I have recently been spending the majority of my practice time with Che faro senza Euridice. Ever since I heard two girls sing it at NATS, I have fallen in love with it. I love the "che faro" melody (the one that is happy sounding)but am having trouble with the parts that differ; especially the parts that come between the happy "che faro" melody. I am also kind of scared of the beginning recitative because it is so long and doesn't really having a flowing, easy to catch on to, melody. I have realized though, after spending only one day on the first page, that memorizing Italian isn't really that bad. If I just put the time in, I can get this one down. Right now I have the first page almost totally memorized, but there is still a lot of work to be done on this aria. I am also putting some time into memorizing the German piece. I just love Che faro!!

I am very pleased with my NATS results! I was not expecting to be only two points away from making finals. On the other hand, I realize that if I had practiced a little more, especially on the French piece, I might have actually made finals. But I guess that's just a motivation for next year. I was expecting to get grilled on my French because, as they pointed out, I am not solid on my diphthongs and I don't quite understand the French vowels. However, I am super glad that I did not mess up on words or switch the two main runs (which I had done a couple times in practice).
As for Down in the Forest, I was pretty nervous because I did not do so hot on it on recital last week. On recital, I started the piece very timidly and did not open up my voice until the second half of the piece. At NATS, right before I walked in, a girl gave me some great advice: the adrenaline that is produced when you're nervous is the exact same adrenaline that is produced when you're excited. So...I went into my NATS "audition" telling myself that I was just super excited to share these pieces with the judges and everyone who was listening instead of being nervous. It helped tremendously!!

NATS

Please disreguard that last post. I was just kind of in a bad mood last night. After a great vocal studio yesterday and after practicing after studio, I realized that I just need to power through sometimes and just get through my bad practice "slumps". Now I am really excited for NATS!! I am also now really excited for NATS. Can't wait for this weekend!!

Well, I am rather anxious for NATS. Excited would definately be the wrong word. I know this will be a great experience but I also know that I don't stand a chance making it past the first round. Like I said I'm sure it will be great experience. I'm sure I'm just not appreciating this opportunity or making the most of it. Dr. Hepworth, I'd really like to talk to you sometime about lessons, or i guess more specifically, motivation. I do not feel motivated to practice and this really makes me sad; especially in my lesson when I feel like I'm letting you down. Anywho, I spent some time this weekend working on NATS music, which you might or might not hear tomorrow (I can't remember if I'm supposed to sing for studio or not). During my practice sessions this weekend, I literally hurt my own ears while I was practicing. I think this had something to do with frequency because once I hit a certain level of "buzz", my ears just wanted to close up and hide themselves. It was weird. Anyhow, I'm sure you've read enough of my sob story for now. I'm sorry I'm being so negative.