last lesson

In my last lesson we just did a mock jury which was exactly what I needed. I guess I'm a lot more prepared than I thought. I guess I really don't even know why I should worry. I've known all my stuff all semester, it's just the questions that might cause problems, but really I shouldn't even be worried about that. This has been the best semester so far! I just can't even believe that it always gets better every year. Thank you so much for all the hard work that YOU put in, Dr.Hepworth! You amaze me how well you keep all of your students on track and how much progress everyone makes with you. I can't wait for next year!!

Approaching the home stretch!

Yesterday in my lesson we just went through all my rep. It's so crazy to me that I feel this prepared. It's so awesome! For some reason I'm still fighting to keep my throat open sometimes. But the good thing about that is that I can definetly tell when I'm doing it and when I'm not. It's so easy to feel now. Why don't I just do it all the time then? Who knows. But I'm starting to gain a lot of control of those kinds of things and I think that's a success in itself. I'm also noticing that I'm really not good at speaking German haha...good ol diction just tells me everything I do not know. I super struggle with the ichlauts and auchlauts. I try like just doing them and switching back and forth but there seems to be a huge difference in being able to speak them and being able to sing them. Really my only current worry though is still being quizzed on my composers. I just really really really want to pass!! But yeah that's really all I got. Studio recital is tonight and I am really super excited! It is the weirdest thing  actually being excited to be on a recital and feel confident about it!! I feel like this semester I've rediscovered my love for performing and it's probably one of the best feelings I've had in a while. Wow I am just realizing that. That is really neat. Well, I will call this a successful semester! One more voice lesson to go. And it is definetly time for summer. Everyone is driving me crazy. Gosh, I am so nice. Well here's to these last couple weeks....WHOOOOO!!

keep calm and eat a cupcake.

I cannot even believe how close to the end of school it is. I know that everyone says it every year, but seriously, WHAT THE HECK! Studio recital is next week which I'm pretty pumped about. Well actually I'm kind of nervous because I want to wear the dress I wore for my junior prom and I'm really not sure if it fits. So if that's my biggest problem with life right now I really shouldn't complain. Then in just just a few weeks it is freaking barrier time. I am just dreading that. I always try and pack way too much information in my head and it's never even the right stuff and I am just so freaking out that I'm going to do it again. But we did start making note cards in my lesson so that was super helpful. I think next week I'm going to bring my biographies so we can like take information out of there so I'm not just stealing all the answers because I feel bad doing that. Next week on rectial I'm going to do vanilla ice cream which I am SUPER pumped for. I have been working my buns off on that one and I really hope I can pull it off like the song deserves. The hardest part is not moving around so much. I know that your face is the primary place for expressions to take place, but it is so hard to shut off your arm movements and stuff like that! I just need to tell myself that less is more with the extraneous stuff but there can always be more facial expression. I'm feeling really comfortable with my rep though so I'm really thankful for that. I'm so proud of myself for putting in so much hard work all through out the semester instead of just kicking it in gear at the end because I really feel in control and confident when it comes to the singing portion of my jury.Well, it isn't over yet though so no pats on the back yet, but I think I should be okay. I just can't freak out. And I won't. I think now that I'm signed up for classes I think most of my freak outs are out. No promises though. I may allow myself just one more from now until the end of school just to be safe.

make up lesson.

Well my last voice lesson was more of a counseling session, but sometimes you need those just as much anyways. That week of practicing though I just kind of felt like I was running out of gas. I feel like my voice was just cooperating so much better at the beginning of the year and that could totally probably be just because it's getting towards the end here and I'm just really tired. However, it's so frustrating going from feeling really good about my singing to being frustrated again! We did touch on a new problem which was tension in the lower lip. It was something I would've never even thought of so it really opened my eyes to that. I haven't quite figured out how to let go of the tension there. Every time I think I am I feel like I have no control. Maybe that's what it's supposed to feel like? I'm not really sure yet, but I will figure it out eventually, hopefully!

I have lost so many pencils this semester.

Hello world! Here I am to talk about my endeavors throughout the week. Well first and foremost diphthongs are driving me crazy. I also just realized like today that it's diPHthongs. I always thought it was dipthongs. Guess I'm a dip haaa. Well anyways, I am just having the toughest time hearing them. As soon as anything is said about them I can tell that I'm doing it, but when I'm by myself they seem to never even phase me. Maybe I need to do a little more speak singing. I know which words are my problem spots, but I just don't know. Drive me crazy. And then when it comes to diphthongs in la conocchia that is just like a whole other level of frustration because I'm not exactly positive what I need to look for when it comes to diphthongs in that language. I think I've sang that song too many times and I'm getting a little tired of it. But I'm still really excited for our studio recital!! I just hope I still fit into the dress I want to wear eeek. High school was so long ago!  I am really really loving vanilla ice cream, but I just get so discouraged almost at the beginning. I just sound so bad I think. And I'm not being hard on myself! That's like the weakest part of my voice so it can't ever decide what it wants to do and I'm so worried about cracking or something like that. It's going to be so fun once we get it polished up though. I really need to hit that one hard by myself. Other than that stuff I think my rep is going pretty well! So hooray for that. Oh and I was totally freaking out today about recital since I didn't have a banana but guess what I didn't even freak out when I got on stage!! I was actually like totally loving it. Funny what just a tid of confidence does..

this is a boring blog.

So in my lesson this week we went over my rep focusing on la conocchia, into the night, and vanilla ice cream. Vanilla Ice Cream is so hard! I had no idea it was going to be so hard when we started it! I think adding a character voice is going to make it a little bit easier, but the dipthongs are absolutely kicking my butt! I just never realize it when I'm singing it, but as soon as someone says something then it just seems so obvious. I think I'm going to start recording myself when I practice and then I'll be able to hear them. La conoccchia is going pretty well I just need to start breathing in the space. I think I have pretty much everything memorized so that is good. I'm getting pretty nervous for 300 level juries. I'm not worried about the singing at all, but it's the memorizing stuff about the composers and stuff that is going to kill me. I also am focusing on getting a more forward sound. I seem to forget about that a lot. I really don't have anything too exciting to talk about in this blog. So whooooooo!

Rejuvenated.

Well we had our first lesson after spring break yesterday and it went quite well. We went over Into the Night and that went pretty swell. I need to work on dipthongs and modifying so that shouldn't be too much to tweak. In Chanson d'amour I learned that I need a lot more puckering which I think might make singing it a bit more difficult because I don't want to create unwanted tension from doing the puckering so that will be a challenge. And then we changed the end of Vanilla Ice Cream (THANK GOD!) from the b to a turn so that is going to be a thousand times less scary. I mean I've never actually tried the b, but I just have a very bad feeling about it, and I really don't want to like kill my self attempting it, sooo we'll just keep it like we got it now. So every time I've been in the practice room I've done the duckas kitties and todays, but I just feel like I am not getting any better at it and it is making me mad. I sang in studio today and I think it was the best job I've done in quite a while. I went  up there with a good attitude and told myself that I was going to do great and I think that really made a lot of difference. I'm starting to get a tid nervous for the big scary barrier juries coming up, but so  far I feel real confident with my rep so I'm not going to stress too much over it right now. This may be my last blog ever because I have a diction AND aural skills test tomorrow so it might kill me. So if that is the case, then adios, but who knows, maybe I'll make it out alive.