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...