New Poem

New poem (well, actually an old poem I'm just posting now) on Reflections:

http://jacquelynsreflections.blogspot.com/2011/12/connection.html

New Recording - "What Do You Want"

Here is a song I recorded at 3 in the morning Sunday night.   I was actually trying to record another song, but tried about ten different takes and didn't like any of them.  So then on a whim I started singing this song while the camera was still running, and I ended up getting a performance I was pretty happy with.  

It's called, "What Do You Want?".  

Voice Audition

I got this email this week from SFCM...

I hope I'm not boring you by sharing my mail, but I thought maybe it might be interesting to some people who may never have seen an audition invitation from a conservatory...   And it's memorabilia for the scrapbook, right?

I'm so excited!!!


Here it is:


Dear Jackie,


We are pleased to inform you that your voice audition for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music has been scheduled for Sunday, February 19th, at SFCM. Please read this entire message carefully and print this e-mail for your records.

1. To confirm that you will be attending, please reply to this email and add the word ‘Confirm’ to the subject line.

2. All applicants must check-in at the front desk at 3:00 pm and attend an orientation meeting at 3:15 pm. The meeting will provide you with information about our admission process and give you the opportunity to learn more about our school. Tours of the building will take place immediately following the orientation meeting.

3. Your audition time is 7:40 pm. In case we are running behind or ahead of schedule, please be ready to sing 15 minutes before your scheduled time and be prepared to stay later if necessary. The audition itself should last no longer than ten minutes. We do not administer any tests in theory, musicianship, etc. As soon as your audition is over, you're done!

4. We will provide a warm-up room with a piano for the 30 minutes before your audition.

5. If you signed up for a piano accompanist through the application, we will provide one for the audition itself. You will have a few minutes immediately before you enter the audition to discuss your music with your accompanist. We are unable to accommodate requests for advance practice time with your accompanist, but please rest assured that s/he is a member of our professional accompanying staff here at the school and will be very familiar with your repertoire.

6. Please bring music for your accompanist to the audition. Please also bring a short passage or poem to read after you have finished singing. You do NOT need to bring, or to send in advance, any additional copies.

7. Our building is located at 50 Oak Street between Van Ness and Franklin streets in downtown San Francisco's Civic Center. Information about visiting, including hotels, transportation and parking in the area, can be found on our website at www.sfcm.edu/prospective/visiting.aspx.

8. Coming to San Francisco for your audition will allow you to get to know our school and city. We encourage you to take advantage of your time here by attending classes, rehearsals and performances. Our performance calendar is available online at www.sfcm.edu/calendar/calendar.aspx. We would be happy to reserve a complimentary seat for you at any ticketed event if you contact us at least two weeks in advance.

You are also welcome to contact our faculty directly to try to schedule a consultative lesson. We recommend contacting them at least two weeks in advance of your audition. Faculty email addresses are available on their individual biography pages at www.sfcm.edu/prospective/faculty.aspx.


9. If you do not intend to audition for admission, or if this audition information is somehow in error, please contact us immediately.


We look forward to meeting you and presenting your application to the Admission Committee. Please contact us at admit@sfcm.edu or 800-899-SFCM with any questions or concerns.



Sincerely,

Tessa Borelli
Associate Director of Admission

San Francisco Conservatory of Music

50 Oak
San Francisco, CA 94102
415.503.6231

San Francisco trip

I got back from my trip to San Francisco on Sunday afternoon... I had a bunch of pictures on my phone that I was going to post on here, but when I tried to transfer them to my computer, somehow they all got deleted!!!  I'm not happy about that.

But, Hannah played beautifully in her concert Saturday night (I had pictures of that too!!!).   I'm glad I got to hear her.   Now I have to get ready because I'll be on the next symphony concert in February!

I had two lessons with Paul and a lesson with Jane while I was there.  It was so fun.

Jane had a really busy schedule and she wanted me to come to her house for a lesson on Saturday morning.  But since she lives in Oakland it was going to be very difficult for me to get there, so she and her husband picked me up after she was done at the conservatory on Friday night, and they drove me to their house where I spent the night to have a lesson the next day.   But I forgot my bag at the conservatory that had all my music and clothes and everything!  So Jane gave me a toothbrush and toothpaste and lent me one of her nighties to sleep in.    We talked a lot -- and I woke up Saturday morning to a breakfast of tea and bacon and scones that they had made.  It was so lovely.  

