downtownharper

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100 days of practice (day 4)

Voice

- Warm-ups: breathing exercises (hissing/dog pants), general warm-ups, vibrato and belting/mixed voice exercises

- Reviewed Moments in the Woods and Breathe

Piano 

- Same as days 1-3

- I did buy a book to practice sight reading! Should be here on Saturday

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100 days of practice (days 1 - 3)

hi hello hey

I decided today after practicing that I should give this 100 days of practice thing a go. I just got a new keyboard so I figured I’d strike while the motivation is hot (?) 

Anyways..I’ll be attempting this for both piano and voice. It’ll take me a few more days to finish the 100 days of voice practice just because I can’t bring myself practice on the weekends while my family is home eep! 

So here goes, I suppose I’ll just put a little summary of what I practiced the past few days!

two notes: 1. in the future, these posts won't’ be this long (lol) and 2. I’ll try to include video/audio of me practicing often

Monday, August 7

Voice

- Warm-up: breathing exercises, general warm-ups, and some exercises focused on developing vibrato

- Reviewed “Laurie’s Song” and “Deh vieni non tardar”

- Worked on notes for “Nous nous aimerons tant”

- Started learning “Batti batti”

Piano (the same all 3 days)

- Warm-up: reviewed C-major two-octave scales and arpeggios

- Reviewed Chopin, Prelude in E Minor and Satie, Gymnopedie no. 1

- Started learning Steibelt, Sonatina in A Minor

- Improvised in C major (ish) for 10 minutes

Tuesday, August 8

Voice

- Warm-up: breathing exercises, general warm-ups, belting/mixed-voice exercises

- Reviewed “The Light in the Piazza,” “Stars and the Moon,” and “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man”

- Practiced belting “Breathe”

Wednesday, August 9

Voice

- Warm-up: breathing exercises, general warm-ups, dynamics focused exercises

- Reviewed “Laurie’s Song,” and “Deh vieni...” focusing on applying dynamics and opening up space

- Continued reviewing notes for “Nous nous aimerons tant”

- Continued learning “Batti, batti”

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this is the money jessica. reblog in 10 seconds for good luck 

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBqC-E8EDeA)

angela davis (once again) giving me life

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Exam week study plan 😬😬😬

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Mood

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Dark times all around but there are still people out there who love you

Do not hurt yourself, do not hurt others, get help, talk to someone, anyone. Humanity has survived before and we can do it now if we all just support each other. My country and my people let me down and endangered my life but there’s nothing I or anyone else can do about that so let’s try to spread the love that is so clearly lacking.

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me: why am I so lonely ? :/

brain: you literally distance yourself from everyone, you can't express your emotions properly, you're terrified of commitment, you have intimacy probl-

me: why am I so lonely ?? :/

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How to call your reps when you have social anxiety

When you struggle with your mental health on a daily basis, it can be hard to take action on the things that matter most to you. The mental barriers anxiety creates often appear insurmountable. But sometimes, when you really need to, you can break those barriers down. This week, with encouragement from some great people on the internet, I pushed against my anxiety and made some calls to members of our government. Here’s a comic about how you can do that, too. (Resources and transcript below.)

Motivational resources: There are a lot! Here are a few I really like:

Emily Ellsworth explains why calling is the most effective way to reach your congressperson.

Sharon Wong posted a great series of tweets that helped me manage my phone anxiety and make some calls.

Kelsey is tweeting pretty much daily with advice and reminders about calling representatives. I found this tweet an especially great reminder that calls aren’t nearly as big a deal as anxiety makes them out to be.

Informational resources: There are a lot of these, as well! These three are good places to start:

Find your representative at house.gov

Find your senators at senate.gov

Use the “We’re His Problem Now” scripts when calling (or write your own!)

Keep reading

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choir pet peeves:

only the sopranos have something interesting

composers who think a title is deep because it’s not in english. not pointing fingers but hi david l brunner the american how r u and ur song “viva la musica” (sic) where the only lyrics are viva la m(ú)sica and long live music (the melody is a piece of shit too)

hi welcome to our culturally diverse choir we will be singing 25 songs in english about jesus and 1 in swahili. also about jesus but yknow it’s cool and different because they pronounce it yesu.

not-at-all-subtle use of finger snapping for rain effects where it’s clear the composer just wrote the song because they discovered that technique and found it cool

pretty much any song with “music” or “sing[ing]” in the title like “i sing because i’m happy” or viva la fucking m(ú)sica

feel free to add on

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i hope youre all lying and hyping your cv/resume’s up

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this is the money dog, repost in the next 24 hours and money will come your way!!

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funniest thing i’ve seen today

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What she says: I'm fine

What she means: If Lin-Manuel Miranda wins an Oscar for the soundtrack of Moana, it will make him one of three EGOT winners to also win a Pulitzer in history, one of whom is Richard Rodgers, whose name is on the theater where both his first ever Broadway show and the show that catapulted him into superstardom opened.

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if you absolutely can’t go vegan for health/economic/other reasons, you can still: -boycott zoos, circuses, and aquariums -boycott leather, fur, wool, and silk -adopt your pets from a shelter -educate yourself and others about the harms of animal agriculture -donate money or volunteer your time for vegan organizations -eat plant-based when it’s possible, even if it’s just for one meal a day

your options are never either “be 100% vegan” or “exploit animals in every way possible and be fiercely anti-vegan”. even those whose circumstances prevent them from being fully vegan can take meaningful steps to help animals! every bit counts!