I listen to music pretty much every minute I’m not in meetings, usually with a looper site. I like my background noise both rhythmic and predictable. I’m going to try sharing my daily listening as part of getting back into posting here, so here’s 3 I’ve found relatively recently: Where I found it: Matthew sent it […]
Continue reading →Every year I look forward to the new Bootie mashup. This annual mashup is, real truth, the reason why I am able to sing along to any song played at any convention dance (I’m looking at you Grace Hopper) or bar (and looking at you, Black Cat-which-plays-Doctor-Who-every-Friday-night-at-7:30pm). It is a mashup of the most popular […]
Continue reading →[TW: teen sex trafficking.] I’ve loved Ed Sheeran’s “A Team” since I first heard it: It was one of the first songs I plugged into one of the internet’s many magical infinite-loop players–apparently people other than me like listening to songs until they can hear the cracks between the notes–but I never saw it as […]
Continue reading →Today I filled out a survey which asked “Where do you spend your time when you’re not at work?” and I answered “Online.” I have a lot invested in Skynet not taking over the earth, not just so I can continue to get my pop culture fixes but because I use the internet to try […]
Continue reading →Carnegie Mellon gave her musicians ample time to explore New York City before our concert at Carnegie Hall. I wandered in Central Park, ate at some fantastic restaurants (they gave us generous food money), and visited Times Square. And the entire time I kept thinking: It’s so much quieter than Cairo. It’s so much cleaner than Cairo. […]
Continue reading →Carnegie Mellon’s School of Music turned 100 this year, and to celebrate the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic and the choirs did two big concerts: one in Pittsburgh, one at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. Singing is one of the many things I do when I’m not thinking about anything else. I sing to keep myself company; […]
Continue reading →I’m finishing up my Music minor in Opera this semester, and my last class is “French Literature and Repertoire.” The final project for my class is to create a program of French art songs on a theme. I chose pieces about slavery and captivity to examine human trafficking. I’ve embedded the entire program into my projects […]
Continue reading →I can’t stop listening to “Someone Like You” by Adele: It’s not that I don’t know dozens of more appropriate songs, sad songs, memorial songs. I’m an opera singer: I can mourn in half a dozen languages. But I can’t get to my emotions about my grandfather’s death two weeks ago straight on. I need […]
Continue reading →I just changed from my long, black-and-red salsa dress and bangles into a blue-stripped collared shirt, suit jacket and grey pearls. I went from strapy high heels to sensible boots and comfortable socks. If I chose my career based on the clothes, opera would win out over politics most mornings. I am comfortable in a […]
Continue reading →Singing opera is good for me. It comes from unstoppering the wellspring of my heart, allowing my internal stream to pour into the forgiving air. I am not the best at it. Waiting for my turn to practice with the accompanist today, I remembered how that wellspring felt crushed beneath a landslide of rejections from every single […]
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