Finally an update

So, here’s quite an update for you – I think the last time I wrote anything substantial was well over a week ago, so here are some highlights:

Concert! – I’ve been singing with the Park Ridge Chorale this summer (something I’ll continue when I can during the year) and we had a concert on Saturday night. I have mixed feelings about this group; they’re all really fun people, and the concert was a really good time, but they’re not as good as CCC by a longshot. Then again, very few groups are. Anyway, our concert was called “One Hit Wonders” and was made up of songs that came from musicals no one’s ever heard of or pop groups that didn’t make it past their first big break. Our director – who’s also affiliated with Music of the Baroque, a relationship I hope I can use to my advantage in the future – dug up all kinds of fun background on each piece, which made for a really entertaining night. Of course, the duet I did with my former voice teacher was fabulous. I was a little worried about memory, especially after we tripped over it in dress rehearsal, but it went really well.

Trey’s show! – I got to see Guys & Dolls on Trey’s birthday, and had a really enjoyable time there, too. My only complaint was that, with the exception of one or two people, the singing wasn’t good at all. The show looked fantastic – costumes, sets, dancing were all incredible, and the acting was great. The orchestra was really amazing, too – made me jealous I’m not an instrumentalist really. Despite how great the show was overall, it’s still really disappointing to go to a musical and not get good singing.

Folk Dancing! – Mom ran a folk dance workshop for the North American Federation of German Folk Dance Groups this weekend at club. Trey and I got to dance all day Saturday and had a really great time. I’ve always tended to pick up dances quickly, but I think Trey got a little ego boost when he realized that he picked up stuff much more quickly than some folks in their 50s who’d been dancing their entire lives. Anyway, it was a good time, and it’s always so wonderful to get to dance with Trey.

Voice lesson! – Perhaps the biggest event of the past week was Sunday afternoon. I had a trial lesson with a new teacher, and it was fabulous! After several months of taking myself back to basics and doing well fixing my own vocal bad habits to the best of my ability, I’d gotten to the point where I couldn’t fix anything else myself – after about 25 minutes in the lesson it was like the heavens had opened up and a few things in particular that I’ve been struggling with got very easy. Man, I’m excited about this!

That goes through Sunday. This week has been work during the day and in the evenings my CCC reaudition (Monday), laundry etc. night (Tuesday), and seeing the St. James show (Wednesday). Tonight is a CCC summer gig and callback auditions for the new folks, which the old folks have to attend. I will be happy when next week rolls around because I actually have 3 of the 4 weeknights (Mon-Thurs) free!