Singing makes me happy!

My Opera Star costume for Halloween when I was 5!

Some day's, I miss masterclass. I miss hearing other people sing and perform on a weekly basis. It was always the high-light of my Thursday's. I would always feel so motivated and refreshed after masterclass, kind of like after a good, uplifting, Sunday.

The other day, I was singing to myself and I decided that I was going to start giving myself voice lessons weekly again. I can't afford them now because my husband is in grad-school and we are trying to extend our family...but I miss having something to look forward to weekly. Sometimes, I wish I could get a group together in our ward (church) and do a masterclass type of thing, but I don't want people to think I am conceited and just want to perform and show off. I just like listening to music, but being able to perform would also motivate me a little more to practice more. I also thought about joining a community choir at one point with a friend, but it would be hard for me to get to practice every week because we only have one car, and Kevin (my husband) uses it a lot for clinic and school. So, I think for now...until I find someone that really shares some interest in doing a group type thing, I will just do my own voice lessons once week for myself. I am going to pick a musical theater song that I have never done before, an art song, a hymn, and a simple aria. Then I will have songs to sing in the shower again!

Anyway...enough of my rantings. I need to do some laundry and get ready for a YW broadcast!

Senior Recital Song

So...A LONG LONG TIME AGO, I did my Senior Recital at BYU-Idaho! I have wanted to be able to put clips of my recital on my website forever, HOWEVER...I am not tech savvy so this will have to do.

This was one of the best songs I performed.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Memories/Audition

The other day, a good friend of mine asked if I was part of any community choirs, and I thought..."No...but why not?" So, we have been discussing community choirs and which one we should join and auditions,and such. I am so excited! I miss singing with a group of people everyday...(even though this will only be once a week).

So, this morning, feeling a little skittish and excited, I rummaged through all my music and tried to find a song that would fit my voice. I have to admit...I haven't been singing as much as I did in college...I really haven't had much motivation to sing since I am no longer taking classes and stuff. I mean...I sing stupid stuff like, "Ring around the Rosie", and the "ABC's" to the kid I nanny but that doesn't count. I did sing a little more last week because I had to practice a song for my husband's grandfather's funeral...but now that's over. So...my voice isn't as strong as it used to be and I am of course mad at myself for not keeping it up. I am really excited to sing in a choir again so I have more reason to sing in the shower...Singing the same songs I sang at my senior recital gets boring after awhile.

Back to the audition...I found an old song that I sang for a NATS competition and won first place in that I LOVE...so I am thinking about possibly singing that one or a shorter song from my senior recital that I am sort of sick of but sounds good.

The one I sang for my NATS competition is called, "Deh, per questo istante solo" and it is by my favorite composer in the world...Mozart! I think this may have been the song that first made me fall in love with him. I LOVE this song because it can show off your range, the piano accompaniment is beautiful,the tempo changes so it never feels boring, and it has a lot of emotion in it. Take a look yourself!


I would love to see this Opera some day. It's from "La Clemenza di Tito" Here is the translation...

If only for this moment,
Remember our former friendship,
What makes me die of sorrow
Is your scorn, your severity.
It is true that I am unworthy of pity
And can only inspire horror;
Yet you would be less harsh
If you could see into this heart.
I go toward death in despair,
But dying does not frighten me;
The thought that torments me
Is having been a traitor to you.
A heart suffers so much sorrow
That it dies from its pain.

This Opera has a lot of drama and love involved...If you want to know more about the synopsis Wikipedia had a pretty good one. The song is basically about a man who betrays his friend Titus, in hopes to overthrow him as Emperor.

The other song I was thinking about singing for my audition is, "Miene liebe ist grun" Its a really short song so that might be better for time, but I might just shorten the other song because I like it better.

So yeah...I am pretty excited to be able to meet new people and sing again! It makes me want to practice, however...I need to write a talk for church now because I have procrastinated long enough. It should only be five minutes, but I need to get that done before I do anything else.

Music is Powerful!

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Perfect Pitch-A Musical Gene

If you haven't read, "Musicophila" by Oliver Sacks...and you LOVE learning about music and it's affect on people, you REALLY should! This post again has to do with something I read from this book.

I knew a girl in college that had Perfect Pitch and I really envied her at times. She was our human pitch pipe in choir, and ear training (aural skills) came naturally for her. Whereas, I had to memorize Major, and minor tones to pass my ear training class.

I used to think that Perfect Pitch had to be a gene you inherited, until I read this in "Musicophilia",

"For students who had begun musical training between ages 4 and 5, approximately 60% of Chinese students (attending Eastman School of Music in Rochester) met the criterion for absolute pitch, while only about 14% of the US nontone language speakers met the criterion."

In other words, those who speak a language that has more tones/inflection in their language have greater odds at having perfect pitch.

What if perfect pitch can be learned just like we know our colors, but we just don't teach it? If this is the case, this proves another point. Music is a language that can be learned!

A Myth Buster

A lot of times, when talking about singing with friends or strangers, I hear a lot of this..." I can't sing... I wish I had that talent but it's just not in me."

I too, once believed in the myth that singing was a talent that you had to be born with to have. However, I was proven wrong when I went to college at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

At BYU-I, freshman weren't really considered REAL music majors until they past a jury (finals) where judges could determine whether or not someone had what it took to study and improve their talents. It was necessary to weed some people out because there were a lot of freshman that wanted to go into music, and not enough professors to give one on one voice lessons. Because there were so many freshman, I had to share voice lessons with two other freshman. At first this really bugged me. I felt like I never got the amount of time I wanted with my voice teacher to learn everything that I wanted to. However, as weeks went on...I started to love watching the progress some of my peers were making in my voice lessons and in masterclass (a class where you listen to each other perform and watch a teacher fix any problems). Before, I thought some of my peers were not very good, but as I watched them improve I saw how a normal singing voice could become something gorgeous.

After my freshman year, I continued to watch my peers improve. I became incredibly fascinated, and then decided that I wanted to help others build their talents by being a voice teacher.

How can singing be learned? Singing involves a lot of muscles that need to be strengthened. Some of these muscles, you may have never used in your life correctly (like the diaphragm, or the serratus posterior inferior, or even some of the muscles that help you have correct posture.) There are a lot of things that go on in your body when singing correctly which is why it makes it hard...yet with instruction...anyone can sing beautifully. It just takes time and hard work.

There are some people who are born knowing some of the techniques in singing without knowing what they are doing, but improve with a little more instruction.

A lot of people blame not being able to sing on being tone deaf...however, even amusia (the inability to produce or comprehend music or musical tones) can be learned. I have seen this myself with teaching voice in college.

Anywho...I just felt like I had to bust that myth. I try to tell people that anyone can sing...but no one believes me until I actually show them...So there you have it. Consider this myth busted!

Speaking of mythbusters...take a look at this!

Trial