June Challenge- Wrap Up!

Greetings from Texas!  I'm kicking myself because I never followed through on posting about the end of my June challenge.  Since my last post, I have packed up everything I own, shipped myself back to the great state of Texas, taught 3 weeks of summer school, and attended 2 weeks of teacher inservice trainings!  Not much time for blogging, but it's bothering me that I have closed out this challenge, so here it is:  

Daily Practice
I won't give the day by day break down, but I was practicing every day either by myself or taking Bettina and Kurt's Technique, Ensemble, and Performance classes.  I performed Something to Talk About in Bettina's class for two weeks and Hungry in Kurt's class.  Both teachers helped me focus on intention for the songs so that I could convey meaning to my audience and not just focus on trying to hit notes.  I still get jittery as I take my walk to the piano and then out to center, but I can't believe how far I've come since the Fall semester when I would peer in the window of performance classes and think, "I could NEVER do that!"  Hooray for growth! 

Private Lessons and Coaching
I completed all of my private lessons with Kurt, and he even brought in Tim during my last session so I could work with an accompianist.  Big takeaways, I need to start pushing myself for volume and presence.  I have to be willing to be bold and make strong choices rather than holding back and being so caught up in technique.  I'm excited to find a teacher here in Houston so I can continue training and getting better!  (I miss you Kurt!)

Demo
I recorded my second demo, Hungry, on the last day before I left NYC.  Obviously, I'm always going to say that I'm still working on my technique, and there were parts throughout that I wish I could have done better, but for my second time doing this, I'm still really proud of myself. 

I'm particularly proud of the arrangement, because unlike Falling for You, I did not have a main track that I was using to model myself after.  Hungry is one of those praise and worship songs that everyone does differently, and I couldn't find the original song for the instrumental track that I used.  At first I was a little nervous about that, but it was exciting to have the creative freedom to piece the song together the way I wanted to.  Also Lane was amazing, and he helped me to write out some harmonies and background lines that I sang under my melody.  So ALL the vocals on this track are me.  Those of you who know me know how much I struggle with hearing harmonies and breaking away from the melody, so this was a giant leap for me!  (Thanks, Bettina, for all the vocal ensemble classes!)

Anyways, here it is if you want to LISTEN to it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNLzg32hRFI


Finally, thanks for all of your support this past year, and specifically during these two months of challenges as I learned to conquer one of my biggest fears!  I appreciate all of you, and good luck to each of you as you pursue your dreams!