Stamps-Baxter - Day 8

We're over the hump. The rest of the week is about to fly by! No! Make it slow down!

Another long and full and wonderful day. Started with theory, where we're learning melody writing. In my head, I got very arrogant and thought, "I can write a tune! I don't need this." Ha! Foolish child! There were actually lots of things to learn. We got a few rules and then we were all assigned to write an 8 bar tune. No chords or anything, just the tune. I wrote out 2 - one good, one not good. We'll just forget about the not good one...

Our class is going to write a song. Yes, one song written by 18 people. How do you do that, you ask? Well, this afternoon, we all submitted our tunes to Tracey and she played them in front of the class (no names were given). Everyone voted on their favourites. It got narrowed down to 2 tunes, and mine was one of them. (The good one, obviously!) In the final vote, my tune didn't make it, but that's cool. I'm really happy people liked it, so I'm going to continue to work on it, and then get it published in all the hymnals and make a mint!

We've taken the winning tune -very uptempo and convention style - and now we're writing parts for it. For tomorrow, we've also been asked to bring in lyric ideas. Don't know how much work I can actually put into it tonight. I still have no final tune for my song for Daryl. I sort of know what I want, but I haven't had a good long silent time in which brood, cry, and think over it. (Crying is a crucial step in the songwriting process!) Going to stay up late working tonight.

Today was my final voice lesson with Glenn Wilson. I am sooooo very sad for this time to end. I've had so much fun and learned so much, and I truly feel my voice has grown over the last 5 lessons. I feel we had a real meeting of the minds, and I'm just thrilled about this experience. How far is it to Texas, anyways?

So, the big buzz today is auditions for the closing program. Last year, anyone could audition with any solo or group or whatever. But this year, they decided the auditions would be "by invitation only". Well, it was hard to get information about what this meant, and people started to get really stressed about the whole process. So they've switched it back to an open audition. I actually think this is more fair, and it's gotten everyone excited about their songs. I'll be auditioning twice - once with my quartet, and once with Scott for "I've Just Seen Jesus". I really don't know if I'll make the program, but I just want to audition and give it my best. I didn't get on last year and I still had a great night. Just lots of deep breaths, and really hoping for a good night's sleep tonight. I can handle not winning a spot. I can't handle a bad audition!

I have a new Southern term for you: visiting. For us in Canada, 'visiting' means you go to someone's house and have a cup of tea. For those in the South (and perhaps the rest of the States?) this means having a chat with someone, anywhere, anytime. For example, if you and I run into each other in the mall, and we have a chat right there by the water fountain, that's 'visiting'. You could go home and stay, "I visited with Allison today". Isn't that funny? I just love it! I've been visiting people all day, and I haven't had one cup of tea!

Actually, 'tea' also means something else. 'Tea' is always iced. Never hot. If you want a cup of tea, you order 'hot tea'. If you order 'tea', you will get something cold. Clearly not a British culture!

Tonight, we didn't have a full concert. Instead, we had a tribute to the late, great Anthony Burger. Last year, Anthony's concert was a highlight. Such an entertainer! His stepdaughter, Lori, joined in on a few songs, so she came again tonight to sing. She sang 3 songs, and they played a tribute video, showcasing Anthony's awesome career. There are so many young pianists here who have been influenced by Anthony, so it was a powerful presentation. (Boni, I thought of you!)

We finished the night with performance opportunity, and tonight was wonderful because a lot of my friends sang, including a couple of little girls who brought the house down with Amazing Grace. I love hearing kids sing!

Now, I'm off to keep writing, and hopefully get some sleep.

Actually, just one more thought. I really don't want this week to end. I truly love it here. But I'm more excited about moving here than ever before. I can't get too sad about school ending because I know I'm coming back. There has been a lot presented to me that has made me very nervous about pulling up all my roots and moving here. But despite that, I'm so just excited about it all. I really feel we are following God's plan for us, and there's such comfort in that.

I will just continue to say, "Yes, Lord!".