This is my real "first entry" that I did on another blog connected to my website, but since my website isn't up and running yet, I'm using this as an alternative. Anyway, here's what I wrote... I feel like it was a better starter.
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I would like to begin this "blog" by stating its purpose, not only for the potential readers, but also for myself. I am about to embark upon a few months of traveling and singing away from my beloved city of Chicago. I am leaving friends, an apartment I love filled with roommates I love more, my teachers and my last semester of graduate school to go test the waters of being a opera singer, which I have learned is somewhat defined by living out of a suitcase. But that isn't all that defines it, obviously. Over the next few months I will have the oppotunity to sing in the public schools of Cedar Rapids, IA in an outreach production entitled Little Red's Most Unusual Day where I will be playing the role of Granny. I love outreach and performing for children, so this will be a treat. I will also sing in the chorus of Madame Butterfly. After being in Iowa for most of January, I will leave for Santa Barbara, CA to be a Young Artist with Opera Santa Barbara. I will officially cover the role of Mercedes and perform Carmen's arias and a scene in their pre-festival concert series. So though this time period comes with some sacrifices, I am so grateful for the opportunity.

This blog will serve two main purposes. First, it will serve as my "journal" for Graduate Seminar, the one course I will still be enrolled in next semester at CCPA. For that it will include reflections on the rehearsal and performance process and my observations about my experiences. I will continue to write about any auditions I might do, how I felt they went, what I sang and how that felt, auditioners' "reactions" (though I know you aren't supposed to read their reactions, but I mean, how can you not??), etc. Secondly, I hope this will find its way to friends and family who might be curious what I'm up to. And in case I'm super busy, no one can get mad if I forget to call.

Anyway, this is an experiment. I also would like to spend time reflecting on bigger, artistic ideas. I've been mulling over Dr. Brown's comment on the last day in class that most of my classmates disliked (I could easily use a stronger word there) COT's production of Don Giovanni last spring. I have felt a little guilty saying so, but I LOVED it? Perhaps that says something about my mind being a little sick and twisted, or perhaps just that I like a bit of innovation and the idea of Opera as ART and not a museum. I'm also not a Mozart expert and don't know all of the plot ideosyncracies that many of my fellow singers do, and therefore don't mind if a plot is melded a little to fit an idea that might enliven it for a new generation. I would like to write a longer post on this, but I did have one thought cross my mind that seemed relavant in arguing against the opinion of the "masses". That is that Mozart's operas in his time were DEFINITELY pushing the envelope... Figaro features buffoon-like aristocracy and brilliant servants, the most brilliant of which is a woman! Wouldn't Mozart have approved of opera continuing to push the envelope? I think that he might have preferred COT's production to an antiquated one set in 18th century Spain that needed to have the cobwebs dusted off before it could be performed! If COT had done that production, I can guarantee people wouldn't still be talking about it in December of the next year.
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More to come...

Merry Christmas!