That's pretty cool. I remember Diz commenting about being either the 100th or 300th viewer. That seemed awesome. Now I'm at 1000. Thanks peeps, for caring in what I have to say.
Onto the update.
Today was my audition at UC Boulder in Colorado. I got up bright and early, had a nice breakfast, had my spring jacket on and was at the university by 9:30am. I didn't have anything to do until 12:00 so I drove around awhile, only got honked at once, (they have funny ways of using green arrows.) and found out the perfect place to park is directly across the street from the music building. Probably a closer walk than when I park at Syracuse Stage. Then I start wandering the building. As check-in was yesterday and I missed that cuz I'm awesome, I didn't know where I was going, where anything was, and what I was supposed to do about that. So I found a lounge, sat for a few minutes, observed, and continued wandering. I picked what seemed to be an unlikely hallway which turned into the hallway of miracles as it housed access to practice rooms as well as the part of the building I had been seeking out to begin with. So I warmed up, vegged out, tried not to get nervous, then headed upstairs for my rehearsal with the pianist. I was in this little cove of voice people. It was 4 voice faculty offices, and this collaborative pianist's office as well. As I sat outside waiting for my time (he was in the middle of Mondnacht, and I couldn't bring myself to interrupt) the door to Patrick Mason's office (baritone) opened and he popped out after having just worked with another prospective student. He saw me sitting and struck up a convo with me. Asked my name, I told him and he immediately said "Oh yes, of course, I've been reading your file. Where are you from again?" I said Syracuse, and once again immediately he replied "Right, you're involved with the new music, and studied with Janet. Wow, what a singer." And then we had a talk about how amazing Janet is, which is easy to do. He asked about Neva Pilgrim (artistic director of Society for New Music who hires me for all of the amazing opportunities (Eleanor) that I've had in Syracuse) and I just felt like, the faculty really do care about the applicants. At least he took an interest enough to associate me with SU, Janet and new music. That was pretty cool. He ended the conversation by telling my outfit was absolutely gorgeous and a great audition outfit, and then headed off to the Q&A that I attended after my rehearsal.
This all happened mere moments after I was sitting in the chair thinking about how it's such a different experience coming to a school and not knowing anyone, how I felt really out there and alone and had no one at that moment to just... talk to. Then I get recognized by name and town for some of my accomplishments, and complimented on my outfit. That was a nice turn around.
The audition went well. I hesitated while typing that but you can't tell with punctuation because I don't want to be too down on myself. It's just weird singing at over 5,000 feet above sea level. I can't describe it. It's just different. In the practice rooms I didn't like what I was doing very much at all. In the hall, I was really happy with my first piece. I sang musically, I knew what I was singing about, and my high notes rocked. For the next piece they picked my Boulanger art song. It sits in the middle voice a lot which gets weaker as I get fatigued or nervous but instead of focusing solely on that I tried to continue to make each successive phrase more focused or supported than the last. Half way through the song, I realized something. Six years ago, almost to the exact weekend, I was in the very same room auditioning for some of the very same people - singing the very same song. I forgot I put that on my master's rep list for that school. It totally took my attention for a phrase but then, again, I pulled myself back in and finished the song with support and I hope, musicality. Then they heard just a portion of my oratorio and that was it. It felt so short after the 4 full pieces I sang at IU. They asked if I had any questions, I asked about TA-ships and accompanying, and then I was done. I sang right before their break so after as I walked out I ended up passing about 4 of the 8 people I just sang for. I wasn't feeling too great about the French, specifically, but each person I passed looked at me and told me I sang beautifully, which is different from the usual "thanks for singing for us today." I took that as a good sign. The head of the voice faculty stopped me as I was about to walk out and asked me a few questions about my voice and complimented my high notes. Not only am I generally a personable person, it's always good to let people you're auditioning for see more of the real you than just your voice so that was a fantastic opportunity. All in all, I think I made a good impression but again we're back to the waiting game.
After the audition, i vegged for a bit, then headed to downtown Boulder for some dinner.
I have a lot to say about my amazing dinner experience tonight but I'm le tired and got more into detail about the audition than I originally planned. So I end here. My computer tells me it's 11:30 back home so only 9:30 here but it feels like 11:30. Time for some more reading and then bed. Tomorrow I'll hit the gym, head back to the school for some masterclasses and more Q&A and then it's dinner with another old college friend, Schirm!
This certainly is turning into every bit the adventure I thought it would.
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