Best journal this week

Beau knocks it out of the park again this week. His journal is not only very observant and reflects a great deal of self-reflection both in the practice room as well as in choir, he delves into the text of his song. Bravo, Beau!

-Lip trill legato-ness continues to improve in choir rehearsals. One thing I don’t like (that I’ve seen from the video recording) is that I seem to subconsciously nod my head when I go up and down the intervals. I’m working on eliminating that habit as well. I feel like this may relate directly to the consistent ‘level’ of tone that we’ve discussed. I’ve caught and corrected myself breathing up as opposed to out in choir a few times, but I didn’t notice any problems with that today, so identifying and correcting the problem multiple times seems to have solved it in the long term (if it’s not too early to say ‘long term’) The ‘fo-yas’ continue to present a bit of a challenge with consistency. I have noticed improvement in tonal quality and consistency when taking the exercise a bit slower; I suppose that will be a matter of identification and repetition as well. I’ve also noticed a bit of an increase in my vocal confidence, especially in choir, which, I feel, has come from ‘adapting’ to my surroundings. Trumpet lips definitely help as a whole. As for the Quilter text, I interpret it as a symbolic number with the subject of coping with loss, perhaps death. In the first verse, the poet addresses an unnamed listener, presumed to be in mourning. I interpret the ‘sad fountains’ in question to be symbolic of tear-filled eyes, or the bearer of such. The speaker then brings in another image of flowing water, in this case melting snow (‘Look how the snowy mountains Heav’n’s sun doth gently waste”). This introduces the continuing element of natural things throughout the text. The sun, “gently wastes” the snow from the mountaintops, signifying the passage of time and seasons, “gently” because nature offers no contest to the melting of the snow, because it is a part of the continuing natural cycle. The frequent use of the word “sleep” is most likely a metaphor for death. The poet beseeches the presumably bereaved listener (“while she lies sleeping”) to accept the view of death not as something to be feared, but “a reconciling; a rest that peace begets.” The speaker has a positive, yet realistic outlook, utilizing these words and the natural metaphors to convince the listener that death is not the end of life and to be feared, but a part of life to be accepted with all of the rest.