Open brain...insert music

I’m a day late! Better late than never, right?

It’s been a busy week! Here’s what I’ve been up to:

I’ve finished learning Carmen, and am solidifying some spots before I start coaching it TOMORROW. I’m really excited about this role! Now that I’ve learned the music, I’m looking forward to being able to slow down, fine tune, and really absorb it all. I’m also looking forward to not feeling like a complete space cadet all the time! The price I pay for shoving that much information into my brain that fast is that I’m exhausted all the time, and bandwidth is reduced. As a result, I always feel like I’m not able to run on all cylinders in other parts of my life - my poor husband has been very patient with me the last couple of weeks!

I’ve been working on my rep for the Jensen Competition, and had an excellent coaching last week on those pieces. I’ve got a recording date in the works (I’m just waiting to hear when the space is available). This rep really feels like it’s coming together. I’ve got some odds and ends to work out, but it’s all feeling really good!

I also got to sit in on a “Practiclass” with Gregg Goodhart last weekend. He was talking quite a bit about the idea of “deliberate practice” (a central theme in Talent is Overrated, which I read earlier this year) and what that actually looks like when you - well - PRACTICE.

OH! and I have a two-day window for my first audition in OVER A YEAR!! It’s not till the end of April, but I’m pretty excited to get back to singing.

What didn’t happen from last week’s to-do?

• I didn’t read a single page of Audition Success.

• I didn’t practice cello

Oh well…I was trying to do too much!

So here’s my list for this week:

• Get the final kinks worked out of my Jensen rep, get a final plan together for recording, and figure out what the heck I’m going to wear!

• Lots of Carmen score study to stay on top of daily coaching starting tomorrow and going through Wednesday next week!

• I’ve also got some catch up work to do with my students (grading, moderating online discussions, etc.).

I’m going to ignore the rest of my musical to-do’s until I’m done with my role study!