I have a PAID church gig!

I got an email yesterday from one of the other singers in the benefit concert I did last summer.  She wondered if I could sub for her at her church job for 2 weeks while she & her husband are out of town for a wedding.  My calendar's clear for the dates, so I said yes.  After singing for free at my own church essentially all my life, I'm actually gonna get PAID to go to 2 choir rehearsals and sing 2 services along with the rest of the choir.    Not my denomination, so I'll have to pay close attention to the order of service, but that's a minor point.  I have no plans to give up singing at my own church, but it's a nice little change of pace, and the cash will be a nice bonus. :)

I guess they liked it...

We had our first performance of the Brahms last night.  The audience must have enjoyed it - they started standing up as soon as the maestro's body language told them it was over, and they kept applauding through three sets of bows!

This conductor is a lot of fun to work with.  His joy in the music is obvious, and his conducting body language is so expressive, it's almost as if he dances through it.  He certainly gets good music out of both chorus and orchestra, and I think we all enjoy the experience.

Never had to audition for a class before

I need to take at least 2 more performance classes in order to graduate.  In this program, that means you audition or interview.  Yesterday was my audition for the Alexander Technique class.  I had no idea what to expect - I'd never heard of interviewing to get into a class!  And getting in isn't a given; the class is limited to 12, and 18 people signed up for interviews.  The instructor expects to notify people by the middle of next week.

Today was my audition for Voice for the Actor.  I trimmed down the Veta Louise monologue I've used before.  It went well enough, and the professor then had me start it again as if Veta were seriously pissed off about this situation.  (I'd been playing her as at her wits' end.)  She warned me that she'd cut me off before I finished, and she did, but she explained that anger seems to play funnier.  The whole thing took maybe 5 minutes, tops.  I told her it was the shortest, most painless audition I think I've ever had.  She expects to post her list by the end of the day tomorrow.  While I don't have class at this building tomorrow, we do meet here for the "Brahms buses", so I can check the list before we have to board the buses for our concert.

I've now been introduced to this concept of having to audition for a class.  The scary part is that they only let you audition (or interview) twice; after that, you're out of luck.    Yike!

The wheels on the bus...

And we're off!  Two busloads of singers, headed to our first rehearsal with the orchestra.  (We had our first run-through with the maestro last night.)  My seatmate, a middle school music teacher, is working on lesson plans.  I've got my music, my water bottle, a coupla pencils, and a little dinner - I'm ready for this. Looking forward to singing with a professional orchestra!

Marble

In this week's Scene Painting class we played with creating the effect of marble.  I'm happy with how mine turned out.  I had a little trouble getting some of the effects I wanted, so we got into a little bit of a time crunch (no wonder we meet for a single 4-hour session!), but I still think my "marble" looks pretty decent.  The curving arc makes it look kinda like a geode.  Not bad for someone who'd never attempted anything like this until I started this class.

This singing stuff is an unpredictable business.

Yesterday's voice lesson was one of those that happen every so often and make you wonder why you bother.  Seemed like everything I tried to sing below the staff was mushy, muddy, back in the throat - you name a technical problem, I had it.  My low audition piece (lots of it below the staff) was giving me so much trouble that my teacher and I both decided that I would definitely not be using it for the audition I had last night.  Five hours just wouldn't be enough to whip it into shape.

So that audition last night.  I sang my two higher pieces (one G&S, one Rodgers & Hammerstein).  They both felt good, the audition panel laughed (they're comic pieces, so that's a good thing), and the audition accompanist sightread like a champ and followed nicely, so it was all good.  I'm sure it helped that we'd touched on both pieces in my lesson yesterday afternoon, so all those technical niceties were fresh in my mind.

This afternoon was the mock run of next Saturday's NATS competition.  C has 7 students who'll be competing and 6 of us sang this afternoon.  We had an "adjudicator", we stood in the crook of the piano to sing, just as we will next week, and we were coached in how to introduce ourselves and our pieces.  C had us in age order, starting with her youngest students, which meant I "batted clean-up".  It wasn't too bad being last, as I only had to wait through 5 other people's music.  Having had the benefit of C's training, they all did well.  I got a little over-the-top with my brindisi, which caused one of my notes to "splat", but in general I was pretty happy with how it went, and did have fun singing the music.  Better, C was delighted with how my lowest song went.  She thought it was worlds better than yesterday and was very happy with how quickly I'd managed to incorporate her corrections.  Now if I can just manage to keep them in mind through the week so I've internalized them by next Saturday, when I have to sing for the judges...

