Ladyhawk wins $600 music scholarship. Film at eleven.

Hi everybody!

I've been away for a few days because 1) my mother accidentally fried my DSL modem, :) and 2) I've been preparing for an audition. On Wednesday I auditioned in the Dogwood Forum on our beautiful campus:



I sang an Italian aria, Star Vicino, by an unknown composer and played Bach's "Minuet in G Major (No. 2)" on the piano. (The above recording is of my performance at a recital in December.) Obviously, I did pretty well. $600 was the top dollar amount offered, so congratulate me. I am to use the money for private lessons. I'm ready to take it to the next level vocally, but I can still learn a lot in piano class because I'm a newb. This is only my second semester. I had some instruction when I was young (3rd and 4th grades), but hadn't touched a piano in years.

After we had both attended a professional piano concert, I remarked to my piano teacher (in jest) that the fine concert pianist made me want to give up. :) My instructor said I play just as musically as the concert pianist, but I lack the technical skills which will, of course, take time to acquire. There are huge gaps in my musical knowledge: huge, yawning gaps a person could fall into and never be heard from again. :D

After the audition on Wednesday, my voice instructor said he was proud of me, so I got kudos all around. :)

I could go into more detail, but here it is two days later and I'm still exhausted. :boring: It was a high pressure situation. The air in the forum tingled with nervous energy. More than anything I'm glad I was able to handle the pressure and turn in a solid performance. I'm exhausted now, but I made it. I played a wrong note or two and barely finished one of the long, long phrases in "Star Vicino," but I did it. I did it.

Everyone have a beer on me, okay?

:toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast:

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Way to go, grrl... :toast:

:toast:

Have a happy St. Partick's Day, and a well-deserved rest!

CONGRATULATIONS, SWEETIE! This is awesome, and I'm not one little bit surprised, either!

:party: :toast: :toast: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :toast: :toast: :party:

What a nice prize! Congratulations. You have a nice voice.:toast: :party: :toast:

Time to take it to the next level. :)

Your talent has been affirmed!

Congrats! :bounce:


Thanks for the beer! :toast:

Good job! :toast:

I'm doing my happy dance for you! It's hard for people to understand just how stressful these kinds of auditions are unless they've gone through them themselves. I know you deserve a little happy libation on St. Paddy's Day for doing so well, so CHEERS!!!

:toast:

couldn't happen to a nicer person!

It's always nice to read good news! :toast: :applause:

:toast:

:beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast:

and being successful at it! :toast: :yourock:

I'm pretty well worn out at the moment, so I'm going to leave it at that.

Good for you, and thanks for adding to the world's music. We can never have enough, it is one of our best things, humanly speaking. :hug:

Although I do think other animals have primitive music and art, human music and art is very refined. When I took Intro to Music and Art back during my late teens, the prof insisted music and art should be defined as entirely as entirely human creations, but I don't think I agree. Humpback whales have been known to compose their own mating songs, usually playing on themes that have been developed the previous year...but don't human composers do the same thing? Art among the animals is pretty simple and usually involves preening for mates, although bower birds create some pretty astonishing external "art" in order to attract mates.

Now why did I just go off on a tangent? :)

Oh well.

But it's like you said. Music is one of humankind's most redeeming qualities. Everyone needs more music.

:thumbsup:

That is great news.

:woohoo:

Be proud of this event and best of luck in your musical future!
:bounce: :toast: :bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast::bounce: :toast: :bounce:

:)

That's wonderful!

:toast:

Congratulations! It's great to hear good news from you; you've been going through so much crap.

It was nice to prove that if I took care of myself I could get through something rather stressful. At one point in my life I was so phobic about singing in front of people I wouldn't even sing for my teachers! It was THAT bad. During my young college years I couldn't develop what musical talent I had because of this phobia.

After going through some scary-ass medical procedures a few years ago, I decided that life was too short to let phobias interfere with the things I liked to do, so I decided to sing in front of people even if it half killed me. I've been making progress. I've also learned I will never really arrive, which is fine because that's how it's supposed to be. :)

I should apply the knowledge I gained from this experience to other areas of my life, but it won't be easy. Then again, very little that's worth doing is easy.

What's really interesting is I've learned nearly everyone can get stressed to the point where it affects his or her performance. A guy who normally isn't nervous at all had a really bad day, didn't take care of himself (no lunch; no water) and ended up turning in what was, for him, a sub-par performance. Twenty years ago this guy earned an Emmy for sports television production. He says that when he started out as a cable puller for a camera man, he knew that someday he would hold an Emmy in his hands. He's usually that confident about everything. This showed me how little things can affect auditions and that anyone can tripped up by stress when the chips are down.

Earlier in the morning I sang and played for my piano class and didn't do that great a job because of anticipatory fear of the afternoon audition. :) It was good, though, because I realized I needed to prepare myself physically and mentally for the audition.

My piano teacher told me it was important to breathe deeply while performing, so I practiced doing so on a keyboard and two acoustic pianos. I went over the part I had screwed up in class until I had it down better. I thought about singing and how important it was to take really deep, calm breaths.

Then I went to the cafeteria and ate lunch and bought a litre of water. It's important to keep well-hydrated before singing. I knew I needed the food, especially the protein. My diabetes makes me prone to hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia.

Then I started thinking about what would help me turn in a good piano performance. I realized the answer was the music itself. I needed to really get into the music, to feel the phrases and dynamics and to breathe with them. If I was focused on the music and how it made me feel, I was less likely to get nervous and freeze up. I also tried to imagine taking care of my inner child. I know that sounds dorky, but I recently discovered it actually works. I'm not very good at it, yet, but the quick visualization helped me stay calm.

I was the seventh musician to audition. During the second performance I suddenly realized I had to use the bathroom. NOW. :D That's the only bad thing about drinking lots of water before a performance: What goes in must come out. I left the auditorium during the third peformance and ran to the bathroom. There was only cold water available to wash my hands!

I ran back to the auditorium, freezing and out of breath. As I rubbed my hands together trying to warm them, I became nervous again. I'd lost my center. I kept rubbing my hands and sticking them under my armpits. Another vocalist sat beside me and asked what was wrong. I told her my hands were freezing and that I had to play the piano pretty soon. She was so kind. She held my cold hands in her warm ones until they were back to normal. Whew! It even left me some time to find my calm place again.

I'm glad this woman won one of the $600 scholarships, too! If she can find her calm center while singing, she'll be able to turn in some spectacular peformances.

From hearing the stories of the other people, I learned a lot about what can go wrong (and right!) prior to and during an important audition. It was a very good learning experience for me. I screwed up an audition in December because I had practiced too much and blew out my voice. Now I know that too much practice can be a very bad thing for a vocalist. Sometimes we learn the most when we screw something up. I am so glad I am finally learning this very important life lesson. As a youngster, I was so afraid of failing I could never just relax. This natural tendency to be a perfectionist was exacerbated by fundamentalist Christian dogma. In fundamentalism you are expected to be perfect and yet told it's impossible (which it is). You can never just simply be. I am slowly learning to just be, to take things as they come, to try things even though I may fail. I'm learning to fail. Learning to fail can be one of life's greatest successes!

Be happy for me. I think I'm finally starting to see what brings balance to one's life!

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