Jane told me when I first saw her at the conservatory Friday night that the voice faculty had watched my pre-screening audition video earlier that day and that I was accepted for an audition in the spring.  So that makes me happy!  I asked her how much of my audition they watched (because I had to submit three different recordings), and she said they only watched the "Der holle rache" by Mozart (the Queen of the Night's aria from the Magic Flute).   She said the faculty decided I could come after they heard only my first three notes, and they were going to stop the video, but Jane told them no, she wanted to hear the high notes and made them listen to more of it!!  Of course I'm assuming they probably knew that Jane had worked with me before and was interested in having me for a student, which of course doesn't hurt in obtaining an audition....

  For the rest of the time I was stayed at my friend Dhivya's apartment, and on Saturday night Paul and Yoshi took us out to dinner before Hannah's concert.   Then at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday morning I was on a Super Shuttle back to the airport, and Monday morning I was teaching again back in Billings.... 

      Now, tomorrow is the last day of classes at MSUB.  And then next week I have to give a test and play for some juries.   But then it will be Christmas break, thank heaven!   Then I will be able to get some good practicing done....I'm so excited! 

        Oh, I think I am going to post the video that Jane said they watched for my audition.  I uploaded it to Youtube a while ago, but I haven't made it "Public"  because my teacher in L.A. didn't think it was at quite a high enough performance level to post.  But I will post it here.  On the last high "F", I kind of squeeze that last note out and then I smile and break my character.... so that's one of the problems.  But, a lot of the other singing is pretty good.  Jane did say to me, "It wasn't bad!  It wasn't bad at all..."

        Goodnight! 

                          

The joys of progress

Okay so I know this might seem silly but I just did something that made me really happy.

        On Tuesdays and Thursdays I attend a religion class where we study the Old Testament, and usually when I go I play the piano for an opening hymn.  Well, today, my teacher, Brother Reid, asked me if I could play a different version of "Away in a Manger" than the one that is in the hymnbook.  He said he thought that there used to be a different version that he liked better than the one that is in there now - but that he couldn't remember how it went.   I knew of the two different versions of this popular song, but I have never tried to play them without music... I told him I'm not a very good improviser, but that I could try - but that I probably would mess up.  He said that would be alright, so I sat down and picked a key (F major), gave a little introduction, and they sang along as I played the opening hymn by ear!     Of course I made some mistakes but basically it was fine - and afterward Brother Reid thanked me and said, "Now that's the Christmas I remember!". 

          My ears are getting better!!!   Mi fa felice!

            

Leaving on a jet plane

In about thirty-six hours I will be boarding a flight to go to San Francisco... I'm so excited!  I almost can't believe it's already been six months since I was there... and then on the other hand, it seems like it's been a year already. 

I have two lessons scheduled with Paul, for Thursday and Saturday.  Saturday evening will be Hannah's concert, and then I think we are all going to go out for dinner.  That will be fun!    Yoshi, my chamber music coach from my first semester, will come too.

I'm so nervous to play for Paul again!  It has been quite a while since I have had a lesson with anybody, or performed my concerto for anyone... but that's why this is good for me, right?

I asked my friend, Anna if she could listen to me play through the concerto tomorrow before I leave for SF the next day... at least then I can be a little nervous again, and see if and where I have trouble.


I've been working on a number of new original songs recently, which I am excited about.  I feel like my improvisation on the piano needs to get a little better before I can make a good recording of them though.  But all things come in time, right?

Okay --  I'm going to go play through my concerto before I head to bed.

Goodnight!



 

Second Scarlatti

Here is the next Scarlatti video from my recital... a slow one in B minor.  So beautiful!!!  I love Scarlatti.

       
       Just a few minutes ago I pressed the "submit" button on my application for the voice program at SFCM!!  I'm so excited.   Now I have a couple more applications to do.  I'm pretty sure that I want to go to San Francisco but I need to give myself some options.  So I think I may apply to the Boston and New England conservatories.  One never knows what will or won't work out...

