The new outreach show was fun, and proved to me that I *can* pick up music pretty quickly, if I stay focused. I did learn the hard way not to eat too much during blocking - the staging had Jack (me) eat a roll given to me by the giant’s wife during our first duet. The lovely cafeteria ladies at the school we were at brought out a plate of huge, pink-frosted cinnamon buns for us to eat while we were setting up. As the edibles for that scene were never picked up, we decided to use the pastries. It was very easy to get into a hungry boy mode as they were so good - I ended up taking a mouthful too many (2) and ended up singing through pastry. Hey - you learn something new every day!
Checkin:
All is going well. My sister discovered a book “Unlock Your 90%”, whose program is similar to “The Artist’s Way”, so I’ll be investigating that while continuing my journey through “The Vein of Gold”, which is taking longer than anticipated. I’m glad I took the tour through the Leonardo DaVinci books in the same way.
My latest artist dates have involved sketching, inspired by DaVinci - its been fun. I’m eager to get back to NYC and the Metropolitain Museum of Art and bring a sketch book.
I’ve also been seriously thinking of taking the plunge and moving down to NYC. It’s been on my mind for a long time now, and I’m a bit concerned about the finances I don’t want to get into the grind of temping, temping, temping, and letting the singing fall by the wayside. I’ve seen it happen to too many friends. And I have the outreach programs here, as well as my church job. Maybe I’m just being a wuss about the whole thing. Not sure yet. Nothing in the am pages about it, other than the frustration of still living with my parents. If any NYC’ers want to weigh in on pros/cons/other thoughts, feel free.
Synchronicity - lots of sub jobs in and among the outreach shows I’ve been doing - things have worked out well in that regard.
Weight (my main focus since we started): today I fit into another dress that I haven’t worn in a year and have taken a couple more suits to the cleaners that I’m pretty close to fitting into. They were actually dusty they’d been on the hangers so long, but I couldn’t bear to part with them before - like I’d be resigning myself to the overweight stage! I’m glad I kept them! They’ll make good audition suits. And if anything, the constant training, both whole body and voice has resulted in a stronger voice than I had expected - I was worried about the horror stories about singers who lost a ton of weight and ruined their voices in the process.Pilates and yoga have been the best kick in the butt for me!
Year in Review: Thanks in a big way to the AW group, there’s been a lot accomplished this year. I’m in better physical condition, learned more music and have a stronger technique, learned HTML and yoga, tried new foods, and decluttered about 50 lbs of “stuff” I really didn’t need. Thank you. (And I’ve met some truly wonderful people along the way!)
ColSop’s Resolutions for 2003:
1. No more procrastination because I think I can’t do it! (hence the early resolutions)
2. Daily exercise and vocalizing - esp the yoga routine. And use the practice checklist. Treat yourself like an athelete
3. Daily work on the audition material, and don’t be afraid to set something aside if its not working at the moment.
4. Keep the dance classes going.
5. Do a recital a year. Just for me.
6. Keep business tools in order and keep a good supply of headshots and constantly revamped resumes on hand.
7. I want to set a goal of a certain number of roles to learn each year - not necessarily for any particular reason, but just in case. How many can one learn in a year? Same thing for other things - like art songs. How long before perfoming a piece do you like to have? - Think optimum performance, but fast learning (realizing that the longer you give it, the better it is).
8. Work toward fluency in Italian and German
9. Keep web site running
And I almost forgot:
10. Continue with Artist’s Way (et al)
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