VISI, day 11

Today was not terribly eventful, but good nonetheless.

No performance psych class this morning, so lectures started at ten.  I did a brief warmup at nine and felt like crap, so I decided to leave it.  Tired plus vocal fatigue plus just ate breakfast.  Felt much better in the afternoon, as I expected.

The lecture this morning was about Schubertiades; very interesting, rather enlightening.  Schubert was not well-known enough, nor were Lieder a popular enough art form to be played at big public concerts (plus there was the fact that if a concert was organized to showcase one specific composer, the composer had to pay for it ALL himself, and while Schubert wasn't destitute, he certainly couldn't handle that), so his music was mainly played, during his lifetime anyway, in middle-class salons and, surprise surprise, at Schubertiades.  (that was a long sentence.)  The aristocratic salons were not, for the most part, interested in Schubert's music, though a few songs would have been played through his meager connections with the aristocracy; the middle class was far more interested in his style of music, since they were very serious about the Biedermeier concept of Bildung, or the self-culturing through art.  And, of course, there were the Schubertiades; parties organized (or not) solely for listening to Schubert's music ... and having a heck of a good time.  (Apparently they even engaged in tossing people in blankets.  Y'know, like that movie.  I can't remember it now.  But really.  Also they drank a lot.)

So yeah, interesting lecture ...  The masterclass was not as interesting.  The girl performing didn't emote very well and so much of the masterclass was devoted to that.  

I headed back to the dorms and made both lunch and supper, then went to coachings.  The first coaching was work on staging one of our art songs; I picked a particularly difficult one to understand, and so didn't get to work on it as much this time - but I will later in the week, so that's okay.  The second coaching was led by VISI's director, and so we spent some time staging and some time really digging into the songs.  I worked on a song I've done several times in coachings now, but it was only really today that I managed to connect with it and sing it like I never had before (it has some wickedly long lines for someone of my early stage of training). It was pretty cool.

I then headed off to catch a bus, and proceeded to go to downtown Vancouver.  I ate supper looking out over the harbour, and then watched the last 15 minutes of game six (Stanley Cup finals, in case you're A) living under a rock or B) don't follow hockey) at Canada Place.  That was pretty cool.  The series is now tied 3-3, so I'll head back on Wednesday to see the last period or so of game seven, which is at home in Vancouver, and so should be entirely mad.  that'll be fun.  :D

And then I found a way home, and here I am.  Kinda sleepy.  Tomorrow is a new day - or something like that.