This made my day, so I thought I'd share...

De-stressing

Things are sort of rushed and quiet at the same time. Rushed in that a hundred and twenty things need to be done, usually with some sort of urgency.

Quiet because... well... there aren't all that many new developments in my life. Probably because I've been so busy lately.

That and the fact that I've caught a flu YET AGAIN. Almost shook that off now. So much so that I'm finally singing again. It's such a relief.

I also did a short yoga session with a lady who's in church with me. Maybe not the best idea when I might or might not be sick, but I just had to find a way to get rid of some stress that's been building for a while.

I'm glad to sing and do yoga again, since at the moment, even editing can be an additional source of stress. Before, writing and editing was just something I did to relax. Now though, I know that there's an obligation tied to my deadlines. People are waiting for me to finish so they can do their work.

Which means I basically need to do as much as possible to stay calm and stress-free.

Hopefully, the yoga and singing will help. And waiting while my editor works through my newest revision.

What do you do to de-stress?

Housekeeping and music

As you can see, I changed up the look.

The standard background just didn't work for me any more, so I thought I'd put in one that better suits me.

This one works. My favorite color is blue and I love music so... I don't think I'll get a better representation of my personality than that without paying for the background.

Not much else to say news-wise, although I did now open a third blog. It's very low priority, though, so I probably won't neglect this one more than I have recently. Basically it's about me learning to grow orchids, so if you're a grower or would like to try your hand at it, I'd love to see you there.

Singing-wise, I'm back to regular solo-instruction, and I'm now learning this:



Yeah... so different from when I started, but that's good.

That's me for now. Any Puccini fans? What's your favorite operatic aria? And what do you think of the new look?

Stretching

Credit

Last Friday while I was doing my singing classes, we spent the better part of the afternoon doing some advanced techniques and stretching my voice as far as it could safely go.

It was hard work. I made a lot of mistakes. My voice threw tantrums because I was pushing it out of its comfort zone. But I loved it. Absolutely loved it.

Because pushing myself reveals things that I never knew. Like the fact that yes, I do have the high D in my voice after all. I never knew, because I never tried to sing that high before.

And that's what I like about living my life that way I do. If I get frustrated, I can stretch myself and try something new. In doing that, I can learn something new about who I am.

As a result, I know that I can overcome my fear of water and enjoy rowing. Or that I really do have a second wind when it comes to running.

Or that I can really do a major revision to my ms in a single day because I needed to.

All of these things, I never would have known if I haven't tried.

Of course, that does not mean I have to like doing all of them. Like with my rowing. I stopped, because I wasn't proficient enough at it to enjoy it all the time and the instructors weren't doing what they were supposed to to make sure I reached that level.

But I know that now because I tried it first. I stretched myself and pushed my boundaries.

I will continue to do that, because I think more than doing any specific thing, it's the learning that comes from stretching that truly makes me feel happy/satisfied with my life.

How have you stretched yourself lately?

And she's back!

Finally, I have enough of my ducks in a row to indulge my blogging addiction. Since it was my singing the Suiderkruis Mis (Southern Cross Mass), I thought I'd celebrate by putting up a review of the show. Sadly, it's in Afrikaans, so I'll have to translate for you... Sorry if some of it comes out wonky, but the way I see it, it will be better than using Google's translator... 


Original Article


Suiderkruis-mis

With soloists Francois van Coke, Leroi Nel, Annalie Herbst, Ellenoré van As, Riaan Hunter and the Klein Libertas Theatrical Choir. Composer and conductor: André Strijdom.

****


The Argentinians have Ramirez's Misa Criolla. Out of Kenya we have Missa Luba and then there is the lovely Misa Tango by Luis Bacalov.

And now South Africa has its own Mass - one specifically written for people living under the Southern Cross.  

As in the above mentioned masses, folk tunes were incorporated into the five parts of the traditional Catholic mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus Benedictus and Agnus Dei). There are soloists, a choir and orchestra/band, and the worship of God is the main purpose.  

