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She's Baa-aaack...
Aug. 25th, 2008 04:20 pmHoly crap -- classes start in a week. Time flies, eh?
Well anyway, my cousin's wedding was lovely, and the singing went well. Of course, I was criticizing myself for all the little things I was doing wrong the whole time I was up there, but based on the number of strangers I had coming up to me at the reception telling me what a lovely voice I had and asking about my training and professional ambitions, it seems that most of those things were not audible to the untrained ear. That was a relief. The truth is that I've been studying this so intensely for so long that I honestly can't tell sometimes what other people will be able to hear and what they won't. As I sat down after the prelude, I was sincerely nervous that I hadn't done a good job. But the only person who had anything critical to say was my grandfather, and that was that I was looking down at my music too much (*grin*). And if you knew him, you wouldn't be surprised -- he's a music person (he's directed choirs, attends a lot of concerts, and he translates books and gives lectures on Grieg), and he's also very precise and perfectionistic. Once on a family ski trip he offered me and each of my cousins ten dollars if we could avoid using the word "like" incorrectly while in his presence. Unfortunately it sort of backfired, because we all just ended up avoiding him for fear of getting caught (*grin*). He still picks on me for it, but I just come back at him with the justification that to add the word "like" weakens the certainty of a statement in the same way that such words/phrases as "about" or "somewhat" or "possibly" do -- to simply remove it would be to change the meaning of the sentence. For example, if you say, "I got up at like six in the morning," the person listening knows that you are making an approximation (or possibly an exaggeration, depending on your inflection), and not stating an exact time. If you say, "I got up at six in the morning," the sentence sounds much more authoritative, and any room for approximation or exaggeration is lost.
(*nods sagely*)
I love Grandpa... (*grin*)
Anyway, it was a quick trip, but a nice one. Oh, and I actually had a really nice conversation with my uncle on the way to the airport. He's one of the ones I sort of avoid sometimes, since we have a few...conflicting beliefs (he's pretty right wing), and I'm afraid of accidentally saying things that will offend him or spark awkward questions. (Once, when I was sixteen or seventeen, I mentioned in an email to my extended family that my mom and I had gone to see a play called Boston Marriage, which was about a lesbian couple in I think the early 1900s, and he replied with a somewhat disapproving note suggesting that an intelligent girl such as myself should occupy herself with more appropriate material, or something to that effect. Yeah. So I have to be kinda careful...) But he's really a nice and funny guy -- I forget that sometimes. I like him, as long as we're not talking about politics or morals or values (*grin*). And he's an introvert like me (not to mention a pretty successful guy, career-wise -- he works in stocks), so he had some nice insights into the whole quarter-life-crisis thing (finishing college, getting a job, figuring out what to do with your life, etc.) given that perspective...
So...yeah. Now that that's all taken care of, I can start worrying about the coming semester. Gotta figure out what I'm going to sing for the fall auditions...
On a completely different topic, here's the author meme. I love this one!! (*grin*) I think I officially stole it from Forthy, but I've seen it a couple of different places, so I can't be sure...
Well anyway, my cousin's wedding was lovely, and the singing went well. Of course, I was criticizing myself for all the little things I was doing wrong the whole time I was up there, but based on the number of strangers I had coming up to me at the reception telling me what a lovely voice I had and asking about my training and professional ambitions, it seems that most of those things were not audible to the untrained ear. That was a relief. The truth is that I've been studying this so intensely for so long that I honestly can't tell sometimes what other people will be able to hear and what they won't. As I sat down after the prelude, I was sincerely nervous that I hadn't done a good job. But the only person who had anything critical to say was my grandfather, and that was that I was looking down at my music too much (*grin*). And if you knew him, you wouldn't be surprised -- he's a music person (he's directed choirs, attends a lot of concerts, and he translates books and gives lectures on Grieg), and he's also very precise and perfectionistic. Once on a family ski trip he offered me and each of my cousins ten dollars if we could avoid using the word "like" incorrectly while in his presence. Unfortunately it sort of backfired, because we all just ended up avoiding him for fear of getting caught (*grin*). He still picks on me for it, but I just come back at him with the justification that to add the word "like" weakens the certainty of a statement in the same way that such words/phrases as "about" or "somewhat" or "possibly" do -- to simply remove it would be to change the meaning of the sentence. For example, if you say, "I got up at like six in the morning," the person listening knows that you are making an approximation (or possibly an exaggeration, depending on your inflection), and not stating an exact time. If you say, "I got up at six in the morning," the sentence sounds much more authoritative, and any room for approximation or exaggeration is lost.
(*nods sagely*)
I love Grandpa... (*grin*)
Anyway, it was a quick trip, but a nice one. Oh, and I actually had a really nice conversation with my uncle on the way to the airport. He's one of the ones I sort of avoid sometimes, since we have a few...conflicting beliefs (he's pretty right wing), and I'm afraid of accidentally saying things that will offend him or spark awkward questions. (Once, when I was sixteen or seventeen, I mentioned in an email to my extended family that my mom and I had gone to see a play called Boston Marriage, which was about a lesbian couple in I think the early 1900s, and he replied with a somewhat disapproving note suggesting that an intelligent girl such as myself should occupy herself with more appropriate material, or something to that effect. Yeah. So I have to be kinda careful...) But he's really a nice and funny guy -- I forget that sometimes. I like him, as long as we're not talking about politics or morals or values (*grin*). And he's an introvert like me (not to mention a pretty successful guy, career-wise -- he works in stocks), so he had some nice insights into the whole quarter-life-crisis thing (finishing college, getting a job, figuring out what to do with your life, etc.) given that perspective...
So...yeah. Now that that's all taken care of, I can start worrying about the coming semester. Gotta figure out what I'm going to sing for the fall auditions...
On a completely different topic, here's the author meme. I love this one!! (*grin*) I think I officially stole it from Forthy, but I've seen it a couple of different places, so I can't be sure...
( author meme )