Unpacking from Spain

I’ve been pretty quiet on the blog for the last few weeks - not because I’ve been neglecting my music, but because I’ve had so much to do, writing new posts has sort of taken a backseat to getting everything done! There are definitely worse problems to have. Spain was incredible, but the amount of work required to get myself ready to go, and to be absent from my normal daily life took my full attention.

So let’s unpack this a bit…

Traveling to a foreign country right now takes a fair amount of research to figure out what you need as far as health protocols (and associated documents). For Spain, it wasn’t too bad. I had to prove that I am fully vaccinated, and fill out a form to get a QR code to get into the country. Coming back to the US, I had to have a negative covid test within 72 hours of my flight home. There were also various contact tracing forms to fill out for my flights themselves, and while I was in Barcelona, masks were required indoors. I will say that, recognizing that everyone’s definition of safety at the moment is wildly varied, I never felt unsafe in my travels.

Before I left, I had to make sure I had a plan for making up the lessons I would miss for my university students. Thankfully, I was able to schedule all of these before I left, while my high school students were on fall break. I also had to fill out an absence request for my university job detailing why I would be gone, and how I would be making up the work I was missing. I also made sure my high school students knew I would be gone, and found a sub for the two Sundays I missed at my church job.

I also spent a LOT of time on Duolingo so I’d have at least a LITTLE bit of Spanish (this turned out to be really helpful).

And THEN we get to all of the practicing and general musical work for the competition itself.

So, you ask, how did the competition go?

I can honestly say that I sang the CRAP out of my first round aria. While there is certainly no such thing as a perfect performance, I definitely felt like this was one of the better performances I’ve given. After we got out of the room, my pianist (who i’ve been coaching with for several months) said “That’s the most expressive i’ve ever heard you sing.” High praise.

That said, I didn’t make it past the first round of the competition. There’s a lot to unpack around dealing with rejection as a singer, but honestly, I don’t feel bad. I did what I went there to do, and I’m proud of the performance I gave.

So what did I do for the remainder of my time in Barcelona? I took full advantage of my time to be a tourist! One of my good friends traveled with me for the first four days, and we ate, drank, and touristed our way through the city. We ate seafood paella and drank vermouth at the beach. We toured Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia cathedral. We shopped at open air markets and went to a flamenco show. After she went home, and after my part in the competition was over, I visited the Picasso Museum, shopped for fabric to bring home, and watched the final round of the competition at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

There’s a lot more to unpack from this trip that I’ll write about in coming weeks. For now, here’s my current to-do list!

• Nail down a pianist and a date for my next recital (coming in December!)

• There’s a few companies I need to email to either set up, or follow up, on auditions

• Make a practice plan for, and start learning the opera I’ll be singing in June (I’ll make an announcement once I have a contract signed!)

• Make a practice plan for, and start learning Charlotte in Werther (for my own enrichment)

• Make a plan for recording new audition videos