Introducing: Bastienne

I got my music for Germany! I'll be playing Bastienne in Mozart's one-act opera Bastien and Bastienne. He wrote it - get this - when he was all of 12 years old.

No wonder we call him an prodigy.

It's a common opera for very young singers to do, as the music lays in a very comfortable part of the singers' ranges, and is not taxing or really very difficult. It's all in German, and (like the Magic Flute) has spoken dialogue as well. So yeah, memorizing lines in German... that will be new.

Actually, this is the most amount of solo music I've ever had to memorize. I'm a little nervous - all that German, all those cues to remember, and all that singing to do all in a row! I mean, this is nothing compared to full-length, serious opera, but it's my first baby step.

But I'm super excited. I emailed in my measurements, etc to the costuming people over in Germany - they're already going to start making my costume! This is going to be so incredible. I can't wait.

Elegant Life

I secretly lurk fashion blogs.

sssh.

I just love living in style - approaching each day with elegance and deliberation. To me, carefully choosing my clothing helps me to remember to keep each day grounded in order and beauty. And that's not a terrible thing at all.

And today, while browsing the Sartorialist, I stumbled across these two images:

Aren't they delicious? I love the easy way they wear what we would now call formal clothes. This man and this woman just inhabit elegance, embracing respectability and presentability. And they give off such a demure, well-collected aura.

This is how I want to live life - calm, peaceful, and beautiful.

It's a most wonderful time of the year

So, wearing long skirts on rainy days with gentle breezes: definitely a yes. So romantical.

In honor of the beautiful spring weather, I wrote a poem! Here it is:

It's a silly time of year,

Raindrops dancing from clouds so sheer.

Boing! You can't help but laugh along,

As the sky sings its Spring-time song.

Somedays it's chilly, sometimes it's hot,

And inevitably you dress for what it's not.

But splashing in puddles and warming in sunshine,

Make March and April favorite months of mine.

Summer is nice with swimming and all,

But the giggles of Spring so loudly call!

When else can you skip and jump and hop,

And never worry about needing to stop?

Cause springy air makes everyone happy,

So here's to Spring, when no one can feel crappy.

:) Hope you have a day full of laughter and niceness.

Speaking of the impossible...

It's official - I got accepted into the music program at Arizona State.

So excited!!!!

Wonderland

sometimes i've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast ...

here's to the impossible!

Senior Picture - 2010

Taken by my lovely, and very talented, friend Kate.

Where I'll be this week

Lake Tahoe, Nevada, with my big sister K's friends from ASU.

the song is my lover

On Friday night, I did my last mic check on CGCC's stage, where I also did my first mic check ever. On Friday night, I had my last curtain call behind those curiously colored purple drapes in the PAC. On Friday night, I sang and danced my little heart out. It was a good Friday night.

So Pirates is over - and I'm kind of glad to be done with that ridiculous daughter that I was playing. Shrieking and giggling and swooning are all well and good, but it can make my social life a little awkward when the extremities of the daughter-ness start rubbing off into everyday life. Hopefully I'll resume my normal level of social interactions now.

Yesterday was a big day too - I had my senior pictures taken by the absolutely fantastic Kate, voice lessons, a huge farewell party at my house for some church friends, and a dance at a local LDS stake center.

Let me just say - I love dancing.

I'm a terrible dancer. I trip, and step on people, and talk too loud, and giggle too much. But I love every minute of it. And now I love it more.

Because last night - I got dipped.

I've never been kissed, but I think being dipped is like being kissed. The world just swirls around you, and all you know is that you feel beautiful and you should be sprawled on the ground, but instead you're being supported and protected.

I don't really know the guy who I was dancing with, and I'm not attracted to him or anything - and that made the experience even more special. Just a guy, being a gentleman and a good dancer, and no unwanted overtones to ruin the experience.

So spring break started off on a good note - full of singing and dancing and loving life.

Oh, and a great service at Praxis this morning!

Lace curtains

"How different are we who have grown used to [sunsets], who have become jaded with a satiety of wonder." ~ Thomas Carlyle

Wonder is the lace curtains of life. Wonder is the way a child smiles when the sun hits her face. Wonder is what keeps us going when life gets mundane.

I see it in the sky - huge, graceful hippopotamuses of clouds romping about miles above me.

I see it in the way my dad loves my mom - steadfast, unswerving, spontaneous.

I see it in a good picture - maybe with fuzzy edges and a pretty landscape.

I see it in a chord in a song in choir - when all eight parts resonate in a glorious dissonance that becomes consonant.

But mostly, I see it when I peer inside my heart and realize that I've been made new... that something (or really, Someone) is living inside of me and is changing me. Behold! I am a new creation. The old has passed away, and lo, the new has come.

On Tip Toe (and an update)

A new poem I wrote in German class last night!

The starry dreams of flickering skies,
shine so bright in your sea-foam eyes.
Staring into a wide, wild night,
the wonder in your face brings light.
Dance and laugh, sweet child of song,
And with your love make the world grow strong.

In other news, we have just two shows left of Pirates, both this coming Friday. We have been sold out for about half the shows, and about half full for the others. It's been so fun, and the audience just loves it. I love it too :)

We did pictures yesterday afternoon, so hopefully I'll get my hands on a few and I can post some!

Poem! (not by me)

My family was re-reading some children's books last night, and I stumbled across this poem that made me so happy inside. It's by Debby Boone.

Singing

Attention, all children! Now hear what I say:
Make sure that you've done enough singing today!

You've heard the old saying 'bout an apple a day
Well, singing can help in a different sort of way.

'Cause singing makes you feel really good deep inside,
So good that you'll smile and get all google-eyed.

You don't need a piano or need a great voice,
All you need is a song (and that's a matter of choice)

Sing songs that are happy, sing songs that are fun
Sing songs that you know, (or just write yourself one)

All children the world over: It's my wish and my prayer
That you sing more and more till your songs fill the air!

Another Opening of Another Show!

"I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes." ~ ee cummings

I'm thanking God today for legs that can dance and jump, for a voice that can sing and shout, for eyes that can see and perceive, and for a heart that can love and enjoy. I'm thanking Him for bright lights in my face, for a mic by my mouth, for a costume on my body, and for fake curls in my hair.

"I imagine that yes is the only living thing." ~ ee cummings

Singing. Dancing. Acting.

Yes.

I feel alive - so alive, so happy. (so tired)

And I get to do it all again tonight.