Day 20

Today was a rockstar day!!!  I was ridiculously inspired and I have lots to share, so watch out!  I'll put the basics towards the top so that the judging panel can review this quickly.  Everyone else wanting to know more about my life, pull up a chair and get comfy!

Daily Practice
Time: 1hour 30 mins (warm up with Kurt's exercises and attended Kurt's tech class)
Songs: Adele's Rolling in the Deep and Someone Like You


Coaching Session 1
Instuctor: Walter Thompson
Songs:  Falling for You, A Whole New World, and You Can't Hurry Love
(Walter and I set up our 2nd session for Monday, so we'll take a picture with a 2/2 sign then)

Dance Class 11

Instructor: Beth Goheen
Type: Ballet



Charitable Deed 3
Title: Reading and Pajama Party
Description: Read children's books with economically disadvantaged children






Healthy Meals 34 and 35

Breakfast- cinnamon and spice oatmeal (switching it up a little bit!)
Dinner- salad: romaine lettuce, ground turkey, shredded cheese, poppyseed dressing








 
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Daily Practice
I started this morning by warming up with the exercises that I had recorded yesterday during my private lesson.  These were the exercises Kurt taught me specifically to help me increase volume and incorporate more mix sound. 

Later in the day I went to Voice Tech and Voice Performance with Kurt.  In VT we worked on Rolling in the Deep and Someone Like You by Adele.  Some notes that stuck out to me from her songs: 1) she allows her jaw to become like mush so that her phrases have a smooth, relaxed quality, 2) she sustains her breath over extremely long phrases- again adding to her smooth sound, and 3) she switches back and forth between mix and natural middle within the song to add variety to the song. 

In VP I sang Falling for You.  I was still pretty shaky, but I'm refusing to be hard on myself.  Every time I go to class, stand up, and sing in front of a room full of people, I'm one step closer to where I want to be.  I'm so far from where I was a year ago, and I'm just happy that I'm doing it!

As an exercise to help us with our performance, Kurt had us all stand in a line, and one by one we stepped out, faced the rest of the line and received an explosive round of applause and cheers from our classmates.  Some people went shyly, barely making eye contact, just trying to get back in line as soon as possible.  Others went out and took bows, pretending like they were receiving a standing ovation in a packed theater.  After everyone went, Kurt pointed out our various responses and then talked about how it shows how some of us aren't even ready to receive applause.  At a moment when we should feel the most relaxed and embraced, we're still apologizing for who we are and shying away from the attention.  That made me realize that it's not about the singing at all.  We think we're so afraid of singing in front people, but in reality, this disconnect is happening somewhere even deeper than the voice.  Kurt went on to talk about our demeanor when we come into class.  We tend to walk into class as an empty vessel, waiting to be filled with validation and instruction-- how did I sound?, how should I stand?, how should I act?, how should I sing?.  Instead we need to start viewing ourselves as artists who have already made distinct choices about our voice, our character, and ultimately what we want to communicate to our audience.  From there a coach can choose to agree or disagree with our choices, and give advice and tips on how he might do it differently.  And from there, we can choose to make changes or modifications to our decisions, but the decision is ours, an whatever we do, we have to commit! The whole reason people choose to dance or sing is because we have a story we want to tell.  We've got to stop waiting for someone to 'fix' us and instead start telling our stories!  Clearly you can tell I was moved by his speech.  


Coaching Session
Today I also had my very first coaching session which was AMAZING!  I met with Walter who is the accompanist for Bettina's classes.  He and I have a special relationship, as he was there the first day I ever attended a performance class.  He watched me tremble and shake and he probably saw me tear up when I went to collect my music.  I feel like we always have a special moment when I bring my music to the piano before I walk out to sing my songs-- kinda like he's my dad who sneaks into the curtain wings to wish me luck before I go on stage. 

Anyways, he's a fabulous pianist, and he helped me with the technicalities of the music as well as giving me some ideas to accent the phrasing of the songs.  It was the BEST hour that I've spent singing since I moved to New York.  I wasn't looking at my music as quarter notes and rests, and head voice vs. middle voice, I was just singing.  I felt so comfortable, and I really started to just have fun with it.  When we switched to A Whole New World,  I think he heard my voice get all weird, and I messed up the words in the first line.  So he had me sit down at the bench with him and sing from behind the piano.  It was the best I had EVER sung the song- he even said so himself.  Something happened when I was not standing up, feeling as though I was about to audition-- my story was actually able to break through.  I told him that I wish I could audition sitting at the piano... maybe I'll start my own theater company, and that's how we'll start auditions.  Who knows, it might catch on.  ;-)

Dance Class

I went to ballet with Goheen this morning, and I feel comfortable saying that I was on point... not on pointe... but on point.  :) I just had a great day.  I was focused on my work and on elongating and emoting.  And for the first time ever-- literally in the 10 months since I've been taking Goheen-- I finally completed the entire petite allegro combination without losing the steps.  I was extremely proud of myself!

Goheen also had an inspirational lecture.  As we were going across the floor four at a time, a time when people tend to get nervous because everyone's watching you, she told us that we have to approach this time with the correct attitude.  We should consider ourselves students wanting to learn more rather than students who should already know everything.  This sounds a little contradictory to what we talked about in vocal performance class, but in this setting it makes sense.  She said that once we take on the latter attitude, we create a mental wall that is difficult to dance through.  Basically I interpreted it as the following: if we're going across the floor expecting to be perfect, then we're setting ourselves up for failure.  But if we're going across aware that we are imperfect, then we'll take bigger risks and we wont be disappointed with our mistakes, we'll just learn from them, and apply those lessons our next pass across the floor.  New quote: "Embracing imperfection leads to exploration and transformation."  Go ahead... you have my permission... start posting that on your facebook walls.  :)

Charitable Deed 3

Yesterday, I went to a Pajama Party.  This program was set up after the founder was visiting a shelter and saw most of the kids putting themselves to bed-- no one to tuck them in or read to them.  This broke her heart, and she started this program where volunteers come in and read to young kids.  The organization has expanded, and they now serve beyond the borders of just shelters, including more neighborhood kids who are living below the poverty line. 

I worked with a girl named Alicia.  She didn't like to talk much, but she actually had great comprehension.  We learned quickly that we weren't going to get very far with open ended questions, so we started reading a page to her and then ask her questions where she could just point to the answer, and she was always right. Sometimes we'd throw in a question that required a one word answer, and she'd whisper the correct answer to us.  Can you point to the frog? Perfect! And where's the elephant? Excellent!  Is he happy or sad? That's right!

It was fun watching her get into the stories and the pictures.  And at the end of the reading session, the Pajama Party organization gave each child a new book and a pair of new pajamas!  It's a very creative charity, and I love the way in which they've chosen to serve this demographic.  







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So like I said, I had wonderful day!  I even stopped to grab a Backstage so I can see what new auditions are coming up.  I hope that I will be able to use this momentum as I roll into the final 10 days of the challenge!   If you made it this far, thanks for reading!