Candlesticks before/after

Remember these?

Now they look like this:

And I just need to decide what color candles to put in them.

And since I had the camera out, Scott showed me the location of his eye...

...and ear.

A Scott funny

We were quizzing Scott on his colors.

Brandon: Scott, what color is Uniqua? [a character from "The Backyardigans", Scott's favorite TV show]

Scott: Pirate!

Exhaustion

Hey, it's hard work, looking this adorable/being this funny/smart.

Here are two recent funny exchanges:

Scott was getting into trouble.

Brandon: Scott, do you need a time out?

Scott: Yes!

I usually quiz him on his animal sounds. Recently, I've been asking him what babies and mommies say (as in "The Wheels on the Bus" song, where the mommies on the bus say "shh, shh, shh").

Me: What does a baby say?

Scott: Waaaaah!

Me: What does a mommy say?

Scott: Don't!

Oh, Scott, we love you.

Another day, another singing competition

So, as a slight update to my last post, I sang in another competition last weekend in Pocatello. The prize was money and the opportunity to perform with the Idaho State Civic Symphony. I sang in the beautiful new facility at ISU, and it was a joy to sing there. I got to pick the arias I presented, so I sang a lovely 20th Century one and my favorite coloratura, show-off aria from the Barber of Seville. This time, I sang up to my full potential. :) I just love singing those pieces, and I sang them well (not to mention that my coloratura is darn good, if I do say so myself), so I felt good about my performance, and also felt that I redeemed myself a little after my poor showing at the Met Competition. :)

I wasn't too worried about whether I won or placed or not. I mean, it would have been nice (especially the money), but the concert with the orchestra falls on my birthday (March 4), which also happens to be dress rehearsal for South Pacific, so that would be more than a little stressful if I had won. :)

As it happened, my good friend and fellow mezzo, Audrey Lambert, took home first place. My other friend, Lizzy, who also sang exceptionally well in the competition, and I were talking about how our pieces would be a little boring for the ISCS to play (they mostly showcase our voices while the orchestra just plays supporting chords), while Audrey's pieces (some Strauss, for one thing) would be really interesting for them to play. Not to downplay Audrey's performance at all (she really commanded their respect and has an amazing voice), but we all felt like we were neck-and-neck, without the repertoire consideration, and her more interesting rep gave her that extra edge. So all in all, I feel redeemed and like I got back on my game for at least one more competition before I take a slight break to prepare for baby #2.

That is, after I'm done with my Faculty Opera recital at BYU-I and singing the lead in South Pacific.

And teaching a couple more semesters of voice.

And possibly directing Idaho Falls Youth Arts Center's production of Seussical the Musical, Jr. this summer.

Yeah, I'm busy. :)

Coming to terms

This past weekend, I took the opportunity to compete in the Metropolitan Opera National Council preliminary auditions held in Salt Lake City. For those of you who don't know how it works, The Met holds yearly regional auditions throughout the country; they are judged by a panel of three judges, all opera singers, directors, etc. My own teacher has judged this competition before, and she could be called at any time to do it again.

The purpose of these auditions is to discover new, young talent in the opera field (only singers between the ags of 20 and 30 may enter). Even if you are not a winner, it is still good to go, as many local opera directors and casting agents attend this competition (it is also open to the public, so anyone can attend).

I was the 56th singer out of a total of 59. I had lots of time to scope out the other singers, but also lots of time to play head games with myself. I think that's where I really did myself in.

When I went out on that stage to sing, I let the nervousness take over, and my sound was tight and my breath-flow and support inconsistent. I did not sing my best, unfortunately.

This was very disappointing to me. I won't lie, I was hoping to at least be competitive in this audition. I doubted I would win or even go beyond the second day. But I was hoping to make it past the first cut, and I did not. They didn't even ask me to sing a second piece (although, to be fair, they really asked hardly anyone to sing a second piece, which is a little unusual).

The next day, we all had the opportunity to get personal feedback from each of the judges. They were encouraging, especially that I should continue to grad school as soon as possible and perform as much as I was able, but they gave me the distinct impression that it is unacceptable to have inconsistent breath support and sound at this level (which I completely agree with).

This is frustrating to me. I know that the cure for inconsistency is daily practice. I tell that to my students every week, for heaven's sake. But I just feel that it's impossible for me, right now, to have 90-120 minutes of intense, focused practice every day. And it will only become more difficult with the birth of the next baby.

I am saddened because, up until now, I'd been feeling like I was getting pretty skillful at balancing my mothering/wifing, work, Church service, and personal musical development. But it became woefully obvious this weekend that it's not working the way I'd hoped. In order to compete for jobs on a professional level, I need to be able to trust that my sound will come out the way I want, and in order to do that, I would have to devote much more time, energy, and brain power to personal musical development. I just can't do that right now.

I will keep doing the things I'm doing: taking lessons from an amazing teacher, teaching some wonderful students, putting together opera recitals with other BYU-I faculty, and performing in community theatre productions here in Idaho Falls. But I don't think I'll be going back to the Met until my next baby is at least two.

I'm grateful for the learning experience, and now I have a much better idea of what really constitutes professional singing. It's easy to lose perspective when one lives in a small community with few performing opportunities. Here in Idaho Falls, I'm a big fish in a little pond, but I can't let that make me complacent. There's a bigger world out there. And some day, I'll go sing in it.

Christmas in Review

Typical "Barrus family on the stairs on Christmas morning" picture. Some of us were more ready than others.

Scott took this one himself. He loves "pee-shoos" (pictures). That's our Christmas tree and DI stockings in the background. Now that I'm feeling a little better, I'd really like to make thesecute ones for our little family (thanks for the inspiration, Anna!).

Sweet play tent that folds up.

I braved Black Friday at Toys R Us (which experience, incidentally, was WAAAAY better than crazy Wal*Mart) for this deal. Scott loves it.

Hooray, DI toys for cheap!

Scott opened this present first-a "Big Brother" T-shirt. That is not a social commentary. :)

At Uncle Seth's High School basketball game. Scott was quite frustrated that he could not go down on the floor and shoot the baskets with the big boys.

Projects

First of all, hooray for the end of the first trimester and starting to get some energy and motivation back! I am lucky and never throw up when I'm pregnant, but I do spend most of those first few months on the couch, exhausted, hungry, and nauseated (and in a very bad mood, if you can imagine :). Poor Scott! But now things are starting to look up, and thanks to all your cold-weather ideas and great Christmas presents, Scott and I have some fun activities ahead of us.

But I think I'll tackle this little project first: updating these used brass candlesticks that Brandon gave me for Christmas (lest you think he's a poor present-giver, I asked for them :) with some black spray paint. Here's the "before":

Some other things I have planned:

Decorating Scott's room with Backyardigans bedding, wall art, and curtains

Setting up the basement as a play area for Scott

Organizing all the clothes Scott's grown out of recently

Deep cleaning my fridge and bathrooms

OK, so I don't know that any of these are really all that exciting to anyone but me, but I'm just so happy to actually feel well enough to do some of these things that I had to share. :)