wanted to rest my voice because I was tired after my lesson yesterday, however I ended up singing and talking tons today. (It is so frustrating that my voice gets tired so easily, but it is changing and "growing," so it is to be expected because it is not used to the new things yet.) Oh well. Now I am taking the rest of the evening to work on papers and be quiet and get to bed at a decent hour so I sound my best tomorrow. I am already super tired, and it is only 8:30 pm. Completely unrelated and random (that's how my brain functions), I have come into watching a lot of British comedy lately. I don't really have time to sit and just watch the "telly," but I turn it on and moreso listen as I do my homework. The fabulous public library a block and a half away has the greatest audiovisual department. I am there at least once a week getting dvds and cds. They tell me the most important thing I can do while studying music is listen, listen, listen, and go to the theatre as much as possible. Ordering me to go to the theatre for a class? Fine by me! Poor me! I have to go to the theatre! Personally, I find that one of the greatest perks of being a music major...and student discount tickets make it entirely possible. Of course, having professors in the operas, ,orchestras, etc. also help because every now and again, they can sneak you into dress rehearsals. Yeah, my life is good. I like it. I complain sometimes about stress and so much work and the like, but my life's lots of fun. (Yeah, I'm the crazy girl that leaps down the hall in the conservatory singing and handing out heart stickers and grandma cookies! Gotta love it!)

Some days...

Some days I think I'd rather crawl into a corner and just have a good cry. It's been one of those days. I awoke this morning and arrived at my 8am class to find that all morning classes were cancelled. No emails. No broadcasts on the university website. Nothing. Ridiculous! I'm normally a pretty positive person, but this day just began bad. I went back to bed after that but still had to go to a choir sectional at 10. Lame! My voice, too, was not in great shape today. :( Not much "yellow" happening today. There was good in the day, though. My rehearsal in the hall with the wonderful Chad (my normal accompanist) and my stand-in accompanist for Saturday, Isaac, was fabulous. It was so great, and Lynn came in for a bit as well. We really worked on the piece, pulling it apart and making it musical, technical, and precise. There is still lots of work to be done, but we made huge strides. It was such a wonderful coaching session. Lynn said a lot of things that really helped. And Chad...he's a brilliant accompanist. I'm glad I get to work with the two of them. They always make me smile. Isaac is a beast on the piece I am performing Saturday. He is such a great friend! I am so blessed! Another bright thing today was that I got my package of "grandma cookies" (my grandma sends a different shape sugar cookie for every month...my friends love them!), and in the package were valentines and a Hoops and Yoyo cd from my family! (Hoops and Yoyo are characters by Hallmark...they are hilarious!) The cd is quite ridiculous but also pretty fabulous. It gave me a giggle. I guess I am just stressed out right now, and it's put a little rain cloud above my head. I hate that. I love being happy and bubbly, which I still am...until I start to think about all the stuff I need to do, the things I feel like I've not done enough on, and so forth. (And, of course, I am wasting time on this blog!) Yesterday, I definitely didn't get any work done like I should have, and now that's kicking me in the butt. I have my voice lesson tomorrow, and I just feel so behind. Since I was sick at the beginning of the semester, I feel like I am so behind in learning my new repertoire. I need ten songs, only five are picked so far, and I only know like 2 1/2 or 3. Argh! Piano lesson is Friday morning, and I have barely practiced this week. I pretty much suck. (Chad is also my piano teacher.) Lynn and Chad don't really get mad so much as disappointed, and I hate that feeling. I hate disappointing them. That little nuisance of perfectionism that pesters me probably plays a role in that. I just want to be the best musician I can be. I want to make my dreams come true. Lynn calls me her "Anna" (as in Anna Netrebko). I just want that so much...I want to make that happen. I really am improving and will be just fine. Things really aren't that awful. That one little seed of doubt tends to blossom rather quickly. One poor day that my voice isn't feeling so great, and my overactive imagination and melodramatic tendencies take over. Tomorrow is a new day, and I have a voice lesson (which I love my lessons with Lynn). AND...it's yoga day! A friend and I are taking this yoga class on Thursdays, and it is pretty much going to save my life this semester. It is helping so much. Well, I suppose I should make some progress on the pile of work before heading to bed. I still feel in need of a good cry. Crying is good...cleanses the soul. However, everytime I want to cry, I always find myself laughing for some reason or another. Here's praying for a great day tomorrow and lots of "yellow." hehe! :)

Schneetag!

