I'm Gonna Be Selfish For A Change!

Tonight I had my junior recital.

It went ok.

Just kidding.

I had a BLAST doing it!

Although there were a few moments while I was performing that I was literally going "ohshitohshitIreallyhopethesearetherightwordspleaseohpleaseletthembetherightwords...." over and over and over in my head.  Luckily they were.

And Oh My God you guys I was able to do musical theatre without looking like an emotionless brick out there!  :0

But seriously... This whole process has been amazing, and it was so fulfilling to be able to stand up there and present everything that I had learned.  This really has been a sort of culmination of my college career, and I'm glad to be able to do it in such a place where people not only want to come, but are REQUIRED to come because of recital attendance.

To everyone who was involved, Caroline, Keith, Esther, Marika, and countless others - I thank you from the bottom of my heart (god this sounds like an Oscars speech...).

I really hope that everyone who came tonight enjoyed themselves.  I really didn't want it to be another one of those programs that you fall asleep 10 minutes in and then wake up 10 minutes later and haven't missed a thing.  I'd like to think that my program was a bit more entertaining than that.

I'm so glad that my mother and brother were able to make the trip out here.  It was so great to see them!  And I know that I am very shy and they never hear me sing, so it was really nice to have them there in the audience to see what all I actually do with my life.

Well it's now 3:15 in the morning and I am thoroughly delirious.  Again, I had so much fun, and I hope everyone who came out did as well!

Byebye!

Musical Shenanigans

Today I had my junior recital jury.  This was a presentation to the vocal faculty of my proposed recital program, which is a half an hour.  It was a little rocky in some spots (and I'm probably just being hyper-critical), but I passed!

 

 

I am so excited for my recital.  It chronicals three years worth of experience, and three different teachers!

WARNING: Lack of funny imminent in the following paragraphs.  Proceed with caution.  If you wish to skip to funnier material, scroll down to the next image.

I started off with Dr. Kyle Ferrill, a man who really took my voice and made it go from, quite frankly, crap, to winning first place at my first Regional NATS competition.  I think it was he who first got me turned on to the art of the artsong (hah, repetition).  Without his experience, I'm not sure where I would be right now...

My sophomore year I had Dr. Matthew Markham, a really amazing, adorable man whose passion just exudes from his presence.  He took my love of music and helped me to explore what I really wanted to study.  It was this year that I really found that I love singing artsong, as well as exploring different languages and styles.  My program for my sophomore proficiency consisted of seven songs in six different languages, English, French, German, Italian, Hawaiian, and Czech.  I was going to have another one in Russian, but because of times sake, we had to cut it.

Speaking of the proficiency, I have thought long and hard about the results of that.  At first, I was as angry I'd imagine Pikachu after being cooped up in that tiny little Pokeball for lord knows how long.  However, after I got to thinking about it, I realized that the BMA degree was really a much better choice than the performance degree.  Sure, it was definitely a blow to my ego, but looking back at it, I really have no desire to do ANY kind of operatic roles in the future, and there really isn't any money in being a recitalist...  And here's where I may have, in my fury, jumped to a couple of conclusions.  The reason for my not passing was not because of any politics involved, however much I may have thought.  Looking back, and hearing my voice then compared to now, I simply wasn't ready.  Also, it is just a much wiser move for me to make, because the BMA allows me to mirror as much of the perofrmance degree as I want, and I also have room to not take certain classes (like opera literature... barf), and it will also allow me to minor in Japanese, a language that I have long had an interest in.

Going into this year was a very exciting process.  I was able to get Caroline Smith as my teacher, who is a goddess among men.  She has really taken my voice and allowed it to blossom.  I do not know where I would be without her.  It has been so much fun, and though I may be hypercritical of myself at times, she will never yell at me or get mad at me.

It's getting late, and I'm getting sleepy, so I really can't figure out a way to transition my thoughts at all.  I think I'll leave by saying that my recital is on Monday, March 14th at 7:30 at Thompson Recital Hall.

It will be fun.  And it's on Pi day.  So there will by pie.

In other news, I have been following this website called foodporndaily.com, and it really makes me want to become a food photographer.  Go check out that site and I defy you to tell me that you did not sprout a half-chub.

Ok, that's enough of me making a fool out of myself.

Bye!

Life-like Shenanigans

So... I should be studying my Japanese for the grammar quiz tomorrow, but I thought, "that's boring... Let's make a blog post!"

So here we are.

There is sooooo many... interesting... things going on with this choir that I'm starting!  It's extrEMELY hard to get 9 college music students to pin down a time to rehearse... Everyone is sooo busy!  I'm not faulting them by any means, and these things happen, but it just gets kind of frustrating.  I already had to tell one person that it would be too hard because of her schedule, and I feel terrible about it.  Here's hoping that no one else does that!  First (official) rehearsal is going to be this week come hell or high water (I'm personally hoping for high water, because hell just sounds unpleasant...)

In other news, I moved!  For you DePauw-ites, I moved from Senior Hall to one of the duplexes on Jackson St... For you non-DePauw-ites, I moved from a shitty dorm to a less shitty apartment.

As much as I just LOVED hearing the people upstairs of me "back that ass up, back that, back that ass up," it just wasn't cutting it for me.

And now I can actually cook for myself!  I'm getting off the meal-plan!  Tonight I made a delicious chicken dish that involved cubing a breast (of chicken, you perverts), soaking it in a mix of soy sauce and "Italian Seasoning," which consists of oregano, thyme, rosemary and sage (all that's missing is the parsley, right?  Har har...).  Then I sliced some onion and a couple cloves of garlic and put it all into my gigantic wok.  Then I put it over a bed of steamed rice.  It was sooo delicious.  Looking forward to more great food!  I also want to get back to baking, so let me know your favorite desserts and I'll make them for you!

Oh my gosh you guys my recital is coming up and I'm SO FREAKIN' EXCITED!  I was gonna wait but I just can't anymore - I'm gonna show you the poster for it.

Credit to Morgan Burke for making the poster.

Of course, it'll be super embarrassing if I fail my recital jury and then will have to be like "um... the recital is now moved" and all but you know what some people are gonna call me cocky for putting out the poster super early like this and they'll just have to DEAL WITH IT.

So yeah, you all should come.  That's the moral of that story.

BAI BAI.

First Post Shenanigans

One day, while experiencing a particularly ethereal state of sleep-deprivation and delirium, a boy started a blog.

Ok, that's a lie.  I think the literal thought that popped up in my head was "Eh, can't sleep.  Why not write about it?"

I suppose I should include a bit about me.  I am a junior in a small college in Indiana.  I am studying music in an attempt to become a choral conductor, something a great many of my peers are NOT want to do.  While they are talking about the latest opera singer gossip, and lamenting (or jubilating) about their voice-types, I am looking for people to talk about what the newest conducting gesture is supposed to mean, what to do in front of a choir and oh my lord, did you see what Prof. So-and-so did in rehearsal yesterday?  Soooo not kosher.

I'm 20 years old, my birthday falling coincidentally on a day where most kids dress up as their favorite transformer and most adult females dress up in an attempt to get laid.

I am also an Asian-American, hailing from Honolulu, Hawaii.

I suppose the point of this blog is going to be an amalgamation of all of the topics mentioned here.  Insomnia, music, conducting, Asian-ness, dressing up to get laid, etc.  In it, I will try to be witty, to be straight and to the point, and not go too much into the inner-turmoil that is my life, but we'll see what happens.  Like any blog, I intend to use this for somewhat selfish reasons, so, yeah.  There's that.

Here's a picture of a kitty:

Enjoy.