       In only a week I will leave for my short trip to SF...    I have a lot to do before then!   Number one, practice!   I haven't been doing enough of that lately and I really do not want to embarrass myself when I play for Paul...

       The weather has been so beautiful here lately... even if a bit cold.   About three weeks ago, I woke up to go to ballet class, and there was the most beautiful soft, fluffy snow falling everywhere around.  I put on my sandals to go outside (I hadn't bothered even a couple of weeks ago to find my winter shoes yet!).   The sky was clear in the morning air and the sun was rising so everything was a little sparkly.  It was so beautiful and relatively warm (for it being snowy!), that I just stood out there for several minutes in my sandals as the snow fell around me.   Then I got in the car and left for ballet, and didn't even bother changing my shoes.   I was certain the snow would quickly melt under the rising sun... but much to my surprise, I came out of ballet only one hour later to find my car buried in three or more inches of snow!    So my feet turned into snowballs walking through it in my sandals.   Still it was so beautiful I really didn't mind. . .

        Time to get some sleep.    Goodnight!

         

Scarlatti!

I'm finally getting around to posting a couple of Scarlatti sonatas that I played in my recital this spring.  Here is the first one up:

And another aria

And here is another!  This is the "Bell Song" from the opera Lakme by Delibes.

New Aria

New video up - I was working on videos ALL day and night last night because I had a prescreening recording due today for SFCM.  This is me singing the "Willow Song" from the Ballad of Baby Doe, by Douglas Moore.  It's from the recital I gave two weeks ago to help prepare me for the Met Auditions. . .

Plans in the making

I don't remember if I wrote about this before, but just to fill you in to the plans I have been busy making for next year. . . .    In September and October I was very occupied working on my application for a Fulbright scholarship/grant to study abroad in Italy next year.  They will let me know in January if I am selected as a final candidate.   

But, since I don't know what the outcome of that will be, I am also planning to apply to a couple of different Master's programs now, in voice!   I called my teacher, Jane Randolph from the San Francisco Conservatory today, and talked to her about the possibility, and she seemed positive about the idea of me coming.  So I will definitely make an application to SFCM, and then a couple of other places I haven't decided yet (but I am hoping for SFCM...and/or Italy...!).  

And today I bought a plane ticket to go back to San Francisco for a few days in early December.  My friend Hannah Nicholas won the lower string concerto competition at the conservatory last spring, right after I won the piano concerto competition (both of us from Paul Hersh's studio!  - Paul, by the way, teaches both piano and viola at the conservatory.).   So I will go hear her play her concert on December 3rd.     While I'm there I will have a couple of lessons with Paul on my concerto and a couple of lessons with Jane on my Met audition program.   I'm excited - it will be nice to go on a trip and get back to the big city for a while (and out of the December weather in Montana!  :-).   

I've been working on getting a couple of other videos posted on youtube but for some reason when I put them through my software right now the sound doesn't come up matching with the video, so I have to work on that some more....

I have to get up early tomorrow to play the organ at church!   Goodnight...

New song...

I recorded this new song I wrote a few weeks ago but hadn't had the time to get it uploaded to Youtube until now.   Enjoy!

New poems

Two new poems on "Hear Me" :  http://jacquelynwrites.blogspot.com/2011/10/spider.html

http://jacquelynwrites.blogspot.com/2011/10/beauty-that-i-see-in-thee.html

Dancing

Since I've been back home in Montana, I started taking ballet again with my old ballet teacher.  I really love dancing, and I find that taking a dance class is one of the only ways that I can motivate myself to exercise regularly. 

I also decided to try a new type of dance for the first time - a beginning modern dance class on Fridays.   Since this is my first time dancing modern, I am taking the class with girls who are from ages 9-13.  The movements are really really different than ballet so I feel like it's taking me a while to get used to.   However last Friday in class my teacher, Ricki, asked me,  "Do you take ballet?"     "Yes,"  I said.  "Have you ever considered coming to dance with my Terpsichore dancers?"   I was surprised because "Terpsichore" is a small modern dance company that my teacher founded here in Billings, composed of about 8 women.  "No, but I'd love to!"  I said.    I went to a performance of theirs a couple of weeks ago and I really enjoyed it - the women were all really strong and the dancing was beautiful.    So now I am going to dance with them!  I am excited about that.
        I went to the first rehearsal on Monday night, and it was difficult.  The combinations are long and complicated, and it is hard for me to remember them.   And the other dancers are all very advanced and catch on really quick, so it makes me feel pretty dumb.   But that will get better with time, right?   Anyway, it was still fun and I am sure it will get more fun as I get better!   I am posting some pictures below of the dance company:  



The woman in the front of the picture above is my teacher, Ricki.

