Last night...

I dreamed that I had to parachute out of an open cockpit airplane (you know the old kind made of canvas) to give medical attention to towns folk. my parachute was red, as was the plane.

Things I find stupid:

Tanning before you go on vacation so that "you don't burn". please. just use sunscreen properly.

also

forced air heating. I hate it.

found in auction!

For my job I look through lots and lots of auction catalogues for very specific things regarding very specific opera composers. When I find them I take pictures. Sometimes I find things that are entirely unrelated to those composers that are too cool to not take pictures of, so here are some pictures I've taken at work:
Polar bears!
Upsidedown Jim Henson autograph, the upsidedown ones are very rare I hear...
it was the 60's I guess they still published literature like that?
look how big that was! It was from the 1890's too! alot of the pages were uncut!
God may in fact be puking sunshine onto Adam while Eve is being created from his rib. Or divine knowledge, or something. Really I'm unclear.

lets talk auditions

Tomorrow I head into an exciting two months of auditions. Traveling here and there to sing for ten minutes for panels furiously scribbling while looking indifferent, bemused, haggard, tired, and if I'm lucky interested.

In the process I will get to visit my family, Margot, and a city that I've never been to before. I also get to travel to an ex-prison that is now a performing arts center, and a restaurant on the far north side.

What happens in these auditions?

Most auditions you will sit and wait with other nervous singers and make terrible small talk. That is really the worst part, because you never know if the person next to you is actually going to try to be nice or is just feeling out the competition. For the most part people are too consumed with themselves to talk too much. It is difficult to get a sincere conversation out of anyone. I for one couldn't care less about "the competition" it's all about how you sing and present yourself, there is nothing else that you can do. Guessing how you'll fare against everyone else is really a game in freaking yourself out.

So you're finally called in. You hand them your resume, repertoire list, and head shot, bring your music to the pianist and let the pianist know what piece you'll start with and mention if you remember how fast you'll sing if it is an unusual one. Then introduce yourself in a friendly formal, but not too formal way and let the panel know what piece you will be starting with. They will then motion for you to begin or say something to that affect.

This is when you should take a tiny moment for yourself. tiny moment. Some singers close their eyes and drop their head raising when they are ready as an indication to the pianist that they are ready to begin. I think that this is a bit contrived and silly looking. Some people nod at the pianist. This is strongly discouraged, as it is rude and silly looking. I tend to take a deep breath and smile at the pianist.

Sing.

Do not over analyze. Do not read the panel's faces. Do not think do not think. Just sing. Involve yourself with the character. But do not let the second level of analyzing second guessing brain kick in. It will only freak you out and mess you up. Sing because it's the thing you're best and and the thing you love.

When you're done this is the time that the panel might ask you questions. Why do you think that their program is good for you? Or they might throw you a more difficult interview type question.

They will then choose your second piece from your repertoire list.
sing.

you're then usually done. Some auditions ask for a third piece. Some school auditions will have a sight reading type segment. Some show auditions will ask you to perform a monologue. However usually you are done at this point.

Thank the panel, thank your pianist grab your music and smile! Leave and eat something for goodness sake!

So there you have it, for all that were curious. That is what auditions look like.

winter danger

I looked outside my kitchen window this morning to discover that we had acquired a very large icicle. We fondly now call it the "deathcicle".

What is not readily apparent from this photo is that it is seriously 6 feet tall.

Not only is it sitting there poised to fall on to some poor sucker's head, but the stairs at the bottom of the building are coated with about an inch of ice from these with a lovely layer of water to make it slick.

Music freak out

Every once and a while I discover an artist that I just freak out over and hit my head over the fact that I hadn't been listening to them for years.

Ted just introduced me to Janelle Monae, she is freaking amazing.



She is amazing! great voice and amazing concept album!

Latkes

We had Pelks and Christian over for latkes and apple sauce tonight because we wanted to try a cool recipe for latkes. They had artichoke hearts and leeks and were very tasty!

We also broke out the Hannukah activity box that Ted sent me last year. In addition to coloring in stickers we also wrote two poems which I will take the liberty of sharing with you:


Cats are pretty
Happy cats make me happy
Are cats real?
No, they're not
Unfortunately cats are not real in Uruguay
Kats? Cats!
Are we satisfied with this poem?
How could we not be?!?


On a similar theme:

Long, long ago
And ever so far away
The lad had consumption
Kristin came to the rescue
Everybody celebrated Hannukah!


Yay!!