The Chief came along for the ride.  (It helped, I'm sure, that I promised him dinner afterwards at a nearby restaurant we love.)  He said that, when I was warming up in the car going over, he wasn't so sure how I'd do, but thought that when it came down to it, I did just fine. :)

"Travel team"

I'm registered in Chorale as one of my classes this semester.  This has already meant an outside rehearsal (this afternoon), with more coming up.  Our first performance series consists of 3 concerts split between 2 venues, about 30-40 miles apart.  We got an email earlier this week with the schedule, including when we have to be on the buses.

We're also on tap to sing at a directors' conference in mid-March.  That one's out of town, which means packing an overnight bag (and probably sharing a hotel room with a fellow chorister).  Because we leave late on a Friday morning, I also have to arrange to make up my Scene Painting work for that day.

I never realized, when I registered, that I was signing up for a "travel team"! :D

I painted something!

Today was the first day we actually painted in Scene Painting class.  (Last week was the customary administrative stuff, "getting to know you" session, and a quick tour of the building.)  Today was about creating visual texture. We practiced several techniques that were new to me:

- painting with a brush on the end of a pole

- wet blend (paint, then water on the brush, so the colors combine readily), using X strokes

- scumbling (near as I can tell, it's like wet blend, except that the colors remain somewhat discrete)

- spattering (tips: keep the brush horizontal, don't use too much water unless you want the color to be diluted, don't use a brush with really stiff bristles)

- using a sea sponge (wet or dry) for dappling or blending

- using a feather duster(!) to dapple or blend

We each had a 4' x 4' board to practice on.  Some of my classmates are definitely artists and had very good-looking results.

Interestingly, nearly everyone else had darker, more muted colors, in part because of the way their colors blended.  I chose bright blue, green and yellow, so I had the one board with fairly bright colors.  Our instructor said they made her happy. :)  I was pleasantly surprised that something I dove into with no plan and no real clue what I was doing turned out reasonably well.  I painted a thing and I actually kinda like it! :)  (That funny-looking stick-like thing in the middle is just some dribbled paint.)

I used the sponge on this corner to get the streaky effect here:

Some spatter and just a touch of feather duster:

Here are everyone's boards (the one on the brown paper is the instructor's demo):

Been a very eventful few weeks

The biggest event was that Dad finally succumbed to his health issues on Jan. 15th.  We're relieved for his sake, and glad he's reunited with Mom, but of course his passing leaves a big hole in our lives.

The Chief and I flew out for the funeral.  My siblings planned a very nice one, so we gave him a good send-off.  (Mom would've loved the music.)

Getting back was tricky, however.  The East Coast got hit with a blizzard that weekend (one of Dad's cousins and his wife decided, wisely, not to fly out), so our flight home Sunday was cancelled.  We finally got home Monday afternoon.  Classes were cancelled both Monday and Tuesday, which gave me a little time to get ready for a new semester at a new school.

Getting into the new semester has been tricky because I was waitlisted for two classes I needed.  I did manage to get into both, but I only got approved for the second one yesterday, and didn't get my shop hours scheduled until this morning.  

This has made it hard to reschedule my voice lesson, too.  C's schedule is pretty full, so I was afraid we might not be able to work something out.  As it is, I couldn't get a lesson this week, but we did work something out.  Good thing, with NATS only a few weeks away!

It's hard changing schools mid-year.

Classes have been in session for about a week now, my schedule is finalized at last, but I'm still feeling unsettled.  Part of it is that no two days have the same schedule, but there's also the fact that my of my classmates seem to know each other.  Ah well, I've done this before; once in 2nd grade and again in 8th.  At least this time I have the advantage of perspective and experience.  I know I'll live, and at this level people are far more likely to ignore the new "kid" than pick on her, especially given that she's probably at least as old as their parents. ;)

Gonna be a busy semester.  I'm taking 14 credit hours, and I can see already that I'm gonna be quite busy with reading and researching design projects.  My two "artsy" classes - Fundamentals of Theatrical Design  and Scene Painting - are a bit intimidating because I have never felt that I had much design imagination or *any* drawing ability.  They'll certainly challenge me, pushing me to step way out of my comfort zone and to force my imagination to get off dead center and do something.  Wish me luck!

