Oh my goodness I have had so much going on and I have lots of good news to write about but right now I don't have time so I will just write a little...
This morning I finished my last final for the semester - it was my oral exam for Italian class. I think I did well! I am so happy because my Italian teacher is really amazing - his name is Brian Neilson. I am learning so fast in his class.
Tonight is my audition for the Gilbert and Sullivan opera, "Trial by Jury". I am a bit nervous for that because I just started learning the excerpt that I will be singing last night, and it is not very well-memorized yet. Fortunately it is only two pages long... I am just going to work on it most of the day today, until I have to go to the audition.
And tomorrow I have another audition with a small opera company (the San Francisco Parlor Opera) for Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffman". I will be audition with the "Doll Song" for that, and a couple other pieces if they ask for them.
Tomorrow our chamber music coach, Yoshi, is taking my quintet out for dinner! That will be fun. It will be right before my opera audition though, so I am a little nervous about getting there in time. My group said we will choose a place for dinner that is very nearby.
That's all for now... I have to go practice.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Last week of the semester
First of all as an update - The concert on Thursday went really well! I was so relieved when after the first movement finished, a man in the audience yelled out, "WOW!" and the whole audience started clapping, even though they knew it wasn't the end yet. After the whole piece was finished (it's about 43 mins long), we got a standing ovation - so I know the audience liked it. That makes me very happy.
Now it's the last week of class... I have a final project due in Continuo class - which is a sonata by Handel for Oboe and continuo. I will have to learn it and rehearse it on my own with the oboist, and then perform it in class Thursday for the final.
I also have two finals this week for Italian, because I am taking both the beginning and intermediate classes simultaneously this year.
I'm so excited because next semester I will be taking a class in jazz improvisation! That is something I have been wanting to learn how to do for a long time.
And on Friday I have a singing audition for a San Francisco theater company called, "Lamplighters", which specializes in Gilbert and Sullivan operas. I have to learn the excerpts this week for that, as well.
So, this week is very busy... but when it's over the semester will be over!! And then I will have a nice break at home in Montana.
I'd better go get practicing....
Now it's the last week of class... I have a final project due in Continuo class - which is a sonata by Handel for Oboe and continuo. I will have to learn it and rehearse it on my own with the oboist, and then perform it in class Thursday for the final.
I also have two finals this week for Italian, because I am taking both the beginning and intermediate classes simultaneously this year.
I'm so excited because next semester I will be taking a class in jazz improvisation! That is something I have been wanting to learn how to do for a long time.
And on Friday I have a singing audition for a San Francisco theater company called, "Lamplighters", which specializes in Gilbert and Sullivan operas. I have to learn the excerpts this week for that, as well.
So, this week is very busy... but when it's over the semester will be over!! And then I will have a nice break at home in Montana.
I'd better go get practicing....
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Concert prep...
Tomorrow is the big day! I will be playing the Dvorak Piano Quintet in A Major on the second half of the SFCM Chamber Music Concert at 4 o'clock!
I was so nervous today but we played it through in my teacher's studio class and it went pretty well. Tomorrow I am going to skip my Italian class so that I have time to take it easy, eat lunch, get dressed, and warm up before-hand.
So, send me good thoughts around 5:00 pm California time!
I was so nervous today but we played it through in my teacher's studio class and it went pretty well. Tomorrow I am going to skip my Italian class so that I have time to take it easy, eat lunch, get dressed, and warm up before-hand.
So, send me good thoughts around 5:00 pm California time!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sausalito
Last week my friend Joe drove me over to the Golden Gate Bridge to a beautiful little town right by the water called Sausalito.
The view from the shore of Sausalito:
An adorable little dress shop in Sausalito where I bought a very beautiful concert dress for only nine dollars (it needs a new zipper):
More shoreside views:
Joe was wondering why I was taking pictures of the seagulls... but I thought it was pretty sitting there.
The view from the shore of Sausalito:
An adorable little dress shop in Sausalito where I bought a very beautiful concert dress for only nine dollars (it needs a new zipper):
More shoreside views:
Joe was wondering why I was taking pictures of the seagulls... but I thought it was pretty sitting there.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
improvisation
(Dec. 22 2010 update: read a follow-up to this post here!)
