See below for a Photo Plot of "How the Camel Got Its Hump"
I am ultimately excited for this week for a couple of reasons - I will be attending the Grammy's and hoping the Chorale can take back some hardware, but mainly for the chance at an actual vacation! I have had to travel quite often in the past, but it is always stressful and "business" related. This time, I will be able to enjoy life! Thank you to everyone who have helped us out so we can attend and dress like belong; we are so thankful for you!I will be providing a lot of updates (hopefully) via facebook mostly through pictures. If you are interested in following, my profile is facebook.com/pinkall
Of the several events planned for the weekend, I will be attending a rooftop cocktail at sunset in downtown LA on Saturday with a record company. Then on Sunday, I will attend the GRAMMY Pre-telecast Awards Ceremony and Reception, the Red Carpet, the Primetime GRAMMY Awards Ceremony, and Wolfgang Puck's GRAMMY Celebration Afterparty. You can follow all of these events live at http://www.grammy.com/live this Sunday starting at Noon O'clock Pacific Time.
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As for other news this week, our neighbors had a kitchen fire, burning-up their microwave oven, and filling our place with the most vile and bitter smoke. Unfortunately, this directly led to my sinuses becoming unbearably packed with gunk. I normally would not mind, but I had a voice competition the following day. I nearly cancelled, but I have never cancelled in the past and I didn't want to break that record even though I had a tough, up-hill battle. So what were my strategies to overcome my smoke damaged voice?
1. I warmed up two pots of hot water with my coffee maker and drank it all - this is a trick I learned after traveling often and having to sing on the same day as your flight arrives. Many times plane flights can dry out your vocal chords due to the environment in the plane cabin, so lots of warm water is a great remedy for many voice ailments.
2. Don't over-practice. It's tough to keep yourself from warming-up if you're in bad voice, but if your voice is swollen, using it too forcefully can cause more friction and damage your voice even further. Warm-up soft and very slow, while drinking all that warm water!
3. Blow your nose! This goes for everyone who sniffles at all. If you are a singer and sniff up your snot every time it drains, you are just packing gunk in your sinuses where you need air to vibrate when you sing, plus you can inflame your throat if you swallow and cough up all that mucous. Sniffling may be an habitual problem for some people, but blowing your nose will help you breathe easier, give you an easier and more resonant production of sound, and make it more enjoyable to sing.
As for the result of the competition, well, I was pleased that I was physically and vocally able to complete the audition. It went better than I expected - I didn't win, but I tried as best as I could given the circumstances.
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And now for your amusement, here is a Photo Plot from the opera for children that I was in "How the Camel Got Its Hump" by Leah Pulatie
The lovely "orchestra" begins the Overture
Prologue - Royce wants us to act out his favorite story, "How the Camel Got Its Hump"
The Ox, Horse, and Dog have to work hard at the beginning of the world and the Camel isn't helping!
The Animals plead with the Camel to help out
"It isn't fair, Camel, that you aren't helping us out and we're doing all the work"
The Horse has an idea - to ask the Camel nicely
The Horse pleads with the Camel to help - but the Camel ignores everyone saying only, "Humph"
The Horse has an idea - to go to the Man for help
The Animals bring a formal complaint to the Man about the Camel
The Animals plead with the Man to help
The Animals make a formal complaint to the Man that it isn't fair for the Camel to be lazy
The Animals pout because the Man won't bother helping
The Camel, who only says "Humph," protests any work - he even finds going on strike to be too much work!! - but he sure feels lonely and would like some friends
The Ox hears a strange sound...it might be a genie!
The Animals summon the genie
The Animals summon the magical Djinn of the desert to help
The Animals summon the magical Djinn
The Djinn, a genie, has appeared!!
The Djinn performs magic tricks
The Animals plead their case to the Djinn
The Djinn will help out the Animals!!!
The Animals find and capture the Camel in the audience
The Camel is captured by the Animals and the Djinn
The Djinn of the Desert helps the Animals and gives the Camel a giant hump
The Camel gets his hump!
Ox teaches Camel how to work
The Camel decides to help out his new friends with his new hump
Finale
Lesson - You'll get the Cameelious Hump if you don't lend a hand!
Finale
Curtain Call