They are beautiful, aren't they? 

Change in Plan

Well, I've had to call off my audition this weekend for the Metropolitan Opera National Council.    I was supposed to be leaving today with my dad and my accompanist, Sandi Rabas.... However today my cough has gotten worse enough that I feel like I can barely speak two words without coughing and I have a headache and an earache... So altogether it's not looking so good.  

I tried singing a few things over the phone yesterday for my teacher Dennis and he was surprised, for as sick as I am, that I could do as much as I could do, but still some of the notes just didn't want to come out and it was really unpredictable when they would come out and when they wouldn't.

However all is not lost -- I plan to submit another application to compete instead in the Met auditions in January in Denver.  It's just that the trip is a little farther and it will be fairly close to my performance with the orchestra at the San Francisco Conservatory so it will be a little more stressful.   But I will have a lot of time until then to get my program really polished,  so maybe it is a blessing in disguise.

Now I think I'm going to take some Nyquil and go back to bed. 

Stupidity

So I stayed up too late a couple of nights ago, working on some grading for the class I teach.....and the next day I started coming down with a yucky cold/cough!   I'm not very happy about this, considering that my Met audition is in just a few days now... Hopefully it will get better quickly.   But for now this means I can't rehearse...practice...sing....etc.  

      I cancelled the lessons that I have to teach today so I could stay home and rest.  And this morning my voice teacher, Dennis, told me to gargle and drink water with baking soda in it to help it go away faster. So I did that (it made me gag!!!).   And I've been taking vitamin C.   So hopefully it all works.   If anyone feels like saying a prayer for me that certainly couldn't hurt, either!  :-)

          

          

        

           

New recording up

This is from a rehearsal I had at the San Francisco Conservatory for the Handel Aria concert of the Baroque Ensemble.   It's not a perfect performance - the flautist and I are improvising the ornamentation so it gets a little weird once or twice where I'm not sure what notes I'm singing! And my flautist's music falls off the stand at one point so you can hear that, as well....  But overall otherwise I think it's a pretty good recording. 

Ah, La vita!

Sorry that it has been so long since I last made a post on my blog!  I have been so busy since I started teaching at MSU this semester, it has been crazy.    

I decided (at my teacher Dennis' encouragement) to try the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions this year, and the first round is coming up for me next weekend in Pocatello, Idaho!  My dad is going to drive down there with me and my accompanist, Sandi Rabas.  The competition will take place in the afternoon on Saturday, October 29th.

This Sunday I am going to give a mini-recital in preparation for the competition, to try performing all of the repertoire (a lot of it I have never performed before!).  

Here are my 5 arias that I have decided on for the audition:

Les oiseux dans la charmille (The Doll Song) from Tales of Hoffman by Offenbach
Ou va la jeune indoue (The Bell Song) from Lakme by Delibes
Tornami a vagheggiar from Alcina by Handel
Deh vieni non tardar from the Marriage of Figaro by Mozart
Willow Song from The Ballad of Baby Doe by Douglas Moore


My mom got a new video camera this week and I asked her to record the recital on Sunday so hopefully I will be able to get a good recording of something I can put up!


My mom took this picture of me doing yoga the other day... I'm just beginning to be able to hold this pose for a short period of time (anywhere between 10 and 30 seconds) without losing my balance:

Cool yes?   My fingers look like they are posed and ready to play the piano down there on the carpet...

