Ho bisogno del fine settimana!
An update of this week so far:
Coachings and classes have been improving, quality wise. I feel as if I’m getting a handle on my workload, and am making progress, as well as redeeming myself from my poor (if anything, unprepared) performance from week one. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that the rigors of this schedule – language class 9-11, a studio type class (where people perform and are critiqued and the rest of the class watches) sometimes from 11:30-1, and then a coaching in the afternoon, is taking a serious wear and tear on my voice. I’m not used to singing such heavy repertoire, and pushing myself to the limit every day is resulting in my voice becoming hoarser and hoarser. Of course, this is not good – definitely a result of my “confused” vocal technique, new living space, not enough sleep, new diet, allergies, getting over whatever terrible bug/cough I caught in Israel, etc. After two weeks of singing heavily here, I feel like I’m coming down with laryngitis, and I’m SCARED. VERY, VERY SCARED. I’m having a voice lesson in 45 minutes and will ask my teacher what she thinks is appropriate. Obviously vocal rest and physical rest will help, but I may crack open that antibiotic I brought with me just incase I have an infection starting to live inside my little voice box.
Most of the coaches and teachers here have told me that I have a lovely voice, with a nice color, and that it has the potential to be very big. The problem with this is that I don’t know how to safely and accurately produce the “big” sounds that they want (and that are appropriate for the songs that I am assigned to), and as a result, they have me pushing my voice too much in during my sessions. I think that is a very large part of the problem, and I need to speak up and defend my vocal comfort zone, instead of just trying to do everything they tell me to before I have no voice. I’m singing Donde Lieta from Boheme next Tuesday in a concert, and although it is something that I know very well, I am feeling rather nervous about it. My peers have still yet to hear me sing. I know it does not matter, but I would like to do my best and make a good impression.
Moving on….This week I made my first local friend, an Italian man named Giorgio. He is the son of a hotel owner in Lucca, and also the good friend of someone’s husband in the CCM program here. Anyways….it’s a distant connection, but I believe that he is (somewhat) trustworthy, and he’s been hanging out with a lot of the kids in our program. He was very nice and drove myself and two of my friends to Viareggio two days ago. Viareggio is a little beach town that is about 25 minutes away from Lucca, and it was a truly lovely afternoon. We rented a paddle-boat and took it out in the swimming area, laid on the beach, got gelato, etc. Later that evening, he opened his hotel bar for us, which is the only 4 star hotel in Lucca…..it was nice. He is an alright guy, but I get the impression that he is trying to get something from some American girls, you know? I was gracious for the car ride to the beach instead of having to take the train, but I don’t plan on going anywhere alone with him!
This weekend I wanted to be adventurous and take a big trip to Venice, then stop in Verona on the way home, but since I’m the proactive organizer that I am, many people have expressed interest in coming with me, and I feel like I’m responsible for making this big trip for many people…..basically I just don’t want that all on my shoulders. The program is sponsoring a trip to Verona and Parma to see an opera, and I’m going to stop by the office later today and see if I can get in on that if its not too late. I think that would be good for me, especially if my voice and body are a little tired from class; to be able to follow and not lead this week. That way, I can take my time and plan a really great trip to Rome and Florence for next weekend.
A big disadvantage to this program is that there isn’t enough time to travel. There are only 3 weekends that are really available, and everyone is scrambling to get their plans done, figure out with whom they most want to travel with, etc. I need to remember that I’m here to relax, have fun, see what I can, but not to stress out about small details like travel plans. I realized this today, and I’m going to take the path of least resistance. Next weekend – for Rome, there are already several groups of kids going, so I can find out what trains they are taking, what hostels they are staying at, etc – so I’m not just planning in the dark. I’ve never been to Europe before, and the idea of planning a trip without sufficient research, or at least several opinions of people who have been there before makes me a little nervous, especially if I’m going to have 5 other friends in tow.
Speaking of friends – the cliques are **starting** to break up, and more people are intermingling. Yay! It gets better and better every day, and I’m very happy that I’m here, if anything, to meet this great new group of people. Everyone is from the midwest or the south……um…….needless to say they are NOT New Yorkers (I am one of 4 people from the east coast, and of those people, I’m the only one who’s actually from there and not just going to school there). They just think differently! Not to say that one type of people is better than the other, but they are just a different flavor of people, calmer, they laugh louder, with more accent in their speaking voice….lol.
Daily observation about Italians – they actually window shop. They will walk down the main shopping street; here it is called “Via del Filungo,” and stop and consider the items in the window. People just don’t do that back at home. When I first saw people doing this I thought, “What the heck is going on in front of that store!!!” but it was just people looking at the merchandise in the front display. Stores will cycle their merchandise frequently in the front window, I guess to entice more people to come in. Now that would be something interesting to bring up in my sales class next semester. ……okay, nevermind……not thinking about next semester anymore! Ciao!
