ceud míle fáilte

a hundred thousand welcomes

Sunday 11 May 2008

Silver linings...

...indeed a veritable suitcase full of that wondrous stuff!

What with all the projections of doom and gloom, moans and other sundry patheticisms on my last post, I had completely forgotten that I had ordered this little lot of sunshine and I arrived home from Holland this evening to find it gleaming through my postbox...



NORO! Kureyon colourway no.196
At last I can PLAY!!


Ebay - I doest heart thou! In fact, Japan, one heartest thou, also! Now, what to make, what to make...!

Well, as per usual, I was worrying way too much again. The journey up to Holland went fine - I didn't have a place in the carriage, and was indeed seated by the door, but I had the whole space to myself and it was cooler and quieter than the in the coach compartment anyway! (I was rather ill-equipped for the 28 degree temp in Holland, though!) I got paid (FINALLY) for the work in March, the concerts went really well and I managed to fit in 2 lessons with my rather fabulous new teacher. ("You're a lyric soprano, get used to it! None of that 'But I can't sing high' crap - you think too much! And try not to chew those consonants. And breathe normally, like you're about to talk, not like you're about to inhale a bus. And don't sing pitches at me." etcetera, etcetera. You have to imagine this all with a very strong Chicago accent!) It was Absolute Bliss!!

Actually, the lessons were hard work and I'm set upon a very steep learning curve, but I'm also rather excited. There's a whole different world of music to consider now. I have to admit that I knew that I had a slightly bigger voice than the normal baroquies, but between singing the Mahler this week and those singing lessons, I'm slightly more convinced! And slightly shell-shocked, too!

I have a long-running joke with a lovely baroque tenor friend of mine which goes along the lines of sending emails 'advertising' our next concerts. 'Michael would like to invite you to his next performance of '
Tannhäuser' by Wagner' or I'd send him a 'You are cordially invited to a performance of Verdi's 'La Traviata' starring RedScot as Violetta.' ("You mean 'Monteverdi', right?!!" would be in the follow-up email.) I haven't told him about the Mahler yet. I'm not sure his constitution could handle it!

4 Comments:

  1. Anonymous said...
    I love Noro! What colorway is that? It's beautiful.
    I understand the shell shock. I've gone from soprano to mezzo and back again all within the last 6 years or so. It's a little nuts. I just sing what feels good and leave it at that. Sounds like a great lesson! I want a teacher. :(
    sloth-knits said...
    Gorgeous yarn! I'm glad things have settled down. I agree, the lesson sounds fun. I think I hear some of that from my teacher (not the lyric soprano bit!) as well as the occasional reminder to sound like a singer, not like a pianist (e.g. giving myself time to breathe even if it means starting the next note a bit later).
    Anonymous said...
    Thanks for the well wishes! I'm slowly getting there, although the germs seem to have migrated from my chest to my sinuses.
    I hear you about affording lessons. I'm lucky that my coach/accompanist/piano teacher teaches at the same store I do. I get my session with her free. It's only a half hour a week, but it's something!
    Klozter said...
    Excellent! Both the yarn and the lessons! Sorry I missed you, I was also away, can't wait to see what the Noro becomes!

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