V is for VPPW

VPPW stands for Vocal Performance Preparation Workshop. This workshop was run by Amanda Brunk of the Singers Theatre and Angela Burns. The workshop was the whole weekend long. It started on Saturday with yoga tought by Angela Burns. Angie started the class by making us do the craziest pose in the history of yoga. It was called Goddess. The goddess we were trying to portray was the goddedss Kali. In the Hindu tradition when demons died, their blood would spill and more demons would come out of the blood. This goddess has a really long tongue so that she could lick up all the blood before another demon would grow. So in this yoga pose we had to squat down, our hands out like a scale, our tongues out as far as possible, and our eyes crossed. You have to see it to see how unbelievably weird it is. Unfortunately, I could find no pictures on Google.

The second thing we did were mock auditions. The purpose of this was to see what the panel was actually thinking about your audition and know what to do and what not to do. We sang our songs and got casted for a part in either Little Women or Annie. Once we all sang, we got told how we would do on that particular kind of audition. Or, we would have to sing another song, in which case we had to have a song ready to go and sing unexpectedly which can happen at auditions. I sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I didn't really think about that I was supposed to be auditioning for Annie but I sang it anyway, and like I expected, I was cast as chorus member. Not because I can't sing, but because I didn't have an Annie or Pepper or Molly kind of voice. I learned a lot about auditioning and about people's mistakes. For instance, this one girl came in with her song, and it was in a different key then when she had been practicing. So yes, it kind of sucked but it was kind of helpful to see that you absolutely cannot do that. You have to know what the piano part sounds like otherwise you fail. Another 'bad' example was a fifteen year old girl singing about how her husband is cheating on her and how she's so fed up with it. This would be an example on bad song choice. The song has to make sense to your age and gender. You can't really sing 'Be Kind To Your Parents' when your fourty five. And the other way around, you can't sing 'Cabaret' when your twelve for an audition or a performance because it just doesn't make any sense. So this concludes that song choice is very important to how you do on an audition.

The next workshop was belting. I was thinking:
'Oh no. This is gonna suck. I will totally fail this as epically as can possily can be failed but I'll do it anyway for fun.'
It turned out not to be as bad as I thought it was going to be. Most of the class was focussed on saying that belting can hurt your voice, but only if you do it improperly which is why if you want to try and belt without not being able to sing ever afterwards you should probably see a trained teacher. We all sang a belting song and we were tought how to belt it. I sang Cabaret which I felt bad about doing because Amanda #2 had said only that morning that a twelve year-old shouldn't really be singing Cabaret. But afterwards I felt it was a fine choice since I was trying to learn how to belt and this was most definately a belting song. Out of all the people that were there in that class, no one was a true belter. Allthough in the class before there was one girl who could sing like hell and belt it out too.
I think I got a lot better. My voice was a voice I had never heard before. It was truly a weird experience. To have this huge sound come from you and it seems like no big deal at all. I can't even egin to describe how weird it felt. My mom said to that I had completely transformed from the voice that I had sang the song in in the car.

The next day I started with resume writing. I only thought trends were for clothes and hair but resume writing has its own trend. We were supposed to have a big picture of us head and shoulders and then someone intervened and said that the panel prefers to only see the face or that you should put your glossy picture on the back of your resume so that its easier but then someone says that no, the panel these days doesn't want to flip the page and so on and so forth. So theres this big battle going on about where the pictures are supposed to be taken and whether you should dress up for the photo or not (which they agreed they shouldn't)and all this stuff they we were trying to frantically taking notes of then scratching out and then writing them again. it was fun though never the less.

The last thing we did was vocal adjudications. This was kind of like Kiwanis in that you sang, you sat down, you let the adjudicator write the other person goes up and sings and repeats the whole cycle again. It was unlike Kiwanis in a sense that it was a lot less nerve racking and a lot more fun ecause of that. When we weren't in one of the catagories, we went to the back room and sang random songs together and sang our hearts out. We would figure out this whole choreography and everything. The song we sang most was Your the One I Want from grease. It was a lot of fun. Also watching the other people perform was very interesting. You can tell which people really loved doing this kind of stuff and how much every word of every song meaned so much to them. Their characters came alive. those were the people who you sat and watched. The others were people who came there because their parents told them they should or because their teacher said they should. Those were the ones where you would talk to your friends behind you about some great show you saw last year or something like that.

When the adjudicator went to a different room to write decide what awards people should get we all surrounded the piano and sang 'Tomorrow' from Annie. It was a truly amazing experience to sing along woth twenty people who are singing this song like there's nothing else more important than making sure that tomorrow will come. Everbody was also singing the best they could which you don't always get from a school choir. They were also all really good strong singers so that might have helped.

Overall it was a really fun weekend. I didn't get anything really done on the school side of the spectrum but singing wise it was the greatest weekend I ever had.

Life Lesson: Don't underestimate your powers to learn something.

I commented on Libby's blog this week.

H is for Hockey

When I talk about hockey, I'm talking about the original. Not the horribly uncivilized game that Canadians play on ice since they can't play it an land. I'm talking about the hockey that involves running around till you're half dead. The hockey that requires you to train if you want to be any good. The hockey that devours devotion and keeps asking for more. The hockey that perspires out of your stick. That is what hockey is.

Hockey is the game that I play. It is also the game that many others have played for many years. My dad plays hockey. My brother and sister play Hockey. My friend Isabelle plays hockey. Surprisingly enough, everybody at Field Hockey Ontario plays hockey. Many people play hockey. No wonder really, since it's such a great sport.

With all these people playing hockey, there come memories. Memories of not looking and passing the ball straight to the opposing team who scored the winning goal two seconds before the end whistle. Memories of making the perfect flatch that went straight across the field to the forward who got a short corner. Memories of hitting the ball into the net and hearing the triumphant clunk that satisfies your sweat soaked ears in such a way that that makes you raise your stick above your head and jump for joy. Memories of your team mate scoring the winning goal and practically killing them with a huge tackle to the ground. These are the memories of a hockey player.

That is why people play this sport. This sport of compassion. The memories are of such magnitude and strength that you want to keep experiencing the surge of running with the ball and hearing the crowd shout your name to keep on going or to pass. Even if it's just your mom. Especially if it's your mom. The memories of 'failure' also keep people playing. To make sure that you can do better than that. To prepare yourself for the disappointment and frustration of the coach as he is shouting at you about how bad you know you played, and then get better. Learn and enjoy the experience of it. Getting better.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is what hockey is all about. Not shoving and fighting, but companionship and teamwork. Without it you will be trampled in this game. The game of admiration.

Life Lesson: Many people, even the best, experience failure. And then get better.

I commented on Hayley's blog this week.