But our own mass has something else that makes it truly special. It rocks. 

The rock-element brings excitement to the Suiderkruis-mis. And not only because Francois van Coke from Fokofpolisiekar and Leroi Nel from Foto na Dans are two of the soloists.  

Van Coke gets the opportunity to use his best rock-voice, and manages to move the audience when he begs for a world without hunger and homelessness and a world full of love and understanding in the Credo. 

Nel's attention grabbing solo in the Benedictus was a highlight. And best of all, they're just normal people. Go listen to them when they're performing in their element and in their own genre.

It isn't actually possible to say more about one soloist than the other. They're all young, with voices that grab you and refuse to to let go. They're deeply involved with what they're singing. 

Hunter's bass-baritone voice gave goose bumps from the first. Both Herbst and Van As's pure and lovely voices were a pleasant surprise. 

The choir and band/orchestra buzzed with energy. Not that it could have been any different under the energetic guidance of the (barefoot) composer/conductor Strijdom.

The whole piece was a joy to listen to, from start to finish. Afrikaans, Engels, Xhosa and Latin was sung. The Latin lended something mysterious, something with the flavor of incense, light from painted glass. Then came the familiar sounds of languages heard and spoken on the street every day. This is a mass for everybody. Before the performance, there was a discussion about the piece. It was a bit too long, but insightful, especially the explanation of the different parts of and the background of the composition.

Except for wishing them congratulations, one has a few other wishes for this piece of music. Hopefully this won't be the last performance. 

Also, one can hope that there's a program next time, so that one can follow the beautiful words that sometimes gets lost in all the music that's going on. Especially for the choir and Van Coke.  


Finally, one must hope that there will be a CD. There is just too much that you want to listen to again and again to be satisfied with only one performance. 








So yeah... sounds like all the hours I put in was more than worth it. And let me just say that I share those hopes. This composition really can go very far. Hopefully, this is only the beginning. 

Why my voice is freaking...

I've just come back from solo singing class, so I'm a bit tired. My voice (which can't really decide if it's an alto a mezzo or a lyrical soprano) is freaking out a bit because my instructor is giving me a wide variety of stuff to sing.

Last week, it was this:



 This week it was this



and this



 So my voice is sort of going... uhm... what?

Done anything interesting recently? What are you planning to do this weekend?

I love it when my life gets busy.

I must say that there is a noticeable improvement in my general state of well-being now that I'm getting out more. 

I went to a new choir on Monday to try it out and I can safely say that I love it. Then, I decided to give my church choir one more chance before I finally quit it, but more on that later. Finally, I'm going to go for Solo classes again from tomorrow. So yes, that adds up to three days (about five hours) with singing, so I am a very happy camper. 

Also, I'll finally be able to discuss the musical with my singing instructor (who asked me to rewrite the whole thing) so hopefully I'll be able to start working on it soon. 

Also, because of the good feeling I got from rowing on Sunday, I got right back onto my healthy living kick, so I'm making a point of being more active, which is making me feel even better. Tonight I'm going to go rowing again, because I really don't want to lose momentum now. 

What about you? Anyone else starting to do more exercise? Start anything new recently that you're enjoying? 

Looking at 2011

Since this is the last Friday of 2011, I thought today would be fitting for me to look at my recap of the year. 

All in all, I think it went well. Even though I didn't get to all my New Year's guidelines, I thought I could take stop by copy pasting that portion of my very first TCoML post. My comments are in red. 



I want to finish my first rewrite of Doorways by the end of April or the middle of May. 
Done. On 25 April.

I want to do this while working. 
I did that. 

Good to know I at least managed my first two guidelines. I usually don't get that far. 

I want to be back to fluency in French. 
Cough cough. Not yet. Really should start working on that. 

Cough cough HACK cough. 

