The Guide to Choral Singing

I was browsing the web today, looking at different community choir options in Boulder.  I stumbled across one choir's website, and it had a link to this website that explains the truth about voice parts in choral singing.

Just another Saturday

It's the weekend!  Yay! 

So every Friday night, Christina and her friend Jen go to this sushi place on The Hill (more about that later) called Hapa.  They usually follow it up with a movie.  Last week, they were kind enough to invite me, but I hate sushi, so I was just along for the company, and I went home for supper while they went to the movie.

This week, though, I decided to try something from the sushi place.  Not sushi, mind you, because I don't eat things that have lived in water at any point in their lives, but a chicken yakiniku bowl.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Delicious.  Sweet and spicy wih rice and deliciousness.  I love Asian food.

I decided to go to the movie with them, (even though I didn't really want to see the movie they did) because I haven't been to the theatre to see a movie since "27 Dresses" came out in Jamestown, which was like April of 2008.  Holy. Moly.  Let me tell you about a movie theatre. This will sound dumb to all of you civilized city folk out there, but I'm down with that.  We walked in, and their concessions stand was the size of my house.  And they sold ICE CREAM!  Then, when we walked into the place where our movie was showing, they had TIERED SEATS!  And not only were they tiered, but they were like La-Z-Boy recliners!  They were all plush and had cup holders and leaned back a little bit.  I was in movie heaven!  (Now if only I would have enjoyed the movie more... aliens aren't my thing.)  Christina and Jen didn't understand why I was so shocked, and couldn't wrap their brains around the apparently dismal state of movie theatres in ND.

On a completely different note, I had my first official voice lesson today.  Yes, on Saturday.  It went well.  I get one hour a week, and each lesson is recorded on DVD so that I can watch, listen, and learn from myself.  It went as well as can be expected for a first lesson.  I have two performances coming up next week, so we didn't do anything I wasn't expecting.  Yay for professors who want to teach students on Saturdays!

I have the apartment to myself today, because Christina is out of town for the night.  Whatever shall I do?  Homework, homework, homework! : (  But if anyone wants to fly down for the evenng and go out with me, I'd be cool with that!  More than cool, actually...  My apartment is always open for friends!

Highlights

I moved to Colorado almost two weeks ago now, and so much has happened in the past two days that I felt a desire to share my highlights with all of you:

• My apartment rocks.  $500 a month includes cable, internet, a washer and dryer, and furnishings.  Plus it's on campus and was just remodeled 3 years ago, so it has brand new paint, furniture, light fixtures, blinds, etc.  The only downside is I can't park on campus, so it's sometimes difficult to find parking, and I sometimes have to walk a ways to get to my car.

• My roommate rocks.  She has been so helpful with getting around Boulder, letting me hang out with her and her friends, and is a great listener!  Yay for Christina!

• There are SO MANY people here!  The University has 29,000 students.  That's amazing!  It's strange to walk across campus and not see one single familiar face.  I used not to be able to walk across campus without getting stopped, now no one knows me.

• My studio placement audition went way better than I could have hoped.  I later found out that all of the professors wanted to have me in their studios and that they are very excited to have me, even though I didn't score that well in the audition for admission.

• I'm studying under baritone extraordinaire, Patrick Mason.  You can learn more about him here: http://www.colorado.edu/music/faculty/mason.html  He has been really helpful already, and his excitement about having me is contagious.

• He asked me to sing for the entire vocal department, students and faculty, next week.  Ack!!

• I'm in University Choir! (That's a good thing.)  I'm also taking an opera theatre class that is putting on a scenes program December 1, so if you have some free time, come on out! :)

• I learned today that I will probably be the recipient of a full-tuition scholarship next year.  Yay!!

Okay, that's enough for now.  I'm off to study theory.  More later!