It’s been an interesting year for me this past year. I’ve split up with the person I thought I might spend the rest of my life with, I’ve discovered (although I already knew this) that I don’t live well with people I don’t care for, and I’ve been able to evaluate my life as a single person now in my mid 30’s. I found some old cassette recordings of me singing today in the basement with lots of other shit that I was going to toss. I thought that I would try and salvage these from sure ruin. It amazes me to think how far technology has come in 20 years. When this recording was made, cassette tapes were still the norm. CD’s were just getting off the ground and digital recordings were unknown. Tonight I was even able to edit this recording to make it cleaner and easier to listen to.
Click Here and read on:
The recording you are listening to was created my junior year at Grand Valley State University. I am singing Dixit Dominus and I am sining countertenor. I had perfected my upper range at the American Boychoir School after my voice had changed and this became my range of choice when I got into late high school and into collage. Nobody else that I knew could sing in this range like I could and I was never one to blow my own horn but I was pretty dam good. When there was an alto or countertenor solo to sing, I got the part, when it came to teaching it was perfect because I could sign in the same range that the boys I was teaching could sing in so they understood what I was looking for.
This recording was made during a fairly critical year in my quest to pursue a music education degree. I had become by this time rather cynical of my education and actually I had become exceptionally board with it. I was in my 4th year of teaching for the Grand Rapids Choir of Men and Boys and my 4th year of Collage and I saw little value in the education I was getting as it did not relate to real life at all and was in fact quite far removed. NOTHING I was learning in collage even remotely related to what I was teaching with the GRCMB. Not even close. Sadly, that narrow view of reality would continue until I eventually dropped out of collage about 2 semesters short of graduating with a degree I would never end up using anyhow. This recording was an attempt to escape the mundane and lackluster world of higher education and try to join the ranks with what I considered to be the premier mens chorus in the world: Chanticleer. They did not develop a relationship with the American Boychoir School until several years after I had graduated but they were indeed the gold standard when it came to professional choirs. Having been let down tremendously by the substandard and rather pathetic choirs of high school and collage (and even the Grand Rapids Choir of Men and Boys although that was a higher standard than I could get anywhere else), I wanted to experience professionalism again and I held Chanticleer on an exceptionally high pedestal (and still do). It was a long shot to audition considering the members of Chanticleer were all well into their 30’s and 40’s and all professional musicians but I wanted to try anyhow just to see how I stacked up. My impression from the note sent back to me from Mr. Jennings was that I was certainly qualified and capable but not yet mature enough in my age or technique to join their ranks. I wasn’t shocked but I was disappointed that my exhibited talent had been reduced to a simple lack of professional experience. Oh well, it was not the end all for me but it set me on a path that would end my collage career and put me out into the world pursuing other dreams in unrelated fields.
I’ll be posting other mp3 files in future posts. I have one from when I was 2 years old sining nursery rhymes with dad and I have one of Sarah and I singing show tunes in high school. It was important that I try everything I can to preserve these recordings even though the quality is lack luster. The memories are worth hanging on to. Here is another picture I found the other day. Early on in life Sarah and I were treated to the establishment of traditions. To this day, I still shove my hands into pumpkins and revile in the gooey mess.
Tags: childhood, education, Music, pumpkins
You know I get teased about my love of Elton John by none other than the same people I catch humming his tunes quietly to themselves time after time. There are many things I enjoy about Elton John but mostly I enjoy the fact that he has such a huge volume of work AND he is continuing to create more. I’ve really only just begun to explore his music, several months ago I purchased “The Fox” album which was a very early album of his. There was one song on the album I wanted but I’ve really enjoyed the others on it as well. Now I’ve recently become acquainted with his “Made in England” album due to a song called Blessed (click to listen). It’s a very simple Lyric but a moving and a little haunting tune none the less. I’m embarrassed to say but this song is on a regular rotation at work and is unfortunately interrupted each time by …SAVE BIG MONEY…that fucking jingle is genius. If you live in the Midwest and don’t know that jingle, you are living under a rock. Anyhow, I didn’t know it was an Elton song until just recently when I started to listen a little closer. All his songs have certain phrases within the melodies that are easily attributed to his style. There are very few artists out there who do this…it’s something that many artists out there today lack the skill to do I think. Anyhow, I had to write and post the song here for you all to listen to.
Tags: Elton John, Music
OK, so I will be the first to admit that being single with a full time, well paying job has distinct advantages. I’ll also be the first to say that my bills could be MUCH lower than they are. I have (and likely always will) live well beyond my means. That said, I’ve come a long way in learning how to manage my cash flow. Granted, I still get nailed sometimes with expenses that I’ve not planed for but for the most part, I’ve finally arrived to that point where I’m not running to Mom and Dad every other week for a loan like I was years ago (but thank God they still have the willingness to bail me out once in a while). It’s amazing how much better you can feel about life when you actually have a few months of standard expenses in the bank as a buffer and you aren’t living paycheck to paycheck. This is the only time of year I can enjoy that…I hope that since I am no longer required to share my “wealth” with anyone else, I can maintain that buffer for quite a while now.
