Back when I was in Malad, I auditioned for a town theater role in "A Christmas Carol", and was accepted as Scrooge. I have video tape, that one of these days I need to edit together, but here's a pic from back then. I'm cowering from the ghost of Jacob Marley. ;-)

Click the pic for larger image.
It was a lot of fun, I have always loved doing theater, and I hope in time to get chances to do some acting here in Spokane.

Today, I had to sing in front of several instructors, and the Director of the Music Program at EWU.
I was very nervous, and it was very stressful leading up to the event.
I had unfortunately missed a number of voice lessons over the quarter, and was ill prepared on one song in particular, but of course all areas were impacted by missing such sessions.
The accompanist I was going to use ended up not being available, and I didn't realize that until only two weeks before this performance.
So, I was scrambling.
The songs I prepared to sing were:

• Caro Mio Ben
  
  
  “Ah, dearest love”
  
  
  by Tommaso Giordani (1730-1806)
  
  
  Edited by John Glenn Paton
  


• Amarilli, mia bella
  
  
  “Amarilli, my dear one”
  
  
  by Giulio Caccini (ca. 1545-1618)
  
  
  Edited by John Glenn Paton
  


• Let Us Break Bread Together
  
  
  African American spiritual
  
  
  arranged by Gordon Myers
  

I was given a list of possible accompanists, and began emailing and calling from the list.
The first several were already all booked up.
As the final week before the performance approached, I found one who is a graduate student in the last year of his master's degree in music, who would take me on, but for a fee of $25.00.
I jumped on it, but only had very little time to work with him.
It became apparent, that though he was a fairly good pianist, I don't know how much experience he had an accompanist, and it was more akward than with the previous one I used, however, we muddled through.

I'm very, VERY, VERY much a NOVICE singer. I've a Loooooooooong way to go before I can sing without the probabilityof making people wince. But I have to start somewhere I guess.

So, we squeezed in a couple of short rehearsals just before, and it was apparent I was in a LOT of trouble with the newest (to me) piece Amarilli mia bella, which I'd only had bout 2-3 lessons on to that point.

Caro Mio Ben and Let Us Break Bread Together, weren't great, but at least I could get through them "in the ballpark" and had them memorized in time for the performance, though I couldn't really spout any of the background information (history, translation, etc.) effectively.

So, the day of the performance arrived, and I (yet again) screwed up the day for everyone by having been up until 2:00 trying to get work done, and so overslept and only had time for a feeble excuse for breakfast before the kids had to go, and I had to leave not long after.
It was a very rocky morning, and not a good way to start out an already stressful situation.

I arrived 35 minutes before the performance to try to get in a last minute rehearsal.
I'd been listening to some mp3's of the Caro Mio Ben and Amarilli, to try to get them stuck in my head, which definitely helped in jus a few days.
Unfortunately, I over practiced in this cramming approach, and I could tell my throat and voice were getting raw and worn out.

Finally the time arrived to perform, and fortunately they didn't require me to do all three songs, only the two I had memorized (phew!!!).

It didn't go perfectly on my part, I could tell my voice was strained and a little horse, but I wasn't too far off on the notes and timing (though it definitely needs a LOT more work on my part).
However, they (the Jury) said I did ok, we'll see what the grades say.

Then the director asked to speak with me immediately afterwards, "Uh oh" I thought, what'd I do now?
He took me upstairs to his office, had me close the door and sit down, while I wondered what he wanted.
It turned out he just wanted to listen to my compositions that I'd given him recordings (and tablature) of several months back in the hopes of his approving getting some live performance(s) recorded of one of my pieces (the string quintet for mandolin).
He listened to about 4 other pieces first, then finally the quintet.
He seemed to enjoy (though as others have noted, there was the "Redundancy" factor to my pieces).
Anyhow, he handed back the folder and cd, and said thought we could indeed do something next quarter. He suggested for the piece, instead of using mandolin with a quartet, to use a marimba instead. I can hear what he's saying, sounds like an interesting combination.

So, hopefully sometime this Spring quarter 2006, I will have 5 real musicians performing and creating a recording of one my compositions!

I'll cross my fingers on that.

Meanwhile, I need to find a new accompanist that I "synch" with better.

I'm signed up for choir, and voice lessons next quarter, but this time, I'm need an accompanist that I can meet with once per week (in addition to the weekly voice lessons) so that I'm more prepared for the Spring '06 jury performance.

Btw, don't wish me luck, instead "break a leg" is the correct parlance in the industry. ;-)

Meanwhile, I have a lot of making up to do on the home front because I screwed up not only the morning for everyone, but the afternoon as well because I forgot about some important obligations other's had and arrived home too late.

