Anonymously famous

I read something funny on Thursday. I am the only person in the world who would find this funny. A little background....

In June, I blogged about an encounter with the author of a book I used in my Handel research last fall: http://ellieseligmann.blogspot.com/2008/06/sorry-so-long-nashville-day-three.html. I met her at the NATS conference in Nashville and told her how I had used her book as a starting point for my research. The next day in her presentation, she told the audience that she had just met a reader who had used her book as a starting point for deeper research, and she thanked me by name.

Six months later (two days ago), I was reading a review of her book in American Music Teacher, the journal of the Music Teachers Natl Association, and the fifth and final paragraph of this brief review read, "In a presentation for the National Association of Teachers of Singing National Conference in the summer of 2008, Elliot spoke of her delight in learning that a reader had used her text for a 'springboard' to locate additional resources." Haha! My jaw dropped! That reader was me!

I found this amusing.

And then there's me...

The Aurora Music Teachers Association (AMTA) hosts a high school coffeehouse "open mic" night at Border Bookstore every month. AMTA members' students can sing or play an instrument for their peers in the coffeehouse at our local bookstore. It's a really awesome opportunity for kids to enjoy making music together and for one another.

I enjoy attending these events. Tonight one of my students was there, and she had a great time because it turned out some of her friends study with some of my colleagues, so she knew people there already.

I found myself in sort of a strange position, though, I guess. There's all these students... all teenagers... and all these other teachers... all in their forties, fifties and sixties... and then there's me... 30. It was just weeeeird.

Experience of a lifetime

The MTNA national conference is in Denver this year and began today and goes through Wednesday. This afternoon culminated with a 90-minute master class with opera legend, Marilyn Horne. I managed to get a front row seat, from which I occasionally captured short video clips, some of which my students will get to watch. (Before lunch, we also enjoyed a "conversation" with Ms. Horne.) This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It is difficult to describe, but I learned so much, and it all made so much sense - as she coached the singers (some of whom I knew), I could imagine how it would feel to sing it as they did at first and then again as she recommended. All in all, I didn't learn anything particularly new, but I processed it in a different context - specifically in the context of singers who are more advanced than I am, as opposed to in my own voice or in less-accomplished voices. And, demonstrated by a legend, these ideas took on new significance. My visual and aural mental image of these sounds/techniques is enhanced.

And afterward, Ms. Horne autographed my copy of her autobiography (which I acquired years ago, thank you very much). "To Ellie - Marilyn Horne '08"

Yes, this makes up for yesterday. I'm looking forward to the rest of the convention, though I can't imagine anything else this week will top this afternoon. :-)

Yes, I'm still alive

I have just been so busy! I must say, I am not missing grad school like I thought I would. There are just so many exciting things going on!

My big project has been scheduling the spring auditions (contest) for my NATS chapter. This has been like a gigantic sudoku puzzle scheduling 58 judges and 380 singers into 16 rooms for 534 singing auditions. I've actually quite enjoyed it, but it has occupied nearly every free moment for the last few weeks. I finally finished the scheduling around 1 o'clock this morning. Now, I just have to get the final mailing ready to go and then prepare for the event day. Still a lot to do, but there's a huge chunk of it done now.

This will be my year to attend national music teacher conventions. The MTNA (Music Teachers Natl Assn) national conference happens to be in Denver this year, so I would be a fool not to take advantage of the opportunity. That one is the end of March and beginning of April. Then, I won a scholarship to attend the NATS (Natl Assn of Teachers of Singing) national conference in Nashville this summer. I am REALLY looking forward to both of these awesome opportunities for learning and networking.

And finally, I have been invited to sing with the Opera Colorado chorus for The Flying Dutchman in April. It will not be a staged production, so we will rehearse every night for two weeks and then two performances and then it's done. I auditioned back in September and have been an alternate for the last two shows, but this time I get to sing. Rehearsals start the same day as the NATS contest, so I won't have time to rest & recouperate from the auditions, but it will be something new and it doesn't last long.

So, that's what's been up in my little world. Eric and I were able to get away to the mountains this last weekend and the time away from everything was very good for both of us. We need to get away more often, I think.