La vecchia macchina

My poor little car (a 1989 Chevy Celebrity...in desperate need of a new coat of paint) has been broken down almost since I got home this summer.  It started running really roughly, almost as if one of the cylinders was not firing, and it was almost dying as I drove it and the speedomiter was not working at the same time.   I took it to three different mechanics - the first two wouldn't even agree to look at it because they didn't know what was wrong... Then I took it to another place, and they told me it needed a "tune-up" and that a leak needed repairing.  So I agreed to the tune-up, in hopes that that would take care of the problem.  Well, they did the tune up -- they changed some spark plugs and wires and cleaned a filter or two -- and charged me $438.  But... I went to pick it up, and the car was still not working.  They said the intake and radiator were both leaking so I needed to have more work done on it... $1000 worth all together.   I had just had some leaks repaired last summer and I haven't noticed any fluids dripping from underneath, so I thought this sounded very strange.  

So I took it back... but was out of money for the moment so I knew I had to wait a little longer to have anything major done. But I took it back over to one of the other places I took it to in the first place, and asked them to look at it again and see if they can tell what was wrong.  They said they wouldn't do anything to it unless I was willing to spend $200-$300, and I agreed.  (I think they were concerned because it is such an old-looking car that they thought maybe they would try to fix it and it wouldn't get fixed and then I wouldn't pay them)...      So they agreed to take it; they kept it there a week and a half (enough time for my aunt to send me $200 for my birthday!) and then called and said that the computer in it had gone bad  (and that they checked the intake and there was NO leak!!).   They said they went to the salvage yard to find a used computer so that the cost wouldn't "bury me" (like the cost of a new computer would)... and then told me I could come pick it up the car today. 

There was a bit of a scare when I went to get it with my mom, because after they gave me the keys and I got into the car to leave....I turned the key in the ignition, and I couldn't get it to start.  The mechanic had to come start it for me.  He said he thought that there was just some dirt in some pipe that they sprayed and that it would clear itself out, but to bring it back in if I had any more problems.   I went to the school and practiced for a little while, and when I went to leave it started like a charm.  :-)   Good old car.    

And I'm so grateful when I find an honest mechanic....

Some new posts on my reflections blog: http://jacquelynsreflections.blogspot.com/2011/08/i-feel-as-if-god-placed-his-foot-into.html

http://jacquelynsreflections.blogspot.com/2011/08/by-small-and-simple-things.html

A new type of practice

I think I mentioned in a recent post that I was wanting to start practicing yoga.  Well I started watching some videos this summer on Youtube, and then got a book at Barnes and Noble a couple of weeks ago:

 and started practicing on my own...

But I was very happy today because I was able to do a pose I have been working on for a few weeks for the very first time:

A failed attempt...

It's called the "Bow Pose" or  Dhanurasana.

And here's another one, called the "King Dancer" pose, or Natarajasana.

 

They'll get better as I get more flexible.  Right now I can only hold each of these poses for a few seconds before I fall out of them... actually the bow pose I can probably only hold for two seconds, haha. 

 

But I really like yoga!   I think I'll probably keep doing it now for the rest of my life.  

 

 

 

New Video - Handel "Oh Sleep Why Dost Thou Leave Me"

Here is a new video from my recital at the San Francisco Conservatory in May.  It's one of the arias I sang by Handel, called "Oh Sleep Why Dost Thou Leave Me". 

A Beautiful Wedding

Yesterday my family drove to North Dakota to attend my aunt Shanna's wedding.  She got married on top of a butte on my new Uncle's farmland... It was so beautiful.  We took a hayride part way up to get to the wedding site.  Here are a few pictures from it:

My sister and her boyfriend and I sang a country song, "I Know How the River Feels" as part of the service.  My sister and her boyfriend played the guitar (I have to learn to do that!! :-)....

This is my dad and mom:

                            Me.

Some wedding guests admiring the beautiful view.

 Coming from the trucks/haywagon:

The ceremony beginning:

                                               On the haywagon.

My aunt and uncle:

Thoughts on the temple

And one other post (not a poem) on my "Reflections" blog today... :  http://jacquelynsreflections.blogspot.com/2011/07/learning.html

Cleaning and a Wedding

Tomorrow my family and I leave for North Dakota, to go to my aunt Shanna's wedding.