My improvisation skills are gradually getting better and better on the piano. It is actually starting to become enjoyable for me to 'make something up'...where not very long ago it used to be pure torture. Last night I got into it and was making stuff up and improvising until one in the morning. Most of what I do is not sounding 'good'...but I think it will be in not tooooo much longer. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!! Then I am going to sing and play and play and sing and write and... yes, it will be fun! I've been working on some songs of my own that I want to record, as soon as I can afford to get my laptop fixed. Its hard-drive crashed this summer before I came to the conservatory, so right now I can only use the conservatory computers, which don't allow me to upload anything. :-S But all good things to those who wait, right? !!!!!!
My improvisation skills are gradually getting better and better on the piano. It is actually starting to become enjoyable for me to 'make something up'...where not very long ago it used to be pure torture. Last night I got into it and was making stuff up and improvising until one in the morning. Most of what I do is not sounding 'good'...but I think it will be in not tooooo much longer. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!! Then I am going to sing and play and play and sing and write and... yes, it will be fun! I've been working on some songs of my own that I want to record, as soon as I can afford to get my laptop fixed. Its hard-drive crashed this summer before I came to the conservatory, so right now I can only use the conservatory computers, which don't allow me to upload anything. :-S But all good things to those who wait, right? !!!!!!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Two stories of Unwanted Roommates
I was sitting on my bed the other night, and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw something move beside my backpack sitting on the floor. I looked and saw nothing, but I heard a little rustle as if something had just run from my view. I suspected it had been a mouse. I walked around see if it was hiding somewhere, but I couldn't find anything.
I wasn't sure if I had actually seen anything or if I had just been imagining, but just to be certain I thought I would do a test. I left 10 almonds on the floor, gathered up all my sheets and blankets away from the edges of the bed (I didn't want any creatures to be able to climb up them), and went to sleep. In the morning I checked the almonds and there were only nine. I wondered if I had counted correctly the night before...It seemed strange to me that a hungry animal would only bother taking one almond. However just to be safe I went and told the man (his name is Bob) at the desk downstairs that I thought maybe I had seen a mouse - he didn't act at all surprised, and told me he would make a note of my room for the pest control. Then I talked to a boy who lives across the hall from me (a composer named Sunny), and told him I thought I had seen a mouse in my room. "Oh yeah!" he said. "You have to stick socks in the holes in the walls so they can't get in." I laughed, "Are you serious?" "Yeah," he said, and he showed me the mouse entrance into his room at the base of the floor... So I went back to my room and I noticed a gap between my sink and the wall where I thought maybe a mouse could go in or out, so I took out some duct tape and taped over the space.
Later that night I was sitting on my bed again reading, and in my peripheral vision I saw something moving across the room. I looked up and a mouse jumped and tried to hide behind my trash bag, but he knew I had seen him so he jumped out again and darted toward me and past me so fast that I couldn't see where it went. I looked around the room and picked up a few things I'd left on the floor, and looked around again to see if I could find any other holes. I thought maybe I had actually trapped the mouse in my room, taping up his doorway by the sink the night before. I decided the only thing I could do was lie down and rest, and see if I heard anything. I wasn't laying there very long when I heard a rattling coming from near my head. I sat up quickly and turned on the light, but once again saw nothing. I have a bunch of cords plugged in right next to my bed's headboard (for my phone, reading lamp, camera charger, etc.), that I thought maybe the mouse had been climbing up or chewing on. I gathered them all up and unplugged a few to get them as far away from the floor as possible. As I was doing this (I was making quite a bit of noise), the mouse darted out from behind my bed and into my closet. So I followed him to the closet and started moving my stuff around to get him to come out again. He darted out again, and this time ran behind the mini fridge. So I went and pulled out the mini fridge and found a hole in the wall, where he must have gone into. Once again I got out my duct tape and taped up the hole. I felt a little sorry for the guy though and stuck a couple of almonds in the hole before I closed it up.
Later that night I had a nightmare that a giant mangy rat was crawling on me and trying to sleep on my bed with me. In my dream I eventually got him pinned under my head as I was laying there, but when I woke up I was very relieved to realize that the only thing under my head was my pillow.
