Music and Stuff

If there's one thing I hate, it's singing in a studio recital. I can actually stand singing in some situations (without passing out or dying or something) but I hate studio recitals with a passion. For one thing the only other people there are other voice college students (who are also singing in it) and I'm my teacher's only community student. So basically I have to get up there and sing in front of all those college students who have been taking voice way longer than me, are older than me, and are just plain better than me. Plus the last one I did (which was last October) was not (I repeat not) fun. I think I sang all right, but my hands got really clammy and right there in the middle of the stage, with all those college students staring me down, I completely forgot the words. It was an Italian song, (which didn't really help matters any) and all I could remember was the title of the song (which happened to be "Caro Mio Bien"). So basically for the rest of the song I improvised between the title and a few other random Italian words that happened to pop into my head. The good news was it was all in Italian, so no one noticed the difference. Even my voice teacher could barely tell, and she said I did a good job covering. The bad news, I felt like a total failure. I was seriously tempted to start punching myself or hitting myself on the head with a Harry Potter book (those things are big and I'm sure they would hurt too.....hahaha) Let's just say that after that experience, I am not too sure I want to go through it again. However, my voice teacher said the other week that she wanted me to sing in one next month. Great. Just hopefully I won't have anymore dramatic stories to tell you......

I got the performance lecture in piano as well (it just wasn't my day, okay?). First my teacher went on this long monologue about how important it was to perform. Then she told me I had to pick at least place I wanted to play at (nursing home, church, preschool, etc.) and tell her by the next lesson. Well church is definitely out for now. It's bad enough playing for people you don't know, but imagine playing for people you do. If you mess up you'll be remembered forever as the washed out kid who couldn't even play a simple hymn.....okay maybe not that bad, but still. I might be able to handle kids (they wouldn't know when if I messed up hopefully) and I probably wouldn't do too bad in a nursing home either. Well heck if I handled that stressful recital last April, I could probably handle any of those. But I can't say I'd enjoy any of them (sure hated that horrible recital *shivers*).

Well concerning my dad, he started his new medicine Friday which is a mix of several different powerful chemos. We're just hoping it's going to help soon, because the tumor has affected his speech really badly and it's really depressing him. So yes your continued prayers are great, and I'll keep you updated. =]