normal life

For the first time in a looooong time, it feels like this is what we’ve returned to.  Normal life, when we have a relatively clean house, and my brain is behaving itself.  We got home last night and actually cleaned the house like we always used to – I cleaned the bathrooms (excluding the showers), toilets, and dusted, while SO vacuumed the whole house.  It was so nice to sit down at 8:30pm and look around and realise that the house was properly clean for the first time in about four months, since our reno madness commenced.

I feel like I’ve been running around all day today.  I got up and was out of the house before 9am (this is quite the feat for me on a weekend).  I did some food shopping, then went out and bought a few bits and pieces for SO’s birthday.  Then I dropped in and saw Mum and the dogs for a while.  I helped her look at overseas hotels for her trip in February next year, and I also patched some cracks in her walls.  She could do that herself, but I’m happy to do it, and she appreciates me helping her.

By the time I got home, SO was heading out to our final reno to do some work.  He’d actually cleaned my shower in the morning.  I’d forgotten what the grout colour was, it had been so long.  I did some laundry, but I seem to have hit a wall – I can’t see dinner getting cooked at home tonight.  Oh well, I guess there’s no point in pushing myself.

Tomorrow is an extra rehearsal for choir.  I really need to do some work, particularly on the faster pieces.  The slower stuff I can manage to read the music line and the text okay, but on the faster stuff it all falls apart.  I did manage to pick up a skin coloured camisole today at Big W, which was a bonus.  Our new sponsor is Liz Davenport and as part of the sponsorship, the females in the choir have been given these shirts to wear to certain performances.  They’re a lot more sheer than they look.

The other choir-related thing I need to do is organise some black gear for ordinary performances.  I know that we need either a black floor-length skirt or black slacks, and a black top.  I normally wear slacks but I’m very tempted to make a long bias-cut skirt.  I think it would look really nice with ballet flats (you’re supposed to wear flat shoes when singing, so that you can breathe properly).  Ballet flats with slacks would just look a bit odd.  I’ve found a pattern and ordered it – thank God for the internet! – so now I just need to find suitable material to make it from.

update: singing

Well, it appears that I’ll need those singing lessons after all.  Despite being terrified, and my hands (and voice) shaking during my audition, I’ve been accepted.  I was also asked to sit in on that night’s rehearsal, as the choral director considered I was strong enough musically to pick up the scores as we went through.  And I did, pretty much – a couple of the faster numbers took me a bit longer, but I did pretty well (if I do say so myself.  Have I mentioned I’m modest, too?).

SO was over the moon, he was so proud of me.  It’s nice to have those you love be proud of you.  Because I grew up being involved in music from an early age, it just kind of blended into the general family stuff (my mother to my dad:  “okay, we need to get son to hockey practice at 9am on Saturday morning, and petrona has a music lesson at 10am, so what will we do about transport?”, etc.).  My mother used to come along when I was in competitions (as I needed transport to get to them) and would sit and listen, and congratulate me when I won, but it was kind of, for want of a better term, muted.  So to have a big fuss made of me (and a genuine one too) is a nice change!

He even gave me flowers:

It’s so nice to be loved.

I was a bit scared to tell my psychologist, as she’s always banging on about how even my hobbies push me in the sense that they’re ‘achievement’-oriented, but she was actually delighted.  She feels that it will give me some empty-headspace time, because I’ll be concentrating so hard, and that will block out the constant internal conversations I have with myself about what’s been done, what needs to be done, and how to get it done.  This is indeed constant, and music does give me a reprieve from it, so I agree with her that it’s a good, healthy thing for me to be involved in.

Anyhow, I was told I need to sing every day (to get some practice), and I need to sing for the choral director again in September.  Not sure why, but hey, orders are orders.  So I guess those singing lessons are now a priority.

singing

For some reason, I have an audition for our state choir this Tuesday.  As in, tomorrow.

My aunt has been on at me for a while to audition.  Her rationale is, as I’ve played the flute for so long (and to a decent level), that I must be able to sing.  I wouldn’t necessarily agree; but I’ve had singing lessons in the past, and I loved being in the school choir, so hell, I may as well give it a go.

I had a little practice at my aunt’s house last night, where she gave me several useful pointers.  I thought I’d better get them down before my addle-pated brain forgot them.

• Open your mouth properly – think ‘hot potatoes’ – this enables the soft palate to rise and produce a clear sound on the high notes (I’m a soprano);
• Use your diaphragm – get your minds out of the gutter, people!! It’s the muscle located below your lungs which helps control your breathing.
• Project!! I tend to have a little voice unless I deliberately sing to the back of the room.
• Use Cyberbass to learn your part in a choral work.  This is a fantastic resource which is free.
• Remember the dynamic markings.

I’m sure there were more, but yeah, my recall isn’t the best.

My aunt also gave me the name of a singing coach who she goes to.  The coach lives reasonably close to me so I’ll have to make sure to get in touch and arrange some lessons.  That is, if I get into the choir.  If I don’t, well, it’s less of a priority.

So the audition is at 6pm tomorrow night.  I’ll be singing an excerpt from Brahms’ German Requiem, and a little ditty Caro mio ben.  Wish me luck!