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...