Thursday

Tonight is the opening game of the NFL season, and my husband has been waiting for it all year. It's almost like a reward for slogging through all that music with me last night. At his request, I made chicken rice soup, and decided to try this new quick bread recipe with cheese and beer and onions in it, which catapulted me to hero status, as he sits watching our two rival teams battle it out.

Last night was really fun, and when I am done singing a recital, I always wonder why I was so nervous about something that I so thoroughly enjoy doing, that I get such a rush of energy from. I mean, there were some moments I wasn't particularly great with, like the Mimi aria-- there were moments when I really felt myself losing some control because of sheer nerves, and had to think and focus so hard just to get back to a place where I felt like I was the one singing the aria, and not it singing me. But in the end, it turned out well, and my "altro di me non le sapprei narrare..." was spontaneous in exactly the way I wanted it to be.

Now I know, however, that I have to sing that aria many more times before I can take it to an audition, and before I put it in the context of the whole opera in February. It needs polishing, and that was the whole reason I sang it last night. In any case, I get the most consistent feedback, from audiences and teachers and coaches, about Mimi than about any other thing I have ever sung: it's exactly right. And it feels that way too, like finally my middle voice has some time to shine, and in a very comfortable way, with a range of emotion that I feel I can relate to.

Now I am going back to my glass of wine, because I haven't had one in awhile, and it's almost time for the Real Housewives of Atlanta. I wouldn't miss a word NeNe says.