Today in the life...
Today:
8:30-ish Singing yoga plus three sun salutations
9:00-10:45 Breakfast and morning ablutions and hair-doing and getting dressed
10:45-11:45 Warmup, and rehearsal with Lukas
11:45-12:00 Makeup
12:30-1:30 Staying warm, singing, some energetic breathing
1:30-2:00 Masterclass: Come scoglio with Elizabeth Futral.
We mainly did dramatic / interpretation work; her suggestions took some ideas of mine and brought them out a bit more, basically encouraging me to take my development of the character and aria further. Really nice session. Addressed some small vocal issues as well, but the majority of the work was on drama and how to bring it out in certain ways in the music.
2:10-3:30ish Drive up to UCLA, warm up for audition
4:45? UCLA audition (see below)
5:15-7:00!!! Drive back to Irvine in OBNOXIOUS LA TRAFFIC. I had to stop and get a sammich at Arby's because I hadn't eaten since scrambled egg at 10 AM, and I was getting dangerously *sleepy* on the road as WELL as starving.
7:00-8:10 Medium rehearsal
I was going to go see Dance Visions tonight, but was already going to be late, and I was SO tired and wanted to get a new book and get something more to eat than that icky Arby's sandwich. So I went to Borders, and had some nice sit-down food that involved delicious soup, and then went home at about eleven.
Wow, that was a long day.
Audition and life stuff:
The opera director @ UCLA basically told me "You don't need a doctorate, you need a manager and you need to go out and audition." Which was very gratifying. :)
Graham still wants me to audition for Michigan--even though the more I think about it, the less I think it's an option. I wouldn't mind being away for months at a time to do a *role* somewhere... but committing to three years of school is pretty daunting. Then again, part of the reason I took up the idea is because George Shirley, who was Jessye Norman's teacher (Jessye Norman is a super famous int'l singer) basically kicked her out of his studio in her first year and called some people, and said "You have to hear this soprano"... and then he sent her of to go and audition for them.
The guy today (opera director for UCLA's program) basically said a DMA is more likely to get your resume shelved "in the business"--because people see that as staying in the baby pool. Which I understand, and then on top of that with my age being what it is--I feel more and more like "OK, I'm done." Now that I'm really starting to get a little discipline together, practicing and exercising a few times a week... if I can just get that to hold, find a good coach and maybe a teacher to work with up north, I feel like I can be ready. I came >< close to rocking today's audition even though I was nervous going in... there were some times that the faculty were whispering to each other, and I got distracted, and I just went on autopilot and got back on track. Which I *didn't* have the ability to do, three years ago.
And, of course, there's the "kid" decision weighing into all of this. It will be a HELL of a lot easier to lose weight and get healthier if I'm at home, *not* in the stressful environment of grad school, and cooking for Graham and I. I think that I have some drive and momentum accumulated at this point--and I also still have some long-term psychological issues attached to weight gain and self-sabotage, which I won't really be able to address in a grad school environment (I certainly haven't been able to in the past four years, because of time pressures and school and my generally divided life).
I'm going to try to get a chat time with Dr. T. on Monday, to talk seriously about Life Stuff. I'm thinking more and more that I might end up doing one year at home, auditioning locally (for *paying* jobs only!) and then if I don't end up with a good job, going to NYC--either for a year to do a certificate program, or just for a couple of weeks to do the audition rounds for companies and managers.
But tomorrow, I need to spend many hours on recital repertoire, and do some homework, and learn recitative for the Michigan audition. Because I forgot about that... oops.