Josh Groban, Bocelli, Pavarotti, and the REAL World of an Accompanist

Isn't he adorable? I'm not accompanying him, by the way, but a girl can dream.

I played for two master's degree recitals in one day today. The flute recital was during the noon hour, and the violin recital was at 7:00 p.m. I'm not sure what in the world is going on with all of these late recitals. My mom thinks it may have something to do with two adjudication panel members having been significantly ill at the same time. Suitable replacements supposedly couldn't be found. Then the accompanist or accompanists had prior commitments. In any event, I certainly felt for the degree candidates. It would have been terribly nerve-wracking to me to have my recital be thrown up in the air in such a manner. I did my very best for them. The flutist played several selections I've played for my mom since I was in about seventh grade, and the violinist played two pieces I used in my own recital. I'm not sure why the criteria allows the same works to be used in masters' recitals as in bachelors' recitals. My friend the cellist, who turned pages for me, said that most of my selection were actually above the bachelor's degree category, though he may have been saying that to feed my ego.

I picked up a recital for this weekend as well. This one's just a senior recital (which unfortunately doesn't pay as well as a master's recital unless the soloist pulls a total diva act on me, which I've been told is unlikely in this case) and not a master's recital, and probably was rescheduled because of the same situation that caused the others to be postponed. This guy is supposed to be somewhere between a leggiero (or leggero) tenor and a lyric tenor. A leggiero tenor is the rough equivalent to a coloratura soprano, with a light yet somewhat athletic voice capable of flourish. A lyric tenor has a warmer, brighter, fuller voice. I'm curious as to how these two sets of characteristics can be combined in a single voice. The department chair offered the description, so I'm not inclined to scoff at it.  The guy is performing "Nessun Dorma."  I just hope he doesn't ruin it for me.  I'll either be crying as I play because it's such a thing of beauty or because it's such a pathetic effort. Regardless, I know the music, so the tears in my eyes will not impair my ability to play the song.

I mentioned in an earlier blog that voice majors tend to be given greater latitude in their selections for their recitals. One selection this guy is performing is "Gira Con Me Questa Notte," which is, in my opinion, David Foster's attempt to make Josh Groban sound like Bocelli.  In my opinion, Groban does not need to be made to sound like Bocelli, as he sounds great as himself, but still I like the aria. I'm interested in hearing the degree candidate's rendition. 

It's a tall order this guy whose name I don't even know has created for himself. I don't know that I would be so readily setting myself up for comparisons between myself and Pavarotti, Bocelli, or Josh Groban. Still, people like to hear what they know. Some degree candidates pull obscure works out of thin air. Even if the adjudication panel likes the artist's rendering of the work, the audience may not, and the panel's scores are influenced to a degree by audience response. They can usually  tell the difference between genuine appreciation of a work and the enthusiastic cheering of family and friends combined with the hiring a frat to sit in the auditorium and make noise after each selection.

The Final Countdown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ctHQMqiEZEY

Paganini Cantablie in D for violin and guitar

It's a long weekend and I'm home.I know it's only six days and a few hours until my recital, but I'm trying as much as possible to keep my mind off it. I'm running through my entire piano recitla program once each day. if there were any trouble spots, I'd work on them, but there aren't any. I've reached the point in preparation for my violin recital that I'm down to technical exercises and to playing through my program daily. most of my violin selections have either piano or other instrumental accompaniment, but I just pretend the other musical parts are there. I'll practice with everyone right before my violin recital in February. All my musicians are solid and will play their parts perfectly.

My friend who attends California State University - Channel Islands and just had her junior voice recital two weeks ago is here, as is one friend from the dorm. I couldn't play for her recital because I was in the throes of pneumonia, but anyone who contracts my services is lucky, because they get my mom as a backup accompanist if I'm unavailable at the last minute. The recital went well and my friend passed with flying colors.

My friend from the dorm is a feshman in a technical sense, but she's not like most of the other freshmen.

Tonight the three of us are going to see a movie with jared, my brother matthew, and our cusin josh who lives with us when he's not at UCLA. (He also lives with uncle michael.If things get too insane here, he can go there anytime he wants.) I'llleave it to mytwo friend to fight it out as to whether Josh or Matthew is technically their date. Jared has to be my date because it would otherwise be incestuous.

Alyssa, Jared's cousin, was originally supposed to come with us, in which case we would have found another guy, but she's sick. I hope she's better soon. She lives down the freeway in the next county with her (and Jared's) aunt and uncle and their six kids. For me it would be entirely too crowded to live in that house, but she's used to being the oldest of eight kids, and there she's just the oldest of seven, with three of them being under two years of age. (The babies don't take up much space.) She also gets a bedroom to herself there, which she does not get in her parents' home, so it's a no-brainer for her that she would rather be there than in her parents' home. Alyssa's aunt needs her help, but her mom has grown accustomed to having her around as a slave, where her aunt hasn't had that luxury, so her aunt has actually learned to do things for herself; not nearly so much of Alyssa's time is tied up in housework and childcare. (Also, her aunt's mom pays for a private housekeeping firm to come into the house twice a week because most of the family is in Utah, and no one in the family is usually available to help her in taking care of her 8-year-old, six-year-old, 4-year-old, one-year-old and infant twins. Alyssa's mom encroached on so much of her time that she never really had time for her homework or for studying. She has time to do her homework and to socialize when she lives with her aunt. She likes her new lifestyle so much that she's trying to come up with an excuse to not go home for Christmas, because she'll just be treated as a slave for her entire vacation if she goes home. Scott and Jillian say she can stay with them until they go to Utah on December 31, and she's always welcome here as well.

Everyone else is arguing about what movie it is that we will go to see. I'm staying out of it. I'm too focused on my recital even when I try not to think about it to worry about anything so insignificant as what movie I will seee. The others could probably drag me into a porno flick without my noticing. I doubt I'll be able to follow the movie. I'm too ADHD to watch a movie in a theatre, anyway. I always have to leave and go into the lobby at least three times during movies because I can't sit still for so long. My dates always think I have an overactive bladder or something similar, but the truth is that I rarely even go into the restroom. I just walk around the lobby. I'd jog or do back round-offs and handsprings if it wouldn't look totally weird.

I've already finished my practice on both instruments, but my dad is home, and he got out his guitar so we can practice the violin selection that has a guitar part as well. it would be ungracious of me to say no when he's performing at my recital without compensation, so I'm off to get my violin out for the secondtime today.

Ciao.