Ok - so I need to catch up on posting, but here's a challenge I've been thrown, and I want to remember it. More AW posting to catch up on later tomorrow. Many thanks to my fellow singers on the Vocalist mailing list through Yahoo!Groups for this challenge.

The challenge is to learn a new aria, art song, or oratorio piece in
two weeks. Since this is a challenge and since I wanted to shut my
internal critic up before it starts telling me two weeks isn't
enough to perfect a song. *YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT*. This
challenge isn't about getting the music perfect. The music doesn't
even have to be memorized. What I'm trying to do is to carve out a
niche of time for musical exploration.

Much like clothes, some of the pieces you work on will fit and
you'll decide to wear. Some you'll just try on and put back on the
shelf. But each piece you decide to explore has to be worked on for
two weeks.

After a year, you will have explored about 26 new pieces of music.
Not too shabby an accomplishment in my book.

OR this one:

Learn a major role (music and words memorised) in the 3-act opera of your choice in 2 weeks.

Think it can't be done? Guess again. Just ask Placido Domingo.

Thanks, you guys, for throwing the gauntlet down. Now to get to work! I'll sleep on my decision tonight and post here in the morning.

Well, I've arrived back in Mesa after attending my grandfather's funeral back home. It was amazing - all the people that had so many wonderful things to say about my grandfather - and my grandmother too. They are inseperable in the minds of all who knew them. Pat did a beautiful job on the slide show at the end, and Kate ended up improvising one of the poems that she read - it was amazing. She has such a gift. Two of my young cousins were also impressive - especially the youngest, who asked to see the body before Grandpa was buried. Although he cried profusely, he took it better than most adults I know for someone who never really dealt with death before in his memory. He is a courageous kid who takes after his great-grandpa. I hope he can know that throughout his life. We're all going to have to work to come up to my grandparents level, I know, even though they would be the last ones to agree with that, as is evidenced by Grandma's Bible. She always felt like she needed to work on her behaviour - taming the tongue was a verse she particularly marked as "Focus on this".

Life continues here. I am looking forward to getting on with things, I guess. Being back here is harder than I imagined. I just need to keep pushing forward and working hard at both the craft and what God would want me to do personally.

I had a wonderful time at the show tonight - 2 of my high school teachers - Carol Jacobe and Nancy Rowe were at the show tonight. They just happened to be coming to Mesa for part of their vacation - how wild is that?! We also had a cabaret tonight - I sang Vanilla Ice Cream, and it went fairly well. There are some things I'd like to fix - namely working the new breath support into the mix. It's hard incorporating new stuff into MT repertoire at times. Anyways, Carol and Nancy had a great time, and had the best food they've had since arriving in Arizona. The show went fairly well - a few things here and there could have gone better for me (yes, I was nervous), but that's live theater for you. It keeps you on your toes, doing 62 performances of a show. I'm going to get to spend the afternoon with them on Wednesday, which will be fun, even though it's only 4 hours or so.

In talking with Mom this morning, she told me the police called. Because Grandpa was a former trustee and mayor, as well as the first Man of the Year (well, just read the July 3rd post), they wanted to give him a police escort to the cemetary. And the procession is going down the street named after my grandfather. Don't fuss, Grandpa - you've earned it.

In cleaning out my rehearsal notes, there are three things in particular that I want to remember:

1. The Illusion of the First Time
2. The 4th Wall and How to Use It
3. Buttoning Scenes or Songs

Old concepts, to be sure, but they are, nevertheless, things I want to rethink.

It's been so long since I posted any regular news - Sound of Music is keeping all of us pretty busy, but that's a good thing. I'd rather be making my living doing this than anything else in the world. I actually can't believe that I've ever done anything else - or did the other career for as long as I did. I wish I hadn't wasted so much time on something that wasn't right for me. Lesson for us all - and not just in careers. I'm learning a lot, too, which is always a plus. And a director that makes you think about and see new things in a show you've grown up with is also a major plus. I hope I can work with them again. Short post for now - more later, as we've got to get ready for this evening's performance.

WooHoo! I'll be spending June and July (ok, a bit of May too!) out in Mesa, Arizona - doing my first gig outside my general home base area! I'll be playing Sister Sophia and understudying the Mother Superior in the Sound of Music for Broadway Palm West (Prather Family Theatres). The audition was the greatest experience. I am thrilled beyond belief! The people I know that have attended shows by Prather are just thrilled for me and have been telling me how blessed I am - don't I know it! I just won the lottery! I'll chronicle my adventures here, so if you are interested, come on back! (and maybe I should change the title of my blog......)

Here's a link to the entire Prather site!