I haven't heard or seen anything since I taped over the hole... However last night I decided to put one almond on the floor across the room from me. And I left a few almonds on my table and a few on top of my refrigerator. When I woke up this morning, the almond on the floor was gone, but the almonds on the table and fridge were all still there. So I think the mouse is still getting in somewhere (I checked the holes I taped over and they are still covered). However I am glad to see that the mouse apparently isn't currently able to climb my furniture.
I have dealt with rats before (big nasty mean ones) in an apartment I lived in in Texas when I was going to school there, and this tiny mouse is considerably less alarming. The rats in Texas could climb up high, and they made a lot of noise. For quite a while I actually had thought my apartment was haunted, because every time I turned the lights off I would start hearing noises - rattling and rustling and falling things - and sometimes my CD player (which was on the floor) would randomly start playing on its own. However one day I was sitting there playing my electric keyboard and I saw something on the floor beside me, and it was a big fat rat looking straight at me. "Ooooh," I said. "So it's you!" and then I chased him into my bedroom and caught him under a laundry basket. I tell you what - he was MAD. He was squeaking and squawking and baring his teeth and trying to chew (very rapidly), through the rungs of the laundry basket. I had to keep hitting his nose with a shoe to keep him from being able to chew through it. I called my friend Chris who came over right away. We slid a big piece of cardboard under the laundry basket and carried the whole parcel to the car, where I actually held it on my lap and continued bopping the rat's nose every two seconds as he tried to escape from his makeshift cage. We drove to a field far away next to a highway, and let the rat go there.
As soon as I came home though, I heard squeaking and crying coming from behind my sink!! I surmised that I had caught the mother rat who had a nest somewhere in the wall behind my kitchen sink... I went and bought some rat poison and set it out places. I couldn't stand to sleep in my apartment that night and stayed with a friend (even though I had already been staying there for weeks with the rats - just unaware!). A few days later I encountered a baby rat...which I also caught under a laundry basket this time with my friend Russel's help, and then we also took it out to the countryside. Fortunately, I was leaving for Thanksgiving vacation to go back to Montana very shortly, so I didn't have to stay there more than a day or two after that. When I came back the rat poison was all eaten, and I didn't have any problems with rats (or hauntings) after that.
So those are my two stories of "The Unwanted Roommates".
(Story #1 to be continued....)
I wasn't sure if I had actually seen anything or if I had just been imagining, but just to be certain I thought I would do a test. I left 10 almonds on the floor, gathered up all my sheets and blankets away from the edges of the bed (I didn't want any creatures to be able to climb up them), and went to sleep. In the morning I checked the almonds and there were only nine. I wondered if I had counted correctly the night before...It seemed strange to me that a hungry animal would only bother taking one almond. However just to be safe I went and told the man (his name is Bob) at the desk downstairs that I thought maybe I had seen a mouse - he didn't act at all surprised, and told me he would make a note of my room for the pest control. Then I talked to a boy who lives across the hall from me (a composer named Sunny), and told him I thought I had seen a mouse in my room. "Oh yeah!" he said. "You have to stick socks in the holes in the walls so they can't get in." I laughed, "Are you serious?" "Yeah," he said, and he showed me the mouse entrance into his room at the base of the floor... So I went back to my room and I noticed a gap between my sink and the wall where I thought maybe a mouse could go in or out, so I took out some duct tape and taped over the space.
Later that night I was sitting on my bed again reading, and in my peripheral vision I saw something moving across the room. I looked up and a mouse jumped and tried to hide behind my trash bag, but he knew I had seen him so he jumped out again and darted toward me and past me so fast that I couldn't see where it went. I looked around the room and picked up a few things I'd left on the floor, and looked around again to see if I could find any other holes. I thought maybe I had actually trapped the mouse in my room, taping up his doorway by the sink the night before. I decided the only thing I could do was lie down and rest, and see if I heard anything. I wasn't laying there very long when I heard a rattling coming from near my head. I sat up quickly and turned on the light, but once again saw nothing. I have a bunch of cords plugged in right next to my bed's headboard (for my phone, reading lamp, camera charger, etc.), that I thought maybe the mouse had been climbing up or chewing on. I gathered them all up and unplugged a few to get them as far away from the floor as possible. As I was doing this (I was making quite a bit of noise), the mouse darted out from behind my bed and into my closet. So I followed him to the closet and started moving my stuff around to get him to come out again. He darted out again, and this time ran behind the mini fridge. So I went and pulled out the mini fridge and found a hole in the wall, where he must have gone into. Once again I got out my duct tape and taped up the hole. I felt a little sorry for the guy though and stuck a couple of almonds in the hole before I closed it up.
