The Professional Choral Institute: Days 1-5

Here I am! YAHOO!

I have been here for 5 days already. 5. How is that even possible? I arrived by plane to Tampa, Florida on Sunday evening and now it's Thursday. It's already been 5 days.
The days have flown by so quickly and I have already learned so much about being a person and being a singer. But even more than that, I am learning what it's like to truly be a musician.

There are 28 people in the choir. 28. That's it. Most of them are graduate students. They have come from everywhere. Illinois, Washington, California, Michigan, Maryland, Florida, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Utah, and New York. They have all come and payed a great deal of money to have THIS experience. To be in THIS choir.
Here is me--little Geneil from Southern Utah University who looks pretty suck-tastic next to all of these hot shots. But I am slowly learning that it's okay that I am not one of the hot shots. I am really learning. I'm not taking this experience for granted. Not one bit.
I have learned:
--Some musicians think they know more than they actually do. Yeah. For real. I am guilty of this, too. I've gotta stop that. It's irritating.
--Be nice all of the time. Not just sometimes. All of the time.
--Don't try to compete with the other singers around you. It's pointless. And nobody wins.
--Be supportive. I don't care if you HATE that tenor that sings out of tune all of the time....be nice to him and support him in what he's trying to do. No one likes a jerk.
--Fugues are HARD.
--Getting enough sleep really does help your singing voice.
--Nobody wants to listen to the complainer.
--You can learn something from everyone. You can be the best musician that there is....and you could learn something from that kid in the back row who started taking voice lessons four months ago.
--You will probably see the people you sing with again. You never know.
--All of the little details matter. Where each "t" goes, how each vowel sounds, taking quiet breaths, phrasing...it all matters.

I have learned so much more than that. But it's already a long post.
More to come, friends.
I love Florida. I love singing. I love music. Gosh, I love this.

The end.

The end.
Junior year is over.
I took all of my finals.
I sang a recital.
I went to NATS.
I worked.
I directed opera scenes, performed in opera scenes, and performed in two other shows.
I went to class (most of the time).
I played.
I practiced. A LOT.
I slept (such a difference compared to last year).
I ate (also such a difference compared to last year).
I lived. Bam.
A bittersweet ending. I only have one year left. One year. And then what? Grad School? I don't know. Who knows anything.
A well deserved break, Perkins.
Next year is going to be so different. People are leaving, people are coming back, new people are coming in....Wow.
Bring it on, Summer.

Me and Shaye in The Mikado:

Me and my friends in Vegas on Opus tour:

Me and my friend TaraKay after my recital:

FLORIDA!

That's right! I am going to Florida!
My voice teacher told me about this opportunity in Florida-- the Professional Choral Institute that was going to happen for two weeks in the summer. It was being based at the University of South Florida and it was with Seraphic Fire--a highly esteemed professional choir.
So I went ahead and applied for it.....and I GOT ACCEPTED!!
Yeah. Buddy. Oh, and so did my friend Taliah Johnson! It is going to be so fun!
The most exciting part of PCI is that we will work with Seraphic Fire to record Johannes Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem. Seraphic Fire Media will release the new disc in August 2011 which makes the recording eligible for the 2012 GRAMMY awards! This is pretty exciting, considering Seraphic Fire’s last partnership with the Western Michigan University Chorale yielded an album entitled Monteverdi’s Vespers of the Blessed Virgin 1610 that rose to No. 1 on the iTunes Classical chart!
Isn't that the most amazing thing ever?! I couldn't be more excited!
I am worried about finding the funding to go....but I am totally going to make this work. Somehow. Some way. This will work.

It's official!

I passed my preview! My recital is ON!
The preview actually went really well, which is good. I didn't mess up any of the words I was expecting to mess up! But then I did mess up the words at the end of one of my songs that I know really well. Random. But I kept going. BA HA.
So now I am starting to design cards and things. This is my favorite so far. So what do you think?