I need to dust off that cat o' nine tails I believe...

Well it's "Dead Week" (as in Finals Week) at the University.
So even less time than before.
I have a Recreation Management report due Monday.
Athletic activity report due, Martial Arts report due, have to have the Japanese related to the Karate class memorized (as well as the form, applications, Ran Dori, etc.), final project for Art in Rec. And I've completely blown my Intercultural Communications class. :-(
One point of interest coming up is on June 13th, I have to sing for the Jury Review.
Fortunately this time I have a wonderful accompanist, Carol Miyamoto. I am very fortunate she agreed to work with me this quarter, and I hope she'll continue to do so in the future.
The songs this quarter I have to be prepared to sing are:

Here are some pics from the play I was in at the Malad City, Idaho, Iron Door Theater. I had the role of Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, done as a comedy of errors. Links to pics:
 
 Cast Photo

Today, I had to sing in front of several instructors, and the Director of the Music Program at EWU.
 I was very nervous, and it was very stressful leading up to the event.
 I had unfortunately missed a number of voice lessons over the quarter, and was ill prepared on one song in particular, but of course all areas were impacted by missing such sessions.
 The accompanist I was going to use ended up not being available, and I didn't realize that until only two weeks before this performance.
 So, I was scrambling.
 The songs I prepared to sing were:
  
Caro Mio Ben
  "Ah, dearest love"
  by Tommaso Giordani (1730-1806)
  Edited by John Glenn Paton
  
Amarilli, mia bella
  "Amarilli, my dear one"
  by Giulio Caccini (ca. 1545-1618)
  Edited by John Glenn Paton
  
Let Us Break Bread Together
  African American spiritual
  arranged by Gordon Myers
  

 I managed to get an accompanist last minute...

I was given a list of possible accompanists, and began emailing and calling from the list.
 The first several were already all booked up.
 As the final week before the performance approached, I found one who is a graduate student in the last year of his master's degree in music, who would take me on, but for a fee of $25.00.
 I jumped on it, but only had very little time to work with him.
 It became apparent, that though he was a fairly good pianist, I don't know how much experience he had an accompanist, and it was more akward than with the previous one I used, however, we muddled through.
 
 I'm very, VERY, VERY much a NOVICE singer. I've a Loooooooooong way to go before I can sing without the probabilityof making people wince. But I have to start somewhere I guess.
 
 So, we squeezed in a couple of short rehearsals just before, and it was apparent I was in a LOT of trouble with the newest (to me) piece Amarilli mia bella, which I'd only had bout 2-3 lessons on to that point.
 
 Caro Mio Ben and Let Us Break Bread Together, weren't great, but at least I could get through them "in the ballpark" and had them memorized in time for the performance, though I couldn't really spout any of the background information (history, translation, etc.) effectively.
 
 So, the day of the performance arrived, and I (yet again) screwed up the day for everyone by having been up until 2:00 trying to get work done, and so overslept and only had time for a feeble excuse for breakfast before the kids had to go, and I had to leave not long after.
 It was a very rocky morning, and not a good way to start out an already stressful situation.
 
 I arrived 35 minutes before the performance to try to get in a last minute rehearsal.
 I'd been listening to some mp3's of the Caro Mio Ben and Amarilli, to try to get them stuck in my head, which definitely helped in jus a few days.
 Unfortunately, I over practiced in this cramming approach, and I could tell my throat and voice were getting raw and worn out.
 
 Finally the time arrived to perform, and fortunately they didn't require me to do all three songs, only the two I had memorized (phew!!!).
 
 It didn't go perfectly on my part, I could tell my voice was strained and a little horse, but I wasn't too far off on the notes and timing (though it definitely needs a LOT more work on my part).
 However, they (the Jury) said I did ok, we'll see what the grades say.
 
 Then the director asked to speak with me immediately afterwards, "Uh oh" I thought, what'd I do now?
 He took me upstairs to his office, had me close the door and sit down, while I wondered what he wanted.
 It turned out he just wanted to listen to my compositions that I'd given him recordings (and tablature) of several months back in the hopes of his approving getting some live performance(s) recorded of one of my pieces (the string quintet for mandolin).
 He listened to about 4 other pieces first, then finally the quintet.
 He seemed to enjoy (though as others have noted, there was the "Redundancy" factor to my pieces).
 Anyhow, he handed back the folder and cd, and said thought we could indeed do something next quarter. He suggested for the piece, instead of using mandolin with a quartet, to use a marimba instead. I can hear what he's saying, sounds like an interesting combination.
 
 So, hopefully sometime this Spring quarter 2006, I will have 5 real musicians performing and creating a recording of one my compositions!
 
