The rest of the story, part the second

Today has been interesting...I was having a really bad hair day, so I decided to turn it into a fantastic hair day by doing a wild updo... and I'm feeling great about the decision!  I love intricate, romantic hair, but anyway... back to the tale at hand...

The afternoon of the concert for my former teacher, Joe and I went back to our hotel room and just went to sleep-- I was worried of course, about my voice, but I figured I'd sleep an hour then take a long, really steamy shower and warm up.  I needed that nap!  It was amazing.

Before the performance, I tried to sequester myself so that I could focus, but people kept coming in who I hadn't seen in years, and so there was a lot of difficulty concentrating on the task at hand...also, the young man who was in charge of ushering was a bit confused as to what we needed him to do when we cam in from the side entrance.  People aren't really accustomed to dealing with opera singers, I think.  All my friends were sitting in the audience before they sang, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  I was still worried about whether to sing the whole Act 1 scene.  My voice was so tired after the Strauss.  But I decided to just go for it.  In auditions, the cabaletta works on its own, but not really in performance.   It went well, despite my fears, and I was able to fit a real cough in at an appropriate time by passing it off as a tuberculosis moment!   I feel so happy and so satisfied when I am able to be the character instead of worrying about my voice, and in that moment I was.

The concert was a huge success, and I am so so so glad that we did it.  It meant the world to me to hear my talented classmates and their emotional and powerful performances-- seeing so many familiar loving faces was a balm to my wounded little singer heart.  And singing well and getting a few compliments never hurts...although if I hadn't sung well, I'm sure I wouldn't have enjoyed the experience as much.

The weekend ended with me having a good cry as we drove back...it had been a really emotional time.

When I got home, guess what was in the mail box?  A contract from that audition I'd sung before I left.

I was so glad I hadn't let the competition debacle  keep me from going on to the next thing.