I have been busy the last couple of days trying to clean up my room (which is a TOTAL disaster!!).  It's probably going to take me the rest of a week to get it all in order.  Seriously.  Aaaaaa!!!!    When I get it all cleaned up maybe I will take a picture for you... maybe. :-)

I have been busy reading and studying a lot.  I got the instructor copies of the theory books that I will be teaching my class from in the fall.  I'm kind of excited about that. There is so much to write and so little time because I have to go and pack... but I will try to write some more next week.

Ta-ta!!

p.s. -  new post on 'reflections':

http://jacquelynsreflections.blogspot.com/2011/07/look-down-on-me-with-love.html

Silver threads

New poem on my poetry blog:

http://jacquelynwrites.blogspot.com/2011/07/silver-threads.html

More

Sheesh I'm bombarding my reflections blog these last two days.

Four more new posts: (and my first post ever in Italian! Hopefully my grammar is, for the most part, correct...)

http://jacquelynsreflections.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-do-i-know-that-god-is-real-i-guess.html

http://jacquelynsreflections.blogspot.com/2011/07/che-cosa-dio-vuole-da-me-che-cosa.html

http://jacquelynsreflections.blogspot.com/2011/07/practice.html

http://jacquelynsreflections.blogspot.com/2011/07/teachers.html

New Reflections

A few new posts on my reflections blog... Actually only one of them is really "new" (the first link below), the other ones I actually composed several months ago and never published. One of them is just a scripture, two of them are poems, and the the last one is actually the very first post I ever wrote for this blog...  I finally just pushed the "publish" button on it today... so now my first entry on this blog has finally arrived! It's just a thought written in a couple of lines (the fourth link, below).

http://jacquelynsreflections.blogspot.com/2011/07/unto-furthest-ends.html

http://jacquelynsreflections.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-want-so-badly-something-which-i-do.html

http://jacquelynsreflections.blogspot.com/2011/07/evidence-of-things-not-seen.html

http://jacquelynsreflections.blogspot.com/2010/10/i-believe-that-depth-of-soul-is-as-wide.html

busy again...

It seems like forever since I've written but I guess really it's only been about ten days...

But I am home now in Montana.   And life is good.   I have a little bit of exciting news and that is that I am going to be teaching voice and music theory this coming year at the local college - Montana State University Billings.  That will be a very interesting new experience for me.

I also just accepted my first-ever improv student... a lady called MSUB looking for a teacher that could help her learn to improvise and understand chord progressions at the piano, and guess who they recommended?? That's right, me.  I'm a little intimidated since I feel like I'm still learning how to improvise myself, but I am sure I can help her.  There aren't many people in Billings, MT who do this sort of thing.   And we will continue learning together, right?

I tried to get a new video posted the other day, but my software is not sophisticated enough to do the things I want with the video editing.  I have a couple songs from my recital I am going to post but first I have to get the new software that will allow me to have more than one video track at once.   I have some different camera angles I want to use in a single video, but with only one video track --every time I try to make an edit all the synchronization gets messed up between all the other video cuts and the audio.

Guess what I've decided to do now?? Yoga!  I met this girl in San Francisco that was an AMAZING yogi...and she totally inspired me.  I'm going to start taking ballet too (I took ballet for a few years before I left for my master's degree), but I really want to start dancing again, and doing things artistically and expressively with my body.  I think it helps my playing to dance, as well, and of course it's just healthy in general.  Plus the flexibility and strength required to do yoga poses will really help me with my dancing, as well... I'm so excited!

Before I start yoga or dance classes though, I have to start teaching a few lessons again so that I can have the money to pay for them!!!  So much to do, always.   It's exciting though.  

I am about to go work on cleaning out the spare room of my house because we have company coming in a couple of days.   I will post more soon!!

Cable Car Ride!

One of the last days before I left San Francisco my friend Kelsey and I went for a ride on a cable car down to the warf.  




We stood on the back of the cable car in the open air and watched as the road fell behind us.














A man stood on the back with us who was the brake operator. He cranked the lever by hand every time the car had to come to a stop.










One of the stops of the cable car is the famous "Lombard Street", which is a very very curvy street down a hill, with a beautiful view of San Francisco.   Kelsey and I didn't get off here though.




We got of here: at the last stop on Hyde street, next to the water.