Snow day! YAY! It's quite ridiculous because there really isn't that much snow. The roads are bad, though, and I am not complaining. Of course, I had to get up for classes this morning...it was not until halfway through my first class that they closed campus. Now, I've slipped back into my pajama pants and have decided on a cozy day. Gemütlich! I love that German word. :) (I don't speak fluent German unfortunately...so far I've really only had two years in high school, but someday I'd love to be fluent...for now, I just have fun with the bits and pieces that I know. I am in German Diction class right now...our goal is to sound like natives of the language...we're getting there...slowly! It's a process...) I am exhausted and want to avoid getting sick at all costs, so I have decided that catching up on a bit of sleep would be wise today, as well as getting some work done so I am not overloaded this weekend. Maybe, I will even do some pleasure reading! I have been trying to finish The Art of Possibility by Benjamin and Rosamund Zander. Great book! I highly recommend it. I don't normally get much time for reading. It took forever to finish the Harry Potters (but they were so worth it! Rowling...BRILLIANT!!). You know, the funny thing about today is that it is exact to the day when we had a big ice storm last year and campus was closed for two days. Craziness!

Es schneit!

It is snowing! Ich liebe Schnee! Das ist sehr schön! Here in Columbus, not a lot of snow is seen. Just cold. I'm from the snowbelt and love the snow. People here freak out when it snows...like the world is coming to an end...it's rather humorous. So, this is my first blog ever, and I actually set it up because I wanted to have an online journal for my family and friends to read when I study abroad in the fall. However, I got really excited and decided what the heck! Might as well just start now. Speaking of study abroad, I cannot wait! It is going to be such an incredible experience! I will be studying at the Kodály Institute of Music in Kecskemét, Hungary. (I am a vocal music performance major.) It is going to be so amazing! My application is in and am now in the process of waiting. I am not a very patient person, so I don't care much for the waiting period. Hopefully, I'll hear soon. I've been thinking about this idea of studying in Europe for months now and get so excited about it. (As you can probably tell, I get really excited about things. I love life! I am just so blessed! I can't help being bubbly and ridiculous a lot of the time. What fun is life without being a little crazy?) Four months in beautiful Europe studying what I love most. I can't wait to be immersed even more in gorgeous music! AND...I will get to travel around while I'm there, too. Vienna (where I'll get to stay with my Austrian friend Katrin), Salzburg, Prague, Rome....At the very least, I want to explore those places. I'd love to return to Switzerland and England, too, but we shall see where I am led over those months. I am scared out of my mind, though. I kind of freaked out the other day about getting on a plane over an ocean by myself, and I am not even at the point of booking a ticket yet. I've only flown once by myself before...and that was only a two-hour flight. It'll be alright, though. All part of the adventure. I also worry about leaving my brilliant teacher here. Lynn is the most amazing voice teacher I could ever ask for! She is such a sweetheart! She's become not just my teacher but my mentor and friend as well. However, maybe this will be wonderful for me. (I'll unfortunately have to leave her eventually :-( . ) I am going to look on the bright side and think about how it will enhance the great work Lynn and I are doing, and when I come back, I'll be brilliant! Besides planning for Europe, life has just been craziness as always. Gotta love it, though! This semester is really big for me. The application is in, so that's one thing off my list. However, as the process progresses, there will be more to do. Lots of paperwork and getting money in order (I hate money!) and arranging life here before leaving it, etc. The list is probably endless. I got sick the first few weeks of the semester, so I feel like I'm kind of playing catch up in the voice studio. My stamina is finally getting back to what it was, and I just got to start my new repertoire within the last couple of weeks. I'm doing quite well, though. It's really hard to work the voice back up after a break and/or being sick. Blech! I hate having to do that! The next few months that I have left with my teacher here I am really concentrating on my technique. Resonance is so hard! My 'vocal placement' has a mind of its own. Lynn keeps telling me, "Make it so bright that yellow is shimmering all around you." She makes me smile with her crazy analogies...but they work. I was way out in blue somewhere, but I am venturing in green right now, so we're getting closer! That is my ultimate goal this semester....creating yellow aka making my technique in resonance solid. The conservatory scholarship competition is Saturday afternoon. It's going to be great. I love performing! I am ready to roll! I am really excited. (Yellow shall shimmer through the whole hall. hehe!) My fabulous accompanist, Chad, is out of town :-( BUT the wonderful Isaac, a friend of mine, has graciously stepped and is doing super. I don't know what I'd do without my incredible friends. :) Well, it's off to bed. It's rather late, and although we all secretly wish for a 'snow day,' I highly doubt it'll happen.