How you get to Carnegie Hall

I practiced in a real practice room with a piano for the first time since I left Vassar.... Really good feeling. I'd been singing in the uni choir and I'd practiced in my room a bit, sung in the shower, etc., but it was really nice to have a thorough if brief practice..... I was plesantly surprised; I'd expected my range to shrink, my breaks to be bad, etc., but actually things were good--and I was more relaxed, although I had to work to get there (initially I was a bit put off by the new surroundings and the window with people going past, so I closed my eyes and imagined I was in Skinner, with the latticed window (and the groundhog outside) and the familiar frayed curtains, the Steinway baby grand, the off-white textured walls--with "40" inscribed for some odd reason into one). The accoustics in the room were actually really awesome. Made me happy. Went up to a C# and down to a D. Good deal. Didn't push, either. Sang some stuff from last year and beyond-- "Oh foolish fay," "Easy to love" (which is still a really hard song for me), and part of the duet from the Magic Flute. Missed Andy--played his part on the piano. But the cadenza was wicked fun!!! (Oh look, I'm British--or from New Hampshire) The Bb sounded a bit squelched, but wasn't painful--think I was psyching myself out. Made me want to do more runny repertoire--maybe I'll check out some Handel or Bach, just for the heck of it. And maybe more high stuff. I mean, I've pretty well accepted the fact that I'm a mezzo and happy indeed with it (I'm singing alto in the uni choir--a fact which shocked Andy), but it's good to stretch myself--the high notes are fun, even if they're not superusable. I mean, and it's not like I'm going to do the Queen of the Night or anything.

Speaking of opera, I had my first shift at the Hippodrome yesterday, and it was fun. More like real work than I'd imagined--actually made me miss the Bull's Head, just in the whole working-dynamic thing. The show was the Merry Widow, performed by the Welsh National Opera with Lesley Garrett. Apparantly she's a big deal here--beautiful voice, and people love her. She has a reputation for being very down-to-earth--I actually met her father -- he was buying a program and said, "Isn't she lovely? That's my daughter." The usher I was training with expressed incredulity, and he said, yes it is. Cool, huh.

Must return to newspaper history.... and am thinking of revamping my writing sample. Again.