Moving

Other than the vaguely satisfying (and fleeting) feeling of getting organized... moving sucks.

Love&Harmony,
Erin

On Letters

I was all ready to blog last night when I got home but I was suddenly sidetracked by a beautiful, regular old envelope at my bedroom door.  The beautiful part was the return address: Megan A.

Letters from friends and loved ones are something special. In a time when sitting down to compose an e-mail starts to feel like too much work for some folks, knowing that someone took the time to hand write and mail a letter is really special. Like I've said before, it's like getting a hug in the mail. :). I keep written correspondence with a couple old friends from home and it brightens my day to hear from them.  Even if the stories have already been shared on social media. And sometimes we even save stories solely for letters.  I hope my far-future kiddos will get to experience this same sort of joy. (One of many reasons the post office is important!!)

Love&Harmony,
Erin

Escaping Boundaries

Today's audition ended up being a challenge.  A little bit in the technique/singing area, but even more so in the acting area.  The woman in charge of hearing the auditions asked if I would "play" with my second piece (Gretchen am Spinnrade, Schubert).  She basically gave me permission to do anything I wanted with the idea of having a complete mental breakdown while singing.  The accompanist suggested drawing inspiration from Market Street.  :)

The result was both expected and liberating - I let go of the sound, the technique came on its own and everything felt more free.  I'm not sure if this makes sense exactly, but it's like the truth of the song started to come from within me and was expressed in my completely letting go.  Like, crawling on the floor letting go, hands in my hair, on my face... you get the idea.  And the expression of truth came from every part of me, not just my face, my eyes, my voice, etc.

This is the kind of holistic training this summer program offers.  It was definitely a non-traditional audition for me and I have no idea whether it was really "good" or "bad."  But I am certainly intrigued and hopeful about getting in now.

My broader point, though, is what holds us back from full freedom of expression when performing (in any capacity) and why do we let it?  It wasn't scary to go that far with it (really, it was quite fun!); more like it felt strange because it's not something I would have ever considered appropriate in an audition setting.  And maybe crawling on the floor is a bit much for a more traditional audition.  However, it certainly beat singing as passionately as I could while feeling awkward about what to do with my hands.  Regardless of the outcome from today, I've learned even just a little bit about escaping the audition/performance boundaries we make in our heads.

Love&Harmony,
Erin

The Best Compliment

The best compliment I get after singing in church is that it helped enhance the mass for at least one person. That is how I know that I am truly serving. Just reflecting about that after mass tonight.

Love&Harmony,
Erin

For Friday

The weekend struggle. Or having too much fun. Some of both. :)

Love&Harmony,
Erin

Singing Revelation

I think I found my "big girl voice" today, or at least the way to finding it. My highest notes had vibrato and no strain, my middle notes felt full and velvety. And nothing has ever felt so easy. Like the voice was bursting from me, with such an exciting feeling of having something to say and express. And it all came back to breath, the balance of breath and pressure (support), the "placement" of each, and the bodily understanding that they are both related but not simultaneous or directly connected with each other. Breath drives all and the muscles/support follow almost instantaneously. But the breath isn't controlled -it is inhale; the intake of breath must be a natural extension of the exhale/presence of support.

Sorry if this doesn't make much sense. I'm mostly working through my teacher's philosophy and self-application. It's been a singing revelation kind of day. Post-lesson, I've never had a better practice room session in my life.

Here's to finally leading to sing (and hoping the lesson sticks!)

Love&Harmony,
Erin

P.S. I realized also that my boyfriend and roommates are essentially weird music conservatory versions of the guys in New Girl. I think I'm dating Nick.  Weird and hilarious and weird.

Sherlock Quickie

A quick review on Sherlock before I pass out!

Woohoo I finally watched it!  Plenty of angsty, nail-biting suspense, just like I like it.  The only thing that really got to me was the first 30ish minutes.  I get and even liked the way they reintroduce Sherlock to Watson's life and his reaction was perfectly natural.  But all of the quick "cool" shots - it certainly felt like more than normal - ended up feeling slightly gimmicky.  Does anyone agree with me?

Looking forward to next week!
Love&Harmony,
Erin