Before I say ANYTHING on this blog today, I need to give a special shout out to my wonderful friend Megan on her 22nd birthday! She is the most incredibly supportive friend I could have ever asked for, and for that I will be forever grateful that she came into my life so many years ago. Lord knows why, but she's been reading my blog and checking in on me throughout this challenge... that is just how generous and kind she is! Why she would even WANT to read about what I'm eating every day, I will never understand. ;) Here's to you crazy girl, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Today I woke up feeling a little off... and I decided to spend more time reading my book in bed than getting ready. My ensemble suffered for it, but it was a much better smart to the morning than I had planned.
I headed straight to my voice lesson after that! It was wonderful seeing April this morning, it always seems to put my head back on my shoulders. Today we worked on "Annie's Party" and tried to get me to lengthen my vowels, even when the quality is speech-like, and to get all of those vowels forward. By the end, we figured out that imagining my tongue making the "ee" sound the whole time really helped! Felt kind of weird but....hey, if it works...
I also had a really strange moment, I started to run out of air near the end of the song and apparently my body thought that if I did a really long, slow developpe devant that would help? It was the most ridiculous thing, April, Haidee, and I couldn't keep going we were laughing too hard!
I demanded that Haidee get in this picture too! So hey, here it is, Voice Lesson #3! Voice Lesson Challenge is now officially complete!
After my voice lesson, I went out to spend some time in nature by myself. I'm not going to lie, I literally have no idea where I was. I saw a sign for a park on my drive to Lake Mackintosh and I followed it on impulse. It felt like a good day to discover something new.
I took my book, Better Than Before, along with me for some good ol' deep thinking. I have now determined that I am apparently an "Obliger" within Rubin's "Four Tendencies". Kind of interesting, it means that external motivation is really effective for me, but that my internal motivation is almost existent... probably why I feel like this blog is so successful for me! I'm doing things I've always wanted to do but I have an outward source of motivation. If I were doing this for myself, I would have quit by day 2.
Look, there are hay bales....I really love hay bales. They smell so good.
My favorite quote from my reading today comes from Rubin's list that she keeps of her Secrets of Adulthoood: "I'm more like other people, and less like other people, than I suppose."
Isn't she wise?
Today we had another lovely ballet class with Miss Cherie Bower! We talked about cambre for awhile and the technique of bending back by lifting UP! We also reviewed combinations in preparation for the final, which is approaching much more quickly than I think any of us realize. WOAH.
For my daily practice, I wanted to brush up on City because we'll be auditioning the songs tomorrow in mix class
Minutes: 35
Repertoire: City by Sara Bareilles
Technique Worked: Edgy attacks at the beginnings of phrases, smoke in the sound, light mix. This song is definitely a pop/jazz hybrid as only Sara Bareilles knows how to do.
Musicality Worked: I really wanted to find the moments of strength in this song. They are so important to contrast with the rest of the song, which can be a bit of a downer... so it's important that there are moments where the vulnerability is lessened and the power of the emotion shows through!
Thanks for checking in, and everyone wish my girl Meggie a happy birthday today!
XOXO
Jadi Rae
