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March/April March - April - Grettings everyone! It has been almost TWO MONTHS since I update my webpage. The main reason is that our home systems have been having some hellacious technical problems on a continuous basis. I believe that the technical troubles have all been taken care of now, so I am now going to resume at updating my site on a regular basis, as well as continue my trend of frequent e-mails. :) I've had sucha wonderful and exciting couple of months! Below, I've chosen to mention the highlights (so that you man know what I've done lately). I hope that you enjoy reading the following...
March was really a busy month for me, and one of personal growth. I had all ready been at SAC almost two months and I was starting to get back into the groove. I auditioned for Chamber Singers and (naturally ;) made it. It was such a joy having Cindy as a teacher again. Never before have I had a teacher with so much energy and enthusiasm. (Dr. Marcades does come close, though.) In Chamber Singers, I bonded and became friends with a wonderful guy named Kevin. He is also a wonderful singer and we try to hang-out whenever possible. As I mentioned before, we worked on Beattle songs for our first concert, and continued the remainder of the semester working on Carmina Burana. It was a lot of fun. I was also involved with the Concert Choir. This turned out to be a wonderful experience a well. Besides all ready meeting Kevin, I met these other two wonderful friends by the names of Crystal and Celeste. Crystal is a wonderfully passionate girl who is a phenomenal dancer and just an unbelievable person. Celeste is one of the best (and most romantic) singers I've heard in a long time. Her voice is so divine, and I've enjoyed getting to know her as a musician, and a close friend. All three of these people have enriched my life in a significant way this semester, and I'm really glad that I got to know them.
March also marked the start of my extra-curricular activities that I became so busily involved in. I started taking martial science (once again) at USTA [United States Tae Kwon Do Academy]. Both, me and Ca, take lessons from here and enjoy the fun, competitive atmosphere. I also started taking trombone lessons with a friend (and fraternal brother), Ron Wilkins. Ron (as mentioned earlier) is a phenomenal jazz trombonist and is known nationwide. He's helping me grow as musician and I'm enjoying the results seen. My vocal lessons are going well, too. I studied with Cindy for a while so I could work on some of my solos that I had for Carmina.
Spring Break was a lot of fun! Katrina came in for the week and we tried to spend a lot of quality time together. While she was here, we ended up going to a lot of restaurants (Hooters, Cha-Cha's, Ding How, Hung Fong, Pizza Hut, China Star, and Wok-a-Mole) and just having a good time. We had the priviledge to see a racquetball seminar at SACC given by Sudsy, the #1 Ranked Raquetball player in the world right now. I got a cool poster from him and was in awe when seeing him play. During this week, Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical, was also on TV and I bought it from pay-per-view. It was nice seeing the visual and comparing it to the audio CD's.
Around this same time, I had heard that Trinity University was going to be performing Carmina Burana with a full choir, orchestra, and selected soloists. Kevin and I sat in on a rehearsal about 2 weeks before the concert and enjoyed the director and ensembles progress. He enjoyed our voices and allowed us to ACTUALLY sing with them, despite missing the semester's rehearsals. This was a tremendous honor. The concert fell on Easter Weekend and was held at the Scottish Rite Temple. It sounded WONDERFUL! To make things even better, the director invited us to become a part of the Choral Union! (wow!!!) During the concert, I sat next to a Mastersinger and he encouraged me to audition for the Symphony Mastersingers in August. He even said that he'd put in a good word for me. :) This entire situation turned out to be very positive and was great for building contacts.
April was also a great month. I started working at the SPURS Shop this month (along with Ciara) and am still working there to date. It's been a blast! A second shop was opened at North Star Mall, so I've been working both the mall location and the downtown location at various times. With the SPURS doing so well, business is great and the sales are doing wonderful. I also get a 40% discount off anything I want (as well as my friends and family), so I've bee utilizing that to its full capacity. :)
Suzanne Reeves, another good vocal teacher, offered to teach me lessons this summer; so I gladly accepted and will start soon. She speicalizes in musicals and new age music, so I know that I'll enjoy the repetoire. I had met her previously at SACC when I did Fire on the Bayou and she was the musical director. She has an energized personality and will be a joy to work with.
At this time, SAC also got ready for their production of Carmina Burana. Not only was I selected to be one of the soloists, but I also ended up dancing in one of the numbers. Crystal was approached by Cindy to dance in two of the songs during the orchestra breaks. She gladly agreed, and asked me if I'd dance with her for the second number (since it called for a second person). The concert took place on May 4th and was huge success. The soloists were ALL fantastic and everyone loved the dance routine that Crystal and I did. I have a CD of this event and would love for people to hear me on songs 13 and 19. This also marked the process of me getting a vocal scholarship at SACC and possibly being able to get one at UTSA as well. :::yay!:::
FIESTA occured during the month of April and is one of my FAVORITE holidays. I absolutely go crazy during this time and let loose. This year, I was only able to go to the Battle of FLowers Parade, NIOSA, due to all of my rehearsals and practices that I had. I was going to the Flambeau Parade, but Ron was giving a concert that night at Borders and I chose to see him instead. It was a lot of fun!
