My Throne

Well... we had our second vocal master class today. I premiered my French aria, Stephano's "Que fais-tu, blanche tourterelle." Singing it well totally made my day, especially since I've only been singing it for three days. Yes, three days. I am a music-learning machine. It will take a lot of work until I am happy with the whole package, but as far as a work in progress goes, I am loving it already! I think it's going to be a really strong aria in my repertoire-arsenal.

I also got to hear a number of the new voice students sing their numbers. Lots of selections from 24 Italian Songs and Arias. (Caro Mio Ben. Sebben Crudele. You know... the usual.) I'll admit it, part of me was nervous. They had introduced themselves so extravagantly, talking about how they've been singing for ages. It scared me. I've been formally singing for all of... one year. Even so, I've always been ahead of the curve as far as UCSD's undergraduate voice department goes. I spent last year duking it out with Chrissy over upper division professors. We know how that ended. But it really surprised me how threatened I felt by fresh talent. I was actually very worried that I would somehow end up second best.

But as the newcomers sang their songs, I began to relax more and more. It might be egotistical of me to think so, but I no longer feel threatened. There are some decent voices in the mix, but for all the agony I caused myself, no female voice to call my rival.

There was Michael Wu, however. He was incredible! But male voices do not worry me. He is one person I will never compete against for a role :)

I guess all the work I put in over the summer has paid off though! Repertoire-wise, I'm way ahead of Chrissy, what with two arias and four songs already under my belt just in the first two weeks of school. She's still getting wrong notes on stuff she's worked on all summer long. Even vocally, although she still has the edge in terms of maturity, I've definitely overtaken her in power and stage presence. I really need to keep taking good care of my voice. I've treated it well for about a week, and it really rewarded me today with a vocal vengeance. Range, dexterity, focus, I had it all today!

Also, I need higher aspirations. It isn't enough to be the top undergrad voice at UCSD. I need to push harder, stay diligent, and keep up with consistent improvement. Now that I'm discovering more and more of what I can accomplish with what I have, I am set on going out and being the best I can possibly make myself. I'm starting to realize that I may have more potential than I previously gave myself credit for...