Hello, all!
Thanks so much for following me through my journey at LAI. It has been a GREAT learning experience, and I have had so much fun.
In about 5 hours I need to be awake and will then be on my way to the Graz airport. My first flight leaves at 7:50 am, and I land in KCI sometime after 6 pm (I left my flight info in my room haha).
The final concert went great, and I spent today in the city and am now frantically packing. I've said my goodbyes to all the friends I've made here, and am very excited to come home.
Aufwiedersehn, Österreich!
:)
Lauren
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Konzert
Guten morgen alles!
Last night was our first concert, at a really nice venue. It was by no means a huge concert hall, it was quite small, but a nice space. We arrived there at about 4:00 (It's an hour away from Graz) and had 3 1/2 hours to relax. We all did a sound-check, and then Tracy vocalized us. There was a little cafe in the front of the building, so I was able to grab a Toast (grilled cheese with ham). I splurged and had a Kaffee-eis for dessert, because I figured the coffee (even though I really don't like coffee...) would give me a good boost of energy, which it did.
About 25 people were in the audience, which is apparently a lot in reference to past years at LAI. They were a very relaxed and peaceful crowd, mostly all friends of Tracy and Wolfgang. I sang "Die Einsame" in the first set, which went better than it has yet. The challenge for both of my songs is trying not to run out of air. "Selige Nacht" was my song in the second set, and it could have gone better, but I made it through the song without fainting. So that's good! Haha. Everyone sang wonderfully.The owner of the building advertised the concert as starting at 8:00 pm instead of 7:30 pm, so we didn't finish until after 10. Afterwards the owner provided sandwiches and wine, and then we had to head back to the Schloss in some very foggy weather. The scenery was gorgeous, though. We didn't get back to the Schloss until midnight, and I had trouble winding down, and once again woke up with the sun very very early. I've been taking mid-morning naps to try to get myself through the days, as my sleep schedule is pretty off right now.
After lunch I'm going into Graz with Val, and we're going to try to get some souvenirs. I've had so much trouble getting things for people, because we go into town in the evenings or on Sundays. The shops all close by 7 pm, and nothing is open on Sundays. So hopefully I can get some stuff. Tomorrow we have all day to do whatever we want, and then a group goodbye dinner is at 6 pm. I know a group of girls is going to Vienna, which would be awesome, but the train ride is about 2 1/2 hours, and we have to be back by 6 pm. I think I'll go into Graz again, and just enjoy the city one last time.
The concert tonight is here at the Schloss in our piano room. I'm not sure how many people will show up, but I'm guessing around 20-25 again. I think we're all anxious for the concert to be over. It's been a long and great process, but 3 1/2 weeks from home is really tough. I'm going to be happy to go home and spend the rest of the summer working and with Dan. I'm missing everyone very much!
Wish me luck tonight!
Last night was our first concert, at a really nice venue. It was by no means a huge concert hall, it was quite small, but a nice space. We arrived there at about 4:00 (It's an hour away from Graz) and had 3 1/2 hours to relax. We all did a sound-check, and then Tracy vocalized us. There was a little cafe in the front of the building, so I was able to grab a Toast (grilled cheese with ham). I splurged and had a Kaffee-eis for dessert, because I figured the coffee (even though I really don't like coffee...) would give me a good boost of energy, which it did.
About 25 people were in the audience, which is apparently a lot in reference to past years at LAI. They were a very relaxed and peaceful crowd, mostly all friends of Tracy and Wolfgang. I sang "Die Einsame" in the first set, which went better than it has yet. The challenge for both of my songs is trying not to run out of air. "Selige Nacht" was my song in the second set, and it could have gone better, but I made it through the song without fainting. So that's good! Haha. Everyone sang wonderfully.The owner of the building advertised the concert as starting at 8:00 pm instead of 7:30 pm, so we didn't finish until after 10. Afterwards the owner provided sandwiches and wine, and then we had to head back to the Schloss in some very foggy weather. The scenery was gorgeous, though. We didn't get back to the Schloss until midnight, and I had trouble winding down, and once again woke up with the sun very very early. I've been taking mid-morning naps to try to get myself through the days, as my sleep schedule is pretty off right now.