I want to revise and study Mandarin. 
Same here. Picking up French will be much easier. 

Hack hack cough cough. 

I want to speak Italian at at least a moderate level by next January. 
Probably should start this first, as I don't speak any Italian. At all. 

Uhm... yeah... seems 2011 was a linguistically challenged one. 

I want to have written at least half of Guardian by December, but this is of lower Priority, since...
Good goal, this. I just need to find the character again. And her voice. And her story. I haven't touched Guardian since January.

Never did get to this, but I did finish another book and do half of a third, so I'm not too fussed. Thankfully, only the rewrite to the former was lost permanently. 

I want to start querying Doorways by next year. 

I'm planning to start edits in May, which might make writing Guardian a bit more difficult. 

Optimism. Sheer optimism. 

I want to get back to stabbing people for fun. (For those of you that don't know. I'm not completely psycho. I fence.)
Really still want to do this. But this time slot was taken up by singing. Singing might become something serious, like... a ticket to the stage. 

And so it was. 

I want to be back on my healthy lifestyle by the beginning of February. 
Failed miserably at this. Only getting to it now. 

I did get the hang of it around October. 

I want to stay on that lifestyle indefinitely. Or at least until December. ;-P
Let's get to the lifestyle first. 

It lasted until Christmas. Hey! I'm new to the lifestyle thing. 

I want to finish my degree and get completely out of the previous phase of my life, since this year will pretty much be spent in limbo. 
Amen.

And Hallelujah!

I want to make a stronger commitment to God. 
Amen.

I do think my commitment is stronger, even if it was a lot harder work than before. Maybe God made my life a little more complicated so that I could cling to Him more. 

I might or might not want to read the complete works of Shakespeare... 
I might want to start reading again. Period. 

And I did, but still no Shakespeare. 

It's interesting to look at my goals like this, because it does pretty well to show what I achieved in 2011. Maybe it was a small portion of what I wanted to do, but what I did achieve was important to where my life is headed. The time of those things that I didn't succeed in was spent on other very important events. Such as my singing, so I won't complain. 

I'm going to do next year's goals on MFB, so if you're interested, please go check it out and let me know what you think. 

Now, let me just say: Thank you one and all for coming to TCoML and supporting me on this my first year of the rest of my life. I truly appreciated your love, advice, sympathy and support through the best and worst times of the year. I pray that God will bless every single one of you and that you will find as much meaning in 2012 as I did in this year. 

Stay safe and I'll see you in the New Year! 

Tomorrow...

Phew. Had a marathon rehearsal today. Four straight hours.

Luckily my voice held up quite well.

And... I forgot my words.

So annoying, because the one song that I'd think I'd be able to remember is the one I'm forgetting. Now I have to find a way to remember the damned song because if I can't do it for an empty room, how on earth will I do it in a hall full of people?

*Takes a VERY deep breath* But, I will not panic. I know that I know the song. I'm just going to have to repeat the lyrics until they become second nature.

Just not right now.

My voice needs to recover.

What I'm trying to say, though: Tomorrow, at 8P.M. Johannesburg time, START PRAYING. ;-)

Please and thank you!

Anything you need me to pray for?

This just blew me away...

With my recent post about a dose of perspective in mind, I thought I'd post this video of Emmanuel Kelly's first audition to X Factor in Australia.

My mom showed it to me this morning and it had me bawling my eyes out. So consider this fair warning. I hardly ever cry for something I see on TV, so don't watch this if you're without tissues or if you don't want to ruin your make-up...

My First Book: Josh Groban sings Chess...

My First Book: Josh Groban sings Chess...: Hi all! I'm a bit busy to write a full second post today, so I thought I'd direct you to today's My First Book post. See you on Wednesday! X

Could I Leave You? The Miller's Son? Wait... I'll write you a letter...

Hello all! No real news to report, but I thought that since I'll be going to solo classes today, I will share the newest additions to my repertoire.