Getting psyched for this semester

Went to new student orientation last Friday and got a preliminary schedule.  I'm waitlisted for two classes I need, so they gave me two others to fill out my hours.  Today I met with someone in the Theater dept. about registering for one of the four 1-credit practicums I need for my degree.  She sent me to the costume shop to get a contract for the 40 hours I need to put in.  I'm now slated to spend 4 hours every Monday afternoon during the semester working in the costume shop, learning some tricks of the trade and, if I'm lucky, being trusted to work on some of the fancier projects.  

Poor me - "forced" to work in the costume shop.   When I got home and told the Chief, he teased me about staying past closing so I can continue to play in the costumes.  That's probably not too far from the truth - I full expect to have NO trouble getting in my 40 hours.  At 4 hours a week, I'll probably hit that number before the end of the semester.

They also have an arrangement they call a "fire sale".  Instead of spacing your 40 hours over the semester, you do a single 40-hour week during the week before classes start.  You get the same credit, but knock it out in a single week.  Not all of the technical shops offer this arrangement, but it's nice to know it's out there, in case I want to get a jump-start on my semester.

How to make a fun semester even better

I requested an unofficial transcript for the semester so I could print a copy to take to the university's new student orientation.  I was delighted to see that I have STRAIGHT A's for the semester!  Woohoo!  I got straight A's for having fun - gotta love it!

This university's administration is SO messed up!

First it was all those auto-emails from Admissions, promising a response to my query within 3 business days.  I think the shortest time I waited for a response was 2 calendar weeks.  Then the system took a coupla days to acknowledge that I'd paid the enrollment confirmation fee.  Now it's New Student Orientation (NSO henceforth).

First, navigating their NSO page is an exercise in frustration, as many of the links keep circling back to ones I've already visited.  NSO is mandatory; can't register for classes until you attend.  However - there are no NSO sessions left before the start of the semester!  I might have been able to sign up sooner if:
1) they'd responded to my application in mid-October as promised, instead of Dec. 2nd;
2) they'd responded immediately, or at least within the promised "3 business days", to my deferral request (submitted Dec. 3rd), instead of waiting until Dec. 17th.
Their foot-dragging put me a good 5 or 6 weeks behind where I might have been had they responded as promised.

And of course I didn't get a chance to get online to register for NSO until after dinner tonight, long after the Orientation office had closed.  I'm hoping there'll be someone in the office Monday morning who can help me with this little problem.  Wish me luck!

The university didn't cooperate with my plans.

Finally heard back from the university admissions office today.  I went by there Tuesday and was told I needed to accept their admission offer (which included submitting a hefty, non-refundable (natch!) deposit) before they'd even consider my deferral request. I went through those steps, sent them their money, then requested a deferral from the admissions officer in charge of such things.  I finally heard back this afternoon that they don't grant deferrals just so you can complete a degree elsewhere.  Never mind that when I submitted my application way back last July, I didn't know how close I was to an A.A., and no word of acknowledgement of how hard it is to get hold of a real person to give you a straight answer.  Harrumph!  However, given the glorious facility that is their performing arts space, and the wealth of wonderful-sounding course offerings, I'm not too broken up.  I just have to shift mental gears, from "community college" to "university".  And to think of the hoops I jumped through to test outta that computer literacy class.  Oh well.

I also heard back about my prescreening audition for the School of Music.  I was not surprised to learn that I wasn't invited for an in-person audition, given all the vocal problems I was still recovering from when I had to do the recording.  No matter; this just gives me that much more time to select and work on audition pieces for the Fall 2017 cycle.

So no, they didn't cooperate with my plans, but in January I get to start sinking my teeth into their banquet of "Theatre" offerings, so yay!

And that's the semester!

Finally finished and submitted the research paper for my last class (Script Analysis).  At 10 pages (and could've gone longer), it was easily the longest paper I've written this semester.  In fact, it's at least as long as my next two longest papers combined, just because the professor had so very many things we needed to cover.  A useful exercise, but oh did it take a long time to pull together everything I needed!

