Study break

Finals are rapidly approaching, along with paper deadlines and jury week (this week.) All that prompts colorful stress relievers like the poster above, which is plastered outside the door to the practice room building. In case you can't read it, it says, "Regaining your sanity one cookie at a time." The lovely folks at one of the Christian Fellowship groups on campus decided to create a "stress-free zone" in one of the classrooms with cookies and happy thoughts one day last week. Lovely.

I'm juggling a few different papers, one of which is a character profile on a minor role in Delibes' Lakme. You'll recognize two songs from this opera: The Flower Duet and The Bell Song. Both have been used in lots of advertising, film, and other pop culture arenas. I believe The Flower Duet is the one in Shawshank Redemption that's played over the prison loudspeakers. That said, the opera itself has not been studied that much, which makes locating information about Delibes' composition process and his co-creators a bit tough. I'm starting to be very grateful again for my five semesters of French in college. Nothing like plowing through late nineteenth century biographies of Delibes in French to make you glad not to have to look up every individual word.

In the meantime, I get to take study breaks with a ton of music to sing and learn. My jury is this week, and I need to know four pieces for that. These just keep getting refined and placed back in my voice after the cold. In two weeks, though, I have an audition for the fall productions, which means I'm learning two new pieces. One is a high coloratura piece ("Bester Jungling" from Mozart's Impresario). The other is its complete opposite: a low-sitting sustained piece ("How Could I Ever Know" from The Secret Garden). Because I'll miss my voice lesson next week for a conference, I need to learn these pieces fast and go over them with my teacher this week. Whew! Lots to think about.

On that note, I think I'd better go review the two scenes I need to know for tomorrow. (Even more music! And this time, with blocking! I sound like an infomercial...)

~Hope