 I'll cross my fingers on that.
 
 Meanwhile, I need to find a new accompanist that I "synch" with better.
 
 I'm signed up for choir, and voice lessons next quarter, but this time, I'm need an accompanist that I can meet with once per week (in addition to the weekly voice lessons) so that I'm more prepared for the Spring '06 jury performance.
 
 Btw, don't wish me luck, instead "break a leg" is the correct parlance in the industry. ;-)
 
 Meanwhile, I have a lot of making up to do on the home front because I screwed up not only the morning for everyone, but the afternoon as well because I forgot about some important obligations other's had and arrived home too late.
 
 I need to dust off that cat o' nine tails I believe...

Well coming up Tuesday December 5th I will be having my 3rd Vocal Jury performance.

The three songs I'm trying to be ready in time for this time are:

"How To Handle A Woman" from: Camelot  by: Richard Burton

"Angels Through the Night" traditional arranged by Philip Kern

"O Cessate di piagarmi" by Alessandro Scarlatti (1659-1725)

I've been having a lot of great breakthroughs since this Summer in my singing, but I still can't get over my extreme

performance anxiety when it comes to singing.

I have no such fear when I've been just "acting" on stage (or video), just the energetic excitement of the fun of it and

feeding off the energy of the audience.

I have a little bit of fear when playing instruments in front of people, the guitar the least, followed by the

native american woodflute, then the anxiety increases (in direct inverse proportion to my skill in the

instrument bein less) with the piano/keyboard, the Djembe drum, harmonica, & didgeridoo.

I've been performing on Thursdays at Kafka's Coffee shop in Cheney from 3-4 pm.

And i actually do make myself sing at least 2 of my songs, but I don't think I can actually be heard vocally very well

because I clam up so much in front of people when it comes to singing.

I'm hoping by my going each week at the coffee shop to reduce and overcome that fear of singing in front of others.

I just don't feel I'm a very good singer, or that my vocal quality is what it should be for anyone to want to hear it.

I haven't had any real positive feedback yet about my singing, except for the "great breakthroughs" my voice

instructor says I keep having.

Anyhow, if nothing else, I'm stubborn, and will keep at it unless the audience starts throwing rotten food or other

objects, or I get booed out. ;-)

Cheers!

Thanks to the EXTREMELY GENEROUS early Christmas gift from my Uncle Jim and Aunt Sandy (thank you soooooooo much!), our entire family received tickets to see the Lion King here in Spokane at the Spokane Opera House, on Sunday!
The two youngest said "it was waaaay better than the movie!". William, in what seems to be the early stages of (pre)teen-hood nonchalantness said calmly "it was good".
We enjoyed it very much. It was 2 hours and 45 minutes and for the most part the boys handled it very well. Drake and Brennan were very upset when characters died, etc. And were in awe of the costumes, kept saying "That's real! that's real!". LOL.
Great experience for all.
The only negative was when I tried to get them to pose for a picture, they were a little uncooperative, so not the smiliest photos of them, but ah well. ;-)
We ate at Chilli's afterwards, which they also enjoyed.
Plus, since I said William didn't have to do Kungfu that night, he said "It's a great day today!". ;-)


Photo of the boys in front of the Lion King display window:

Click the pic to see full size version.

This Spring I am singing the following for the Vocal Jury performance:

• Blow High, Blow Low
• Modern Major General
• Vergin Tutto Amor
  

For the EWU Choir the pieces will be:

•  I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General - The Pirate of Penzance
• The Gondoliers - finale
  
• Jesus Christ the Apple Tree - Eboracum choral series
• The Bartered Bride opening chorus

Originally posted on 2006/11/15.

Back when I was in Malad, I auditioned for a town theater role in "A Christmas Carol", and was accepted as Scrooge. I have video tape, that one of these days I need to edit together, but here's a pic from back then. I'm cowering from the ghost of Jacob Marley. ;-)

That's me as scrooge (in the white) cringing from Jacob Marley.

One interesting challenge to this performance was that, even though Marley was reasonably tall fellow, I was still a rather tall and rather well fed Scrooge (though George C. Scott's was rather considerably more well fed).
So, I would spend the entire play attempting to shrink myself (and succeeded in shrinking myself from around 6'8" (pre-injury) to 6'2" or so). At the end of each performance it would take me a while to painfully "unfold". ;-)

The whole production was a lot of fun, if I recall correctly we had 3 performances, I have always loved doing theater, and I hope in time to get chances to do some acting here in Spokane. I have three performances on video tape, that I keep intended to capture to my hard drive and then merge together into a nice single video. Some day... ;-)