Happy News

I have to tell you that I am so happy right now!  On Wednesday I got a letter from the financial aid office at SFCM, informing me about my scholarship - which will be $20,000 per year for the two years of my Master's!   I am so happy about that.  Unfortunately it still doesn't cover tuition... (it's sooo expensive!), but a good portion of it.   For the rest I am going to try to raise some money through some fundraising recitals this summer, and what I don't cover with that I will have to pay for with student loans.

Jane called me yesterday and said, "So you got your scholarship letter yesterday?  You got a good one!" and she was wondering if I was going to come.   I said yes.  She said, "Oh I'm so excited!  We are going to have so much fun."    I'm so excited, too!

I'm going to have so many opportunities to perform and learn vocally that I have never had before in my life -  in masterclasses and with weekly private coachings on my music, and in classes on diction and acting and opera workshops and all sorts of wonderful things.   I'm so happy!

So... that's my news.   :-)

Ravel is Up!

I got my Ravel video up! Hope you enjoy...

Videoing, Editing.... Vlogging?

I've been working for about the past three weeks on editing a video from one of my concerts in San Francisco.  It's almost finished now.  I'm so excited to put it up, but it just needs a couple more little things tweaked before I will feel comfortable uploading it for the world to see.

I've been thinking about maybe starting a vlog (that's short for video blog, right?).  Would that be interesting?  I could video little bits of my life here and there and places I go and things I do, etc. etc.  I think it could be cool.  I think I would probably start a new Youtube channel for it.  I was thinking I would call it, "Life and Music" just like my blog here, but then I saw on Youtube that the name has already been taken by somebody else.   But "This Life and Music" hasn't been.  Is that a stupid name?  I don't know.   "This life" is, after all, the only one I've got here.

On another note, today I held a handstand for almost an entire minute without falling into the wall! That makes me happy.   Maybe if I start a vlog I'll video myself doing it next time.

Alright.  Must sleep. 

Goodnight!  

New Moves

I'm getting more flexible, bit by bit...

While I was in San Francisco I discovered that I can now do this cool new stretch... Only on my right leg, though (for now!).   Here it is - the splits plus.... foot to the head!

And this is me doing another stretch for leg extensions...

               
                    Those were taken in Brother and Sister Fletcher's living room, who I stayed with while I was in San Francisco.   Brother and Sister Fletcher are soooooo nice!!!

            Okay, so then I got home and I tried it again in my house after ballet one night... Maybe I got a little carried away with snapping photos of myself using the timer function on my new phone... But I was so proud of myself for getting my splits that far. 

           And one more without the foot to head...(plus couch cushion intrusion on the left...)

There you have it... Jackie doing the splits!   :-D

Waiting...

Sorry it's been so long since I've really posted much to my blog!   I've been so busy with the concerts and auditions...but now everything is finished (until something else comes up!), and I can rest a little.

Some of you are wondering when I am going to post a video of my Ravel performance... The answer is soon, but it might be a couple weeks more.   I accidentally left my hard drive in San Francisco (when I told that to my teacher Dorothea, she broke out singing, "I left my hard drive in San Francisco!"  to the tune of "I left my heart in San Francisco"!).  The hard drive has several of my video and audio files from the concert.   So my friend in San Francisco has been keeping it for me and is going to send it to me in the mail this week.  Hopefully it arrives safely and then I will be able to begin work on the videos!

Right now I am getting ready for my ballet school's recital in May... I will be playing the piano, accompanying one of the dance numbers, as well as dancing in a couple of pieces.  Won't that be interesting?   I'm kind of excited about it.

Now, I am waiting to hear back the official word from SFCM and BYU about acceptance and scholarships into their master's programs... and from the Fulbright Foundation about my application for a scholarship to study in Italy.   All are good possibilities... So we will see what happens.

Well, I'm tired so I will say goodnight for now.  

Goodnight!