Coachings and classes have been improving, quality wise. I feel as if I’m getting a handle on my workload, and am making progress, as well as redeeming myself from my poor (if anything, unprepared) performance from week one. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that the rigors of this schedule – language class 9-11, a studio type class (where people perform and are critiqued and the rest of the class watches) sometimes from 11:30-1, and then a coaching in the afternoon, is taking a serious wear and tear on my voice. I’m not used to singing such heavy repertoire, and pushing myself to the limit every day is resulting in my voice becoming hoarser and hoarser. Of course, this is not good – definitely a result of my “confused” vocal technique, new living space, not enough sleep, new diet, allergies, getting over whatever terrible bug/cough I caught in Israel, etc. After two weeks of singing heavily here, I feel like I’m coming down with laryngitis, and I’m SCARED. VERY, VERY SCARED. I’m having a voice lesson in 45 minutes and will ask my teacher what she thinks is appropriate. Obviously vocal rest and physical rest will help, but I may crack open that antibiotic I brought with me just incase I have an infection starting to live inside my little voice box.
Most of the coaches and teachers here have told me that I have a lovely voice, with a nice color, and that it has the potential to be very big. The problem with this is that I don’t know how to safely and accurately produce the “big” sounds that they want (and that are appropriate for the songs that I am assigned to), and as a result, they have me pushing my voice too much in during my sessions. I think that is a very large part of the problem, and I need to speak up and defend my vocal comfort zone, instead of just trying to do everything they tell me to before I have no voice. I’m singing Donde Lieta from Boheme next Tuesday in a concert, and although it is something that I know very well, I am feeling rather nervous about it. My peers have still yet to hear me sing. I know it does not matter, but I would like to do my best and make a good impression.
Moving on….This week I made my first local friend, an Italian man named Giorgio. He is the son of a hotel owner in Lucca, and also the good friend of someone’s husband in the CCM program here. Anyways….it’s a distant connection, but I believe that he is (somewhat) trustworthy, and he’s been hanging out with a lot of the kids in our program. He was very nice and drove myself and two of my friends to Viareggio two days ago. Viareggio is a little beach town that is about 25 minutes away from Lucca, and it was a truly lovely afternoon. We rented a paddle-boat and took it out in the swimming area, laid on the beach, got gelato, etc. Later that evening, he opened his hotel bar for us, which is the only 4 star hotel in Lucca…..it was nice. He is an alright guy, but I get the impression that he is trying to get something from some American girls, you know? I was gracious for the car ride to the beach instead of having to take the train, but I don’t plan on going anywhere alone with him!
This weekend I wanted to be adventurous and take a big trip to Venice, then stop in Verona on the way home, but since I’m the proactive organizer that I am, many people have expressed interest in coming with me, and I feel like I’m responsible for making this big trip for many people…..basically I just don’t want that all on my shoulders. The program is sponsoring a trip to Verona and Parma to see an opera, and I’m going to stop by the office later today and see if I can get in on that if its not too late. I think that would be good for me, especially if my voice and body are a little tired from class; to be able to follow and not lead this week. That way, I can take my time and plan a really great trip to Rome and Florence for next weekend.
A big disadvantage to this program is that there isn’t enough time to travel. There are only 3 weekends that are really available, and everyone is scrambling to get their plans done, figure out with whom they most want to travel with, etc. I need to remember that I’m here to relax, have fun, see what I can, but not to stress out about small details like travel plans. I realized this today, and I’m going to take the path of least resistance. Next weekend – for Rome, there are already several groups of kids going, so I can find out what trains they are taking, what hostels they are staying at, etc – so I’m not just planning in the dark. I’ve never been to Europe before, and the idea of planning a trip without sufficient research, or at least several opinions of people who have been there before makes me a little nervous, especially if I’m going to have 5 other friends in tow.
Speaking of friends – the cliques are **starting** to break up, and more people are intermingling. Yay! It gets better and better every day, and I’m very happy that I’m here, if anything, to meet this great new group of people. Everyone is from the midwest or the south……um…….needless to say they are NOT New Yorkers (I am one of 4 people from the east coast, and of those people, I’m the only one who’s actually from there and not just going to school there). They just think differently! Not to say that one type of people is better than the other, but they are just a different flavor of people, calmer, they laugh louder, with more accent in their speaking voice….lol.
Daily observation about Italians – they actually window shop. They will walk down the main shopping street; here it is called “Via del Filungo,” and stop and consider the items in the window. People just don’t do that back at home. When I first saw people doing this I thought, “What the heck is going on in front of that store!!!” but it was just people looking at the merchandise in the front display. Stores will cycle their merchandise frequently in the front window, I guess to entice more people to come in. Now that would be something interesting to bring up in my sales class next semester. ……okay, nevermind……not thinking about next semester anymore! Ciao!
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