Palpable gains
It's never been a better thing to not practice my music before my rehearsals. I am currently doing it on purpose... or at least deliberately... (not that there is a difference... okay, no there is. On purpose would be like, if I weren't doing this, I'd be practicing, because I am pretty sure I wouldn't be anyway, so deliberate is a better word, because it implies intent and though not necessarily difference if I were just haphazardly not practicing.... if that made any goddamn sense at all.)
ANYWAY, I am deliberately not practicing, because being in the real-life situation of constantly sight-reading is infinitely more helpful than trying to sight read on my own.
It. is. working.
I did gooooood on Tuesday in Texas Voices. There were some strange intervals, too. I just need to get better at faster-tempo sight reading. And that strange off-beat, non-meter, early music.... that also happens to be fast. (Like that one piece I totally failed, completely flat-on-my-face failed at sightreading in Schola three weeks ago. BOY was that a disaster.)
So I am now fighting with myself, hard, about whether to practice that piece for next week. I know we'll work on it. And I know Mary Margaret will probably know her part. But I think that one is the exception and I should reallllly practice it. Yeah. It's for Dr. McCoy. For him I must practice at least that one. And perhaps this is one of them that I should try and sight read on my own.
That's the other thing. Just because I'm getting good at real-life sight reading doesn't mean it's going to help me any at audition sight reading. I'll choke, my brain will turn off, and I'll tank just like I always do. So, on-my-own sight reading, without the aid of the chords being played on the piano so that I can anticipate the progression to make the usually-correct, instant-guess based on how far the interval looks on the page, will allow me to progress to a point where I could do the same thing, on even atonal music, without any crutch.
Do I make any sense right now?
In other news I got offered an assistant manager position at another store, AGAIN. My DM, Joe, offered it to me first. Then he's gonna offer it to Charity and she's probably going to take it this time because it's going to be available right after Valentine's day and it's only in Lewisville which is less than 20 minutes away.
So where do I take my priorities? Do I stay static in my life, not progressing in anything while hoping I get into better choirs, or do I take a $12,000/year raise, while abandoning my dreams?
Becoming an assistant manager would also mean they would offer tuition reimbursement (in another year and a half) for my GIA Gemology certification which I want SO BADLY. (OR they could take into account my year and a half at Jared and allow me tuition reimbursement in like three months.)
Joe told me that it wasn't my Monday and Tuesday night gigs that eliminated me from the position... it was my Sunday.
St. Matthews is the only thing in my musical life that is at all fulfilling to me right now, and that is the one I would have to give up. Unless I get into Orpheus next year, which is a Tuesday night rehearsal, I wouldn't have another outlet for the type of singing I get to do at St. Matthews.
I think I want to be an assistant manager...
ANYWAY, I am deliberately not practicing, because being in the real-life situation of constantly sight-reading is infinitely more helpful than trying to sight read on my own.
It. is. working.
I did gooooood on Tuesday in Texas Voices. There were some strange intervals, too. I just need to get better at faster-tempo sight reading. And that strange off-beat, non-meter, early music.... that also happens to be fast. (Like that one piece I totally failed, completely flat-on-my-face failed at sightreading in Schola three weeks ago. BOY was that a disaster.)
So I am now fighting with myself, hard, about whether to practice that piece for next week. I know we'll work on it. And I know Mary Margaret will probably know her part. But I think that one is the exception and I should reallllly practice it. Yeah. It's for Dr. McCoy. For him I must practice at least that one. And perhaps this is one of them that I should try and sight read on my own.
That's the other thing. Just because I'm getting good at real-life sight reading doesn't mean it's going to help me any at audition sight reading. I'll choke, my brain will turn off, and I'll tank just like I always do. So, on-my-own sight reading, without the aid of the chords being played on the piano so that I can anticipate the progression to make the usually-correct, instant-guess based on how far the interval looks on the page, will allow me to progress to a point where I could do the same thing, on even atonal music, without any crutch.
Do I make any sense right now?
In other news I got offered an assistant manager position at another store, AGAIN. My DM, Joe, offered it to me first. Then he's gonna offer it to Charity and she's probably going to take it this time because it's going to be available right after Valentine's day and it's only in Lewisville which is less than 20 minutes away.
So where do I take my priorities? Do I stay static in my life, not progressing in anything while hoping I get into better choirs, or do I take a $12,000/year raise, while abandoning my dreams?
Becoming an assistant manager would also mean they would offer tuition reimbursement (in another year and a half) for my GIA Gemology certification which I want SO BADLY. (OR they could take into account my year and a half at Jared and allow me tuition reimbursement in like three months.)
Joe told me that it wasn't my Monday and Tuesday night gigs that eliminated me from the position... it was my Sunday.
St. Matthews is the only thing in my musical life that is at all fulfilling to me right now, and that is the one I would have to give up. Unless I get into Orpheus next year, which is a Tuesday night rehearsal, I wouldn't have another outlet for the type of singing I get to do at St. Matthews.
I think I want to be an assistant manager...