eight - a moment

A note floated in the air
suspended by the breath of thirty-nine of us
standing together on one stage.


In front of a scattered audience
with many red velvet chairs still

empty,

but it didn't matter.


The note stayed there,
aloft in the space of the great hall,
and
Cathedral-like reverence.

The drop of a hand,
and the note--
clipped--severed--
did not disappear.

Lingering reverberation:
echo enveloping memory.

A deep pause.

Applause.

back and forth

New York to California, all in a single month. And now, off to St. George! Thank goodness it's in the same state.

acappella tour was an incredible amount of fun.

oh, disneyland.
It's such a happy place. Universal Studios was pretty fun, too. Even the 11 hour bus ride was endurable. (I quite enjoy sleeping. It doesn't happen very often, what with rehearsals and homework and such.)

GUESS WHAT. March just barely started, and now it's almost over. April is swiftly approaching, and Spring is in the air. The bitter cold has retreated for a time, but I've heard nasty rumors that it's coming to visit again tomorrow. Hm. Ah, well. A week from now I'll be soakin' up rays in sunny St. Georgio. Yes, please.

california,

here we come.

so I wrote about the wonderful town

Once upon a street in New York City, a group of 39 Utahn youth bought purses, ate gyros, sang sweetly, skipped sidewalks, and rode subways. 

Highlights include, but are not limited to:

• singing in Carnegie Hall. Truly one of the best experiences of my entire life. The acoustics were unlike any I've ever heard, and our last song's cut-off was followed by a feeling of sheer, echoey bliss, then thunderous applause that didn't end until long after we dissapeared backstage.
• performing for the elderly in Brooklyn. So moving and rewarding. The difference between the assisted living center and Carnegie Hall didn't seem so huge in retrospect.
• sleeping on the subway.
• reading on the subway. Although I didn't see a butterfly.
• windy boat rides, american history, ellis island, lady liberty
• going to starbucks and ordering a coffee-free frappucino.
• throwing caution to the winds and running pell-mell across the street.
• the twinkling lights of Broadway and Times Square. Even the sidewalks sparkled.
• a misunderstood phantom, a wicked green witch, and a practically perfect nanny-Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, and Mary Poppins. Oh, the magic. The glory.
• spending far too much money on food. Paying for tap water.
• not spending enough money on random trinkets, but feeling very proud of my Mary Poppins umbrella.
• bartering for jewelry in chinatown.
• a rice-paper parasol
• shopping day with the gals
• H&M, H&M, H&M, H&M
• walking into the empire state building completely by accident
• my good luck charm
• my bass, my tenor, my alto
• being banished to the boonies of the hotel
• loving the boonies of the hotel
• Mad46!
• bagel and shmear, bagel and shmear
• making friends with the shuttle guy
• barnes & noble...supersized.
• new journals and a novel
• collapsing in the hotel room, swearing up and down that we would never eat that much again, and staying up all night talking. Every day.
• hearing more swearwords than ever before-also more languages. Also, probably a combination of the two.
• the angel Moroni in the middle of Manhattan, going to church, seeing the temple.
• butt-neked singing, Hershey's chocolate bar, fig + leaves, jinny = stone cold fox.
• the really cool pretzel guy
• zero blisters
• almost involuntarily taking pictures of everything - hopelessly sticking out as Mormon tourists.
• young + love = cute, dramatic, fun to watch, silly, ridiculous, filled with jealousy.
• finding out that I don't really belong to any clique at all.
• finding myself walking down Times Square in a lonely box of space, but secretly enjoying myself.
• the best roommates in the universe
• MASH and true love on the way home
• (the chances are 95% in my favor)
• serious withdrawals
• wanting to walk everywhere I go.

I want to go back,
but I really have missed the fresh air and mountains.

breathing in deeply

I have arrived back in utah county.

It feels so clean here.

Due to lack of time, I won't go into details about my incredible trip to NYC...but I will eventually fill you in.

fruit and carnegie hall

Once upon a time, not very long ago, I posted a blog (or blogged a post...plosted a bog?) about the fact that I was leaving for New York in less than two weeks. And now...that day is upon me. I am leaving for the *Big Apple tomorrow morning: 4:45. There is no more talk of earning enough money, not another word about different shoes, no more of those previous exclamations of "I JUST CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER." No. I am going. *To the vast sphere of red fruit. And we're singing in carnegie hall. SO delicious. Like an apple.

In Which I Explain (to some extent) My Friday

This week hasn't been the most eventful, as far as spectacular/gaudy/in-your-face events go. My aunt did have an adorable baby, which was awfully exciting. And I DID get an A on my math test...which was also awfully exciting. (yes yes yes yes yes yes yes YES.) But.

I think the week has been settling me into a false sense of relaxation. Tomorrow is Friday, the end of the week, the oh-my-goodness-this-should-be-a-relieving-day-because-I-can-play-and-then-sleep-in-tomorrow-till-twelve kind of day. That's what Fridays usually are, right? No such luck for this chick. (HA! I mean, are you really surprised?) At three thirty tomorrow, Lone Peak's Chamber Choir (which I am a member of...hence my story about it that I am telling you right now) will be at American Fork Junior High School rehearsing Mozart's Requiem with the rock star of choral directors: Mack Wilberg. (MACK WILBERG! Who wouldn't want to meet a rock star of CHORAL MUSIC?! Soooo the bomb.com.) 3:30 to 9:30. Oy, yoy yoy. 6 hours. SIX. (1,2,3,4,5,6. also, 3*2.) But, it's ok. It'll go by fast. Hopefully. And then maybe I'll go pound on a friends door and say, "Take me in, lads, lassies! Me achin' bones can't hold up much longer and I be needin' a hang-out this evenin'!" (Yes. I'm so doing that. Irish accent and EVERYTHING.)

And then...Saturday. I'll have to talk about that tomorrow. If I have time. Will Carlie make it through the high notes of Mozart's mind? Can she find the energy to drive her car all the way to American Fork? Or the gas money?? Stay tuned to find out the answers to these questions and more!

So, I...

...never really imagined loving Shakespeare as much as I do now. Because...I DO.

Shakespeare Auditions = golden.
Callbacks = even better.

I am on a natural high because of all those glorious words...

"...you murdering ministers. Wherever in your sightless substances you wait on nature's mischief!" (Macbeth, Lady Macbeth-my monologue-awesome).

And now...we wait. More (hopefully) on the subject tomorrow. How will it fare? One can only imagine...

Oh! And I got asked to homecoming. Pretty much an awesome week that all ends with a huge bang which is Chamber singing the national anthem and drama council retreat. Huzzah!

One heckuva week.

So. This week has probably been the most vocally draining week I've had in a good while.

Tuesday=Talent show auditions. You know, this audition would have gone pretty well, if not for the fact that I stopped before the song was over because I literally couldn't sing it anymore. But the rest of it was good. Except for that.

Wednesday=Drama class auditions/Chamber Choir auditions. These auditions both went very well, which is a big reason why the week was so tiring.

Saturday=I made both classes, which entailed a lot of screaming and such. I also babysat, which also included a minor bit of yelling.

Sunday=Sang in the choir at church for Easter. Fantastic, but also exhausting. Switching from a children's part, to first soprano, and then alto for the last two songs, one of which goes prettay low, though fun, is also a great way to make your voice hoarse.

Next Wednesday=Musical theatre auditions. Just thinking about these makes my vocal cords contract in fear. Luckily, they're able to recuperate during this spring break. I just have to remember to breath.