Junior Recital Drama

The beginning of it...
Spring Semester of 2010--
So I was planning out how my recital was going to play out. It is custom that you perform your junior recital with someone else who is doing a half hour recital.
So I tried to figure out who else was giving a half recital. Then I realized....Shaye Leavitt, one of my very best friends was going to be giving a half recital. Naturally, we jumped all over that!
So I brought up the idea to my voice teacher. She thought that maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to do our recitals together because my voice is dark and big and Shaye's is light and pretty. So that makes sense. But there was no one else that I wanted to do my recital with. Eventually I just begged. She finally said that that would be okay. So we were going to be able to perform our recitals together! Yay!
Fall Semester of 2010--
Shaye and I were still excited to do our recitals together and we got cast in an opera scene where we sang this REALLY fun duet. Our voices were just fine together--no one pushed or held back (I don't think).
In September we picked a date for our recital. We had taken Shaye's allergies into consideration because they tend to get really bad around April. So we chose April 7th because we wanted to make sure that we had it early in April so that we could avoid Shaye's allergy problems. We told all of the voice faculty and our accompanist. They were all fine with that and some of them even praised us for being so on top of things.
Spring 2011--
We came back from Christmas all geared up and ready to go. I just got gotten my rep for the recital and I had two and a half months to memorize 13 songs and prepare for our preview. The preview has to be scheduled 3 weeks before the recital and three weeks happened to fall on spring break. So we were going to have to do it a whole month early.
I was nervous about that, so I talked to Professor Modesitt and asked her special permission to do it the week after. She gave us permission and so we scheduled our preview for the Monday following spring break.
We both worked our tails off all semester to try to get ready for this preview.
Sometime in January, Professor Modesitt (Shaye's voice teacher) had to have emergency surgery and she was out for a very long time. So she left Shaye without a teacher and Shaye has been fending for herself for most of the semester. But she is a trooper, and she kept faithfully practicing and preparing her rep.
Then my voice teacher found out that Opus tour was the weekend before our recital and she...thought that it would be a really bad idea to go on tour and then try to perform a recital a couple of days after. So she told me that I would either have to reschedule my recital date or we wouldn't be allowed to go on Opus tour.
The problem with rescheduling was that Shaye's Dad is a Fireman. Therefore, his schedule is unlike other people's work schedules.
We eventually were able to push the recital back a week. So now our recital was April 14th and we rescheduled our preview for the Thursday following spring break.
And now the final result--
Shaye has had about 4 lessons this semester. She was so stressed out and she was working so hard all by herself, but she was so worried about being truly ready because she hasn't had a teacher.
And then my voice teacher recommended that Shaye do her recital in Fall of 2011.
Shaye thought about it and took her up on the offer--So now Shaye is doing her recital in the Fall.
And I am doing my recital. Alone.
And my preview is tomorrow.
Pray for me.

One year older and wiser too

Yesterday was my birthday! My golden birthday.
I am 22. 22 years old. Me, I am. I know I am not that old. But still. When did 22 years pass? And how? I swear I hardly noticed.
But I did notice. So many great years. I have had a fantastic life. I really have. I have no complaints.
Yesterday was my birthday. My golden birthday.
I am 22. I was just 21. Now I am 22.
Yesterday morning I woke up and my roommate and best friend Kjersti had made me breakfast. French Toast--one of my favorites.
My other roommate and best friend Shaye came and gave me a birthday present. The A-Team. She got it for me because it had lots of "esplosions" in it. Best movie gift ever.
I went to school like normal. I even got to wear new clothes. I didn't really advertise that it was my birthday....you know me. There was no advertising.
But thanks to FACEBOOK everybody and their pink poodle knew that it was birthday. People continued to find out all day. And it turned into a great day.
Kjersti and Shaye went to the Pastry Pub and brought my a sandwich and a yummy bag of chips.
My good friend Tyician Knight played me "Happy Birthday" on his Tuba. Best version of "Happy Birthday" I have ever heard.
I got birthday cards of my Uncle Mark and Aunt Kristin and from my Grandpa Van.
Then we had a party! Friends came over and we had Hawaiian haystacks and had a firepit where we roasted marshmallows and starbursts. We had cake, and brownies, and ice cream cake.
It was a great party. Stayed up late laughing, lots of fun, I loved the people there.
Then they all went home and I stayed up until midnight when my birthday day was over.
Kjersti gave me her present. Tongs (for flipping the chicken on the grill. She is so nice to me). Cashews--because they're my favorite. A beautiful book of quotes by Elder Holland. Chapstick--because I am always running out.  It was so great.
Then I went to bed.
I know that I have birthday anxiety.
But I didn't all day.
Thank you Kjersti and Shaye for planning and arranging and cleaning and all of the fun things.
I love you both.

Nutrition

This post is specifically for my mother.
Dear Mom,
Well, in my Nutrition class, I had to track my diet for 5 days. Alright, Would you like to know the results?
For my height and activity level, I am supposed to eat 2558 kilocalories a day.
Do you know how many I eat on average? 2152.79. So 84% of my calories. Which is good. For a Music Major.
I don't think I have to take a vitamin supplement because I am over 100% on most of my vitamins. The only one I am low on is Vitamin D. Surprise?
I get 8% of my Vitamin D. I get 34% of Vitamin E. And I get 53% of my Potassium.
The thing I ate with the highest nutrient density was Sushi. Followed by tuna macaroni salad.
I eat a few less calories than I burn. I burn 2275 calories in 24 hours.
I get 97% of my water intake a day. So I am fairly hydrated. Which is good.
You are supposed to get 45%-65% of your diet from carbohydrates. I get 50%.
You are supposed to get 10%-35% of your diet from proteins. I get 17%.
You are supposed to get 20%-35% of your diet from fats. I get 33%. I could improve on that. That what I get for putting cream cheese on my bagel. For shame.

Anways Mom. Here it is for ya. There is a ton of other info on there.
But we'll talk about that later.
Love, your Daughter.