Radar, The Innocent

Just wanted to post another picture of Radar, the wonder dog.  He's enjoyed a weekend of being pampered since Ky's been out of town.  He is perfectly happy being spoiled rotten and nothing is too good for him.  

What goes on in that itty-bitty brain?  Not a lot, I'm certain.  That's okay, his innocence is very appealing.  

Have you ever noticed how innocence is appealing that way?  People love children and pets for their innocence.  Think of some adults who demonstrate some innocence.  I like nearly every one of them I can think of.  There aren't that many adults who allow themselves to seem innocent.  

Think of the people who consider themselves just the opposite of innocent.  Worldly wise, sophisticated, "been there, done that."  How many of those folks do you hold dear?  Not many, for me.  

Just something to think about.

Fine Tuning

Well, I listened to the tape of my recital today.  Or at least most of it.  In other words, I've heard enough!  

Given:  I missed a crucial note in Glitter and Be Gay and I will be sad about that until I am able to do it properly in public.  

Okay, now for the rest of the tape.  It really wasn't too bad.   I need to take it to my teacher and see what he says.  He'll be all happy and say how great it was.  Okay, I'm not deaf.  I know where the mistakes were.  It helps me to just get them out in the open so I can deal with them.  But overall, I am pretty pleased.  

I learned a lot.  First of all, be certain of the order of songs before you agree to do a recital.  I had planned to to the hardest piece last.  It got placed as the third from the last song I did.  That threw off my timing and I didn't feel I was ready for it and that is my theory of how I missed the note.  (It was Glitter and Be Gay--a torturous song from Bernstein's opera Candide.  You can look it up on YouTube, especially when Kristen Chenowith does it and you'll love it.  I happened to study the version done by Dawn Upshaw.  I love her musicality better than Kirsten Chenowith.  Dawn Upshaw actually sings it, Kirsten Chenowith gets silly and wimps out of the lower parts.    

All of this is just me being picky, I know.  I'll have to listen again when I have more time, but school resumes again tomorrow WAAAAY too early in the morning, so I need to get to bed.  

Twenty-four hours ago

Twenty-four hours ago, I was a basket case. Okay, it was really about 30 hours ago.  I felt sick and worried.  I really wanted to call off the entire performance!   I finally decided I couldn't bail out and that helped make things a little better.     We had all been up late Friday night due to my dress rehearsal, so I expected us all to sleep in.  Kim got up and went to his early-Saturday-morning small group Bible study.  He is the most reliable person I've ever known!   I got up and made brunch around 10:30 and Laura got to eat a little before she went off to a rehearsal.  She and a group of orchestra members accompanied the District High School chorus.  It was about 3:30 before they actually performed, so Laura rehearsed, came home to do a little homework, went back and performed and then had to do some shopping for her German Club.  I tried to lay low all day to rest up for the night's performance.  

 

In the meantime, Kim was keeping everyone going.  He coordinated Laura's comings and goings, took pictures of their performance and helped her arrange her schedule (of which I was pretty much oblivious!) to be sure she'd be home in time to ride with him to my recital.  From our house, it takes about an hour to get to the church on Capitol Hill.  He took me to dinner on the way to the bus and got me there just in time to catch the bus, which was a few minutes early.  Whew!  

I got to the church and waited for everyone else to arrive.  Tim arrived and we both admitted that it was quite a frightening evening ahead of us.  

The performance went quite well, but there were not very many people present.  That was good, in that I made plenty of mistakes.  That was bad because it was a fund raiser for the church choir.    I still had some fabulous friends show up to hear me.   Many thanks to Pam, Janelle, Cheryl and George!  Okay, George was invited by Paul, but I believe he came to hear me.  He is, by the way, a very talented pianist himself and I hope to get him on a stage soon.   

Several of the choir members were there, too, and it was great to see them there.  Traveling to Europe with that choir was a highlight in my memories and those folks are very special to me.  

My very favorite audience members were there on the front row:  Kim and Laura.  They have been so supportive in the past few weeks.  I am so blessed to have them both in my life.  

Ugh.

Well, I just got home from a ragged dress rehearsal.  I don't think I was able to sing any of the songs as well as I had hoped.    That is scary.  

Then again, it was wonderful to be up on stage and to push myself so hard.  I really enjoy performing and I love to perform with my accompanist and with the other soloist.  

Now for some hot tea and rest.

Countdown!

Today I had a lesson with my voice teacher--the last lesson I'll have before my recital.  I thought he'd just run through several songs and give me a pep talk.  No, we worked hard and I've got several things to try to correct before Saturday night.  Ugh.  

I've sung in public many times.  I've sung solos many times in public.  Each one is a little scary, but not nearly as scary as I used to think it would be before I started performing.  In fact, while practicing, I can think of a way I think I might mess up and nearly always, that is what I'll do onstage!  I really have to just keep myself from thinking of those things!  

This performance is different.  Before, I either was in a chorus or singing one or, at the most, two solos.  This time, I may be singing eight solos and one duet.  Okay, the duet also has a solo in it.  That seems doable, but I need to keep my voice strong to get all the way from song 1 through song 9.  Plus, song 9 is much tougher than songs 1 through 7.  The last two are very tough.   

Also, it isn't too hard to sing nine songs, but it is hard to sing nine songs loud enough to be heard in a church sanctuary--all the way to the back.  I doubt we'll have that many people, and maybe they will sit closer, but it is tough.  

Okay, now I've expressed most of my troubles.  No pity or negativity allowed from this point on!  

Tomorrow night, we'll go straight through the program and I'll let you  know what I think.  

Gulp!

Feb 3

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday, dear Ki-im,

Happy Birthday to you!!!

Okay, once again, you can see that I can't turn the pictures around.  Maybe that should be my blog's theme!