After lunch I'm going into Graz with Val, and we're going to try to get some souvenirs. I've had so much trouble getting things for people, because we go into town in the evenings or on Sundays. The shops all close by 7 pm, and nothing is open on Sundays. So hopefully I can get some stuff. Tomorrow we have all day to do whatever we want, and then a group goodbye dinner is at 6 pm. I know a group of girls is going to Vienna, which would be awesome, but the train ride is about 2 1/2 hours, and we have to be back by 6 pm. I think I'll go into Graz again, and just enjoy the city one last time.
The concert tonight is here at the Schloss in our piano room. I'm not sure how many people will show up, but I'm guessing around 20-25 again. I think we're all anxious for the concert to be over. It's been a long and great process, but 3 1/2 weeks from home is really tough. I'm going to be happy to go home and spend the rest of the summer working and with Dan. I'm missing everyone very much!
Wish me luck tonight!
I just loved this building. This was in Graz on our way to Mariatrost and I forgot to upload it. The buildings here are so colorful and lively!
I have no idea where the door goes haha, but it's here at the Schloss and I just thought it was very quaint. I love how old this building is, there are so many beautiful features.
Ready to sing! This is before the concert last night. You can't tell extremely well in this picture, but my dress is a deep purple. I was so excited that it didn't get wrinkled in my suitcase! Which just made me think of how much stuff I have to pack up again...*sigh*.
Talk soon,
Lauren
Monday, July 4, 2011
Crunch Time
Hey everyone!
So the past couple of days have been basically all about the concerts. We did a complete run-through of our songs yesterday...which timed out to like a 3 hour concert (!!!!). So Tracy and Wolfgang are deciding today what to cut. It will be interesting to see which songs they decide to throw out. Either way, it will be a long concert haha. Before each song, Wolfgang reads the poem to the audience. It's a great way to get "in the zone" for the song. Tracy also recorded us yesterday with a video camera, and then we painfully watched ourselves. So all in all, class was like 5 hours long yesterday and we were all exhausted.
Val and I had signed out for dinner, as did 3 other people, so we knew we couldn't eat here at the Schloss. But I was definitely regretting that we would have to actually walk someplace. We decided to try the Gasthaus that is about a 30 minute hike up the mountain. However, when we got there it was closed. Sooo we either could walk 20 more minutes to some Italian restaurant on the other side of the mountain, and then hike an hour back to the Schloss in the dark (if we could even find the restaurant...), or we could hike back to the Schloss, and then continue down the mountain into town. So we chose the latter, and wound up at a little bar. Our waiter was familiar with a couple of the people I was with, and we were all starving after our hour excursion up and down the mountain. So I ordered a cheeseburger (I know, I know...but I was craving one so badly!) and some fries. We all were ordering sides with our meals, and our waiter just kept laughing at us. It didn't help that our German is pretty awful haha. So we finally get our food, and there had to have been about 12 plates of food on the table...we had no idea how we ended up with so much food! One girl even ordered the complete wrong thing as to what she thought she ordered haha. And to top it all off, our waiter brought out bread! So we feasted, and the food was actually very good. I left with Val before everyone else around 9:45 pm, because I had a skype date with Dan. Which I was still late to, because we had to hike back UP the mountain to the Schloss. Needless to say, I am sore today haha.
So today we have our final dress rehearsal. A concert tomorrow evening at a venue I'm still not clear about where it's located, and Wednesday night a concert at the Schloss in our piano room. We have a free morning today, which is much welcome, considering that a charter bus full of people arrived at 4:30 am and started unloading their luggage right outside of my window. So after my alarm went off and I called Dan for our daily chat, I definitely went back to sleep for another hour. So far today I have been doing laundry, and need to warm up before lunch so I can be ready for the long dress rehearsal (which is again being recorded).
