When life gives you a blog....you should write on it.

So I know that I've been slacking since getting back from my mission. It has been a pretty crazy 2 1/2 months, but I've done a ton. We had an awesome opera scenes concert where I sang in a lot of scenes (mostly to justify taking the class for three credits) and I even did the translations for the supertitles, since it was in German it wasn't hard. I had a great time getting to know some of my fellow students of voice that are new since I left. If there's anything that I've learned however, it is that one should not wait until the last minute to learn music for something. After opera scenes was over I had all of a few weeks to learn all of the music for the opera chorus concert. That included some awesome choruses from Tenderland, Die Meistersinger, some other operas and a huge scene from the end of the third act of Otello where I sang the role of Jago. This was my first time singing a role by Verdi and I loved it. This is where that thing that I learned comes into play. I realized very quickly that music is not simply learned in an afternoon at the piano. Honestly, I didn't know the music at all to the extent that I should have. In the concert I made up several parts where Jago is just conversing with Otello. I just threw in some lines here and there where they sounded like they belonged. In my defense, the solo lines where I was the only one singing were awesome. I did really well on those parts. I got to be menacing and evil like I've always wanted to be and I loved it. my teacher liked it too because he says that the music made me really sing like I should. It was a great experience, but I need to learn to focus and commit myself to learning music better. Speaking of learning music, I really need to get around to learning my own music for juries at the end of the year. It's been a wonderful adventure this year so far. I'm grateful for all the friends that I have made and for all the friendships I've been able to reform with people that are still around. Friends make it so much easier to get through college. I'm looking forward to all the performing opportunities next year and experiencing post-mission college life with all my friends because Being a Baritone in college is awesome!