That said, I am a tech geek in many ways. I always have to have the latest toys. Jirar told me the other day that he was planning on taking back his iPod. I have grown pretty fond of the little mp3 player since my entire music collection is now in digital form. I don’t have much use for a CD player any more. Well, it is his iPod and it would have been hard for me to just say no so I went out and decided to just buy my own. I looked at a few options and it was a toss up between the 80gig iPod classic which would have been large enough to hold my 20gig music collection as well as video and podcasts -OR- the 8gb iPod Touch which is the latest and greatest thing from Apple with an awesome touch screen, WiFi enabled so I can get on the internet anywhere there is an access point (important now that I’ll be moving into town) and LOTS of other toys that are just fun. The biggest drawback however was that it is 10 times smaller in capacity. There was really no significant price difference between the 2, only a HUGE size difference. The iPod Classic would hold 10 times the number of mp3’s that the iPod Touch would.
Well, I decided to go with the iPod Touch. At best, and at any given time, I only listen to around 2-3gb worth of my mp3 files (about 150 songs). My taste in music fluctuates and these things are accommodating enough that I can just rotate my music collection as my taste evolves and changes. And now I can sit in my living room and watch YouTube videos on my iPod.
This thing also comes as a phone but you have to have AT&T as your provider right now and I can not justify switching cell phone providers, especially after I just got a new cell phone too!
Anyhow, I think my recent spending spree is pretty much over now. The last thing I need to do is get Gavin updated on his shots at the vet but selling off my firewood to Uncle Lou will pay for that. The only other thing I have to invest in now is half the fee of a storage unit that Jirar and I will be sharing starting in July. Beyond that, I’m pretty well up to date for the year.
Writing should be picking up a little although I am going into a stretch now of 3 weeks in a row without a weekend off. My assistant is having surgery so in order to keep things going I’ve had to pick up some slack. Lucky for me, she will be paying me back later this summer by working several days for me so I can have a break (even though she doesn’t know it now). Cheers for now!
Tags: awsome, geek, iPod Touch, Technology
So today was spent going through shit in the house trying to prepare for a move this fall. Jirar is only likely to be home a few more times in the next several months so it’s pretty important that we go trhough shit while he is here. One of my own goals before I move is to convert my entire CD collection over to MP3’s so I don’t have to lug my CD’s around with me anymore. It’s been years since I’ve purchased a CD (I get all my music in digital form now…and yes, I do pay for it). I was going through them and came accross Sarah’s premier CD titled “The Folk Songs”. I figured my sister would not mind a little publicity, so sit back and enjoy this great piece by Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls:
You Left it Up To Me
So I’m off now back to rip more CD’s. The Roommate has returned home and will now occupy the remaining 3 1/2 days of Jirar’s trip home so I won’t see him again. Oh well, I guess I will get to do everything myself.
Tags: Family, Folk Songs, Music, Sarah
has Sprung! It was 74 here today and sunny all day long. Windy as hell though. I got outside this afternoon and did some yard work. There is just so much to be done and I don’t have much motivation to do any of it…not like I used to. I need to get it cleaned up though, I can’t leave this house at the end of the summer in any worse shape than I found it. That means a little work has to be done.
Don’t have much else to say right now, I’ve provoked outrage from certain people regarding some blog posts I’ve made here. I will admit that it’s not really fair for me to make comments about people who are not given the opportunity to defend themselves outright. At the same time, my life, my choices. I am only obligated to respect one person right now and that is me. I will however choose to back down for a while.
I Get Along
I’m on a Pet Shop Boys kick lately. I have always liked them. I can remember sitting on the tour bus at the boychoir school listening to them with headphones on. A sure sign of a gay boy, nobody else would listen to them. Oh well, I like my taste in music. It keeps my life interesting.
This picture just killed me, I had to post it. No prudes here. For those of you who don’t know:
OMG = OH MY GOD
WTF = WHAT THE FUCK!
Tags: OMG, Pet Shop Boys, Spring, WTF, Yard
Wow, what a day at work today. It was really busy but nobody was buying much. You can tell this economy is in the shitter or headed that way, lots of lookers but very few serious buyers. That makes my job quite difficult. Over all it was a decent day and I’m excited. The garden center was open today for the first time this season. That means I can start looking at the summer goods and seeing what fun things I can buy (although since I’m moving this fall, I likely won’t bother spending my money).
Spent this evening outside raking leaves out of my garden pit. I’ve got to pick up some mole traps again this year. They’ve not started yet but I can feel that I’m going to have problems again. I don’t think the random cats around here will do much to control the problem. I will be doing another vegetable garden again this summer. Since I’ll be here for pretty much the entire growing season, it doesn’t make much sense to just let those expensive raised garden beds and premium soil sit there to be used as a big cat box. Not sure what I’m going to plant, hopefully I can start just about everything from seed this year. Last year I could not do much form seed because my team member got hurt and I was working 80 hours a week. I’ve already told the GM’s that I refuse to pull that shit again this year. My team is perfectly able to run the show when I’m not there…well most of the time they are…they will be after my department meeting with them on Tuesday. That’s another post.
Here’s some music to listen to while you look at the picture below.
The Winter’s Gone
Tags: earth day, garden, leaves, stupid, work
Yesterday before I blew up my blog, I posted a great choral piece by Brahms. Here it is again, now fully functional.
Psalm 13
Tags: Brahms, Choral, Music, Psalms