Later that night I had a nightmare that a giant mangy rat was crawling on me and trying to sleep on my bed with me. In my dream I eventually got him pinned under my head as I was laying there, but when I woke up I was very relieved to realize that the only thing under my head was my pillow.
I haven't heard or seen anything since I taped over the hole... However last night I decided to put one almond on the floor across the room from me. And I left a few almonds on my table and a few on top of my refrigerator. When I woke up this morning, the almond on the floor was gone, but the almonds on the table and fridge were all still there. So I think the mouse is still getting in somewhere (I checked the holes I taped over and they are still covered). However I am glad to see that the mouse apparently isn't currently able to climb my furniture.
I have dealt with rats before (big nasty mean ones) in an apartment I lived in in Texas when I was going to school there, and this tiny mouse is considerably less alarming. The rats in Texas could climb up high, and they made a lot of noise. For quite a while I actually had thought my apartment was haunted, because every time I turned the lights off I would start hearing noises - rattling and rustling and falling things - and sometimes my CD player (which was on the floor) would randomly start playing on its own. However one day I was sitting there playing my electric keyboard and I saw something on the floor beside me, and it was a big fat rat looking straight at me. "Ooooh," I said. "So it's you!" and then I chased him into my bedroom and caught him under a laundry basket. I tell you what - he was MAD. He was squeaking and squawking and baring his teeth and trying to chew (very rapidly), through the rungs of the laundry basket. I had to keep hitting his nose with a shoe to keep him from being able to chew through it. I called my friend Chris who came over right away. We slid a big piece of cardboard under the laundry basket and carried the whole parcel to the car, where I actually held it on my lap and continued bopping the rat's nose every two seconds as he tried to escape from his makeshift cage. We drove to a field far away next to a highway, and let the rat go there.
As soon as I came home though, I heard squeaking and crying coming from behind my sink!! I surmised that I had caught the mother rat who had a nest somewhere in the wall behind my kitchen sink... I went and bought some rat poison and set it out places. I couldn't stand to sleep in my apartment that night and stayed with a friend (even though I had already been staying there for weeks with the rats - just unaware!). A few days later I encountered a baby rat...which I also caught under a laundry basket this time with my friend Russel's help, and then we also took it out to the countryside. Fortunately, I was leaving for Thanksgiving vacation to go back to Montana very shortly, so I didn't have to stay there more than a day or two after that. When I came back the rat poison was all eaten, and I didn't have any problems with rats (or hauntings) after that.
So those are my two stories of "The Unwanted Roommates".
(Story #1 to be continued....)
Saturday, November 13, 2010
At the Palace/Art museum for an Organ Concert
Last week on Sunday I tried to go to an organ concert of a lady I met at a funeral I sang for. Some people from my church took me there.
We ended up missing the concert (we weren't sure where it was and found it right as it was finishing), but we saw some very beautiful scenery in the meanwhile.
k
Chamber Music Class
Every week on Thursday I go to Chamber Music Class in the concert hall. All of the different chamber music groups take turns performing the different chamber music works they are working on, and they (or we) receive comments from the teachers and students. We all sit on stage for the class. The girl sitting next to me is my friend Hannah, a wonderful violist.
i
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Success!
Yaaaay! I just sang at a concert tonight for the Baroque Ensemble at the San Francisco Conservatory. It went really well - I sang 23 verses of the ballad of "Barbara Allen" acapella! As soon as the school gets the recording in the library maybe I can post it up here for you to hear it. I also sang one other song, called "If my Complaints Could Passions Move" by John Dowland. I'm so happy and relieved that it all went well tonight. I got lots of positive feedback from people - a few people told me that "Barbara Allen" made them cry. So, happy day! :-)
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