I've gotten two Sondheim numbers, although, alas, it isn't anything from Sweeney Todd.

The first is The Miller's Son from A Little Night Music. In case you were wondering: The quick bits are called patter and yes, they are in fact a pain in the ass to sing.



The other on is Could I Leave You? from Follies. I'm a bit young for it, but I love the wording and the absolute sarcasm oozing through. I tend to sing it with a bit more suppressed violence, though, because there's this idea in the back of my mind that the lady's in fact deciding between poison and a knife. Not that I'd blame her either way around. Her husband did propose to someone else while still married to her...


It's lots of fun to sing more shady characters after weeks of singing Tuptim from The King and I.

Sadly, as much as I have tried over the years, I never quite managed the doe-eyed vulnerable I'm a princess act. And sadly, Tuptim as written my Msrs. Rogers and Hammerstein is as close to a Mary Sue as I've ever  been forced to become...

Luckily I get to sing the Countess in Sull'aria from The Marriage of Figaro. In it, the Countess and her maidservant plot to catch her husband being unfaithful. They do this by writing a letter together, saying that the servants want to meet him in a forrest when night falls. Of course, it will be the countess that shows up wearing a veil. (Susana the servant is writing the letter.)



So that's me for today. Anyone else share my love for darker characters?

Priest Pie

Hi all! I spent most of yesterday afternoon listening to the original cast recording of Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Now I have a rather dark and twisted sense of humor, so this song is definitely the highlight:



Have a great weekend everyone! And do make sure you know what goes into your food. ;-P

Editor's Note: Apparently it is now acceptable for Blogger not to post what it's supposed to. So in the likely event that the video screen doesn't appear after my fifteen efforts to make it do so, here's the link 

Just like that, things fall into place.

Things are still going insane around me as I try to settle into my new schedule. But they will be better. Especially once I've caught up on the classes I missed because the blasted webmaster put up the wrong dates. >_<

That aside, I now have to take my solo-singing classes on Wednesdays. Which is why I got some awesome news today.

See, I'm still trying to figure out how to crack into the music scene.

And today, the way was handed to me on a platter. I was asked to write the story for a musical. ^_^

I'm so excited! Especially given the fact that the project will only start after I finished my degree. The timing couldn't be more perfect. And I'd love to get a look at how a musical is born.

Still, a lot of things can happen in a few months, but I'm carefully optimistic, because if I can get this experience, it might prove vital to my career. AND it mixes two of my dreams: writing and drama. Perfect.

Now it's just the wait to November.

What about you? Anyone else feeling themselves one step closer to your dreams?

Where I squee like a fangirl...

Today I don't really have much to say, except that they played this on the radio today and I sat up to pay attention. Dare I say it? Yes I can, being as I am actually a rocker.

Here goes. I LOVE this cover more than the original. 

What do you guys think? Awesome? Not as good as Adele?

Have a great weekend!

This is the moment...

So... when I discovered that the Hoff played Dr. Jekyll in Jekyll & Hyde, I was intrigued. I mean, I have heard him sing before, but never though of him as the Musical-type. So I went digging around for Jekyll's big song and voila:

I present to you, the Hoff:



Beautiful words, no? It sort of makes me think of my life.

NO... I don't drink drinks that alter my personality into that of a murdering psychopath. *at least I don't think I do.*

No, but my life is coming to a point now. At the end of the month, I will sign up for that one stupid subject.

This time, I will finish.

And then....

And then comes my This is the Moment moment. Then, I will be free to put money where my mouth is. To stop dipping my toe into the water and to dive in.

Strange to think about it, but last year, the thought terrified me. But this year, I can't wait.

This is the moment, 
When all I've done, 
All of my dreaming, scheming and screaming
Become one...


Here's to that moment coming soon. :-)

Anyone else reaching these moments?

P.S. Also want to apologize for my lack of post on Wednesday. Got stuck in revisions again. :-/