NATS

Well, another competition has come and gone. For those of you that don't know what NATS is, it stands for the National Association for Teachers of Singing. My teacher and his wife that also teaches singing, Gary and Sherri, are members, so they take part in judging competitors and have many of their own students compete. I entered into the Broadway category again this year, in which you sing two showtunes and on classical piece. My selections were Love, Look Away from Flower Drum Song, An Die Musik by Schubert, and Green Finch and Linnet Bird from Sweeney Todd. Green Finch was my favorite one; the composer, Stephen Sondheim, is amazing and the show, Sweeney Todd, is incredible.

Overall, I gave a good performance. My voice has matured considerably since last year, and I'm able to get through my passagio without as much resistance. Also, for the most part, I didn't lose control of my breathing. The two biggest issues for me when I perform for the judges (there were three again this year) or a small group are that I lose control of my breathing and I get tense, and also I just think way too hard about what I am doing. I do my best singing when I'm not concentrating on every little thing. When I do think about it too hard, I often mess up on little things like... oh, words. I got a couple bars of words wrong in two of my songs. I was able to stay with the music and pick it back up, and the whole time I was thinking, "No! What are you singing?! Just keep going, look happy, look like you are having a good time! Oh god!" Talk about stressful. But as far as big errors go, that was the only thing that really stuck out.

I usually hate watching my performance afterwards, because I cringe at every little thing and kick myself, because I know I can do better. But I still think I did a pretty good job, and I've made a lot of improvement over the past year.

The funny thing is, I don't nearly as nervous when performing in front of a large group. I used to in middle school; I'd get solos in choir and then perform at the choir concerts, and that was really nerve-wracking. But in the musicals, it's a piece of cake. But eventually it'll all be no problem. It just takes a few hundred tries.

I know next year will be even better.

Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable. -Samuel Johnson, English author, critic, & lexicographer (1709 - 1784)

Sick Sick Sick.

That is what I am. What an awful way to spend the first day of Spring; laying around with a pulsing headache and red throat, with only aspirin for comfort. And I am still sick the day after.

What is even more awful about this is that next week on Friday I have the NATS competition. Yes, it's that time of year again; I am much more prepared and bet it will be great, but my throat has to get better. If I talk too much I'm going to lose it and then I'll be screwed.

Anyway. I'll give a full report on the outcome of the competition when it's all over.

I don't think I've mentioned that I am, and have been for some time, considering Wicca as a good religion for me. I've been reading about it a lot over the past year, and the more I read the more I think it suits me. Yesterday I got to read a bit about Ostara, a Wiccan holiday celebrating Spring and the renewal of life, from one of my books, a work by Scott Cunningham. He's an excellent writer, and really makes Wicca easy to understand.

But I think that once I have some space to experiment with the religion, perhaps practice casting a circle and such, I'll be able to make a decision whether it is right for me.

Aside from that, there isn't a whole lot going on right now. I have to figure out what classes I'm taking at Everett Community College next year, since I'm doing Running Start. It's a program that my high school and the college have worked out so people in grades 11 or higher can go to community college for high school and college credit. I'm going to do it, but I have no idea how to figure out my classes or what to take, and it's just stressful. I'm not going to worry about it too much; I know it'll get done before the deadline, which is May 1st.

Well, that's all for now. I'll post again after the competition with lavish details.

It is a fine thing to establish one's own religion in one's heart, not to be dependent on tradition and second-hand ideals. Life will seem to you, later, not a lesser, but a greater thing. -D.H. Lawrence, English Novelist, 1885-1930

The Great Global Warming Swindle

A friend of mine emailed me this video - it certainly is intriguing. I tend to agree with it because the people giving the information are scientists, and don't have any political agendas, as far as I know. I've never seen An Inconvenient Truth and I don't know a lot of the science involved, but I think that this video gives an excellent analysis of what's going on in the world, and gives plausible reasoning for why people are behaving as they are and why the planet is behaving as it is.

It was originally shown on the BBC network, which is generally leftist, but this video doesn't contain any real bias. It's about an hour and fifteen minutes long, so watch it when you have some time.

If you can't watch the video here, go to YouTube and watch it there instead.

Turn It Off

I ran across a video on YouTube the other day promoting a website called www.shutdownday.org, and I gotta tell you, it's the best idea I've heard in a while. Shut Down Day, March 24th, is an internationally observed day for everyone to turn off their computers. No internet, no computer games, no instant messenger for 24 hours. The site has a forum, blog, and a few videos on YouTube that talk about it.

Here's a good one:



Just make sure the laptop is broken before you play ice hockey with it.

And another that someone made:



But there are some that don't so much agree with this idea. And if you read on their website some things people will do instead, some say they will be playing video games that day... not exactly taking advantage of the opportunity for extroversion. As someone who logs on to myspace everyday and HAS to check her email, it will be a challenge. But, I think it's an excellent idea, and I hope people do decide to shut down.

Also, on a related note, my mom told me that she was talking to our friend Kim from Nevada (I think it was Kim... perhaps I'm mistaken) about a sort of experiment in a classroom. The teacher told the college kids to see if they could go a week without being on their computers, video games, cell phones, everything. They said that was too harsh, so the assignment was set for four days.

Not one of them succeeded without cheating.

It's sad how dependent we are on technology... I'm a filthy hypocrite, seeing as I like my electric blanket at night and spend most of my time staring at the computer screen. But I do acknowledge that too much is not really a good thing.

On an even MORE related note, we are studying the Industrial Revolution in my World History class. Where our society could once survive without technology, now we are totally dependent. Where will we be in twenty years?

That's enough for today. I'm going outside.