Now my time is my own again and I can spend time on voice practice, Lend Me a Tenor research, Regency sewing, Christmas cards...

Regency stays complete! Next - a toile of the dress.

My seamstress just blogged (with my permission) about my stays, now that they're finished.  As soon as I finish this last paper, I can call it a semester and start working on a toile for my very first Regency dress.  First stop will be a fabric store to get some grid fabric, because I know at least the bodice pattern piece will need adjusting.  I've got some lavender dotted fabric that I'll use (because it was just as cheap as the muslin I was looking at when the Chief & I were in Amish country this summer).  With any luck at all, I'll be able to use my toile as a "real" dress.

Three down, two to go

Two more finals under my belt.  Yesterday's Technical Theater final was easy; identify 10 tools and provide a materials cut list & assembly instructions for a standard platform and flat.  The tool ID was a piece of cake, as I'd used all but 2 of them during the course of the semester.  I lost 1 point on the platform instructions because I forgot that you use more crosspieces in a platform than a flat.  However, since that's only 1 point off the total for the final, I'll take it!  Looks like the only other points I lost all semester were for one of the quizzes (I only knew the answer to one of the 3 questions).  Again, I'll take it.  The grade totals haven't been weighted yet, but I think I'm looking at an A in that course - wahoo!

Today's final was for Acting I.  I didn't start my paper for that one until I got home from yesterday's finals, but a little digging through my notes and a coupla online searches gave me what I needed for the paper.  The monologue was a little rocky; I knew it when I was practicing it in the lobby, but once I got on stage I stumbled a coupla places.  I didn't actually forget the words, just tripped on them a few times.  Not a disaster, just not as good as I'd hoped.  My scene went well.  I was blessed with a good scene partner, for starters, which made everything else easy.  We did a decent job of incorporating the new business our instructor suggested last week, had decent volume (I think), and generally managed to acquit ourselves honorably. :)  Not sure whether I'll end up with an A or a B, but either way I think I'll be happy with my grade.

That leaves just the drafting and execution of my Stage Makeup final design (tomorrow) and the research and writing of my Script Analysis paper, due Sunday night.  I've had enough late nights this week that I'm pretty tired, so I'll probably just draft the makeup design, make a few research notes for my paper and go to bed at a decent hour for a change.  Tomorrow I'll dig into my paper in earnest.  Ideally, I'll have at least a rough draft written by bedtime tomorrow night so I can edit it Saturday and, God willing, turn it in that afternoon and call it a semester.

Finals underway

Turned in my take-home final this morning.  Still to do:  Script Analysis research paper; Tech Theater final (shop math and identification of tools and lighting instrument parts; that one will only need about an hour or so of review); research paper, monologue & scene for Acting I; and a design draft and execution for Stage Makeup.  Busy, busy, busy!

Oh, and Saturday holds my voice teacher's trunk show (she makes jewelry) and working concessions at a holiday show.

If I can just hang on through this weekend, I can breathe again.  And Monday I start working in earnest on "Lend Me a Tenor" designs.  (1930s styles are so lovely!)

They got on that right away!

I emailed my IC3 certification last night for transfer credit.  I got an email at lunchtime today letting me know they've got the equivalency credit in my records already.  Wow, that was fast!  They must get a lot of these requests if they're able to turn mine around so quickly - love it!

I'm in! Now to find out when...

I finally learned on Wednesday that my uni application was accepted, for this spring.  Um...  Since I submitted that application way back in July, 4 months ago, I've learned that I need just two more classes to get an Associate's degree next spring.  Might as well do that, and take some other classes I'm interested in, at the "discounted" community college rate.  That's why I asked if they'd let me defer my enrollment until the fall.  So far, things are starting to fall my way.

I wanted 4 things to happen, in order:  1) uni accepts me; 2) they let me wait until fall to enroll; 3) the Music School calls me back for an in-person audition; and 4) they accept me into the Voice program.  I've got #1 taken care of, and am hopeful for #2.  Even if 3 and 4 don't happen, I can still be a Theater major; no audition required for that program, though there is a scholarship I can (and will) audition for.