So the past couple of days have been basically all about the concerts. We did a complete run-through of our songs yesterday...which timed out to like a 3 hour concert (!!!!). So Tracy and Wolfgang are deciding today what to cut. It will be interesting to see which songs they decide to throw out. Either way, it will be a long concert haha. Before each song, Wolfgang reads the poem to the audience. It's a great way to get "in the zone" for the song. Tracy also recorded us yesterday with a video camera, and then we painfully watched ourselves. So all in all, class was like 5 hours long yesterday and we were all exhausted.
Val and I had signed out for dinner, as did 3 other people, so we knew we couldn't eat here at the Schloss. But I was definitely regretting that we would have to actually walk someplace. We decided to try the Gasthaus that is about a 30 minute hike up the mountain. However, when we got there it was closed. Sooo we either could walk 20 more minutes to some Italian restaurant on the other side of the mountain, and then hike an hour back to the Schloss in the dark (if we could even find the restaurant...), or we could hike back to the Schloss, and then continue down the mountain into town. So we chose the latter, and wound up at a little bar. Our waiter was familiar with a couple of the people I was with, and we were all starving after our hour excursion up and down the mountain. So I ordered a cheeseburger (I know, I know...but I was craving one so badly!) and some fries. We all were ordering sides with our meals, and our waiter just kept laughing at us. It didn't help that our German is pretty awful haha. So we finally get our food, and there had to have been about 12 plates of food on the table...we had no idea how we ended up with so much food! One girl even ordered the complete wrong thing as to what she thought she ordered haha. And to top it all off, our waiter brought out bread! So we feasted, and the food was actually very good. I left with Val before everyone else around 9:45 pm, because I had a skype date with Dan. Which I was still late to, because we had to hike back UP the mountain to the Schloss. Needless to say, I am sore today haha.
So today we have our final dress rehearsal. A concert tomorrow evening at a venue I'm still not clear about where it's located, and Wednesday night a concert at the Schloss in our piano room. We have a free morning today, which is much welcome, considering that a charter bus full of people arrived at 4:30 am and started unloading their luggage right outside of my window. So after my alarm went off and I called Dan for our daily chat, I definitely went back to sleep for another hour. So far today I have been doing laundry, and need to warm up before lunch so I can be ready for the long dress rehearsal (which is again being recorded).
This is the view outside of our poetry classroom. So lovely.
Happy fourth everyone!
Lauren
Friday, July 1, 2011
Eine Woche!
Guten morgen!
So we have really gotten down to crunch-time here. I have 2 of my 3 songs memorized, and am for sure singing 2 of my 3 songs on the TWO final concerts. Apparently we have a concert on Tuesday in a different location, a bigger venue, and a concert on Wednesday here at the Schloss. My third song that is questionable, Selige Nacht, sits so high in my voice that my breathing is becoming difficult. So we may scratch that one, but it is a beautiful composition.
I have a voice lesson soon, and am excited to show Tracy the work I have accomplished in the past 2 days, and then I have poetry coaching after lunch, performance class, and German. I have been struggling with my German "ah" vowel, and closed "e" vowel, so we will see how my coaching with Wolfgang goes.
I've really enjoyed the experience of studying the text before learning the music. I think it is very beneficial to the singer and pianist, and helps make the text easier to express.
Yesterday I went back into Graz for dinner with a few people. We had authentic Austrian food that was so yummy. I had some cream soup and then a baked potato with lots of veggies, turkey, and sour cream. We were very full after that meal. We also had a limited amount of time to shop, because we got into town around 5:30 and shops were closing around 6:00 and 7:00. I did return to the Gummibärchen store, and also found the cutest little chocolate shop! So everything I've bought so far is edible haha.
We just had a group meeting this morning about the attitudes here at the program. There have been several dramatic incidents, and lots of "singer's egos" floating around. I was glad to see that Tracy actually typed up a "contract" that we each had to sign, basically summing up that this needs to be a positive environment. It was silly that she had to even do that, but I think it is for the best.
I miss everyone so much! I'll keep updating! One week left!
Lauren
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